Women's Economic Empowerment, Gender Equality, Women in Politics, Indigenous Women and Children

Statement on International Widows' Day 2021 by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women

Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health systems, widened socio-economic gaps, and shifted strategic, political, and funding priorities, all of which disproportionately affect women and girls, particularly those who are most marginalized. The doubled risk of death for men from COVID-19 has not only created more widows; the pandemic has in many cases magnified the impact of the challenges they face, for example when confronted by extreme poverty from being disinherited from land and property with no alternative source of support.

Even before the pandemic, women struggled to find a livelihood after the death of husbands. In 40 per cent of countries, unequal legal inheritance rights and authority over assets persist. Without secure access to land and resources to support their independence and autonomy, widows are hard-pressed to provide for their day-to-day needs and those of their families, with implications for the realization of other rights, such as to food, health, housing, water, work and education. The challenges widows face present a focused lens through which to understand the broader picture of the issues that must be definitively addressed for women of all ages and conditions to thrive.

Often left without savings or any other income support, widows have been especially exposed to the sudden loss of employment during the pandemic, creating immediate and acute financial vulnerability, with serious consequences that range from food insecurity to increased susceptibility to human trafficking. In this context, the absence of any form of government social protection for widows in most developing countries is a particularly urgent issue. Alternatively, securing widows’ inheritance, land, and ownership rights, offering widows protections, such as unemployment insurance, cash transfers, food rations, and school bursaries, could have multigenerational benefits for their families. Protective measures such as these are especially important for those working in high risk, low paying or other precarious jobs in the informal economy in which widows often find themselves, as day labourers, temporary workers, and migrant domestic workers.

As grandparents, widows make substantial contributions to multigenerational households, providing care and sustenance to family members, particular grandchildren who may have lost a parent, often without recognition of this crucial but invisible and unpaid caregiving labour. During COVID-19, such care arrangements have been both intensified and disrupted during lockdowns, in the latter case leaving older widows living alone to suffer the loneliness pandemic amidst hardship. For COVID recovery and building forward, our societies and economies need to recognize the assets that they already have, and protect and enhance them through, for example, quality public social protection floors and care systems.

The upcoming Generation Equality Forum this month aims to address many of the barriers to gender equality and realization of women’s rights that have significant impact on the world’s widows, from rising poverty and violence, to accelerating climate change, and health, social, and economic systems that leave women and girls behind. It is a key moment for gender equality advocates from every sector of society – governments, civil society, private sector, entrepreneurs, trade unions, artists, academia and social influencers – to drive urgent action and accountability for gender equality and to bring about change that would be experienced by widows the world over. 

Seven ways to change the world
Convened by UN Women, co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, together with civil society and youth, the Generation Equality Forum is taking place in Paris, from 30 June to 2 July. Here’s how it’s set to be catalytic and action-oriented, unveiling major investments, programmes, and policies that accelerate progress on women’s rights.

Date: Monday, June 21, 2021


Equal rights and opportunities for all people, of all genders, everywhere. It’s not a new vision, but still a bold one, as no country in the world has achieved gender equality in all aspects of life.

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 3.7 million lives globally and created and exacerbated a gender equality crisis. Even before COVID-19, almost one in three women worldwide experienced abuse; during the pandemic, calls to helplines increased five-fold in some countries. The World Economic Forum estimates that at the current rate of progress, women will not achieve pay or leadership equity with men for at least another 135.6 years.

The upcoming Generation Equality Forum in Paris, from 30 June – 2 July, is an inflection point to confront the gender equality crisis and spur major investments, policy, and programmes to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with youth and civil society, the Forum will bring together governments, feminist leaders, youth, and change makers from every sector, to announce trailblazing gender equality investments, programmes, and policies. It will mark the beginning of a five-year action journey led by six Action Coalitions and a Compact on Women, Peace and Security, and Humanitarian Action.

Together, the Action Coalitions and the Compact have identified the most catalytic actions and targets needed to make irreversible progress by 2026. For instance, policies that recognize, reduce, and redistribute care work and create an additional 80 million decent care jobs; laws that protect 550 million more women and girls from gender-based violence; and doubling the proportion of women working in technology and innovation, while increasing investment in gender-responsive climate solutions.

As we head towards the Paris Forum, here are seven ways to change the world, and find out how you can #ActForEqual.

1. End gender-based violence

Putting an end to gender-based violence is essential for fulfilling the vision of a gender-equal world. An estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life.

What needs to change? More governments must ratify international and regional conventions that prohibit all forms of gender-based violence, and strengthen, implement, and finance evidence-driven laws, policies, and action plans.

“Everyone agrees that women’s rights organizations need to receive better funding,” says Céline Bonnaire, Executive Director of the Kering Foundation and a member of the Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence. “But when you have a look at where the money goes, women and girl-lead organizations are receiving just seven per cent of the global philanthropic funding.” That’s why the Action Coalition on ending gender-based violence is focused on increasing the amount of quality, flexible funding from governments, private sector, and other donors to girl-led and women’s organizations, as well as the broader need to scale-up and improve survivor-centred services.


“Everyone has a role to play in putting an end to violence against women,” says Bonnaire. “I want a future where there are no more women that have to be survivors of violence.”

2. Guarantee economic justice and rights

Women and girls are particularly disadvantaged in social protection systems. The gender gap in labour force participation has not shifted in 30 years, stagnating at 31 per cent. Young women, aged 15-29, are three times more likely to be outside the labour force and schools than young men.

Transforming the care economy is one key component of guaranteeing economic justice and rights for women and girls everywhere. Women spend, on average, triple the amount of time performing unpaid care and domestic work that men do, so it is essential that labour rights reward and represent care workers. Pay equity and decent work must become the norm.

Diane Ndarbawa, President of Manki Maroua, an association of girl-child mothers in Cameroon, and a member of the Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights, says, “Legal change is needed urgently because it will significantly speed up progress on gender equality and contribute to economic justice, as well as safeguard this progress in the long term.”

Supporting organizations that work with local communities, such as those offering expertise and financial backing to girls and women entrepreneurs, is another key action to drive progress, says Ndarbawa.


“We want to make our voices heard… so that [women] have access to decent work, a professional career, a business—and so they are not left behind,” she stresses.

3. Ensure bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights

Empowering women and girls to exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights and make autonomous decisions about their own bodies free from coercion, violence, and discrimination is an urgent need and critical to achieving a gender-equal world.

Worldwide, 45 per cent of girls and women, aged 15-49, who are married or in unions cannot make decisions about their own bodies, such as deciding about contraception or saying no to sex. Further, women and girls in humanitarian emergencies face specific and exacerbated challenges—60 per cent of maternal deaths happen in countries affected by humanitarian crisis or fragile conditions.

The upcoming Generation Equality Forum in Paris is discussing key solutions, such as expanding comprehensive sexuality education and increasing the quality of and access to contraceptive services for millions more adolescent girls and women by 2026. The Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is also focused on ensuring that, in five years’ time, 50 million more adolescent girls and women live in jurisdictions where they can access safe and legal abortion.


“For us, bodily autonomy is not just about removing individual friction in securing services, but also about shifting the broader market systems within which decisions are taken about what services to provide for whom and where,” says Kate Hampton, CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Action Coalition member. Central to this effort is placing the perspectives and needs of women and girls at the centre of decision-making, rather than treating them as an afterthought, says Hampton.

4. Feminist action for climate justice

A changing climate affects everyone, but it’s the world’s poorest and those in vulnerable situations, especially women and girls, who bear the brunt of environmental, economic, and social shocks and face greater health and safety risks.

Yet, women and girls are underrepresented in advancing climate justice across all levels and sectors, and climate interventions fail to adequately account for women’s and girls’ realities in climate crises, such as violence, healthcare needs, fraught economic resilience, and unpaid care and domestic work.

Joanita Babirye, from Uganda, is the Co-founder of Girls for Climate Action and member of the Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice, and she knows this reality firsthand. “I grew up in a community where women and girls interact with the environment every day for food, income, and to take care of their households,” she shares. “We started having to travel longer distances to look for water. We noticed that changes to the seasons were having a negative impact on agriculture, which made us increasingly concerned.”

Babirye felt that something had to be done to further feminist action for climate justice, so she joined forces with other Action Coalition members from around the world to increase direct access to financing for gender-just climate solutions, enable women and girls to lead a just transition to a green economy, and increase the collection and use of data on gender and the environment.


“Women and girls should be able to demand climate justice, but this is only possible when they are equipped with the tools and knowledge to hold everyone accountable,” says Babirye. “The transformation needed is to make women and girls fully aware of the issues and leaders of the solutions.”

5. Foster technology and innovation for gender equality

What would the world look like if women and girls had equal opportunities to access, use, lead, and design technology and innovation? This question is central to the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, which is set to bridge the gender digital divide across generations, double the proportion of women working in technology and innovation, and eliminate online gender-based violence.

