Gender equality Archives - IDN-InDepthNews

UN INSIDER2016-03-222023-07-10

UN Women Launches a Landmark Media Compact

Analysis by J Nastranis

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, has launched an innovative partnership with media organizations from every region of the world that work in print and broadcast or are online news media to ensure wide reach and robust efforts towards women’s rights and gender equality.

While Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka explained the rationale behind the move.

“Media have great influence over how we perceive and understand the world around us. That influence has many dimensions. Even when reporting is entirely factually accurate, if it is reported predominantly by men, about men, it is actually misrepresenting the real state of the world. At UN Women, we want to address this through partnership to change the media landscape and make media work for gender equality,” she said.

UN INSIDER2016-03-182023-07-10

Strong Plea for a Female UN Chief, Kudos for Ban Ki-moon

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have expressed their support for choosing a woman as the next UN Chief.

Speaking on ‘women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development’ at the opening of the sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on March 14, Lykketoft said: “. . .the drive for Gender Equality has been the business of this Commission long before the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“And the empowerment of women and girls has been advanced by courageous feminists, women activists, government officials and others long before the 2030 Agenda was agreed.” So what exactly has changed since September 2015?

UN INSIDER2016-03-122023-07-10

Campaign for a Female UN Chief Gathers Momentum

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the selection process for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s successor begins on April 12 and 14, with member countries’ and partly public participation, a new initiative is warning that if a woman is not elected to the post this year, the next opportunity may not come until 2026. A UN Chief can serve two consecutive five-year terms.

Since 1946, the United Nations has had eight Secretaries-General, all of them men. The “UNSG LIKE ME” campaign is not leaving it to chance but actively campaigning that after eight men – Trygve Halvdan Lie (Norway); Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden); U Thant (Burma); Kurt Waldheim (Austria); Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru); Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt); Kofi Annan (Ghana); and the incumbent Ban Ki-moon (South Korea) – it is high time to have a woman lead the UN, thus marking a watershed in the world body’s 70-year history.

UN INSIDER2016-03-092023-07-10

UNIDO and CTBTO Express Support for 2030 Gender Equality Target

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) are determined to undertake necessary steps to make “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”, the theme of the International Women’s Day 2016, a reality.

Director General, LI Yong, said: “UNIDO recognizes that investing in the economic empowerment of women sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive industrial development.”

He added: “Women make an enormous economic contribution, whether in businesses, as entrepreneurs, as employers or as employees, or by doing care work at home. But they also remain disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation.”

UN INSIDER2016-03-092023-07-10

UN Vows to End Child Marriage by 2030

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations has launched a new multi-country initiative to speed up action to end child marriage by 2030 and protect the rights of millions of the most vulnerable girls around the world.

Announcing the joint initiative on the International Women’s Day March 8, the UN Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage will involve families, communities, governments and young people.

The UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage is being supported by Canada, the European Union, Italy, Netherlands, and the UK.

Gender Equality2016-01-222023-07-10

UN Acts To Achieve Complete Gender Equality Ahead Of 2133

BERLIN | DAVOS (IDN) – Declaring that the empowerment of the world’s women is “a global imperative”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment.

The establishment of the Panel, backed by the United Kingdom, the World Bank Group and UN Women, was proclaimed in Davos, Switzerland, the venue of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), on January 21.