Women

President Mahamadou Issoufu of Niger (c) welcomes a high-level joint UN-AU delegation including the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed (l) and the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Margot Wallström (r)
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

Women’s leadership 'critical' to future of Niger

7 July 2018
Africa

The role of women in leadership positions is critical to the future of a peaceful Niger according to the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed. 

In Bol, Chad, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed (l) meets Halima Yakoy Adam who survived a Boko Haram suicide bombing mission.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

Girls groomed for suicide missions fight back against the extremists of Lake Chad

6 July 2018
Africa

Halima Yakoy Adam won’t forget 22nd December in 2015, the day she was supposed to carry out a suicide bomb attack in the Lac Region town of Bol, 200 km north of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, in Central Africa.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed hugs a young girl during her visit to South Sudan.
UN Photo/Isaac Billy

'We will not give up on looking for peace for South Sudan': UN deputy chief

3 July 2018
Africa

In a visit to South Sudan on Tuesday, the UN Deputy Secretary-General spoke mother-to-mother with displaced women, pledging that she and other senior women leaders from the international community will not give up on the hope for peace for their nation.

Mother Celia Virginia Flores Mamani, 37, holds her seven-day-old baby daughter Priscilla Solamita Meza Flores, who was born at the health centre in Yaurisque District, Paruro Province, Peru, Saturday 10 February 2018.
UNICEF/Ilvy Njiokiktjien

WHO study reveals ‘game-changer’ drug with potential to save thousands of women’s lives in childbirth

27 June 2018
Global

A stand-by drug used to prevent potentially-fatal bleeding after childbirth has some new competition – with improved benefits, according a United Nations health agency-led report.

Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States holding a Declaration of Human Rights poster in English. (November 1949).
UN Photo

New book honours UN women who made HERstory

27 June 2018
Global

Raising awareness of women’s contributions is critical to correcting historical imbalances that have undervalued their presence, the United Nations Secretary-General said on Wednesday.

Human Rights Council special session on “the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” on 18 May 2018, United Nations Office in Geneva.
UN Photo/Elma Okic

Saudi Arabia:  UN experts push for prompt release of women human rights defenders

27 June 2018
Middle East

A ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia may have officially ended at the weekend, but on Wednesday, nine United Nations experts called for the immediate release of a number of women’s rights defenders who were imprisoned following a government crackdown which began in mid-May.

Graphic from the Saudi Communication and Media Center on 26 September 2017 explaining that women are allowed to drive.
Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs

As Saudi women take the wheel, UN chief hopes end of driving ban creates more opportunities for kingdom’s women and girls

24 June 2018
Middle East

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the lifting on Sunday of the driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia and expressed his hope that ending the prohibition will generate more new opportunities for women in the Kingdom.

A 38-year-old widow who lost her husband in the Central African Republic war escaped to the Ngam refugee site in the Adamawa region of Cameroon with her five children; one of whom recently died.
UN Women/Ryan Brown

Stigmatized, shunned and shamed, International Widows’ Day draws attention to their unique needs

22 June 2018
Global

The loss of a spouse or partner is often devastating, but for many women it is magnified by a “long-term struggle” for basic needs, human rights and dignity, according to UN Women, in a message to mark International Widows’ Day.

Women in Brazil march for women's rights.
UN Women/Bruno Spada

Women's rights face global pushback from conservativism, fundamentalism – UN experts warn

22 June 2018
Global

Women’s rights are under threat from a “backlash” of conservatism and fundamentalism around the world, a United Nation panel warned on Friday.

A rocket launches from Space Launch Complex 2 in California, United States. With a wide range of specializations, space science offers very fulfilling careers.
NASA/Bill Ingalls

Space science ‘superpowers’ can light the way to success for girls in ‘STEM’ fields, hears UN forum

19 June 2018
Global

On its opening day, a major United Nations forum on the peaceful uses of outer space, was issued a clear challenge to break through the so-called “glass ceiling” that prevents women and girls from achieving their full potential; especially in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.