On International Women’s Day, we celebrate women and girls around the world, and we applaud all they have achieved in the fight for equality.
Women and girls have made great gains – demolishing barriers, dismantling stereotypes and driving progress towards a more just and equal world.
Yet they...
“This year’s theme – invest in women – reminds us that ending the patriarchy requires money on the table,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement for the International Day.
“This all depends on unlocking finance for sustainable development so that countries have funds...
New York, 8 March 2024 – On International Women’s Day, UN Women calls for the world to “Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress” as the best way to accelerate economic growth and build more prosperous, equitable societies.
This is particularly urgent when war and crisis are eroding the...
Here is a brief five-point guide to this high-profile UN event.
1. Pushing for action for eight decades
The work of the Commission began in 1946, days after the UN General Assembly’s inaugural meetings heard former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and part of the country’s delegation, read an...
Since August 2021, Afghan women and girls have been grappling with increasingly restrictive decrees limiting their participation in all aspects of social, economic, and political life. These have confined millions of women to their home, restricting their important contributions to society...
In Kenya and Zimbabwe, authorities and civil society groups are using a wide array of tactics to prevent gender-based violence.
As part of UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Gender-based Violence, the Government of Kenya and the civil society organization Yes Trust...
Launched in 2017, the Accelerating Women-Owned Micro Enterprises programme in Southern Africa has equipped more than 2,400 women who own micro-enterprises in Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia with the skills they needed to improve their businesses.
The programme—recently renamed EntreprenHER...
6 March 2024Women
In 1953, UN Member States elected India’s political dynamo Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit as the eighth President of the General Assembly, the first woman ever elected to the role. Ahead of International Women’s Day, marked on 8 March, we look back at the huge impact this pioneer for...
The greenhouses of the Kambuku Cooperatives stand proudly among newly planted maize fields about 23 kilometres from Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe. The facilities stand out not just because they represent an innovative farm practice for the region, but also because they aim to address both...
Civil unrest has led to a profound humanitarian crisis in Haiti, with more than 300,000 people displaced from their homes—including an estimated 170,000 children. Such displacement puts women and girls’ rights, economic prospects, and even their lives at risk.
Throughout this crisis, women’s...
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 33-year-old Youn Seau was self-employed cleaning and repairing motorcycles in Keurt, a village in the southwestern Cambodian province of Koh Kong. But when her household was placed in lockdown in 2021, the family struggled to have enough food to eat; even after...
“Understanding and acceptance of gender equality vary within the community”, says Hua Sae-Wue, a 29-year-old ethnic Hmong woman who lives with her husband and two children in Kiew Doi Luang Village, in northern Thailand.
“While it is possible to explain these concepts, older individuals may...
5 March 2024Women
Progress on women’s representation in national legislatures was “slow and mixed” in 2023, registering a growth of 0.4 per cent over the preceding year, the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) reported on Tuesday.
The global proportion of women in the world’s voting chambers...
In Rwanda, women spend an average of seven hours per day on unpaid care work, compared to men’s average of 2.1 hours. This imbalance severely limits women’s ability to achieve economic opportunities on par with men.
One approach to address that challenge is found in UN Women’s partnership with...
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United Nations, New York — In a year where almost half of the population lives in a country undergoing an election, this International Women’s Day on March 8 is a crucial opportunity to define the future we want.
As conflict, climate change and polarizing...
The 68th session of the Commission on the Status of (CSW68) will take place from 11 – 22 March under the priority theme: “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender...
When Azhar Riyati, a Jordanian woman with six children, first joined UN Women’s Oasis Centre programme, “I was afraid I wouldn’t do a good job” while juggling her family commitments, she said.
But fortunately, she found, that “interacting with staff and participants from different ages and...
Salma, a 29-year-old, carries her infant while walking on Rashid Street, west of Gaza City, on 11 January 2024. Photo: UNICEF/Omar Al-Qattaa
New York, 1 March 2024 – As the war on Gaza approaches its five-month mark, Gazan women continue to suffer its devastating impact. While this war spares...
More women than men are living in poverty overall. Currently, more than 10 per cent of women globally are trapped in a cycle of extreme poverty, living on less than USD 2.15 a day. At the current rate of progress, as many as 342 million women (8 per cent) will still be living in extreme poverty...
There are 614 million women and girls living in conflict affected areas today. From Gaza to Ukraine, Haiti, Sudan, and Afghanistan, their numbers are going up, as geopolitical conflicts, climate change, health and food crises intensify.
When crisis hits, women and girls experience increased...