Op-ed: World leaders must put women at centre of COVID-19 recovery

Date: Friday, June 11, 2021

In an op-ed for the World Economic Forum blog, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka writes: "We cannot build back better after COVID-19 without gender equality. Specifically, we must place women at the center of our economic recovery. Now is the moment for leaders to publicly commit to that work – by supporting the care economy, and equal wages and access to opportunities."

From immediate relief to livelihood support, UN Women drives investment and support for women and girls impacted by COVID-19 in India

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Since January 2020, India has reported over 27 million cases of COVID-19 infection and more than 300,000 fatalities – figures that many believe are substantial underestimates. As infection rates peak, hospitals have run out of beds and oxygen, medication is running low, and there are vaccine shortages. Last week, the country also saw massive flooding and displacement in its coastal areas, as Cyclone Yaas made landfall. The scale of the emergency is unprecedented and as with every crisis, women and girls, especially those from poor and marginalized communities, are among the hardest hit.

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.

Take five: Young women leaders in Malawi are ready to build back better from COVID-19

Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Thelma Kaliu is a young feminist and an active member of the Young Feminist Network of Malawi. She is currently the Project Coordinator of the Spotlight Initiative project under Plan International, Malawi. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Thelma attended the launch of the Malawi Chapter of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) and was excited about the growth of a movement that was enthusiastically embracing young African women. Supported by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, the largest effort to eliminate violence against women and girls worldwide, the AWLN network comprises over 500 African women across generations and sectors.

I am Generation Equality: Net Supatravanij, social entrepreneur and activist against gender-based violence

Date: Friday, April 16, 2021

Net Supatravani is the Thai co-founder of ila, a social enterprise start-up that uses human-centred design to help businesses foster inclusion, and creator of anti-domestic abuse app, ALLY. She is also a participant of the Generation Equality Asia Pacific Design Challenge, convened by UN Women and World Design Organization.

Building a fairer, healthier world starts with investing in women and girls

Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2021

On World Health Day,7 April, UN Women spotlights women on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19 and growing inequality

Take five: Why safe transportation is vital for women and girls during the global pandemic

Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Marina Moscoso T Mendonça is an Urban Management Specialist and Technical Director of Despacio in Colombia, where she supervises projects promoting urban development and sustainable transport in Latin America. Marina is also the Operations Director for Women in Motion, an initiative focused on strengthening female leadership in the transport sector. During COVID-19, social distancing and lockdown measures are affecting the mobility choices of women in Bogota and reinforcing patterns of gender inequality on, and around, public transport.

Press release: Women’s absence from COVID-19 task forces will perpetuate gender divide, says UNDP, UN Women

Date: Monday, March 22, 2021

Men outnumber women three to one across COVID-19 government task forces around the world. Such disproportionate representation will hamper women’s recovery from the pandemic, according to new data released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, and the Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL) at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mexico joins Bolivia in efforts to stop violence against women in politics

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2021

Violence against women creates significant barriers for women aspiring for political office, says UN Women. It’s critical to reform and fully implement laws to prevent and stop violence against women in politics.

This is what leadership looks like: Meet Elena Crasmari, the only woman in her local council in Moldova

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Elena Crasmari decided to run for office so that the local administration could meet the needs of all members of her community. She won a local councillor seat, making her the only woman on a nine-person team, and one of six local councillors with a disability in Moldova, out of 10,472 local councillors.

This is what leadership looks like: Nan Zar Ni Myint empowers migrant domestic workers in Thailand amidst the pandemic

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Women have been hit harder by the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic as more women work in low-paying, insecure and informal jobs. This includes migrant domestic workers. Nan Zar Ni Myint is a domestic worker from Myanmar and a volunteer in her community based in Bangkok, Thailand. She has mobilized her network of domestic workers to support other domestic workers in Thailand, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How six grass-roots women’s organizations are making sure that no one is left behind in COVID-19 response

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Building back better from COVID-19 needs investment in feminist, grass-roots leadership. Yet, direct funding to women’s organizations accounts for less than one per cent of the global official development assistance provided for gender equality. In six stories, learn about the critical support that grass-roots women leaders and their organizations bring to their communities.

This is what leadership looks like: Meet Jittirat Tantasirin, creating opportunities for women in the automotive industry in Thailand

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, businesses scrambled to adapt to unprecedented economic and social consequences of the crisis. The automotive industry was no exception – with lockdowns and “stay home” orders in effect in many parts of the world still, car showrooms had to go digital. Jittirat Tantasirin and her team leveraged technology to revolutionize retail sales models and expand women’s place in the industry.

This is what leadership looks like: Meet Caroline Fattal, one the “most powerful Arab women in business” dedicated to supporting Lebanese women entrepreneurs

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Lebanese businesswoman Caroline Fattal, 49 years old, has been named one of the “Most Powerful Arab Women in Business” by Forbes Middle East in 2014, 2015, 2017 and again last year, in 2020. Co-founder of Stand for Women, a Lebanon-based NGO, she has dedicated much of her time since 2017 to helping more female entrepreneurs enter the private sector and take on leadership positions. Since the August 2020 Beirut explosion, Fattal and Stand for Women have partnered with UN Women to support small women-owned businesses.

This is what leadership looks like: Laxmi Badi, a Dalit woman leader from Nepal, fights inequality every day

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Laxmi Badi, a Dalit woman leader from Nepal is at the forefront of the struggle for equal rights, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In South Asia, persons from Dalit community are at the bottom of the archaic “caste system” – a social stratification, whereby individuals face multiple generations of discrimination and segregation based on their descent.

This is what leadership looks like: How three women mayors in Moldova are making a difference every day

Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Meet three women mayors from rural Moldova who have defied deeply entrenched gender stereotypes about women’s leadership and led their communities through the COVID-19 pandemic. From building public infrastructure to enabling citizen participation virtually, they have made their communities safer and more resilient.

Statement by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director, on International Women’s Day 2021

Date: Thursday, March 4, 2021

In her statement for International Women's Day, UN Women Executive Directory Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: "We need women’s representation that reflects all women and girls in all their diversity and abilities, and across all cultural, social, economic and political situations. This is the only way we will get real societal change that incorporates women in decision-making as equals and benefits us all."

Claiming women’s space in leadership

Date: 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.

‘Our voices are being heard’: Indigenous women in Mexico break down language barriers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in their communities

Date: 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

Date: 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.