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- Ending violence against women and girls (969)
- Executive Director (959)
- Gender equality and women’s empowerment (727)
- Economic empowerment (700)
- UN Women administration (519)
- Peace and security (437)
- Leadership and political participation (398)
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (391)
- Partnerships (279)
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (275)
- Gender, culture and society (241)
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Why we support women’s leadership
Monday, March 1, 2021
Meet some inspiring grass-roots women leaders who are bringing lasting change to their communities, supported by the United Nations
Media Advisory: International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021
Monday, March 1, 2021
This year’s International Women’s Day (8 March) comes as the world continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its staggering impacts on women – from being pushed into poverty, to loss of jobs as the informal economy shrinks, to an alarming spike in domestic violence and the unpaid care burden— and will highlight the pressing need for the 2021 Generation Equality Forum.
Claiming women’s space in leadership
Monday, March 1, 2021
Across all sectors, communities and societies, women have key contributions to make to leadership. From politics and corporations to sports and STEM, diverse leadership benefits everyone. Leaders need to represent the people they serve to best understand their wants and needs.
Statement by UN Women on the continued abduction of school children in Northern Nigeria
Monday, March 1, 2021
UN Women joins the UN Secretary-General in condemning the continued abduction of children from schools in Northern Nigeria, including the most recent abduction of over 300 girls from a secondary school in Zamfara state in Nigeria.
Friday, February 26, 2021
[Joint Press Release] The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Canada and UN Women jointly launched today a 5-year programme to expand and strengthen women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention, resolution and recovery in South-East Asia.
Generation Equality Film Festival opens for submissions
Thursday, February 25, 2021
The Generation Equality Film Festival will take place during the Generation Equality Forum, a global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, with the partnership of civil society. Kicking off in Mexico City on 29–31 March 2021, and culminating in Paris in June 2021, the Forum will secure a set of transformative commitments for gender equality.
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
The UN Women Safe Cities programme developed information about COVID-19 prevention and gender-based violence in the five indigenous languages of Hñähñu, Mixteco, Purépecha, Mazahua, and Mahua, and shared them over the radio. Along with community-based loud speaker interventions in neighbourhoods most affected by the pandemic, the information campaign reached 57,000 indigenous people in the state of Jalisco.
Supporting female heads of households to overcome COVID-19’s economic toll in Sri Lanka
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
In an effort to support mothers in Sri Lanka, where many work in informal employment, UN provided emergency relief packages to female-headed households in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts alongside a local NGO. Over 1,300 women heads of households economically impacted by the pandemic were supported through the initiative.
Monday, February 22, 2021
In his remarks at the opening of the high-level segment of the 46th regular session of the Human Rights Council, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: "No human rights scourge is more prevalent than gender inequality".
Take five: “Women should lead the conversation on gender equality”
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Hayat Mirshad is a 32-year-old Lebanese feminist, human rights activist and gender, communications and advocacy expert. As co-founder of the feminist collective FE-MALE in Lebanon, she advocates against discriminatory gender norms and policies and works closely with UN Women’s Men and Women for Gender Equality programme funded by the Government of Sweden. The programme works to change behaviours and social norms for gender equality in the Arab States. Mirshad is also a member of UN Women’s Gender Innovation Agora and was recognized as one of the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women of 2020 for her activism on women’s rights. In this interview, she shares her journey of fighting gender inequity and explains how to rally for wide-reaching and sustainable impact.
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Eighteen new organizations have stepped up to steer Generation Equality ‘Action Coalitions’ – innovative partnerships of member states, corporations, youth-led, civil society and international organizations and philanthropies, designed to propel a dramatic acceleration in gender equality.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
In her closing remarks at the UN Women Executive Board First Regular Session 2021, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "We need to make sure that these large numbers of women, who we have all said are disproportionally affected, are not forgotten."
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Here are five human rights defenders and gender equality activists sharing what their communities need and their efforts to build peace in the face of violent extremism and COVID-19.
Monday, February 15, 2021
In her opening remarks at the UN Women Executive Board First Regular Session 2021, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "We need bold and ambitious change here. The pandemic must not in any way hinder the bold action needed for addressing gender equality. "
UN Women Executive Board to convene First Regular Session of 2021
Thursday, February 11, 2021
The UN Women Executive Board will convene for this year’s First Regular Session from Monday 15 to Tuesday 16 February 2021, remotely via the Zoom Platform.
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Today, UN Women stands in solidarity with the women and women’s civil society organizations of Myanmar as they seek to exercise their fundamental right to demonstrate peacefully and express their hopes and desires for the future of their country.
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
When ventilators were becoming scarce due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Somaya Faruqi, 17, led Afghanistan’s Girl’s Robotics Team as they developed a prototype ventilator to support their country’s health care system.
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Kyzzhibek Batyrkanova, 26, is the director of the Kyrgyz Space Program. She is also a TechWomen 2019 alumna, hosted by Mozilla HQ in San Francisco Bay Area, and founder of the TechCamp project, implemented in partnership with the UN Women Country Office in Kyrgyzstan.
I am Generation Equality: Gitanjali Rao, young scientist and activist
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Gitanjali Rao is a 15-year-old Indian-American scientist, inventor, author and advocate. In 2020, she was named Time Magazine’s first ever Kid of the Year for her work using technology to tackle a range of issues and bringing together young innovators to solve global problems. She recently gave an interview to UN Women in support of the Generation Equality campaign.
Women in science who are making a difference during the pandemic
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
This 11 February, we’re celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science by highlighting just some of the women and girls around the world who have made tremendous contributions during the ongoing crisis.