Kyzzhibek Batyrkanova, a champion for women and girls in STEM and leader of Kyrgyzstan’s first Space Programme, believes that investing in feminist technology and innovation is a key part of building an inclusive and accountable future. “We encounter many negative comments that this programme will fail because girls and women are engaged in it. People do not even consider any other factors such as lack of funding and infrastructure,” she says.

To level the playing field for women and girls, the diverse partners that make up the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation are proposing concrete steps to widen innovation ecosystems, embed transparency and accountability in digital technology, and expand inclusive digital economies.

“We need…to break the glass ceiling and expand opportunities for women and girls in science,” says Batyrkanova, who works to promote STEM education for young women and girls, including courses on soldering, 3D-modeling, and 3D-printing. “We want to show by our own example that girls are capable of anything, even reaching for the stars,” she shares.

6. Invest in feminist movements and leadership

Without increased action to advance feminist movements and leadership, we are far from achieving gender parity in political life. At the current rate of progress, equal gender representation will not be achieved in national legislative bodies until 2063. Feminist leaders, including trans, intersex and nonbinary people, indigenous women, young feminists, and other historically excluded people, have vital contributions to make today.

“I find it problematic that, even in 2021, we still need to justify why women can and should be leaders,” says Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, an economist from Botswana, leader, and member of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. “A lot of work has been done since the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Why should I now, 26 years later, still have to justify my position in leadership?” she asks.

“Feminist organizations are on the front lines in their communities as we have seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been supporting the poorest and most vulnerable, fighting and advocating to ensure that those dependent upon on services, such as women’s shelters, can continue to have access. These are the people on the ground who are making change happen on a day-to-day basis, and we must support them,” says Karina Gould, Minister of International Development at the Government of Canada, and member of the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership.

“Canada signed up to co-lead the Action Coalition because it recognizes that investing in feminist movements and feminist leaders is critical for advancing gender equality”, says Minister Gould. “We see challenges and barriers to feminist movements and leadership that we want to help mitigate,” she adds. “A big challenge is funding. Less than one per cent of development assistance goes towards feminist organizations. We simply need more.”

Motivated by the same sentiments as Minister Gould, the Action Coalition on Advancing Feminist Movements and Leadership are putting forth actions to fund and support diverse feminist activists, organizations, and civic space for feminist action. By 2026, the Coalition aims to advance the leadership and decision-making power of women, girls, and nonbinary people around the world.

7. Put women in the heart and at the helm of peace, security, and humanitarian action

Two decades have passed since the landmark UN Security Council resolution 1325 was adopted, enshrining the role of women in securing and maintaining peace. Peace and equitable crisis response and disaster prevention are prerequisites for health, human security, and sustainable development.

As we convene for the Paris Forum, some two billion people are living in countries affected by conflict, another billion are caught up in protracted crises, and millions more face the ever growing threat of climate change. Even in the midst of COVID-19, guns were not silenced, and women continued their efforts to keep peace or act as first responders, often without much recognition or resources.

In conflict-affected countries, women’s representation in COVID-19 taskforces stands at a low 18 per cent. Although evidence shows that when women are at the negotiating table, peace agreements are more likely to last 15 years or longer, on average, women made up only 13 per cent of negotiators, six per cent of mediators, and six per cent of signatories in major peace processes between 1992 and 2019.

The policies and measures to change this are already in place, but implementation and investment is lacking, in women as peacebuilders, front-line humanitarian workers, and human rights defenders. At the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, a diverse coalition will announce how they plan to accelerate implementation of the agenda.

“Women and young people have a profound understanding of their countries’ peace and security situation, gender and power relations, and humanitarian needs, because they live this reality every single day,” says Mavic Cabrera Balleza, Founder and CEO of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, which is part of the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action.

Balleza and the many diverse partners engaged in developing the Compact will leverage existing peace and security and humanitarian frameworks to dismantle discriminatory barriers and promote the protection of women's rights and the work of women peacebuilders, front-line responders, and women human rights defenders.


After more than 30 governments, United Nations entities, and global civil society organizations sign the Compat at the Forum, signatories are expected to implement these actions and report on progress over the next five years.

“When local populations are able to shape the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security and humanitarian agendas, it becomes inclusive, participatory, intersectional, and it fosters strong ownership,” says Balleza. “This is what we need to prioritize to effectively respond to the violent conflicts, the pandemic, and other humanitarian crises.”

You can #ActforEqual
2021 can be a landmark year for gender equality if we #ActForEqual and step up for gender equality. Register for the Generation Equality Forum by 27 June 2021 to join the multi-actor and inter-generational gathering and follow UN Women on social media to stay up to date with Forum news.

To learn more about each Action Coalition’s commitments, see the Forum’s microsite for commitment making

What does gender equality look like? Artists around the world share their vision

Date: Monday, June 21, 2021

Originally published on un-women.medium.com


We all have the potential to create meaningful change in the world around us. Whether by educating family and friends, speaking up on social media, challenging stereotypes through creative expression or otherwise, we can each promote gender equality and #ActForEqual every single day.

In the run up to the 2021 Generation Equality Forum — a landmark gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France in partnership with civil society and youth — we asked artists globally to visualize what gender equality means to them. We received more than 1000 inspirational submissions from creative advocates all over the world, each with its own vision of a gender equal future. Below, get inspired by some of our top picks and learn why these artists joined us to #ActForEqual.

Leaders of today

Acting for equal means … encouraging women to participate in politics.

 “Women from all places should be able to participate in decision-making forums and be part of the change. In politics, there’s a lack of support towards female leadership; in academia, I’ve witnessed very little presence of women in professorship in STEM fields. Young girls need more of these role models to look up to, so they can aspire to also reach leadership positions and serve as inspiration for the next generations.”

–Jessica Quispe, Illustrator, Peru


Equal pay for equal work

Acting for Equal means … equal pay for all in COVID-19 recovery. 

“As the majority of the global healthcare workforce, women play a key role in serving the most at-risk and remote populations. Still, they have to take care of their own health and safety even in undervalued or underpaid conditions. With most of them working directly with patients, they need to be empowered and respected for their opinions. Respecting equality and leadership for women health workers is crucial to COVID-19 recovery.”

–Andini Wijendaru, Fashion maker, Indonesia


Sisterhood

Acting for Equal means … standing up for our rights.

“I think everybody should feel concerned about the fight for gender equality. [The movement] gathers everyone who deeply wants to change mentalities and stereotypes we have to face every day. It’s up to all of us to help people find the place they desire and deserve in society, no matter their gender.”

–Mélissa Massol, Graphic designer, France


Safe and free everywhere

Acting for Equal means … recognizing our worth no matter what.

“‘Call me when you get home’, ‘Don’t go out alone’, ‘That area is very dangerous’, ‘Don’t go out in those clothes’ … These are phrases women hear all the time. I want the reality for women in my country, in Latin America and around the world to be different, that we can be seen as human beings and not as objects. My greatest wish is that women live free of violence in the streets and in their homes. Women have been underestimated or undervalued for a long time. We must remember that we are as valuable as any other human being.”

–Stephanie Lagunas, Landscape architect and illustrator, Mexico


Empower women

Acting for Equal means … sticking together to make sure everyone is treated the same.

“In almost every country and nation, women and girls are still denied basic rights simply because of their gender. Having said that, we are strong and powerful, we never let this keep us down. We keep fighting for what is rightfully ours and as past generations of women fought hard to get us to where we are now, we will keep fighting and it will get better. […] We can fight discrimination and harmful stereotypes, but we have to stick together and support each other!”

–Nikita Abuya, Digital illustrator and graphic designer, Kenya


Our bodies, our rules

Acting for Equal means … giving everyone control of their health.

“Countries all over the world are still fighting for access to women’s healthcare […] and this fight will continue for the foreseeable future. It’s an unfortunate truth that the rules around women’s health are often dictated by men in power, leading to policy that is often oppressive and sexist. I think it’s critically important for women worldwide to maintain autonomy of their bodies.”

–Ronan Lynam, Illustrator, United States


A healthy planet for all

Acting for Equal means … using my art to call for change.

“I believe that gender equality is important to create a safe and healthy environment for all humans. Women should be part of the decision-making at national and local levels regarding the allocation of resources for climate change initiatives. I believe that women can lead that change.”

–Sandra Maher Mohamed, Interior designer and visual artist, Egypt


Equal opportunities

Acting for Equal means … giving women the opportunity to grow.

“We’ve been underrepresented, belittled and ignored for far too long. And it is time we not only break the glass ceiling, but also soar further, in every sector and industry possible. Acting for gender equality is important because it signals continuous growth and as much representation as possible. The goal is to be so present that no girl ever has to doubt if being a woman will make it harder for them to achieve their dreams and aspirations.”

–Lucía Sancho Hernández, Content producer and illustrator, Costa Rica


Social protection for families

Acting for Equal means … removing gender obstacles to create a better world.

“Gender equality is important to build a sustainable society. It is very unfair when the society doesn’t sufficiently protect the economic rights of women after having children. Many women lose their jobs after being pregnant. This situation needs to be highlighted to bring economic equality for all!”

