US actress Patricia Arquette, whose acceptance speech at the 2015 Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress that demanded gender equality has been viewed as both brave and controversial by news outlets and the public, attended PLANET 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality celebratory commemoration organized by UN Women in New York, March 10.
"To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights," Arquette said in her speech. "It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America."
UN Women’s celebratory event for the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, included also other high-powered speakers and celebrities, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio, global philanthropist Melinda Gates, and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
