Women

• April 16, 2019

“To reboot the world, we need to change the way we make policies,” says the New York-based advocacy group Madre, whose latest goal is nothing less than to “bring global women’s voices and solutions to progressive policymaking in the US.” Madre is not the only organization wanting more women at the world’s most-powerful tables. …

US Foreign Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Celebrating Women’s History Month, Trump-Pompeo Style

Barbara Crossette

• April 2, 2019

Here’s how the United States government marked the 2019 monthlong celebration of the world’s women in March: Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got off to an early start on March 13 by releasing the State Department’s annual global human-rights report, scrubbed of all references to reproductive health and rights. Hewing to the …

Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

In the Drive for Gender Equality, the Law Is Not Always on Women’s Side

Jeroen Spangenberg

• April 1, 2019

So how are women doing these days, during the global push for gender equality? Not all that great in work and legal protections, according to a new World Bank report, even in some prosperous countries — including the United States. The US ranked 65th on the report’s scorecard, below Malawi, Kenya and the Bahamas. …

Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Violence Is a Choice: The Peace Philosophy of Filmmaker Abigail Disney

Maria Luisa Gambale

• March 25, 2019

Abigail Disney is an American filmmaker and philanthropist who founded Fork Films and Peace Is Loud, an advocacy group. She also founded — with her husband, Pierre Hauser — the Daphne Foundation. Since her 2009 film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which documented women’s peace activism that brought to power Liberia’s first female …

Gender Violence, Peace and Security, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The US Goes ‘Bonkers’ at the UN Women’s Conference

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• March 24, 2019

“Hold the line” was the frequent refrain heard during the contentious negotiations swirling around the annual meeting at the United Nations ensuring the rights of women. Delegates from the UN’s 193 countries were urged by conference leaders to remain steadfast against a rising tide of conservative national positions, which included the United States, regarding …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The Goal of Gender Parity in the UN: Proving That Women Are Equal to Men

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 19, 2019

Ana Menéndez is a former Spanish diplomat who oversees the gender parity strategy at the United Nations, working directly for Secretary-General António Guterres for a year and a half now on one of his main priorities at the institution. Menéndez is tasked with the role — besides being responsible for overall UN policy — after …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, Women

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At the UN’s Global Summit on Women’s Rights, the US Looks Chaotic

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• March 7, 2019

More than 10,000 people will soon converge on the United Nations for its annual Commission on the Status of Women conference, providing a unique forum to gauge progress and to press for the rights of women and marginalized populations around the world. Founded at a forward-thinking moment in 1946, the commission’s yearly meetings offer …

Gender Violence, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

For Journalists Seeking Female Experts on Global Affairs, Here’s a New Source

Kacie Candela

• February 25, 2019

The scarcity of female experts that journalists can readily rely on for objective, accurate information for reporting on an international news story couldn’t be clearer: 81 percent of experts interviewed for global news stories were men, according to a 2015 study by the Global Gender Monitoring Project, which promotes gender equality in the news …

Journalists, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Three Ex-UN Leaders Form a Women’s Group to Save the World

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 21, 2019

As multilateralism takes a beating from President Trump amid the “new world disorder,” as one European diplomat put it, three women who know the United Nations inside and out through previous top leadership jobs have originated a Group of Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion. The goal is to bring together former UN female …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Women and Brexit: Their Voices Are Just Not Heard

Rhona Scullion

• February 20, 2019

NOTTINGHAM, England — It has been more than two and a half years since Britain voted to leave the European Union. As the rest of the world knows, nothing since then has gone smoothly. It’s not even clear where most voters stand on the issue today. But despite the nonstop debate, women’s voices continue …

Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

A Journey Into Terror and Truth: My Travels Alone in Afghanistan

Johanna Higgs

• February 13, 2019

ISHKASHIM, Afghanistan — I entered the country from the northeast, from Tajikistan, where I had been traveling for a month, researching the lives of women, as I have been doing across the world for years. From the small town of Khorog in Tajikistan, I hired a taxi to drive me to the border crossing. …

Gender Violence, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Authorities Find More Ways to Silence Women Human-Rights Experts

Kacie Candela

• January 29, 2019

More than two decades have passed since the United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which encourages countries to protect people who fight for human rights around the world. So why has the situation deteriorated, especially for women who defend human rights? Fears of terrorism and the rise of fundamentalism …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Young, Female and Diverse: Legislatures Begin to Change to Save Democracy

Barbara Crossette

• January 15, 2019

As many political analysts see democracy weakened by introverted, xenophobic parties and autocratic leaders, a glimmer of hope is offered by a new generation of candidates and voters. This year will test that optimism in a series of important elections around the world. Changes in the composition of national legislatures were already being recorded …

Governance, Women

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How Will Women Fare as Cities Grow Dramatically? The Data Are Missing

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• January 13, 2019

Improving the lives of women is woven into each of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, markers that all 193 member states aim to reach by 2030. Goal 5 is quite specific: nothing short of gender equality. Attaining this lofty goal means being able to put one’s hands on data that have been …

Cities, Women

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Another UN Harassment Case Quietly Disappears

Barbara Crossette

• January 6, 2019

Amid a busy December, when the United Nations was focusing on important conferences on climate change and migration and year-end holidays loomed, a case of harassment that never got the traction it arguably deserved ended in a traditional UN way: it disappeared. On Dec. 14, the chairman of the International Civil Service Commission, which …