–Yuran Choi, Graphic designer and illustrator, Republic of Korea


Celebrate diversity, all voices

Acting for Equal means … uplifting all narratives.

“Acting for inclusion, diversity and LGBTQI+ rights means […] advocating for inclusive, supportive and brave spaces that allow for individuals to be seen, affirmed and celebrated. All of our voices, experiences and wisdom are needed to create the world we ALL want to live in […] Black women and Black marginalized genders are deserving of love, care, and support in ALL its forms!”

–Naimah Thomas, Art therapist and licensed professional counselor, United States


Let’s thrive together

Acting for Equal means … giving every person the chance to thrive.

“Acting for gender equality is important, because when it comes to politics, entrepreneurship or new initiatives, limiting talent to that of men is just that: limited talent. The world can witness so many more good ideas, progress and innovation by unleashing women’s talent and creativity. When every man and woman has equal opportunities to thrive, society gets to thrive as a whole, and this is what we should aim for.”

–Valeria Ciolac, Young politician and activist, Republic of Moldova

The future is female

Acting for Equal means … recognising your social responsibility.

“The future is female, females are the future. Our participation, care and education is essential to building a more equal and tolerable future […] I now work for an all-female studio […] that creates job opportunities and specifically outsources them to female creatives. My future truly is female.”

–Lené van Heerden, Associate Creative Director, South Africa

Stand up for our rights

Acting For Equal means … promoting actions that extend the freedom to practice basic human rights to everyone.

“Feminist activism is a reaction to the inequity of gender inequality. It seeks to redress an imbalance, to right a wrong. We are all human. As members of society, we should all contribute to making the world a better place for everyone.”

–Anna Markevich, Artist, Russian Federation


Women can do anything

Acting for Equal means … equal participation without discrimination.

“Gender Equality should be inclusive and yet we see the widest gap even in today’s time. A society prospers even better when we have women leaders. There are some people who still foolishly believe the idea that some sectors are male oriented. This belief needs to be addressed because there is nothing a woman cannot do! Thus, women should have access to every participation and opportunity as it is for men.”

–Sumedh Narnaware, Master’s design student, India


Respect one another

Acting for Equal means … treating everybody with kindness and respect.

“I see great activists of our times in all women who choose to love, support and stand up for another. I see bravery in the act of proudness of being a woman. I see us reclaiming our power in this gentle, yet so powerful web of mutual adoration. I hope that wounds from the past will heal, giving place for next generations to live in equality freely and proudly.”

–Agata Sobiepanna, Artist, Poland


Like what you see? Check out all of the submissions here. Share this on social media and let us know why you stand for gender equality using #ActForEqual and #GenerationEquality.

UN Women statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

Date: Friday, June 18, 2021

UN Women expresses its grave concern at the continued use of sexual violence as a tactic of war, terrorism and political repression and calls on all parties to conflicts to commit to ceasing such acts.

Sexual violence in conflict disproportionately impacts women and girls and causes grave and lasting harm to survivors, their families and their communities, posing major barriers to peace and development. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed women and girls in conflict and crisis settings to sexual violence and has exacerbated existing barriers to survivors’ access to multisectoral services and justice. This makes our efforts to promote gender equality and achieve peace, as well as just and inclusive societies, all the more urgent and relevant.

The best way to address any type of human rights violation, including sexual violence in conflict, is to prevent it from happening in the first place, which is why it is crucial to address gender inequality as a root cause of this scourge. As the world plans its recovery from the pandemic, we need to take an inclusive, intersectional and informed approach, one that recognizes that achieving durable peace and prosperous societies is not possible without women’s expertise, meaningful participation and leadership.

For the past year, UN Women has been working in close partnership with civil society, Member States, UN Entities, regional organizations, young people and other stakeholders within the framework of the Generation Equality Forum to build a global Compact on Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action and to draft a blueprint for accelerated action through the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence and others. Together these provide a once in a generation opportunity over the next five years to commit to actions to ensure more effective sexual violence prevention and response, to protect and promote the work of women peacebuilders, humanitarian service providers and human rights defenders, and to ensure women’s leadership in all peace and humanitarian decision-making processes.

Today, as we observe the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, UN Women looks ahead to the Generation Equality Forum in Paris and the opportunities that it brings for collective actions that avert repeated cycles of violence and build inclusive and durable peace.

I am Generation Equality: Souhaila Nassar, changing the image of refugees
Billions of people across the world stand on the right side of history every day. They speak up, take a stand, mobilize, and take big and small actions to advance women’s rights. This is Generation Equality.

Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021



Souhaila Nassar, 33, works to support other women and girl refugees in Lebanon. Photo Courtesy of Souhaila Nassar
I am Generation Equality because…

Three ways to support refugee women and girls:
Promote access to education and extracurriculars
Encourage the dreams and aspirations of refugee girls

Ensure equity and diversity in classrooms
I want people to know that refugee women are just like other women.

I'm a Palestinian refugee but I was born in the United Arab Emirates. After the war broke out in Kuwait, my parents were afraid that something might happen to us. When I was three years old, we came to Burj Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon.

I was always a distinguished student in school, and I dreamed of going to the American University of Beirut (AUB). But it was just a dream. I had no money. I remember how hard it was to see all my friends go to that university. Instead, I enrolled at a local Lebanese university and studied biochemistry.

When I graduated, I wanted to get a Master’s degree, so I started saving; however, I live in a very conservative community where some people think after a girl graduates there is nothing else for her to do besides get married and have children. But that was never really on my list. Even so, I followed their direction and got engaged. Shortly after, we decided to break up and he asked my family to pay him back for [money he spent during our] engagement." .

We were a poor family, so there was no way for us to get this money. I gave him all my savings for my Master’s degree.

This made me even more persistent, and again I started saving. After five years, I registered at AUB and again I became a distinguished student and I got the honor to assist a professor with research. Currently I’m working on my thesis.

Contrary to what people think, being a refugee gives you a bigger drive to pursue education because I knew it would change my life and my future. It’s offered me a better job, more self-confidence, more connections. As a society we need to reconceptualize our view of refugees.

Humanitarian response should consider the needs of women and girls

As a young girl, my school did not have extracurricular activities like sports or music and there were no places in the camp where girls could play or express themselves.

The Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA Compact) is an inter-generational, inclusive movement which calls for the redesign of peace and security and humanitarian processes to systematically and meaningfully include women and girls – including peacebuilders, refugees, other forcibly displaced and stateless women and girls – in the decisions that impact their lives. To find out more, visit www.wpshacompact.org.

The boys would play football in the alleyways, but the girls were told it was inappropriate.

I heard there were organizations in our camp that offered spaces to meet other children and do something other than put my head in my books.

When I was 11 years old, I found the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization, which supports refugee women in Lebanon, providing equal opportunities for them to work and study and help children realize their full potential. I also learned to play several musical instruments.

As a refugee, I really want children, and particularly young girls, to have these interactive experiences outside of traditional learning and to have room to express themselves in their education.
Women deserve equal rights and opportunities

A woman is a human being. Just like a man has the right to decide to get married whenever he wants and to choose what he wants to do in his life, a woman should also be able to make the same choices. Men work to get money for their families, but I’m doing that right now too. I can do all the same things a man can.

However, men need to be part of the solution. I’m living in a community where many girls want to pursue education, but their fathers say, “no, you are 22 years old and you need to get married.” If men can recognize [women’s] rights and regard them as equals, then they will be part of the solution.

My dream is to get a PhD in education, probably with a focus on translanguaging, because children have the right to quality education. Many children, particularly refugees and immigrants, are learning science, language and math in a language other than their own, but they should be able to understand what they are learning. I’m interested in ensuring equality and diversity in the classroom.


Souhaila Nassar, 33 came to Burj Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon as a young child. After learning and growing from the services of the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization, Nassar now works to support other young refugees.

Take five: “Everyone should understand how they can become an agent of change”

Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021


Céline Bonnaire. Photo: Jean Luc Perreard
Céline Bonnaire is the Executive Director of the Kering Foundation. She also represents the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Gender-based Violence, working to develop catalytic actions and commitments to advance gender equality. Bonnaire prioritizes scaling up comprehensive, accessible and quality services for survivors of gender-based violence against women and girls in all their diversity.

What is the state of gender-based violence around the world and what impact has COVID-19 had on this?

Although awareness of violence against women has increased significantly over the past few years, one in three women worldwide continues to experience physical or sexual violence during her lifetime, mostly perpetrated by an intimate partner. Since the beginning of the pandemic and the strict lockdown measures, data shows an alarming increase in calls to domestic violence helplines and specialist organizations.

Our partner specialist organizations faced increased demand, yet were forced to reduce and/or cancel services, reorganize shelters and helpline staff to ensure safety, find ways to develop new resources and mechanisms to address domestic violence and more. This, of course, had a direct impact on survivors: access to counselling, emergency housing, legal support, and medical appointments became much more difficult.



“After this Forum, everyone should understand how they can become an agent of change and promote gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence at all levels.”



