UN News NEW YORK, 8 March 2023 (IDN) — The UN General Assembly was awash in a sea of blue on Wednesday as some 1,800 people gathered to mark International Women’s Day, which this year focused on the need for inclusive and transformative technology and digital education. Many attendees wore suits, scarves or other items […]
New Report Finds Women in Parliaments Worldwide
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN | GENEVA, 04 March 2023 (IDN) — Women’s participation in parliament has never been as diverse and representative as it is in many countries today. For the first time in history, not a single functioning parliament in the world is male-only, says the latest Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
African Leaders Launch Equality Drive at Landmark Conference
By UN News JUBA, South Sudan 14 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Women leaders called for swift, concerted action to advance gender rights at the first International Conference on Women’s Transformational Leadership, in Juba, South Sudan. Almost 400 women leaders from 15 African countries joined the UN-backed three-day conference, which opened on February 1, including former […]
In Focus: Gender Empowerment and the SDGs
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — The latest available Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 data shows that the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. It will take perhaps another three centuries to close the global gender gap. Almost 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least […]
Only Three Africans on Forbes List of 100 Most Powerful Women
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is the current Director General of the World Trade Organization, and Nigerian media mogul Mosunmola Abudu are the only African women featured in the list of the World’s Most Powerful 100 Women by Forbes. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala […]
Women Highlight Their Under-Representation at UN Climate Conference
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | SHARAM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — More than 20 years since the first UN climate conference was held, less than five women have been climate conference presidents out of 110 heads of state and government. Women are now calling for greater representation at the next conference to […]
Slow Progress for Women Helping Forge Peace
By Caroline Mawanga NEW YORK (IDN) — Defending women’s rights and promoting greater inclusion is a proven strategy for peace and stability, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a recent Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, which focussed on Secretary-General António Guterres’s annual report as envisaged with a landmark resolution adopted 22 […]
How Syrian Women Navigate Security Risks to Mediate Local Conflicts
A UN Women Feature NEW YORK (IDN) — For over a decade, Syria’s protracted conflict has taken countless lives, displaced millions in and outside the country and left much of its infrastructure in tatters. International mediation efforts to end the conflict have largely stalled, in part because the local dynamics that help fuel the crisis […]
UN Report Highlights Women’s Mediation Efforts in Four Arab Countries
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) — Though largely excluded from formal mediation roles, women across conflict-affected countries in the Arab region have been instrumental in diffusing tensions and mediating conflicts in their own communities. UN Women’s new report, “Women’s Participation in Local Mediation: Lessons from Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen”, highlights the diverse mediation roles […]
Digital Finance Can Drive Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa
From Africa Renewal By Economic Commission for Africa UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A new report reveals persistent barriers in the digital finance sector that limit women’s economic empowerment in Africa while recommending policy responses to overcome them. Commissioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the latest edition of the biennial African Women’s […]