UN Gender Focus

No excuse for lack of health services: UN official

Governments are being reminded of their obligation to provide health services for their citizens, including to ensure that fewer women and babies do not die while giving birth.  That’s the message from the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, who this week participated in a dialogue at UN Headquarters in New York on how human rights, including the right to healthcare reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  I spoke to her prior to the event.

The “epidemic” of violence against women in the Solomon Islands can be stopped and the whole Pacific region is already taking “proactive steps”.

That’s the view of Yannick Glemarec, deputy chief of UN Women, the world body’s gender agency.

The Deputy Executive Director for policy recently returned from a visit to the remote Pacific island nation, where nearly one in four women have suffered some form of sexual violence before they reach the age of 15.

Reproductive health and economic inequalities inextricably linked: UNFPA

Parental leave is smart for the economy and helps change minds

Could space science and technology be the tool to demolish the “gender ceiling” in Nigeria?

That’s the belief of a woman who was involved in the design and building of four satellites launched by the West African country.

Iroka Chidinma works for the National Space Research and Development Agency and is pursuing a PhD in atmospheric physics.

Unequal pay and lack of paid parental leave holds women back in the world of work.

That’s the economic reality underpinning a meeting organized by UN Women and the Nordic Council of Ministers which took place at UN Headquarters in September.

Norway began offering paid parental leave to mothers for a full year in the 1980s, and fathers are entitled to 14 weeks.

Rohingya women have  “lived through real horrors:”  UNFPA