Women

• September 28, 2021

More than 50 former staff members of UN Women sent a pointed open letter to the new executive director of the agency, Sima Sami Bahous, an ex-Jordanian diplomat, on Sept. 28. They suggest a comprehensive agenda for her, undertaking managerial reform and more actively and successfully promoting gender equality across the world. “UN Women …

Gender Violence, UN Agencies, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The UN Urges the Somali Government to Stop a Surge in Sexual Assault Cases

Catherine Morrison

• September 15, 2021

For more than two decades, sexual violence against women in Somalia has become more pervasive as the country has been torn by civil conflict and state collapse. However, after an alarming 80 percent increase in the number of confirmed cases of sexual violence from 2019 to 2020, the United Nations is calling for urgent …

Africa, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

A Jordanian Diplomat With Development Expertise Will Lead UN Women

Barbara Crossette

• September 6, 2021

Sima Sami Bahous, until recently Jordan’s ambassador to the United Nations since 2016, has been chosen as the next executive director of UN Women. Her appointment may be announced as soon as Tuesday, Sept. 7, according to numerous people who have been closely following the search for a successor to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South …

Gender Violence, Secretary-General, UN Agencies, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

How Infant-Formula Makers Feed Off Fears of Covid

Lori Silberman Brauner

• August 31, 2021

As just about every expert agrees, breast milk beats formula on every score, from the health of the baby to out-of-pocket costs. But that hasn’t stopped formula makers from pushing their products, cutting deeply into breastfeeding rates around the world. Their current practices include using Covid-19 as a scare tactic: “Hey Mama, Now’s the …

Health and Population, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Iceland May Be the World’s Most Gender-Equal Society, but Covid Exposed Vital Gaps

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 26, 2021

REYKJAVIK — Iceland is reportedly one of the most gender-equal societies in the world, but during a visit to the country in July, it was not immediately obvious how this progress plays out in everyday life. The clearest sign came during trips to public pools throughout parts of the island. In the midafternoon, men …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

US Congress Takes Up Sweeping Changes on Global Health Policies, but Will They Materialize?

Barbara Crossette

• August 19, 2021

The Biden administration’s budget proposals for 2022 could erase many of the constrictions on global health aid imposed during the Trump years or earlier Republican administrations. But the sweeping developments depend on what happens in the Congressional debate on federal spending, beginning in September. Among the proposed changes: a doubling of contributions to the United …

UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

This Afghan Activist Keeps Telling the Taliban to Respect the Rights of Women and Girls

Fiona Shukri

• August 18, 2021

The Taliban seized Afghanistan’s second-largest city of Kandahar just last week, marking the beginning of the quick takeover of the country. Kandahar, a city of 60,000 that borders Pakistan, is a historic center of Pashtun culture and power and was once Afghanistan’s capital. Three days later, on Sunday, the nation’s capital of Kabul was …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

A First in Canada: The New Governor-General Is an Inuit

Barbara Crossette

• July 28, 2021

There was brassy military music and the thud of a 21-gun salute. But there were also the drumbeats and songs of the polar north as Mary May Simon was sworn in on July 26 as Canada’s 30th governor-general, the first Indigenous Canadian to hold the office. It is the last link with the British …

Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

A Surprising Leg Up for Women in War-Torn South Sudan: On the Soccer Field

Ivana Ramirez

• July 12, 2021

In times of extreme adversity, hope and light can come from unexpected places. In South Sudan — haunted by a war for independence, followed by a civil war and continued unrest in its short history — people can point to one major victory: a first-time women’s soccer league. Started just this year, it is …

Africa, Child Soldiers, Gender Violence, Poverty, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Spirited Demands for Better Lives Dominate the Generation Equality Forum in Paris

Barbara Crossette

• June 30, 2021

The most important day of the widely anticipated United Nations-backed Generation Equality Forum’s second session ended Wednesday night in Paris. But before the dozens of speeches were heard, a gulf emerged among people who at heart all want to make the world a better, safer place for women and girls. On one side of …

Gender Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Despite Merkel’s Endurance as Chancellor, German Women Still Fight for Parity in Politics

Mikaela Conley

• May 17, 2021

BERLIN — In the seating snub heard round the world, the first woman president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was not offered a chair in April while meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Council President Charles Michel. Instead, she had to sit on a sofa nearby while the men talked at …

Governance, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Rosalía Arteaga, a Short-Lived President of Ecuador, Wants to Run Against the UN’s Guterres

Stéphanie Fillion

• April 29, 2021

Rosalía Arteaga, a former Ecuadorean president, is planning to enter the race to be the first woman to lead the United Nations and beat the incumbent, Secretary-General António Guterres, through a “people-backed” campaign. The announcement by the Forward campaign, a new movement based in London that is holding open, digital global primaries to find …

General Assembly, Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Six Latin American Women Who Could Be the UN Leader Down the Road

Maurizio Guerrero

• April 15, 2021

Six Latin American names are being circulated in regional political circles as possible candidates to become the first woman to lead the United Nations, while the current secretary-general, António Guterres, will most likely be re-elected for the upcoming five-year term, starting in 2022. So women appear to be lining up to cast their names for …

Latin America, Secretary-General, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

This Feminist Is Putting Women at the Peace Table

Sonah Lee-Lassiter

• April 13, 2021

In 2010, Maria Victoria (Mavic) Cabrera-Balleza founded an organization to help and advocate for the rights of women and girls globally, but it was her childhood experiences that first politicized her. Martial law was declared by the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines in 1972, when she was in fourth grade. Born in …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Russia, the Current Big Spoiler in Advancing Global Gender Rights

Barbara Crossette

• April 12, 2021

Human-rights advocates around the world are assessing how much lasting damage could still be done to universal human rights after the four-year assault from the Trump administration. Although the Trump years ended with the swearing-in of President Joe Biden in January, civil society organizations and governments understand that an American turnaround could be slow …