GENDER EQUALITY

Young women surfers in Vanuatu
Ginny Stein/ OHRLLS

ISLAND VOICES: Vanuatu’s new wave of female surfers

27 February 2021
The Lid is On

In the Vanuatu, young women are taking their long boards to the water, refusing to accept the idea that surfing is only for men.

”Solwota Sista” is the first episode of Island Voices, a three-part podcast series which looks at the ways that women in Vanuatu are attempting to break down barriers.

Audio -
18'48"
Women in Pakistan learn computing skills
© World Bank/Visual News Associate

New UN gender study: Women ‘far from having an equal voice to men’

20 October 2020
Women

The COVID-19 pandemic is “interrupting efforts” to achieve gender equality and threatening to “reverse hard-won gains” over the past decades, a senior UN official said on Tuesday.

Participants from civil society groups rally on the sidelines of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in September 1995.
UN Photo/Milton Grant

COVID-19 underscores need to deliver on promise of landmark women’s rights conference

1 October 2020
Women

Unless countries act now, the COVID-19 pandemic could erase recent “fragile progress” towards gender equality, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday, urging governments to put women at the centre of recovery and response. 

A woman employee, wearing a mask and face shield, works at a shopping centre, in Bangkok, Thailand. According to UN Women, women labour force participation is about 60 per cent in the country.
UN Women Asia-Pacific

Thailand: More than 100 companies pledge to strengthen women’s economic empowerment

30 September 2020
Women

Chief executives of 110 companies in Thailand on Wednesday, have signed up to a new set of UN principles on women’s economic empowerment, pledging to improve gender equality in the boardroom, equal pay for equal work, and safer and more inclusive workplaces.

A migrant worker sews clothes in a factory in western Thailand. Working more than 12 hours a day, with overtime, they earn less than the minimum daily wage, leaving them with barely enough money for rent, food, or savings.
UN Women/Piyavit Thongsa-Ard

Equal pay essential to build a world of dignity and justice for all, UN says, commemorating first International Equal Pay Day

18 September 2020
Women

The United Nations is marking the first ever International Equal Pay Day, on Friday, drawing attention to the gender pay gap – the difference between what a woman earns compared to a man, for work of equal value – and the systemic inequalities it is rooted in.  

While women have come a long way since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action nearly 25 years ago, they still lag behind on virtually every Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
UN Women India

25 years after Beijing’s Women Conference, significance ‘undimmed’

4 September 2020
Women

Exactly 25 years after the historic world conference in Beijing on the advancement and equality of women, the head of the UN gender empowerment agency declared on Friday that “its significance is undimmed”.





 

On 23 April 2020, a child washes dishes in the Maarat Misrin camp north of Idlib, Syrian Arab Republic.
© UNICEF/Omar Albam

Women and girls deserve more protection in emergencies, UN rights council hears

13 July 2020
Human Rights

The collective impact of climate change, COVID-19 and conflict mean that well over 200 million people will likely need humanitarian assistance by 2022, the UN’s deputy rights chief said on Monday.

As part of the information campaign on COVID-19, the commander of the Bangladeshi medical contingent at the Security Council-mandated UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, encourages local contractors to wear protection masks.
MINUSCA

News in Brief 8 July 2020

8 July 2020
News in Brief
  • Africa sees COVID-19 cases pass 500,000: WHO
  • ‘Conversion therapy’ alert at UN Human Rights Council
  • UN expert calls for end to gender-based violence against women journalists
Audio -
3'16"
A health worker checks a patients blood sugar levels with blood glucose meter.
PAHO/WHO

News in Brief 1 June 2020

1 June 2020
News in Brief
  • Prevention and treatment of noncommunicable diseases ‘severely disrupted’
  • UN Women launches ‘shadow pandemic’ public awareness campaign
  • New Bangladeshi Goodwill Ambassador for World Food Programme
Audio -
2'25"
Industrial seaport in China.
© World Bank/Curt Carnemark

‘Concerted efforts’ needed to meet 2030 Global Goals in Asia-Pacific region

25 March 2020
SDGs

Action to reverse the depletion and degradation of the environment across Asia and the Pacific is a top priority if the region is to stay on course to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a new United Nations report launched online, for the first time, on Tuesday.