Statement by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Date: Thursday, July 2, 2020 UN Women is 10 years old today. On 2 July 2010, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution to merge four parts of the United Nations system into the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of...
Urgent, and accelerated action is needed to end female genital mutilation, child marriage, and other “harmful practices” and abuses carried out against women and girls, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), said on Tuesday, in its latest major report on the state of the world’s population. Every year, millions of girls are subjected...
In just six months the COVID-19 pandemic has travelled the world, profoundly testing the resilience of even the most advanced health systems, and causing massive shocks to national economies. It has also deepened systematic and structural racial, ethnic and gender inequities everywhere. As the pandemic hit and countries grappled with how best to address the...
Date: Friday, June 26, 2020 Today we commemorate the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco. It is the text that formalized the fundamental concept of the United Nations, “We, the peoples’. It set out the determination of those peoples to avoid future wars, and reaffirmed the...
SheEngineer has been designed to close the gender gap in engineering and to change the image of what an engineer looks like and does. It was also a platform where issues relating to the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM, and the need to understand why engineering should be a woman’s game were...
The Secretary-General urged all governments to make the prevention and redress of violence against women and girls a key part of their national response plans for COVID-19. The appeal was answered in a statement by 146 Member States and Observers that expressed strong support. As the UN system, we continue to be dedicated to ending...
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has praised fathers for their contribution towards the development of children in the country. It urged them to continue to provide support for all children to help the country mitigate all forms of abuse against the child. A statement issued by the Ministry to mark this year’s...
As we plan the return to the workplace and think about what work might look like after the shutdown, leaders must remember gender equality and representation. The lockdown offers a unique opportunity to supercharge progress on gender equity by deliberately reworking policies and practices to usher in a new chapter in the history of work...
Women and girls are negatively and disproportionately impacted by disasters and conflict. These crises affect their life expectancy, education, maternal health, livelihoods, nutrition, and the levels of violence they experience. At the same time, women are also often first responders and leaders in humanitarian response, though they are often portrayed only as victims and passive beneficiaries...
“I am in a complicated situation. As a journalist, I take great personal risk by being out and about during the pandemic. As people confined to their homes clamor for information, I feel that it is my responsibility to help through my reporting. As the disease is still new, ministry officials and the medical teams...