We also see that survivors of domestic violence are struggling to remain financially independent and (re)build their autonomy. Women working low-paid and informal jobs are more likely to lose their income during this time: approximately 47 more million women and girls will be pushed to extreme poverty because of COVID-19. This, of course, has a direct impact on women survivors, who may become increasingly dependent on their abuser, making it even more difficult to leave their household. The lack of economic agency also increases women and girls’ vulnerability to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

As we look forward, we must ensure that the specialist organizations supporting survivors have the means and resources necessary to continue providing comprehensive and live-saving services to women.

Why did your organization sign up to play a leadership role in the Action Coalition on Gender-based Violence?

In 2008, Chairman and CEO of Kering, François-Henri Pinault, founded the Kering Foundation to end violence against women. He wanted the Group to focus on a cause where it could make a real difference and we have been focused on this for the past 13 years, with key feminist partnerships at the centre of our strategy.

Our ambition is to share our experience, our network, scale-up our work and mobilize a broader group of companies to join us in combatting gender-based violence. We firmly believe that everyone has a role to play in putting an end to violence against women, and that is why one of the key streams of work that we focus on at the Kering Foundation is around bringing other actors on board to take collective action. This is the same multi-stakeholder cooperation approach that the Action Coalitions are based on, meaning that becoming a leader was a natural step.

The regular and inclusive conversations we have among the leaders of our Action Coalition are about breaking silos, listening to each other’s views and taking a long-term perspective. From these discussions, it has become clear that organizations combatting violence against women are all facing the same challenges, including backlash, a lack of funding and capacity. This recognition has led us to some very concrete ambitions. We have defined clear objectives, targets and indicators, and will make actionable commitments to tackle these barriers – I am confident that we will make effective and transformative change, using an intersectional lens, for women and girls in all their diversity.

What change is most urgently needed in the sphere of gender-based violence, and what action(s) will make a catalytic difference in realizing this?

I think the most urgent needs are highlighted through the four main actions that we have designed in our Action Coalition, which consider the need to have more states ratifying international and regional conventions, as well as more actors in the public and private sector adopting action plans to end gender-based violence.

We also prioritize implementing and financing evidence-driven prevention strategies, particularly those that work with the younger generation to put an end to intergenerational cycles of violence and engage men and boys in the conversation.

Transforming funding is another urgent priority that we highlight. While everyone agrees that women’s rights organizations need to receive better funding, when you look at where the money goes, women- and girls-led organizations are receiving just 7 per cent of global philanthropic funding. That’s why we are focusing on increasing the amount of quality, flexible funding from states, private sector and other donors to girl-led and women’s organizations, as well as the broader need to scale-up and improve financing of coordinated survivor centred services.

What do you expect from the Generation Equality Forum taking place in Paris, from 30 June to 2 July?

An important outcome would be to succeed in securing sets of concrete commitments for gender equality from diverse participants. We have this great leadership group for each Action Coalition, but it is time for new commitment makers to join the initiative and help make change happen. It is especially vital that we get more companies involved and signing up to take steps to put an end to gender-based violence.



“My #ActForEqual is to continue combating violence against women, by supporting survivors and implementing effective prevention programmes.”



After this Forum, everyone should understand how they can become an agent of change and promote gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence at all levels. I hope to see increased attention and support for needs-driven, survivor-led organizations that ensure women survivors receive holistic and comprehensive care and access to services. At a personal and societal level, we can act by volunteering and donating to women’s rights organizations, as well as by raising awareness of the vital work they do and the resources they provide.

At the institutional level, in line with the International Labour Organisation Convention 190, I would like to see the implementation of internal systems to support survivors of domestic violence – from trainings to understanding the complexities of this violence and the impact on the workplace, to dedicated internal policies that outline concrete measures in place.

What motivates you personally to keep driving for change?

From a professional standpoint, since day one, I have been constantly amazed by the resilience and the strength of women survivors. I keep doing this work because I think that supporting these women moves us in the right direction and because I want a future where there are no more women that have to be survivors of violence.

In my personal life, I have two children: a boy and a girl. I am raising them as feminists, but can clearly see how harmful stereotypes start early and how difficult it is when the gender equitable messages they receive at home are countered by the messages that they receive at school, on television programmes, video games and so on. It’s very challenging to try and keep the balance and I want to see these gender norms shifted.

Read more about the Action Coalitions here.

I am Generation Equality: Wanjuhi Njoroge, climate activist and entrepreneur from the foot of Mount Kenya
Billions of people across the world stand on the right side of history every day. They speak up, take a stand, mobilize, and take big and small actions to advance women’s rights. This is Generation Equality.

Date: Monday, June 14, 2021

Originally published on UN Women's regional website for Africa



Wanjuhi has been leading community development projects since 2015. In 2020 she set up People Planet Africa - an enterprise assisting organisations, government and communities to prioritise the planet. Photo: Studio 90z Photography
Three things you can do to increase women’s participation in climate issues:
Educate and create awareness at the community level.
Ensure climate action is not punitive, it does not undermine livelihoods.
Seek women’s knowledge – traditional/indigenous knowledge remains untapped, we must be deliberately inclusive to address climate issues.

I am Generation Equality because...

I grew up surrounded by very strong women; my grandmothers, my mother and the resilient women of my village. The rural woman in Kenya often surmounts the unimaginable to simply stand on her own two feet - I always wonder how much she could achieve with a level playing field. These women remain my greatest motivation. I am the daughter of an activist; as primary school teacher, my mother was among the organizers of the landmark teacher’s strike of 1997. I also grew up with a tree-hugger for a father, I’ve lost count of the number of trees I’ve planted! 

Urgent actions for equality

There are many urgent issues, but I would narrow it down to two; climate change and quality leadership. Nature is revenging fast and it’s rough! Kenya’s constitution affords the rights to access to clean air and, to have the environment protected for current and future generations. It has a number of Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitments to climate change but we are the only country in Africa that has a climate change act that has never been implemented.

The COVID-19 pandemic also exposed us to glaring leadership gaps globally. There’s an urgent need for the world to nurture a generation of leaders who lead with heart. You need leaders with a heart who prioritize people and planet over profits to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. 

The intersection of climate change and gender 

Climate change and gender are intertwined because women are disproportionately affected, and more vulnerable to environmental disasters and extreme weather events. In Kenya, women are less economically empowered than men with little access to land and property rights. They are more likely to live in poverty after environmental disasters and displacements. Displacement and migration caused by crises also exposes them to an increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence and psychological torture. It is worth noting that this is not a one shoe fits all scenario. For instance, issues of vulnerability that are faced by urban women are much more linked to issues around pollution, waste and water management, whereas in rural areas, it’s more about agriculture. 

I feel that that there is not enough action. Conversations are in cosy rooms, but we need to get out. I do a lot of work with rural communities. Education is so important; I am only here because I had an education. In some areas you’ll find the only job for a man is to marry women – and the women’s job is to have children. I heard a story of a mother of eight who tried to access family planning, she was beaten. This is why we need to have these conversations, and this is where these conversation needs to happen.


Wanjuhi Njoroge, 31, was raised in Nyeri County, Kenya, in a rural town that sits at the foot of Mount Kenya. Passionate about her community, she established a library in her village in 2017 and supporting local farmers to move to more sustainable farming practices. In 2019 she joined the Kenyan national chapter of the African Women Leader’s Network (AWLN), an action-oriented movement of African women leaders to transform sustainable peace, security and development issues on the continent

G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council presents recommendations to drive global gender equality

Date: Friday, June 11, 2021

Originally published on g7uk.org

The Chair of the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC), Sarah Sands, will join the Cornwall Summit this afternoon in a virtual presentation to G7 Leaders of the Council’s recommendations, which were published today. GEAC member, Nobel peace prize laureate and gynaecologist, Dr. Denis Mukwege, will also outline the importance of G7 action to address sexual violence in conflict.

The GEAC is an independent group of experts who were convened by Prime Minister Boris Johnson under the UK’s G7 Presidency. The GEAC is responsible for championing the core principles of freedom, opportunity, individual humanity and dignity for women and girls around the world.

Against the backdrop of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the GEAC’s recommendations focus on education, economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls.

Minister for Women & Equalities, Liz Truss, said:

“The UK has a proud history of championing the rights of women and girls both here and across the globe.

“I’m pleased that we are using our presidency of the G7 to put women at the heart of our recovery from COVID-19 through the work of the Gender Equality Advisory Council.

“These recommendations will help us drive forward a strong agenda on women’s rights, both domestically and internationally, and I look forward to working with GEAC members as we build back better.”

Chair of the Gender Equality Advisory Council, Sarah Sands, said:

“We are at an historic moment for women and girls. The pandemic stopped the clocks of social change: now we must accelerate into a recovery. An extraordinary council of women, many of them scientists and all of them brandishing evidence, put their minds to finding solutions.

"Our recommendations are now published and we shall hold leaders to account by measuring change.

"GEAC calls for guaranteed education for girls, for paths into green jobs, for access to capital and for digital inclusion. We want real representation of women, a level playing field in the work place and liberation from sexual violence and online abuse.

