GENDER EQUALITY

The President-elect of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid in the General Assembly hall.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

INTERVIEW: New UN Assembly president highlights hope 

14 September 2021
UN Affairs

The incoming President of the General Assembly says that hope is desperately needed for those billions around the world struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, devastation, and strife. In his first major interview, he told UN News that the General Assembly, as the UN’s most representative body, is ideally placed to give shape to that hope.  

The number of women working in STEM fields is growing.
Unsplash/wocintechchat

For women in e-commerce, ‘entrepreneurship means freedom’

8 August 2021
Women

Entrepreneurship can mean more freedom for women according to the first Latin-American advocate of eTrade for All, an initiative developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to expand and promote the digital economy, especially in low and middle-income countries.

Women’s leadership is one of the key drivers for gender equality worldwide.
UN Women

Landmark gender equality forum concludes with concrete commitments, plan to advance parity by 2026 

2 July 2021
Women

With the chief of the UN’s gender empowerment agency declaring that women are still “sitting in the corridors when men are inside at the table negotiating peace”, the historic Generation Equality Forum in Paris concluded on Friday with new commitments designed to address that, and other injustices.

Kenyan peacekeeper, Steplyne Nyaboga, conducts basic gender training to Pakistani troops in Darfur. (file)
UNAMID

Military Gender Advocate of the Year highlights ‘crucial gender dimensions’ in Darfur 

24 May 2021
Women

The UN chief on Monday, commended an award-winning Kenyan peacekeeper for her gender-mainstreaming work while serving in the restive Darfur region of Sudan. 

The UN says, globally, 17 percent more men and boys have access to the internet compared to women and girls.
ITU/R. Farrell

‘Careers have no gender’, connect girls to tech, for a brighter future UN urges 

22 April 2021
Women

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. 

A woman in Brazil signals her desire for a more equal world.
World Bank/Romel Simon

Gender equality, the ‘unfinished human rights struggle of this century’: UN chief

29 March 2021
Women

Achieving equal rights for women is “the unfinished human rights struggle of this century”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks to the Generation Equality Forum which began online from Mexico City on Monday. 

A train snakes its way through Seoul in the Republic of Korea.
UN Photo/Kibae Park

‘Seize the moment’ to recover and rebuild better, UN deputy chief urges Asia-Pacific nations

23 March 2021
SDGs

Confronting major setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic, countries in Asia and the Pacific “must now seize the moment” to rebuild and recover better together, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General said on Tuesday. 

Nurses greet visitors at a clinic set up at a hospital in Thailand to treat people with suspected COVID-19 symptoms.
WHO/P. Phutpheng

COVID-19 has exposed endemic gender inequality, Guterres tells UN Women’s commission

15 March 2021
Women

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on women and girls, and the fallout has shown how deeply gender inequality remains embedded in the world’s political, social and economic systems, UN chief António Guterres said in his address to the Commission on the Status of Women, on Monday. This year’s Commission will focus on charting a global roadmap towards achieving full equality in public life but, as Mr. Guterres recalled in his speech, gender equality in all walks of life is a long way off and has been further undermined by the pandemic.

A girl washes her hands at a primary school in Zamfara State, Nigeria.
© UNICEF

First Person: ‘If I die fighting for justice, I will not have regrets’

8 March 2021
Human Rights

In Nigeria, where nearly three out of 10 Nigerian women have experienced physical violence by age 15, human rights lawyer Rashidat Mohammed fights for the rights of women, children and other vulnerable groups.

Lt. Matilda Moiwo (centre) and her colleagues prepare to collect a patient suspected of catching COVID-19.
© NaCOVERC/Alpha Daramy

Woman army officer in forefront of COVID-19 battle in Sierra Leone

8 March 2021
Health

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.