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. Laura Jarriel asked Ms Frey how it felt to witness so many incredible moments.

Closing global tax “loopholes” a big benefit to women

Making the global tax system fairer and closing loopholes would be a huge benefit to women. That’s the view of Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, a confederation dedicated to fighting poverty worldwide. Speaking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings, she said that it was vital to address the economic challenges faced by women and girls. Ms Byanyima is a former Ugandan parliamentarian and was Director of Gender at the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Jocelyn Frank asked her how economic inequality was also impacting on gender inequality.

Perpetrators of sexual violence in South Sudan “will be held accountable”

Perpetrators of rape and sexual violence in South Sudan’s on-going conflict “will be held accountable,” said recently the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict. Zainab Hawa Bangura vowed that she would do everything in her power to ensure that justice is done on behalf of the victims. UN officials have documented at least 217 cases of sexual violence committed in the capital, Juba, following the outbreak of fighting in early July. Lwak Nelson asked Ms Bangura for her reaction to the latest crimes of sexual violence in South Sudan.

Presenter: Dianne Penn

Production Assistant: Ana Carmo

Duration: 10’00″