Commission on the Status of Women

Women’s Rights and the UN: A Long History of Ups and Downs

• August 10, 2015

The 2010 creation of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (or UN Women) represented an unusual organizational consolidation instead of the typical proliferation. It had a promising start under strong leadership but faces serious challenges with growing resistance to gender equality. Support for women’s rights has a long and checkered …

UN Agencies, Women

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Minding Your Pronunciations and Protocols at That ‘Women’s Conference’ [Video]

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• March 26, 2015

Are you wondering what happened at that “women’s conference at the United Nations,” as one (male) writer at The New York Times called it? Here is a recap of things to think about from the annual Commission on the Status of Women, held March 9-20, assessing how women’s rights and related gender issues are …

Gender Violence, Women

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Solving Bangladesh’s ‘Living Wages’ Problem Demands Global Support

Shiwani Neupane

• March 18, 2014

The dialogue on living wages has come a long way since the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,000 people in 2013, but there will be no solution to the living wage problem until all parties involved work together, a diverse group of panelists agreed at a panel on the topic, …

Development, Women

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Women Must Have Control Over Their Own Bodies

Rebecca Brown

• March 9, 2014

Earlier this year France was the latest to join a handful of progressive countries to expand access to reproductive health services — with its National Assembly amending the country’s laws to affirm a woman’s right to an abortion through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and criminalize attempts to obstruct this right. What is …

WORLDVIEWS

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Vibrant Networking Keeps the Door Open for Arab Women

Barbara Crossette

• August 26, 2013

Throughout the media coverage in recent months of the tumultuous events in Egypt, little attention has been paid to Egyptian women, who may have the most to gain or to lose in any new political order that emerges in the country. Social media and dedicated Web sites are filling the gap for many women …

Human Rights, Middle East, Women

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Why UN Peacekeeping Falls Far Short of Female Soldiers

Barbara Crossette

• August 12, 2013

Since Security Council resolutions began demanding more significant attention to roles for women in conflict areas and the peace-building that follows, much of the discussion has justifiably centered on protection of civilians, because women and their children suffer most in war and dislocation. Less attention has been paid to the woeful numbers of women …

Peace and Security, Women

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Helping Congolese Women, One Community at a Time

Barbara Crossette

• April 3, 2013

Two innovative women from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where violence against women and girls has been harsh and unrelenting through years of lawlessness and civil conflict, came to New York in early March with a message of progress and hope. They have been chipping away at the epidemic of abuse, working …

Africa, Women

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The Lethal Effects of Arms on Women

Amy Lieberman

• March 25, 2013

The $100- to $120-billion international arms trade in 2012 intensified the internal conflicts in Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo but also brought guns into homes in these countries, where men turned them against women. That was the message that the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom brought to an …

Gender Violence, Peace and Security, Women

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Take Two: Arms Trade Treaty Talks Resume

Allison Pytlak

• March 19, 2013

The second act of the Arms Trade Treaty negotiations has opened at the United Nations this week. Like any good drama, these talks, which began on March 18, are sure to feature tense moments and plenty of controversy, although many people involved in the process are optimistic that this act will deliver a final …

Disarmament, General Assembly, WORLDVIEWS

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Michelle Bachelet, UN Women Chief, Resigns

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 16, 2013

Michelle Bachelet, the head of the United Nations agency promoting the rights of women and gender equality, has told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that she is stepping down after two years in the job. Bachelet, a former Chilean president, is likely to run for president of her country again in elections this fall. She made the announcement …

GOINGS-ON, Women

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UN Women’s Conference Agreement Is Under Assault

Margaret Owen

• March 11, 2013

As the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women’s annual conference enters its final week, the political agendas of different countries are reflected in the deep divisions over how to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, the theme this year. Furious arguments are going on over the use of such language …

Women, WORLDVIEWS

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Paying Attention to the Hidden Strengths of Rural Women

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 5, 2012

Rural women are worse off than their urban counterparts and their male neighbors. They are generally poorer, less educated, discriminated against and left with limited health care choices and jobs, yet they are classic behind-the scene doers, often performing most of the unpaid work at home and on farms, while producing a majority of …

Human Rights, Women

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UN WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 2012

Assessing the Power of Farm Women: A New Approach

Barbara Crossette

• February 28, 2012

As the world pins hopes on more effective farming to end cycles of hunger in many developing countries, an important factor holding back food production is a persistent cultural opposition to giving women more power over the land. Nearly half the farm labor in the developing countries is done by women, who are hardworking …