International Day honours rural women’s critical role in feeding the world
Oct 16, 2021, at 10:51 pm
New York: Although rural women and girls have an essential role in food systems, they still do not have equal power with men, therefore earn less, and experience higher levels of food insecurity, according to UN Women, the agency supporting countries to reach gender equality.
Sep 14, 2021, at 09:34 pm
New York: The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, visited Somalia on Sunday, to express her solidarity with Somali women’s calls for full and equal participation in political life, and the support of the international community for timely, inclusive, peaceful and credible elections.
Fewer women than men will regain work during COVID-19 recovery: ILO
Jul 20, 2021, at 07:12 pm
New York: Fewer women will regain jobs lost to the COVID-19 pandemic during the recovery period, than men, according to a new study released on Monday by the UN’s labour agency.
Generation Equality: Alongside COVID lies an ‘equally horrific pandemic’ threatening women
Jun 30, 2021, at 10:03 pm
New York: As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of COVID-19, “a parallel and equally horrific pandemic” has threatened half the world’s population, the UN chief said on Tuesday, in the lead up to the Generation Equality Forum in France.
‘Careers have no gender’, connect girls to tech, for a brighter future UN urges
Apr 23, 2021, at 11:05 pm
New York: Despite information and communication technology playing such a key role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN chief said that half the world remains offline, in his message marking International Girls in ICT Day, on Thursday – most of whom are women and girls in developing countries.
Empowering women in peace operations remains top priority, says UN peacekeeping chief
Mar 26, 2021, at 11:33 pm
New York: Praising women’s fundamental contributions to peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts, the UN peacekeeping chief reiterated on Thursday that empowering women in the military remains a top priority, but to achieve this goal needs “all hands on deck”.
Women ‘systematically excluded’ from COVID response, despite being worst affected
Mar 24, 2021, at 12:21 am
New York: Notwithstanding that women make up 70 per cent of healthcare workers globally, and have been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are also being “systematically excluded” from decision-making processes aimed at ending the pandemic, including government-run task forces around the world, according to the head of UN Women.
Lack of women in key decision-making ‘should not be allowed’: UN Women chief
Mar 09, 2021, at 03:40 pm
New York: Exclusion of women in decisions that affect their lives is “bad governance [and] should not be allowed”, the UN Women chief said on Monday, International Women’s Day.
Woman army officer in forefront of COVID-19 battle in Sierra Leone
Mar 08, 2021, at 03:42 pm
New York: A woman officer in Sierra Leone’s army has been put in the forefront of coordinating the national effort to combat COVID-19. Lieutenant Matilda Mattu Moiwo holds a senior position in the West African country’s National COVID-19 Emergency Response Centre, which is supported by the United Nations.
Proportion of women parliamentarians worldwide reaches ‘all-time high’
Mar 06, 2021, at 10:49 pm
New York: The proportion of women parliamentarians worldwide reached more than 25 per cent last year– a historic first but still far from gender parity, UN partner the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) announced on Friday ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Shining a light on sexually exploited women and girls forced into crime
Jan 26, 2021, at 02:46 pm
New York: Trafficked and sexually exploited woman and girls can find themselves facing prosecution and conviction for those very same crimes, in some countries, a new UN report shows. The study aims to help prosecutors to better handle these complex cases, and protect the genuine victims.
Avert ‘dire consequences’ for women's health, UNFPA urges in appeal to prevent maternal deaths
Dec 15, 2020, at 11:06 pm
New York: The UN agency dedicated to improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide (UNFPA) appealed on Monday for $2.5 billion by 2030 to help avert potential “dire consequences” surrounding pregnancies and maternal deaths.
54 million women and youth face staggering humanitarian challenges
Dec 08, 2020, at 06:11 pm
New York: As COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact women and girls hit by multiple humanitarian crises, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency appealed on Monday for $818 million to provide 54 million women and youth with essential and life-saving services throughout 2021.
Improved Afghan law still fails victims of sex crimes and violence against women, UN report finds
Dec 08, 2020, at 04:29 pm
New York: Afghanistan’s justice system is continuing to fail female victims of violence and sex crimes, despite a 2009 law that was hailed as a significant step forward in legal efforts to protect them, according to a UN report published jointly on Monday by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
UN expert calls for urgent action to end ‘pandemic of femicide and violence against women’
Nov 24, 2020, at 09:33 pm
New York: COVID-19 is overshadowing what has become a “pandemic of femicide” and related gender-based violence against women and girls, said independent UN human rights expert Dubravka Šimonović on Monday, calling for the universal establishment of national initiatives to monitor and prevent such killings.
