UN Gender Focus

Female Olympic athletes show “we are all created equal, we can all achieve”

Seeing women compete and succeed in the 2016 Rio Olympics shows the world that “we are all created equal, and we can all achieve”.

That’s according to UN Women’s social media manager, Beatrice Frey, who has returned from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this week.

Ms Frey has been working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on several UN Women projects to empower young girls through sports.

The 2016 Olympics has seen the highest female participation with 45% of athletes being women.

Bid to end violence “that affects one billion children per year”

An ambitious strategy to end violence against children has been unveiled by UN health experts. It was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) which says a new global approach is needed as around one billion children every year are affected. Despite the alarming data, WHO says that many cases of violence are “hidden, unseen or under-reported.” Daniel Johnson reports from Geneva.

When the modern Olympics were first held more than a century ago, 997 athletes competed, only 22 of them women.

Fast forward to this year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where nearly half of those vying for medals are women.

The Olympic motto is ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger,’ and the UN entity working towards gender equality, UN Women, has joined with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to encourage girls to stick with sports as they grow up.

50% of children born each year “not being put to the breast soon enough”

This week we have an exclusive in-depth interview focusing on sexual exploitation and abuse. The UN has described abuse allegations made against people serving the organization and others as “sickening” and has pledged thorough investigations while also offering support to victims.

In February this year, the UN Secretary-General appointed Jane Holl Lute as Special Coordinator on Improving the United Nations Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

10,000 Kenyan female entrepreneurs connected to global market

“Girls matter” to sustainability and growth of the whole world

Men and boys are being encouraged to “think differently” about gender relations in order to achieve full equality between the sexes.

The call has been made by Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, who says gender equality is critical to realizing social and economic change, as well as sustainable peace following conflict.

Pierre-Marc René caught up with Ms Puri in Mexico where she attended the recent Forbes “Powerful Women” Summit.

New Independent Expert on LGBT issues a "huge development"