women

Women’s political participation in North Africa enhanced under UN-backed project

22 December 2009
Women’s political participation in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia is to be enhanced under a new United Nations-backed project launched today for an innovative website to provide them access to information, the exchange of experiences, ideas and good practices.

Women still suffer discrimination 30 years after global treaty banned it – UN chief

3 December 2009
Thirty years after an international treaty banning discrimination against women came into force, women and girls are still suffering from the scourge, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today.

Health care for women still far below need and expectation, UN report finds

9 November 2009
Many of the world’s countries continue to fail to meet the health-care needs of women at key stages of their lives, such as when they reach adolescence or when they are elderly, a new United Nations report has found.
Hilde Johnson talks to a participant in a UNICEF-sponsored programme for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. [File Photo]

UNICEF and Zambia say ‘just stop it’ to gender-based violence

30 October 2009
A new campaign in Zambia backed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) calls for an end to gender-based violence, the second biggest scourge in the nation, following HIV and AIDS, according to the African nation’s leader.

UNESCO honours five exceptional women scientists

15 October 2009
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and cosmetics giant L’Oréal today announced the names of five exceptional women scientists, selected by a panel headed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, who will receive major awards.

Rural women around the world deprived of their human rights, say UN chief

15 October 2009
Women living in rural areas in many parts of the world face severe deprivations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a message on the International Day of Rural Women calling for greater support of their rights.

Ban appeals for funding to make women’s health and gender equality a reality

12 October 2009
Fifteen years after a United Nations conference on population vowed to put gender equality and reproductive rights at the centre of development, the number of maternal deaths from childbirth – “a staggering toll of more than half a million women each year” – has not changed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today.
Internally displaced Pakistani women and girls queue for UNHCR relief items

Ban urges investment in women and girls, particularly during economic crisis

2 October 2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged countries not to waver in their commitments to women and girls in the midst of the ongoing economic crisis, particularly in ensuring their basic human rights.
Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland

Iceland hails plan to establish single new UN agency for women

26 September 2009
Iceland today welcomed recently announced plans to amalgamate four United Nations agencies and offices that promote the rights and well-being of women worldwide and encourage gender equality into one single entity within the Organization.

UNAIDS welcomes creation of new women’s super-agency

16 September 2009
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) today welcomed the creation of a new single UN body to promote women’s rights, noting that more than 60 per cent of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are female, as are three out of four young people.