Women the ‘driving force’ for peacebuilding in Colombia: Deputy UN chief
Oct 31, 2020, at 03:09 pm
New York: The UN deputy chief has underscored the importance of the full and comprehensive implementation of Colombia's historic 2016 peace agreement, to enable sustainable and resilient communities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 underscores need to deliver on promise of landmark women’s rights conference
Oct 02, 2020, at 08:59 pm
New York: Unless countries act now, the COVID-19 pandemic could erase recent “fragile progress” towards gender equality, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday, urging governments to put women at the centre of recovery and response.
Most countries failing to protect women from COVID-19 economic and social fallout
Sep 29, 2020, at 03:52 pm
New York: The COVID-19 pandemic is “hitting women hard”, but most nations are failing to provide sufficient social and economic protection for them, the head of the UN gender empowerment agency said on Monday.
Women are key to response and recovery out of the COVID era: Deputy UN chief
Sep 04, 2020, at 04:13 pm
New York: Young women are fighting interconnected battles for “environmental, economic and racial justice”, the deputy UN chief said in a discussion on Thursday.
World’s richest nations must protect child well-being in COVID-19 fallout: UNICEF
Sep 04, 2020, at 03:57 pm
New York: Children in the world’s richest countries are grappling with mental health concerns, obesity and poor social and academic skills, according to a new study published on Thursday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Women bear the brunt, as COVID erodes progress on eradicating extreme poverty
Sep 04, 2020, at 03:35 pm
New York: The coronavirus pandemic and its fallout will likely push 47 million more women into poverty, reversing decades of progress to eradicate extreme poverty, new data released on Wednesday by the UN has revealed.
One step at a time: UN women’s health agency helping shift dangerous social norms
Aug 25, 2020, at 10:37 pm
New York: One of the largest chiefdoms in Zambia’s Eastern Province is challenging harmful social norms, including child marriage, risky initiation and impunity for perpetrators of sexual abuse, according to the UN women’s health agency, UNFPA.
Women and single parents most impacted by COVID-19 efffects on social housing: Study
Aug 22, 2020, at 10:26 pm
New York: Women and single parents are likely to be most negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the pressures it is putting on social housing, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia.
Human rights report details ‘heartbreaking’ accounts of women detained in DPRK
Jul 29, 2020, at 06:14 pm
New York: Women forcibly returned to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are subjected to torture, ill treatment, sexual abuse, and other violations, according to a report published on Tuesday by the UN Human Rights office.
Harness multilateralism’s power to urgently advance women’s rights amid COVID recovery
Jul 22, 2020, at 03:34 pm
With essential resources for women’s health being diverted to emergency COVID-19 response around the world, Governments, civil society leaders, CEOs and academic experts gathered virtually on Tuesday, to explore ways to accelerate the achievement of landmark targets set 25 years ago for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Rise in women prisoners and COVID measures, ‘making sentences worse’
Jul 17, 2020, at 03:22 pm
More than 700,000 women are in prison around the world, and that number is growing much faster than men, the Human Rights Council has heard.
World Population Day: 'No time to waste' in empowering women
Jul 11, 2020, at 03:36 pm
New York: The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, everywhere, “but it does not affect everyone equally”, the UN chief said in his message for World Population Day, on Sunday.
Harmful practices rob women and girls of ‘right to reach their full potential’
Jul 01, 2020, at 05:17 pm
New York/IBNS: Urgent, and accelerated action is needed to end female genital mutilation, child marriage, and other “harmful practices” and abuses carried out against women and girls, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), said on Tuesday, in its latest major report on the state of the world’s population.
Jun 23, 2020, at 09:38 am
New York/IBNS: Men and boys who “turn a blind eye” to violence against women, must accept that they are “accomplices to violence” according to the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.
Women integral to battling coronavirus and pushing for lasting peace and security
Jun 12, 2020, at 09:46 am
New York: The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp focus the differentiated impacts that COVID-19 is having on women, including new obstacles to their meaningful participation in peace processes.