"Women and girls have astonishing potential. We challenge the G7 to unleash it.”

Members of the 2021 GEAC include world-leading scientists, business leaders, economists, public sector leaders, human rights and democracy advocates and international development experts, from across the G7 countries and beyond. The first meeting of the GEAC took place in April, and the second in May.

The GEAC’s recommendations include calls for:

Targeted pandemic response and recovery plans that take account of the needs of women and girls;
At least 12 years of gender-transformative education for all;
Strengthened public investment in social care infrastructure – including childcare – to address gender imbalances in care work, both paid and unpaid;
Greater opportunities for women to thrive in the modern economy, including trading relationships that support women’s economic empowerment around the world;
A gender-responsive approach to climate financing, investment and policies, and investment in education and life-long learning to ensure that women and girls can benefit from the ‘green revolution’;
Progress towards achieving gender parity in STEM education and careers;
Action to address the digital gender divide and to counteract algorithm bias which puts women, girls and marginalised groups at a disadvantage;
An end to the stereotyping and unequal treatment of women in the media, including by supporting the Generation Equality Forum Charter of Commitments for Cultural and Creative Industries;
Global action to end violence against women and girls through increased investment in prevention and response; the ratification of relevant conventions, and enhanced support for eradicating female genital mutilation (FGM).
Action to tackle online harassment and abuse of women and girls;
Condemnation of sexual violence used as a weapon of war as an international red line, and greater multilateral action to address it; and
A clear mechanism to monitor progress and accountability on commitments on gender equality in the G7.
Following the G7 Summit, the GEAC will produce a full report as to how the G7 should work together so that women across the globe drive forward and benefit from the pandemic recovery.

Op-ed: World leaders must put women at centre of COVID-19 recovery
By UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Date: Friday, June 11, 2021

Originally published on weforum.org

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, women and girls around the world confronted a gender gap that left them less able to step into leadership roles, earn a fair wage, or access quality health care or education.

The economic and health impacts of the pandemic have turned that gap into a chasm, and risk undoing much of the even modest progress achieved in reducing pre-pandemic gender inequalities.

Not a single country in the world can boast of being gender equal – a fact that is straining health systems, widening socio-economic gaps and undermining social protection.

It is also stalling economic growth. Economic modeling from the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that advancing women’s equality could add trillions of dollars to global growth, boosting prospects for even the least-resourced countries in the world to improve the quality of life for their entire populations.

As G7 countries meet this week, and as all countries look to rebuild greener, more resilient and gender-equal economies in the wake of the pandemic, they must elevate the richness of the diversity of women’s talents, ideas and innovations in decision-making spaces.

Yet women hold just 26.1 per cent of 35,500 parliamentary seats across 156 countries. They represent just 29 per cent of those in senior management – and are even more absent from executive roles.

Despite these almost ubiquitous challenges, with bold policies to boost women’s economic empowerment, now is a critical moment to shift course and accelerate constructive change.

The Generation Equality Forum in Paris (30 June - 2 July), offers another pivotal moment to create that much-needed change. At this landmark conference, we are calling for governments, companies and organizations to join us to make bold commitments to advance gender equality.

We are mobilizing around a Global Acceleration Plan centred around six Action Coalitions, including one focused squarely on economic justice and rights. The Action Coalitions bring together the broad range of actors needed to drive progress forward now and post COVID-19 – setting civil-society activists shoulder-to-shoulder with trade unions, parliamentary representatives, business leaders and government agencies.

By the time of the Paris Forum, we hope that these multilateral, inter-generational and vibrant partnerships will have catalyzed well-financed and transformational commitments for the six Action Coalitions and for the Compact for Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action.

How to create more equal economies
What could transformative commitments look like in the arena of economic justice and rights? And how could they create more resilient and equal economies as the world re-builds?

One way is by committing to supporting and resourcing care work. The care sector in too many economies, both industrialized and developing, remains poorly understood and inadequately resourced. During COVID-19, it has come under particularly acute pressure, with women and girls shouldering the majority of the burden.

Underinvestment in care – for children, for aging parents, for those requiring additional support – reflects a dangerous misconception that care is "free" (read: women’s work) with little bearing on social and economic development. Any government seeking a strong return on their fiscal recovery package must invest in the care sector, providing well paid, safe care options that recognize, reduce and redistribute the current unpaid care work in homes.

They must also reward care workers and guarantee their labor rights, including through universal safety nets that extend beyond the formal sector. Only when care is at the center of social and economic policies will a better future of work be possible for women and men with family responsibilities.

Another way is by creating more decent and equally paid work for women. Commitments in this arena might focus on reskilling and redeployment to get women back to work as well as into professions that have traditionally been male-dominated. Commitments to advance this goal might include access to technology and targeted job training programmes.

In addition, setting targets for women in leadership and management through potential-based hiring will power new leaps in women’s representation and leadership across existing and emerging professions. Such investments will also offer businesses a competitive advantage.

Another essential component of a gender-equal post-COVID economy is a commitment to close the gender wage gap. This will require reinvestment strategies that improve work quality and pay standards across currently low-paid essential work, much of which remains "female". Addressing wage inequality will offer broader social protection and do much to address extreme poverty and the shadow pandemic of men’s violence against women and girls, at home, in public spaces and at work, which has added a further dimension to the far-reaching damage caused by the current crisis.

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.

Committing to the Generation Equality Global Acceleration Plan will set us on the path towards a more sustainable and just future, to ensure prosperity for all, and the realization of the 2030 Agenda. I invite all countries, businesses, civil society and youth organizations to join us by making a commitment.

Op-ed: Establishing Generation Equality
By UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Originally published on globalgovernanceproject.org

Despite almost ubiquitous challenges, there are positive solutions that we can apply to steer our societies and economies out of the disastrous impact of COVID-19 and into constructive change. They require a recognition of some of the previously underestimated underlying factors that the pandemic stressors have brought to light.

The G7’s decisive commitment to gender-responsive stimulus packages that truly respond to women’s needs will be critical. Several governments have already taken unprecedented measures, strengthening access to health care, cash transfers, paid sick leave and unemployment benefits. Yet while some of these measures will benefit women, far too few are being designed or implemented with women’s rights or needs in mind. As the UNDP/UN Women COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker shows, only 18 per cent of the global social protection and jobs response so far have targeted either women’s economic security or addressed the rise in unpaid care work. Current forecasts are that without a change in course, another 47 million more women will drop into extreme poverty this year, reversing decades of progress.

We look to governments and to all those who control power, resources and influence to become the champions of what we call ‘Generation Equality’, shaping a future together that dismantles the barriers to women’s progress through working across generations and sectors on priority issues. I invite all G7 countries to join Generation Equality’s Global Acceleration Plan that convenes collective action around six themes including economic justice and rights, gender-based violence, feminist action for climate justice and technology and innovation for gender equality, with targets to guide action and investment for the next five years.

For example, the pandemic has confirmed that care for children and other family members is essential, life-sustaining work that needs investments in both public and private quality care services. It also requires the creation of new, well paid, safe care jobs that recognize, reduce and redistribute the current unpaid care work in homes, and that reward careworkers and guarantee their labour rights. In turn, such changes need an enabling legal and policy environment.

Among the G7, Canada has recently promised significant fiscal resources to achieve affordable childcare for all, specifically committing to improving the pay and conditions of care sector workers. The new US administration has recognized that care is infrastructure, alongside roads and bridges, pledging investments of $400 billion. Every G7 country should have and implement gender-responsive macro-economic plans, budget reforms and stimulus packages so that the number of women and girls living in poverty is significantly reduced including through quality public social protection floors and systems. Now is the moment for the other G7 countries to follow suit in supporting the care economy, and then championing women’s economic justice and rights to the rest of the world.

Even before the pandemic hit, women’s employment was often concentrated in the most vulnerable informal jobs. During the pandemic, women have lost their jobs at a faster rate than men, with particularly devastating consequences for the economic autonomy of women with care responsibilities, with labour market vulnerabilities even worse for the most excluded – including women with disabilities, migrant, refugee women, and small farmers.

Lost income and employment, food insecurity and substance abuse has been linked in recent studies to increased risk of men’s violence against women and girls, exacerbating the prevalent domestic and other forms of violence. Young women aged between 15 and 24 often the worst affected and there are well-grounded fears that other forms of violence, such as FGM and child marriage, are also on the increase.

I urge G7 countries to join the Global Acceleration Plan to tackle gender-based violence and commit to ratify international and regional conventions; to scale up implementation and financing of evidence-driven prevention strategies; as well as to scale up implementation and financing of survivor-centered, comprehensive, quality, accessible and affordable services for survivors; and support women’s rights organizations, activists and movements, including those working to address gender-based violence against women and girls in all their diversity.

Progress will also depend on generating much-needed financial resources, especially for developing countries. The new US administration is demonstrating global leadership by calling on the International Monetary Fund to issue special drawing rights, which will provide emergency funds for developing countries to pay off unsustainable debt, fund vaccines or invest in social protection for their people. Meanwhile, a new global minimum tax rate proposed by the UN and now also supported by the US would help to stem the tide of tax evasion and avoidance, and ensure that everyone makes a fair contribution to the kind of world we want for the next generation.

