Press release: UN Women data reveals women’s leadership is far from equal and under threat by the pandemic; sharpens imperative for the 2021 Generation Equality Forum

Date: Monday, March 8, 2021

UN Women is intensifying its preparations for the 2021 Generation Equality Forum amidst a back-drop that shows women’s rights and leadership are under threat, and even more exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Current projections show that gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years. This year’s International Women’s Day rings the alarm on rising threats to gender equality and highlights the need to build back better for a more gender-equal future.

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."

Why we support women’s leadership

Date: Monday, March 1, 2021

Meet some inspiring grass-roots women leaders who are bringing lasting change to their communities, supported by the United Nations

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.

Women leaders and jurists honour the work and life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Human Rights Day

Date: Friday, December 11, 2020

As part of the Leaders for Generation Equality campaign, UN Women, together with Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, Stanford Law School Center on the Legal Profession, and University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, paid tribute to the global legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a high-level interactive discussion with eminent leaders, jurists and experts across the world on International Human Rights Day 2020.

COVID-19: Only one in eight countries worldwide have measures in place to protect women against social and economic impacts, new data shows

Date: Monday, September 28, 2020

UN Women and UNDP’s newly launched COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker shows the social protection and jobs response to the pandemic has largely overlooked women’s needs.

UN agencies, together with the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, call for reform of nationality laws that discriminate on the basis of gender

Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2020

At a high level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UN Women, the UN Development Programme, UNHCR, and the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights called for reform of nationality laws that discriminate on the basis of gender. Twenty-five countries retain nationality laws that deny women the right to confer citizenship on their children on an equal basis with men. More than fifty countries have nationality laws with gender-discriminatory provisions, with most denying women the same right as men to pass nationality to a non-citizen spouse.

Women’s leadership and decision-making has never been more urgent, say women leaders from across the world

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2020

At a global, virtual intergenerational event co-hosted by UN Women, the Government of Mexico and the Council of Women World Leaders, in collaboration with the Generation Equality Forum, women leaders convened to discuss the importance of diverse and inclusive feminist leadership.

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.

Stronger partnerships and investment needed to support women’s recovery from COVID-19 in the Global South

Date: Thursday, August 13, 2020

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls on governments to ensure gender-responsive national plans to build back better after COVID-19

In the words of Christine Sadia: “Women must be given tools and training, so they fully comprehend what the risks are”

Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Dr. Christine Sadia is a gender and public health expert with over 30 years’ experience advising governments on health and gender issues, such as psychosocial needs of women in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and HIV programming during the Indonesia tsunami. UN Women is supporting Dr. Sadia in her current role as a Gender and Public Health Advisor for Kenya’s State Department for Gender Affairs, to advise on the country’s national emergency response for COVID-19.

Press release: UN Women and Women 20 call on G20 members to recognize women as drivers of economic recovery and resilience during COVID-19 and beyond

Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Amidst a COVID-19 pandemic that is expected to cause an unprecedented global economic downturn, UN Women, the UN entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, and Women 20 (W20), the official G20 engagement group on women, today called on G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to put women at the heart of recovery efforts.

Despite compounding challenges, women in Iraq play vital roles in the country’s COVID-19 response

Date: Monday, July 6, 2020

Despite the unprecedented challenges, Iraqi women are playing vital roles in the country’s COVID-19 response, serving as leaders, health and social workers, and responders to domestic and gender-based violence.

Announcement of the Global Leaders of the Generation Equality Action Coalitions to accelerate gender equality

Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Leaders from Member States, civil society, women’s rights organizations, international organizations, UN agencies, philanthropic entities, youth-led organizations, and the private sector come together to deliver game-changing results for women and girls.

Take Five: “Women leaders around the world have demonstrated successful management of the pandemic”

Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Around the world, women are shining through as outstanding leaders as the COVID-19 pandemic escalates. From Germany to New Zealand and Denmark to Iceland, women leaders have shown clarity in their decisions and policies, they are compassionate, empathetic, strong communicators and they show solidarity. Her Excellency Vjosa Osmani, the first woman assembly president in Kosovo, has been praised for her professionalism in leading the assembly during the crisis. She is a Doctor of Legal Sciences, former professor and mother of two girls.

Meeting of African Ministers in charge of Gender and Women’s Affairs on “COVID-19 Response and Recovery” - a Gendered Framework

Date: Monday, May 11, 2020

UN Women and the African Union, in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), will host the inaugural meeting of African Ministers for Gender and Women’s Affairs, on 12 May 2020 under the theme “COVID-19 Response and Recovery” - a Gendered Framework.” Focusing on how to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on African women and girls, the meeting will be co-chaired by UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Chairperson of the...

Press release: Women Leaders’ Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and the Future issues call to put women and girls at the centre of response efforts

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2020

On 20 April 2020, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, and Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20, convened and chaired the Women Leaders´ Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and the Future to address the disproportionately negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has on women and girls and to identify and prioritize policy measures that facilitates a more gender-inclusive recovery path.

Take five: “We need to have a common vision and ideology to advocate for the rights of all women and girls with one voice”

Date: Monday, March 30, 2020

Getrude Mligo, 23, was born two years after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. As a high school student in Songea region of Tanzania, the gender inequalities she saw in her community, especially child marriages that forced girls out of school, prompted her to look back to the 1995 blueprint and begin asking questions. In 2020, Mligo participated in a UN Women mentorship programme as part of UN Women’s Generation Equality campaign, in partnership with Plan International, which paired her with UN Women Representative in Tanzania, Hodan Addou. In this interview, Mligo shares what it means to be a champion for Generation Equality.

Press release: Twenty-five years after Beijing Declaration, the world “cannot afford” so few women in power

Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Women’s representation in political decision-making continues to increase but at a dragging pace, with three-quarters of parliamentary seats still held by men, according to new data presented in the 2020 edition of the IPU UN Women map of Women in Politics. The data’s publication coincides with the 25-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, which remains the world’s most comprehensive agenda for gender equality.

My Take, Your Take: Fighting for justice and gender equality in Liberia

Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2020

In this intergenerational series for the Generation Equality campaign, young people take the lead to shape the conversations. Gwendolyn Myers, a 29-year-old peace activist from Liberia, talks with a veteran activist, Abla Gadegbeku William, 59, who has fought for the rights of women and children for more than two decades.