UN Women

Prostitution: A Word That UN Women Does Not Want to Hear

March 31, 2015

On the eve of a speech Ruchira Gupta was to give on International Women’s Day in New York as the recipient of a Woman of Distinction award, she got a strange email. Gupta, who has collected numerous awards for her work against sex slavery in India — including an Emmy for her 1996 documentary, …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Trafficking, Poverty, Women

20 Comments

The Many Global Currents Undermining Gender Equality

March 29, 2015

by Florencia Giordano

How much does the economic environment of a country generate inequalities for women? A new report on wage gaps says that disparities are only partly explained by differences in experience, education and/or occupation, proving there is much more work to be done before the world offers both genders equal pay for equal work. The …

Gender-Based Violence, Migration, Women

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In Eastern Ukraine, Questions Abound Regarding Violence Against Women

March 10, 2015

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

A recent cease-fire seems to be holding in eastern Ukraine, promising relative relief in the region from the incessant, percussive beat of heavy artillery from Howitzers, tanks and rocket launchers with a backbeat provided by Kalashnikov AK-74s. Fighting in Ukraine’s civil war has kept people in the embattled zones on a razor’s edge since …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Women

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At the UN’s Yearly Meeting on Women, Scrutinizing the Slow, Patchy Gains on Equality

March 8, 2015

by Dulcie Leimbach

Two decades after the world’s largest gathering of women adopted an ambitious plan to improve if not legalize gender equality, women are marginally better off in many walks of life, depending on the country and urban versus rural regions. Progress has been documented across a range of categories, but setbacks have spoiled overall advances. …

Gender-Based Violence, Women

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In 2014, a Year of Catastrophes, Women Still Made Some Gains

December 26, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

Amid the horrors that women and girls have suffered around the world in 2014 — including being forced to flee their homes by the hundreds of thousands in Syria, the sexual enslavement of Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and the kidnapping and forced conversion to radical Islam of girls from schools in northern Nigeria …

Health and Population, Sustainable Development Goals, Women

One Comment

Women’s Voices Must Stay ‘Alive’ in ISIS-Controlled Regions

August 31, 2014

by Yermi Brenner

The extremist Sunni militant group called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which recently declared a caliphate in parts of the Middle East, now controls an area of 13,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria. Testimonies coming out about daily life in the ISIS-controlled region depict an agenda of fear and intimidation being imposed, …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East

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GOINGS-ON

Major New Staff Appointments at the UN and Departures

June 16, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, has appointed at least a dozen new people to high-level positions — including five women — primarily in Africa in the last few months, while the organization also loses some executives. Three new force commanders have been named for various peacekeeping missions as well. At Unicef, Anthony Lake, …

GOINGS-ON

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Is a Better UN System Possible? Global Experts Respond to an Independent Survey

May 26, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

An unusual survey of 3,400 people worldwide who know the United Nations has found strong support for some basic rethinking over the next decade on the organization’s work in development. Among the recommendations, over two-thirds of respondents suggested adding more nongovernmental representatives to governing bodies and better consolidating both organizational representation and programs in …

Development

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UN WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 2014

Putting Women and Girls at the Center of the Future Development Goals

March 24, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

What happened at the annual United Nations women’s conference this year? Over 10 days of both mercifully brief and far-too-long speeches by policy people, government ministers, UN staff members and a wide array of other experts, the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women ended on a hush. It was as if …

Women

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WORLDVIEWS

UN Peace Talks on Syria Collectively Failed Women

February 10, 2014

by Maria Butler

This is a difficult time for peace advocates. How can we talk about women participating at the peace table when talk has not translated into action? How can we discuss the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, first mandated by the United Nations Security Council in 2000, when despite rhetoric, goodwill, ministerial …

WORLDVIEWS

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Mexico Rising: Advances in Women’s Health and Rights

February 6, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

When the latest list of 20 top donors to UN Women appeared last year, there was only one country outside the richer nations of the world among them: Mexico. The Mexican commitment to the women’s agency reflects the strides that the country has made in promoting women’s rights in recent years, powered by …

Human Rights, Latin America, Women

2 Comments

Syrian Women Win Active Role in Geneva Peace Conference

January 22, 2014

by Maurizio Guerrero and Dulcie Leimbach

The United Nations-led peace talks in Switzerland to begin the laborious discussions to end the war in Syria have officially started, but Syrian women activists who have been demanding to sit at the crucial peace-talks table on Jan. 24 in Geneva did not know until the last minute whether any women would be involved. …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Women

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Unraveling Sexual Violence in Costa Rica and Throughout Latin America

January 8, 2014

by Ryan Villarreal

For the past three decades, Costa Rica has carried out progressive steps to reduce violence against women, a major inhibitor of human and economic development in the country and throughout Latin America. While the issue has garnered more attention among the general public in recent years, it remains intertwined in the fabric of Latin …

Gender-Based Violence, Latin America, UN Agencies, Women

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At Geneva II Talks in January, It Is Not Enough to ‘Add Women and Stir’

December 26, 2013

by Dulcie Leimbach

The campaign to ensure women’s equal participation at the peace talks on Syria in January has become more urgent, as certain parties recognize that women are vital in rebuilding and reconciling Syrian society. Yet only a few weeks before the talks are scheduled to start, no commitment has been made as to whether women …

Middle East, Secretary-General, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

Columbia University Adds New Gender Focus to Its International Affairs School

December 17, 2013

by Yasmine Ergas

Gender is at the center of international agendas, not at their periphery. Today, plans in Sochi for the forthcoming Olympics — the emblem of international cooperation — are riven by disputes over Russia’s policies toward lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender persons. Peacemakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must address the needs of more than 2.5 million …

WORLDVIEWS

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UN Women

Prostitution: A Word That UN Women Does Not Want to Hear

The Many Global Currents Undermining Gender Equality

In Eastern Ukraine, Questions Abound Regarding Violence Against Women

At the UN’s Yearly Meeting on Women, Scrutinizing the Slow, Patchy Gains on Equality

In 2014, a Year of Catastrophes, Women Still Made Some Gains

Women’s Voices Must Stay ‘Alive’ in ISIS-Controlled Regions

Major New Staff Appointments at the UN and Departures

Is a Better UN System Possible? Global Experts Respond to an Independent Survey

Putting Women and Girls at the Center of the Future Development Goals

UN Peace Talks on Syria Collectively Failed Women

Mexico Rising: Advances in Women’s Health and Rights

Syrian Women Win Active Role in Geneva Peace Conference

Unraveling Sexual Violence in Costa Rica and Throughout Latin America

At Geneva II Talks in January, It Is Not Enough to ‘Add Women and Stir’

Columbia University Adds New Gender Focus to Its International Affairs School

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