International Day of the Girl celebrates the importance, power, and potential of girls around the world. It is also a day to highlight girls’ needs and the particular problems they can face, and drive efforts that meet these needs and fulfill their rights – not benevolently for them, but in partnership with them. While much progress has been made in the last two decades to ensure every...
A Doctor of Philosophy – commonly known as a PhD – is the highest level of academic training. It allows the degree holder to teach the chosen subject at university, conduct research or practise in the specialised area. However, in many African countries like Kenya there are gender gaps when it comes to women enrolling in, and completing, their...
The number of cases of sexualized violence and femicide in Africa has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Will those in power finally grow aware of the extent of the problem? I slept with a small knife, because I was afraid. I didn’t even think about defending myself, because he was three times as strong as I...
Most of the world’s nations are not doing enough to protect women and girls from the economic and social fallout being caused by the COVID-19 crisis, according to new data released today by UN Women and UNDP from the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker. The tracker, which includes over 2,500 measures across 206 countries and territories,...
With alarming rise of domestic violence reports during the pandemic lockdowns from millions of women worldwide, UN Women convened today a high-level meeting with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Member States, UN agencies, activists, the private sector and philanthropies. The spotlight was on the urgent need for targeted investments, commitments and innovative new ways of...
Ghana joins the world to monitor the media on how women’s issues are reported in the news and who does the reporting. This is the initiative of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), which conducts this exercise every five years. It draws inspiration from the 1995 Beijing International Women’s Conference. Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) has been...
At a high level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UN Women, the UN Development Programme, UNHCR, and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights called for reform of nationality laws that discriminate on the basis of gender. Twenty-five countries retain nationality laws that deny women the right to confer citizenship on...
The U.S. Agency for International Development has a long and honored record on advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality, supported by leaders in both parties in various administrations and Congress. While priorities shift, USAID’s policies and programs have increasingly recognized both the right to gender equality, as well as the importance of gender equality to...
Women’s peace power is vital for our world’s security Date: Monday, September 21, 2020 Peace is a prerequisite for health, equality and human security. Our ability to live dignified, fulfilling lives depends on acting without fear, in mutual respect and co-existence. Today, as we mark International Day of Peace, some 2 billion people are living in areas...
Four men were arrested by police in Somalia after a teenage girl was raped and murdered. According to the police, the teenage girl was sexually abused by a gang on Friday and then thrown from a six-storey building in the capital, Mogadishu. The incident sparked outrage with hundreds of women taking to the streets of...