Crises of the magnitude we face today call for big, bold ideas and extraordinary levels of global solidarity and cooperation to implement them. The Generation Equality Action Coalitions bring together the broad range of actors needed to drive progress forward, including member states civil society, young people, the private sector, philanthropies, and many more, aiming towards a more sustainable and just future, to ensure prosperity for all.

World Environment Day

Statement: Women and girls must be at the heart of the fight for climate justice
Statement by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka for World Environment Day, 5 June 2021

Date: Saturday, June 5, 2021

Gender equality and climate justice are inextricably linked. In any climate crisis, it is women and girls who often face the greatest impacts from environmental degradation and natural disasters – from increased poverty to escalations in gender-based violence. Yet despite creating and leading solutions, they are all too often missing from formal climate leadership, innovation and jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified many of these inequalities.

Gender-responsive climate and environmental action starts with ensuring women have equal access to productive resources, such as finance, land, water and clean energy. It must also support women’s skills-building, advocacy and access to technologies, with disaggregated data to inform planning and action.

Ahead of this month’s Generation Equality Forum in Paris, we have an opportunity to put women and girls at centre stage in the fight for climate justice and a decisive shift towards a greener economy. The Forum’s Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice has put together a concrete agenda that includes financing women’s and girls’ climate solutions, supporting the efforts of women – in particular at grassroots and rural levels – to respond to climate crises, and increasing the number of women in climate and environmental leadership and jobs. They are calling on organizations around the world to join them in making commitments to advance women’s climate resilience and leadership.

The coalition’s work envisions a world with equitable access to climate finance, technologies and knowledge, and where the voices and solutions of grassroots and indigenous women are respected and amplified.

This World Environment Day, let’s demand concrete actions that will advance gender equality and combat climate change for a more equal and sustainable world.

We are Generation Equality: Youth champions for change

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Billions of people are standing up for what they believe in – an equal world for all. They come from all countries, ages, and represent diverse backgrounds. Together, they are Generation Equality.

From 31 May to 6 June, we’re celebrating the #ActForEqual Week of Action and showcasing young leaders and their activism. Learn from them why the Generation Equality Forum is important for all generations. It’s up to all of us, and the Generation Equality Action Coalitions, to accelerate concrete change for women and girls.

Join us by reading the perspectives of youth from around the world who are leaders and changemakers, and sharing their stories.

Lana Ghneim, Jordan

Lana Ghneim, 23, from Jordan, is a member of the HeForShe campaign in Jordan, a solidarity movement for the advancement of gender equality led by UN Women. Photo: UN Women/Lauren Rooney
Lana Ghneim, 23, has seen inequality through her own eyes. She saw how families treated their daughters and sons differently, and saw girls being forced to leave their education for marriages. She knew it wasn’t right.

“I became more aware of inequalities among genders and social classes and began to try to change the world around me,” Lana says.

She started volunteering with international organizations and movements, like UN Women’s HeForShe, and realized how important it was to her to have a positive impact on the lives of those around her, especially among youth and the next generation.

“It’s important to begin teaching gender equality to younger generations through education and media campaigns. People need to be exposed to these messages regularly; normalizing gender equality is one of the most important issues in Jordan,” Lana says. “If we don’t push for change now, future generations will face the same challenges.”

Majandra Rodriguez Acha, Peru

Majandra Rodriguez Acha from Lima, Peru is a Co-Executive Director at FRIDA, The Young Feminist Fund, the co-founder and former co-coordinator of TierrActiva Perú. Photo: UN Women/Amanda Voisard
For Majandra Rodriguez Acha, a key part of both feminism and climate action is recognizing the intersections of inequality and discrimination, and using your voice and power to improve life for all.

“I recognize that those who are most impacted by gender-based violence and by gender inequalities, are also the most impoverished and marginalized – black and brown women, indigenous women, women in rural areas, young girls, girls living with disabilities, trans youth and gender non-conforming youth,” says Majandra. “That is not okay and it’s not what anyone deserves. We deserve better. We can do better.”

Majandra, a member of UN Women’s Beijing+25 Youth Task Force, works to empower youth, especially those from marginalized or underrepresented groups, to be leaders in the climate justice movement.

“Young people are in a lot of ways the solution,” she says. “We're living through a historic moment in terms of the climate crisis, which young people did not create, but we do have an option of leading the way to centring respect for nature, and respect for each other.”

Munnira Katongole, South Africa

Munnira Katongole. Photo courtesy of Munnira Katongole.
Munnira Katongole, 17, describes herself as an unapologetic, radical Black feminist. Sick of seeing girls and women suffer, she advocates for including the voices of girls and young women at the centre of all decision-making, especially in social justice and climate change movements.

“The world as we know was built on the backs of women of color and continues to be vivified by young women of colour. We are not asking to be listened to, we are not owed favours, we WILL have our rightful and due seats at the table,” Munnira says. “Young women of colour are the experts of their reality. We don’t need your aid; we need your accountable solidarity.”

Munnira, a member of the South African Institute of International Affairs’ Youth Policy Committee on climate, recognizes that youth, especially African youth, make up a good portion of the population, meaning they cannot be excluded from policy-making settings.

“There must be deep, just transition, politically informed by the voices and needs of all people, especially, the poor and vulnerable communities,” she says. “Youth are now. Youth are the future.”

Navya Naveli Nanda, India

Nanda shows her messages outside Fashion Institute of Technology In New York City, on 3 April 2021. Behind her is a student-painted mural on the theme of Black Lives Matter, with a focus on empowering black women. Photo: Courtesy of Gauri Kanade
After being inspired by the progress made towards ending period poverty in other countries, Navya Naveli Nanda, 23, co-founded a start-up that creates scientifically-backed health care products for women in India, and spreads awareness about women’s health topics that are often stigmatized in the country. 

“I remember hearing about Scotland becoming the first country to make period products free,” Navya says. “I want to make that also possible in my country, where every day, women are struggling to access menstrual hygiene products and health care. I want to see this achieved in my lifetime, that’s why I started out so young. We are responsible for building the world we want to live in.”

Now, Navya works to improve not only access to menstrual hygiene products, but to spread education and end the taboo that leads to harmful customs. She also hopes to encourage other young people to become advocates for equality in their everyday lives.

“Educating yourself about the problem moves you one step closer to the solution. Educate those around you about pressing issues faced by women today,” she says. “Even the smallest acts of resistance can make a difference.”

Ajna Jusic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ajna Jusić, 26 years old, is the President of the Forgotten Children of War Association. Photo: UN Women/Maria Sanchez
Ajna Jusic, 26, was born out of rape during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After coming across a detailed account of what had happened to her mother in a research text, Ajna committed to connecting with others who shared her experience and advocating for her mother’s rights.

“In 2015, 15 of us met up for the first time. For three hours nobody said a word. We just sat there and realized, for the first time, that we were not alone,” Ajna says.

As the President of the Forgotten Children of War Association, Ajna works towards the recognition of herself and other children of war-time rape as a vulnerable group in order to improve their access to healthcare, psychological and legal support and education grants.

“We do not want to be invisible; we want to be treated equally,” Ajna says.

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

About the author

Susan Ferguson. Photo: Yvonne Fafungian
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.

Thousands of Indians have been affected by the latest COVID-19 outbreak. Not only those suffering from the disease, but also those who care for them.

Just as with the first wave and as with countless disasters before them, women have taken on the heavy burden of caring for the sick and finding ways to meet their family’s basic needs. The combination of illness, unpaid care, economic slowdown, lack of access to financing for female entrepreneurs, and domestic violence has left many women unable to return to work.

Much of this is attributable to a long history of seeing the work women do as unimportant in the “real world” of the economy, and as unworthy of value in the household. A recent Oxford report shows that Indian women and girls put in 3.26 billion hours of unpaid care work every day — a contribution of at least ₹19 trillion a year to the Indian economy.[1] Yet in India, duties performed at home have historically not been considered “work,” due to norms of gender and caste.

If these trends aren’t reversed, it will have a devastating impact on the economy while further exacerbating gender inequality. For this generation of women to emerge relatively unscathed from this pandemic and be able to return to the workforce, we must invest seriously in the livelihoods of women and girls in our country.

India has now lost over 300,000 people to the virus and that number continues to rise as the country struggles to deal with a new, deadly variant that has overwhelmed its healthcare capacity. Rural parts of the country are reliant on the incredible dedication of front-line women workers: Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers (Accredited Social Health Activist), community health workers and nurses, along with civil society organisers and volunteers.

This predominantly female workforce has been seriously overstretched. The ASHA programme has only been around for 15 years, but often they’re the only line of defence in remote areas. These women have been hailed as national heroes for the hazardous work they have done, which has at times led to illness and death due to lack of protective gear. Many also face verbal and physical abuse during door-to-door surveys.

