Expert’s Take: Investing in the lives and livelihoods of India’s women is crucial to the nation’s full recovery

Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Susan Ferguson is the UN Women Representative for India. Ms. Ferguson joined UN Women in 2017, after a long career in international development. She has lived and worked in South Africa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, and has experience working in grass-roots development agencies; establishing and managing social services; working within Local, State and Federal Government in Australia on social policy and social programmes.

Expert’s take: Five steps to make the COVID-19 social protection and jobs responses work better for women

Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Constanza Tabbush, a Research Specialist at UN Women who has published extensively on gender, social movements and social policy, breaks down five key lessons emerging from the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, which includes more than 2,500 policy measures across 206 countries indicating how governments are responding to the pandemic from a gender equality perspective.

Expert’s take: Four lessons from COVID-19 that should shape policy decisions everywhere

Date: Friday, August 28, 2020

Laura Turquet is a Policy Advisor at UN Women, where she leads the organisation’s flagship report, Progress of the World’s Women. For the past decade, she has worked at UN Women leading major research and data initiatives that inform the organization’s advocacy objectives and empower civil society and governments to seek and implement change. She is also a co-founder of the UN Feminist Network.

Expert’s take: By undercounting single mothers, we underserve families

Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Antra Bhatt is a Statistics Specialist with UN Women’s Research and Data Team. Prior to joining UN Women, she was a researcher at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. She holds a PhD in International Development from the University of Rome –‘Tor Vergata’, Italy and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

Expert’s take: Women refugees on the road need strong advocates to protect their rights

Date: Friday, August 17, 2018

Iris Bjorg Kristjansdottir is a Gender and Humanitarian Specialist at the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia based in Turkey. She has over 15 years of experience in migration policy and refugee response, working with the United Nations, the Government of Iceland, the local government in Reykjavik and with non-governmental organizations. Prior to joining UN Women, she served as a Senior Advisor on Migration for the Ministry of Justice in Iceland.

Expert’s take: Curbing the tide of violent extremism needs women’s voices and inclusion

Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Hanny Cueva, Regional Advisor on Governance, Peace and Security at UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, discusses women's role in preventing the spread of violent extremism in communities.

Expert’s take: “Neither men, nor women should be objectified by advertising”

Date: Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Elena Ratoi is the Manager for the UN Women component of the “Women in Politics” UN Programme. She joined UN Women team in Moldova in 2014 to work on advancing women`s political participation in politics and decision-making processes.

Expert’s take: Harnessing South-South and Triangular Cooperation to accelerate inclusive development

Date: Friday, December 1, 2017

A.H. Monjurul Kabir, Chief of Asia-Pacific & Least Developed Countries Section with UN Women, is currently leading UN Women’s global engagements and portfolio on South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

Expert’s take: Civil society has the potential to play a major role in ending violence against women

Date: Friday, September 29, 2017

Agustela Nini-Pavli is a Project Analyst at the UN Women office in Albania, focusing on efforts to end violence against women and girls as part of the regional ‘Implementing Norms, Changing Minds’ programme. She is a human rights lawyer with extensive experience in the integration of human rights, including women’s rights, in development programming.

Expert’s take: When building climate resilience, women’s needs cannot be an afterthought

Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Dilruba Haider is a Programme Specialist on Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change and Humanitarian Actions, with UN Women Bangladesh Country Office. Prior to joining UN Women, Ms. Haider worked with UNDP, DFID and local non-profit organizations in Bangladesh. During her 24-year career in this field, Ms. Haider’s work has spanned shaping and influencing policies, as well as working with grassroots women in disaster-prone areas.

Expert’s take: A decade of efforts to combat sexual violence in conflict—Where are we now?

Date: Monday, June 19, 2017

Pablo Castillo Díaz is a Policy Specialist at UN Women, focusing on efforts to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in conflict, post-conflict, and emergency settings.

Expert’s take: Making unpaid work visible creates livelihoods for rural women

Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Subhalakshmi Nandi leads the women's economic empowerment portfolio at UN Women’s Multi Country Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. She is a feminist development professional, with 15 years’ experience in the UN and with civil society organizations, and has worked on diverse issues of gender equality and women’s rights. Her work involves research, policy advocacy and programme management, with a focus on empowering the most marginalised rural communities of South Asia.

Expert’s take: Women’s meaningful participation still the missing ingredient in peacebuilding

Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The United Nations undertook three separate reviews on peace and security last year—on peace operations, the UN’s peacebuilding architecture and on fifteen years of women, peace and security. I had the privilege of heading the review on women, peace and security, which concluded with the “Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000)”, authored by Radhika Coomaraswamy. The study drew upon global consultations and new research and emerged with one key finding—women’s meaningful participation is the most important and overlooked ingredient for sustainable peace.

Expert’s take: Why women must be at the heart of the humanitarian response in Haiti

Date: Friday, October 14, 2016

Anthony Ngororano, Programme Advisor and Head of the Africa Section at UN Women Headquarters who is currently serving as Representative a.i. UN Women Haiti, writes about how all of Haiti can benefit from including women and women's needs in the humanitarian response in Haiti.

Expert’s take: Is funding for gender-responsive peacebuilding pie in the sky?

Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2016

A Policy Specialist for UN Women’s Peace and Security Division since 2010, Sarah Douglas is currently on a one-year secondment as the Gender Advisor for the UN Peacebuilding Support Office. Prior to joining UN Women, she worked for the UN Mission in Sudan and UNDP Sudan, as well as for UNIFEM’s Peace and Security Section in New York from 2003 to 2006. She holds a Master’s degree in Gender and Development from the London School of Economics.

Expert’s take: Leveraging leadership among Syrian women—a strong constituency for peace

Date: Friday, May 27, 2016

Hiba Qasas, Programme Advisor and Head of UN Women’s Arab States Section, details UN Women’s efforts to help unify Syrian women’s groups around a common agenda and amplify their voices and representation in peace negotiations.

Expert’s take: Getting the post-cyclone response right for women in Fiji

Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Aleta Miller is the Representative for UN Women’s Fiji Multi-country Office. A Clinical Psychologist with a Master’s degree in International Public Health, she has worked for the UN, national governments and NGOs across Asia, the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She reflects on UN Women’s coordination role in the response to Cyclone Winston, using protection to drive gender equality and address vulnerability.

Expert’s take: SDGs monitoring for women and girls—are we ready for the ride?

Date: Friday, April 8, 2016

On 25 September 2015, governments from around the world agreed to embark on a 15-year journey together, which if successful would result in a far better world. A world where poverty and hunger in all their forms and dimensions are eradicated, where our planet is healed and protected, where gender equality is achieved and where all human beings can enjoy safe and prosperous lives. The destination envisioned by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is clear, ambitious and desirable. But how do we get there?

Expert’s take: Old age — a double whammy for women?

Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015

After a lifetime of providing unpaid care for friends and family, older women often live in poverty with no one to care for them. Ageing is inevitable, but its gendered injustices are not. On this year’s International Day of Older Persons, it’s time to shine a spotlight on ending pensioner poverty, and providing decent elder care services for all.

Expert’s take: No empowerment without rights

Date: Monday, June 8, 2015

Shahra Razavi joined UN Women as Chief of Research and Data in June 2013. She specializes in the gender dimensions of development, with a particular focus on work, social policy and care. In this piece, she reflects on the true meaning of women's 'empowerment' the extent to which women are able to enjoy not only their equal right to work, but also their rights at work.