Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region, outside Latin America and the Caribbean, where countries have achieved or surpassed gender parity in a lower house of parliament. According to the 2019 Equal Measures 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Gender Index, many sub-Saharan countries perform well on proportions of women in government. Equal Measures 2030 is an independent...

In developing countries, and around the world, there are millions of girls who could right now be learning from home – if only they were connected. On International Girls in ICT Day, we urge governments not to leave these girls behind. Almost half the world’s population is still offline; with girls, women and other marginalized...

Abigail*, a young woman who lives in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare became pregnant by a much older married man when she was 14. She had left school because her mother couldn’t afford to pay for her fees, books and other school supplies. Her mother was also struggling to buy food and other basics for the family....

A new approach to studying the effects of two common chemicals used in cosmetics and sunscreens found they can cause DNA damage in breast cells at surprisingly low concentrations, while the same dose did not harm cells without estrogen receptors. The research, published Jan. 15 in Environmental Health Perspectives, identifies a new mechanism by which...

“You were born yesterday, and you are the one who wants to talk to us about female genital mutilation? This is what parents say when we try to talk to them about it,” says 25-year-old Coulibaly who is youth activist working with Plan International to end the practice of FGM in his community in Mali....

The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, everywhere. But it affects different groups of people differently, deepening existing inequalities. Early data indicates that the mortality rates from COVID-19 may be higher for men. But the pandemic is having devastating social and economic consequences for women and girls. Today we are launching a report that shows how COVID-19...

The girls at greatest risk of early marriage are often those hardest to reach. They come from poor families, marginalized groups or rural areas. Millions of girls have been able to avoid “an unwanted marriage and an unwelcome end to their childhood”, since the launch four years ago, of a joint UN agency programme, the...