The accolades and appreciation — which are not tied to any economic benefits or opportunities — serve as an ironic reminder that these women are still often required to perform double duty in the form of seemingly endless unpaid labour at home. Public spending in India on healthcare is only one percent of its GDP, which is far less than many other developing nations. Indeed, the Anganwadi and ASHA programmes technically qualify as volunteer work.

This devaluation of “women’s work” is reflected in the home. India’s First Time Use Survey states that while Indian men spend 80 percent of their working hours on paid work, women spend nearly 84 percent of their working hours on unpaid labour. According to NITI Aayog, women spend 9.8 times the time that men do on unpaid domestic chores. In a country with a high proportion of multigenerational households, women spend on average 4.5 hours a day caring for children, elders and ill or disabled persons, compared with less than one hour for men.

The COVID-19 outbreak has only exacerbated this situation, and its impact on women’s participation in the formal economy is clear. Many women have had to stop working formally to devote themselves solely to unpaid work. In the decade before the pandemic, female labour force participation had already been trending downward, making women’s earned income in India just one-fifth that of men’s — well below the global average.

Over the years, the Government of India and the States have taken initiatives to increase women’s participation in the workforce. Starting from removing restrictions on women’s right to work at night in factories or appointments as board members, to comprehensive maternity benefits and protection from sexual harassment at the workplace. Initiatives such as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, the Skill India Mission, and Startup India all have progressive policies, programmes, and legislations. Despite these important initiatives, the decline in women’s labour force participation has not yet been reversed.

After the recent outbreak of this pandemic, there is a risk that this exodus from the workplace could become permanent. This would decimate both women’s livelihoods and the economy at large. On the other hand, according to IMF estimates, equal participation of women in the workforce would increase India’s GDP by 27 percent. [2]

This crisis can be avoided if India increases its public investments in the formal and informal care economies and taps into the job creation potential of the care economy.

As per the ILO, demand for care jobs (caring for children, people with disabilities, and the elderly, both in urban and rural areas) will increase with working parents and an aging population. According to simulation results, increasing investment in the care economy to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 may generate 69 million jobs in India.[3] Analysis shows that if another two percent of GDP were earmarked for the Indian healthcare system, it would create millions of jobs, many of which would go to women.

It is vital that women working on healthcare’s front lines are recognized as formal workers and have the same benefits and protections as any comparable occupation. The implementation of progressive childcare and leave policies would also help relieve the burden.

But there also needs to be a mindset shift that recognizes the value of this equally vital unpaid work. In fact, Indian politicians have recently taken the unprecedented step of pledging to pay women for their unpaid labour, a move that activists have long been calling for — one which could be adopted in the rest of the world.

Some have criticized such proposals, saying that they would merely entrench gender stereotypes and discourage women from entering the formal workforce. That is why, over the long term, policies of this kind must be combined with ones that help women take part in the formal workforce if they so choose. These include initiatives that help women entrepreneurs find and obtain financing for their initiatives — something they have struggled to access in the past.

It also includes expanding educational opportunities for women and girls. UN Women India’s Second Chance Education programme is a good example of how we can simultaneously address the pandemic recovery and offer opportunities for women to advance their careers, by training front-line health workers while providing employment pathways.

We need to also consider the persistent issue of income inequality. We consistently see larger wage gaps in countries in which women perform longer unpaid work hours. While this situation has improved over the years in India, investing in the care infrastructure will ensure women do not opt for lower-paying jobs when looking for roles that trade flexibility for hourly pay, due to the demands at home. Private sector involvement is also critical in this area: family-friendly workplace policies are beneficial to women workers and can profit the entire economy.

In the end, it will come down to changing attitudes, sharing the burden equally and dismantling the idea that domestic labour is exclusively the domain of women. Whether it’s at home, in the office or in the field, we must stop taking women’s wprk for granted.

Donate to help women in India severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis ►

Notes
[1] https://www.oxfamindia.org/press-release/timetocare-india

[2] https://in.one.un.org/unibf/gender-equality/.

[3] Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work: Key findings in Asia and the Pacific, ILO, 2018 (https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/care-economy/WCMS_633305/lang--en/index.htm).

Countdown begins towards the Generation Equality Forum

Date: Monday, June 21, 2021

The Generation Equality Forum – a milestone event for global action and investment in gender equality – will take place virtually and in Paris France 30 June – 2 July 2021. With over 22,000 participants already registered from all sectors of society, excitement is building.

World leaders including French and Mexican Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Andrés Manuel López Obrador; Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta; President of Argentina Alberto Fernández; Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, Tunisia President Kaïs Saïed and United States Vice President Kamala Harris will take part in the event, along with co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda Gates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, the President of Ford Foundation Darren Walker and the Executive Director of the Global Partnership for Education Alice P. Albright.

Hillary Clinton, whose speech declaring that “women’s rights are human rights” was an iconic moment in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, is also scheduled to attend and speak. She will join dynamic speakers from feminist and youth movements, civil society, philanthropy, governments and the private sector – all to be announced in coming days.

Organizations and members of the public can take part in the Forum in two important ways:

Register to attend the Forum. Registration for the virtual Forum is free.
Make a commitment. Organizations can submit commitments for investment and action on gender equality to become part of this important moment for re-energized action on gender equality. The deadline to make a commitment is 22 June.
The Forum is convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the Governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with youth and civil society. It takes place at a critical moment. As the impacts of COVID-19 threaten to roll back existing gains for women’s rights, it will put gender equality at the heart of the building back better agenda. The Paris Forum will unveil a Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, formally launch six Action Coalitions and a Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action, and announce new equality initiatives focused on health, sport, culture and education. The event will fuel investment and action for gender equality, strengthen global movements, and ensure implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

International Widows’ Day

Explainer: What you should know about widowhood

Date: Monday, June 21, 2021


Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez, (second from left) a human rights activist and co-founder of a widows association in the municipality of Comalapa, Guatemala has spearheaded the construction of a memorial for victims of the conflict in Comalapa. It’s called the “Center for the Historical Memory of Women”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
For many women around the world, the devastating loss of a partner is magnified by a long-term fight for their basic rights and dignity. Despite the fact that there are more than 258 million widows around the world, widows have historically been left unseen, unsupported, and unmeasured in our societies.

Today, as armed conflicts, displacement and migration, and the COVID-19 pandemic leave tens of thousands of women newly widowed and many others whose partners are missing or disappeared, the unique experiences and needs of widows must be brought to the forefront, with their voices leading the way.

On International Widows’ Day, 23 June, take a look at some of the issues affecting widows around the world and what must be done to safeguard and advance their rights.

What challenges does widowhood bring?

Hawa, 23, was eight months pregnant when her husband was killed in the fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR). Her father and brother were also killed and her mother disappeared, leaving her completely alone. She fled and crossed into Cameroon, becoming a refugee at the Gado camp, where she gave birth to a son, Haphisi Ibrahim. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
As widows move through their own experiences of grief, loss, or trauma after the death of a spouse, they may also face economic insecurity, discrimination, stigmatization, and harmful traditional practices on the basis of their marital status.

In many countries, widows do not have equal inheritance rights, and they may be stripped of their land, evicted from their home, or even separated from their children. They may be denied access to inheritance, bank accounts, and credit, which can have significant financial impacts for them, their children, and future generations. It is estimated that nearly one in ten widows worldwide lives in extreme poverty.

Women are also much less likely to have access to pensions than men, so the death of a spouse can lead to destitution for women of older ages. On the other hand, child widows, girls given into marriage before 18 years old and whose husband died, experience multiple rights violations and face life-long impacts from premature marriage and widowhood. At least 1.36 million of the approximately 258 million widows globally are child widows, but the true number is likely higher due to under-reporting.

In addition to facing economic insecurity, widows may be subject to stereotypes, prejudices, and harmful traditional practices with severe consequences. They may face restrictions on their dress, diet, and mobility for years after the death of a partner.

In some contexts, widows may be perceived as “carriers” of disease and forced out of social structures entirely or subjected to “ritual cleansing” practices involving forced sex or bodily scarring that can have life-threatening health consequences. Sometimes widows are forcibly “passed on” to or “inherited” by a new designated partner, such as the brother or other relative of her deceased spouse, denying her of her rights to safety, bodily autonomy, justice, and dignity in life after loss.

How does widowhood intersect with other forms of discrimination?

Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
When a woman’s value is contingent on having a spouse, widowhood can force women out of familial and social structures, leaving them particularly vulnerable to poverty, isolation, and violence. These challenges may be compounded by struggles that widows face on account of other intersecting identities: as Black and Indigenous women, members of LGBTQI+ communities, women affected by conflict, women with disabilities, women of young and older ages, women living in poverty or rural areas, and other marginalized identities.

Rosalia Tuyuc Velásquez, from San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala, has not seen her husband since 23 May 1984, when he was captured by the army during the 36-year-long armed conflict between the military and guerilla groups that killed at least 200,000 people, mostly indigenous. “I looked for him in hospitals, on the streets and in prisons. I never found him,” says Velásquez, who, more than 35 years later, is still searching for his remains.

