Cairo+20: what progress has been made on women's rights?

This article is more than 9 years old

Twenty years ago, 179 governments signed a landmark agreement that put women’s rights, empowerment and well-being at the centre of discussions about population growth and development. The outcome of the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994, moved away from the prevailing view that population could be controlled solely through family planning, and instead emphasised the importance of women’s social and economic empowerment to bring about change. Leaders are now meeting in New York to discuss progress since the Cairo agreement. But what do women’s rights campaigners think? They share their thoughts