Gender Equality

Photo: UNGA73 President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe.

Upcoming UN General Assembly Promises a Whiff of History

Fourth Woman President in 73 years – 18-year-old Female Activist to Speak at High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly opening on September 18 promises to be historic. Not only because its President, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, is the fourth woman on the top in the history of the UN’s main deliberative and policy-making body.

But also because on September 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, 18-year-old environmental and children's rights activist Kehkashan Basu will address the General Assembly. Espinosa has selected her to speak as one of the two representatives of global civil society.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 16 September 2018

Photo: UN Women Deputy Executive Director Åsa Regnér speaks at the 12th ODA International Conference session on “the role of inclusive ODA by realizing human rights and gender equality” in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Photo: UN Women/Younghwa Choi.

Gender-Responsive Investments, ODA are of Vital Importance

Viewpoint by Åsa Regnér

Following are extensive excerpts from remarks delivered by Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women at the session on “the role of inclusive ODA by realizing human rights and gender equality” at the 12th Seoul ODA International Conference in the Republic of Korea, on September 14, 2018. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Gender equality is always a result of political will. Gender equality does not come automatically. It does not arrive with a new generation; we have to actively work towards it. In every country of the world, gender inequality is about an imbalance in power, which normally favours men over women. Achieving gender equality requires negotiations around how society should be and political priorities and positions to change.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 16 September 2018

Photo: Now Medina earns enough to feed her five children. Credit: Kizito Makoye | IDN-INPS

Building Climate Resilience through Women's Entrepreneurship in Ethiopia

By Kizito Makoye

BOYNA, Ethiopia (ACP-IDN) – A long spell of drought three years ago made life extremely challenging for 48-year-old Medina Igahle, a mother of five living in Boyna village in the Bubta Wodera region, when some of her goats, cattle and camels starved.

“When disaster hit, I had to bundle up what little I owned and together with my family head out to meet an uncertain future,” she says.

In many parts of Africa, changing weather patterns and environmental degradation are putting small-scale farmers at risk of extreme poverty, hunger and displacement.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 September 2018

Photo: The closing ceremony marks the end of the quadrennial multisport event held from August 18 until September 2 in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra. Credit: Asian Games 2018.

Out of Africa into Asian Games Arena – 'Shameful', Critics Say

By Kalinga Seneviratne

NEW DELHI (IDN) – It has been simmering since the Doha Asian Games of 2006, which is now perhaps coming to a boil, about whether Arab Gulf States flushed with petrodollars should be allowed to import athletes from Africa merely to win medals at Asian Games. There is a lot of resentment in India because it deprived India of a historic achievement of topping the gold medal table in athletics at the just concluded 18th Asian Games from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta.

Tiny Arab Gulf States of Bahrain and Qatar stood out with African born athletes sweeping the medals. Bahrain in particular stood out, with all of their 25 medals at the Games having come in track and field, largely from athletes that only recently gained Bahrain nationality.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 02 September 2018

Photo: Rosilah Abdul Hamid (centre) with her 13 year old daughter Syafeeqah Mohd Rusdi (on the right) and 10-year old Nureen Irdeenah Mohd Rusdi (on the left). Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Leading Singapore NGO Supports Free Childcare for 'Low-Income Mothers'

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) – Singapore's leading gender equality advocacy group – has called upon the government to provide free childcare to low-income families to enable, especially single mothers, to find sustainable employment.

In a report titled 'Why are you not working?' based on interviews with 47 mothers from low-income families – most of whom come from the minority Malay and Indian communities – AWARE said that the rise of precarious employment, gradual withering away of family backing and lack of public support for caregiving has made it impossible for mothers of low-income families to balance work and caring for the children.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 17 August 2018

Photo credit: Lesotho's MMN Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Thirteen-Year-Old Defies Family, Escapes Forced Marriage

By Billy Ntaote

This report is part of a series on Human Trafficking by MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.

MASERU (IDN) – For people living in the rural parts of the country, early child marriage doesn't exist – but when a teenager is impregnated, families rush to organise a traditional wedding ceremony and it's a deal done.

This common, yet cruel practice perpetrated on the girl child continues in rural parts of Lesotho with the unsuspecting victims – socialised to believe it is their only way out of poverty and hunger – married-off in exchange for either a herd of cattle or cash in bride-wealth.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 August 2018

Empower Indigenous Women, Strengthen Communities

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - August 9 is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. On this occasion, UN Women calls on each of us to commit to making the voices of indigenous peoples, and indigenous women, louder and more impactful than ever before: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/8/statement-un-women-international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples.

At a time of unprecedented human mobility, indigenous women are on the move too, often fleeing violence, environmental disasters and land encroachments that have eaten into their sources of food, water and way of life. The positive economic spin-offs of migration don’t always reach them. Theirs is a move also for justice, as they mobilize to make their voices heard, demand punishment for perpetrators and reparations to restore their dignity.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 09 August 2018

Photo: #TheTotalShutdown organisers said they were seeking legal advice after they were instructed to hand themselves over to the police. Credit: Alaister Russel | Times Live, South Africa's news website.

South African Women March Against Gender-Based Violence

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | PRETORIA (IDN) – Thousands of women and gender activists joined together on the first day of Women's Month to protest the rising incidence of gender-based violence across the country.

The movement's Brenda Madumise said the marchers, under the banner #TheTotalShutdown, were taking control of their destiny.

"We are saying that we had enough,” said Patience Mpani from the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. “We are dying every day and we cannot continue to live like this. It can't be business as usual in South Africa when women are dying every day."

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 August 2018

Photo: AIDS-2018-march. Credit: smugmug.com

AIDS 2018 Conference Trying To Break Barriers, Build Bridges

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | AMSTERDAM (IDN) – The International Conference on AIDS (AIDS 2018) – the largest gathering on any global health issue in the world – opened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July 23 under the title Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges.

With hundreds of scheduled talks and roundtables, the five-day 22nd International AIDS Conference has defined its goal as promoting human rights-based and evidence-informed HIV responses tailored to the needs of people living with HIV, displaced populations, gays, people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people, women and girls and young people – and collaborating in fighting the disease beyond country borders.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 25 July 2018

Photo: The Aboghlou women’s cooperative meets outside in Ourika Valley, Morocco.

Education Isn't the Only Key to Female Employment in Morocco

Viewpoint by Katherine O’Neill*

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has the lowest female employment rate of anywhere in the world. Though most countries in the MENA region, including Libya and Iran, have seen gradually increasing rates of working women, Morocco’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate has actually decreased since 1999, now sitting at 26 percent, according to Brookings.

This decline not only contradicts global and regional trends, but also comes despite significant efforts both by the Moroccan government and NGOs to increase women’s education, in hopes of improving their employment opportunities. The World Bank estimates that higher FLFP rates could result in a 25 percent average increase in household income, something which would dramatically improve the lives of men, women, and youth in the region.