But her search is not only for her family, she says. It’s also a search for peace and dignity for thousands of indigenous women who were raped, and who lost their spouses and loved ones during the conflict: “Perhaps we didn’t know what human rights were, but we knew what it meant to live free. When the conflict came, all that freedom, peace, security went away. Not only for my family, but thousands of families.”

How can we ensure that global movements include widows’ perspectives?

Margaret Owen. Photo courtesy of Margaret Owen
Widows’ voices and experiences must be centred in the movements and policies that impact their lives. From local campaigns to international action, it is imperative that widows speak to and make decisions about their own situations and needs.

Margaret Owen is a widows’ rights advocate and human rights lawyer. Although she had been involved in the women’s rights movement for most of her life, Owen hadn’t paid attention to widows’ rights until her husband’s passing. Shortly after the death of her husband, a woman from Malawi whom she was helping came to her home. “Before she even sat down, she gasped,” recalls Own. “Looking around my living room, she said, ‘your husbands’ brothers let you stay here and keep all these things?’” Her words stayed with Owen as she began researching global widows’ issues and discovered a major lack of awareness on the subject, even among feminists. To fill this gap, Owen founded Widows for Peace through Democracy, an organization that works to ensure that all widows are protected from discrimination and violence and can enjoy their full human rights.

Owen advocates for the meaningful inclusion of widows in all areas that impact them, including conflict settings, where women who lost their spouses, family, and loved ones must be able to participate fully in peacebuilding and reconciliation processes. “ It is vital that National Action Plans in the Women, Peace, and Security context include actions to count, map, and profile widows and half-widows (their partners are missing or disappeared), so that their needs are addressed, and they have access to restorative justice, support, pensions, and resettlement,’ she says. “How can there ever be truth and reconciliation, justice, an end to violence against women, and sustainable peace without the inclusion of widows?” Owen asks.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of women have been widowed by the virus and may be grieving, while cut off from their usual socio-economic and family supports. As nations continue to fight the virus on the front lines or begin recovery efforts, widows must not be left out of economic stimulus and social assistance programmes, or as decision-makers and beneficiaries of plans to “build back better”.

What can we do to safeguard and advance the rights of widows worldwide?

Durdana, a once landless woman farmer, proudly shows off her land and Land Tenancy Agreement in Dadu District, Sindh Province, Pakistan. In Pakistan, UN Women, in collaboration with local partners, has worked with more than 1,200 rural women farmers to acquire land tenancy rights. “I do not know anything else but working in the fields,” says Durdana. “For the first time in my life I can say something is mine. This land, as far as the eye can see is mine—this paper says so.” Photo: UN Women/Faria Salman
To safeguard and advance widows’ rights, here are some actions that governments, policymakers and each of us can take:

Adopt social and economic reforms to improve widows’ access to inheritance, land, pensions, and other social protections. Ensure that fiscal policies, economic relief measures for COVID-19 includes widows.
End discriminatory laws and patriarchal systems that have long disadvantaged women. Women cannot inherit equally as men in 36 countries, cannot be heads of households or families in 31 countries, and cannot have a job or pursue a profession in 17 states. Such discriminatory laws, which rob widows of property, shelter, income, social benefits, and opportunity, must be struck down to advance women’s rights worldwide.
Empower widows to support themselves and their families and live with dignity by ensuring access to education and training opportunities, decent work and equal pay, and by reversing social stigmas that exclude, discriminate, or lead to harmful and violent practices against widows.
Collect gender data—better quality demographic information, broken down by age and gender, to ensure that widows are counted and supported, now and in the future. The United Nations suggests a minimum of five marital status categories when collecting census data, “widowed and not remarried” included.
Support international efforts and advocacy to uphold and expand the rights of widows as enshrined in international laws and conventions.
On International Widows’ Day, learn and share stories, voices and experiences of widows and support their rights. Follow #WidowsDay on social media.

I am Generation Equality: Shreen Saroor, women’s rights activist

Date: Friday, June 18, 2021



Shreen Saroor runs the Women’s Action Network (WAN) in Sri Lanka, a collective of women’s groups that empowers and advocates for women and women survivors of war, violence and other injustices. Photo courtesy of Shreen Saroor
I am Generation Equality because…

Three things you can do to become part of Generation Equality:
Amplify the voices of survivors and victims of violence
Create positive spaces to promote peace and reconciliation

Join the #GenerationEquality campaign by sharing stories like this with your friends and social media networks
At the height of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 1990, my family was forcibly evicted from our home in Mannar, in the Northern Province. Those early years of my life were filled with experiences of war, violence, loss and resistance – I was resisting the war and atrocities committed against minorities. Shortly after the eviction, I lost my father. As the eldest child, the responsibilities within the family fell upon me. Those were turbulent times and I knew that I needed to stand strong.

1n 1998, after completing university in Colombo, I returned to my hometown and joined forces with women’s rights activists, who were refugees at the time, and had lost everything, including their right to education. I realized that I was privileged to have had a university education, and felt the need to serve my community. So, I ventured into the development field and started to fight for the rights of women through the Mannar Women’s Development Federation. From there on, there was no turning back ­– I became a defender of women’s rights.

The birth of a women’s rights movement

Women and children were particularly affected as the war advanced.

They suffered atrocities and children were forcibly recruited as soldiers. Children were born as refugees in their own country and this identity marker was leaving permanent scars. Tamil and Muslim women were constantly on the run, to protect their families, to protect their children, and to protect themselves.



“It is only by survivors coming together that strong movements are birthed”



They were displaced, moving from place to place, carrying whatever was left of their belongings in plastic bags as they travelled. There was seldom a sense of ‘home’ among them.

Many women leaders had disappeared or died, and their once vibrant women’s organizations became inactive. Thus, we initiated the Women’s Action Network (WAN) in 2009 to restart and re-establish the struggle for women’s rights, and empower a younger generation of women’s rights activists.

Empowering survivors

A key principle that we abide by is not to take up the place of survivors, or speak on their behalf, but to empower them in their own struggle for justice, and to help them only if there is a space to do so and if they want us to. Our intent is not to build an organization, but a women’s rights movement. And it is our strong belief that it is only by survivors coming together that strong movements are birthed.

We do not own the movements, we do not hold onto them, and we certainly do not take credit for them. This makes Women’s Action Network a proud collective of women, with our story interwoven with the issues of women in a post-war context, along with their experiences of resistance and aspirations for the future.

Women’s rights are human rights, and must be defended

Do men struggle as much as women? Take the issues of microcredit, the elephant-human conflict, poverty alleviation, and loss of land, for example – women are the most affected. Throughout Sri Lanka, domestic violence has increased against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, and grave, unspeakable torture is perpetrated against women and girls in their own homes. Victim and witness protection for survivors of sexual and other forms of violence is lacking in the country. While national policies are in place, the implementation gap must be closed. There should be collective ownership to support and amplify the voices of survivors and victims of violence.

We also need to create positive spaces by bringing people together to collectively discuss cultural diversity and to promote peace and reconciliation. [Additionally], justice processes should not be mired with any interference.

As women’s rights activists, we are operating within constricted spaces. We are challenged daily to keep our fellow activists safe in a highly patriarchal context where backlash against our work is imminent. But our struggle must go on because women’s rights are human rights, and must be defended.


Shreen Saroor runs the Women’s Action Network (WAN) in Sri Lanka, a collective of women’s groups that empowers and advocates for women and women survivors of war, violence and other injustices. As the Generation Equality Forum – a landmark event to catalyze rapid advancement on gender equality – approaches, she calls on leaders to close the gaps between policies and implementation. The Forum is convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with youth and civil society.

A week of action, a generation for equality

Date: Friday, June 18, 2021

The Generation Equality Forum is just around the corner. Taking place from 30 June to 2 July in Paris, France, the Forum will bring together governments, feminist leaders, youth, and change makers from every sector, to confront the gender equality crisis and spur major investments, policy and programmes to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Leading up to the landmark event, young leaders from around the world shared their activism during the #ActForEqual Week of Action. From addressing inequalities for women and girls living with HIV, to furthering feminist action for climate change, young people spoke out about the issues they are passionate about and shared how they are engaging in this critical moment for gender equality.

Hear from five young activists about why the Generation Equality Forum is important for all generations, how they #ActForEqual, and how you, too, can commit to change.

Selin Özünaldım

Selin Özünaldım, from Istanbul, Turkey is an advocate for girls in STEM and equal access to education.

“I’m passionate about this because in order to prepare girls for the jobs of today and tomorrow, it is essential for governments to provide girls with digital and ICT skills through prioritizing education,” she says.

Özünaldım and hundreds of passionate youth activists from around the world are working to bring local views, voices, work and knowledge to the global stage and support local mobilization of the upcoming Generation Equality Forum.

Özünaldım hopes that the Forum will generate commitments to clear procedures for youth decisions in policy-making processes.

“There should be full disclosure on creation of these decision-making procedures for us to ensure that our work is part of the new policies to come,” she says.

“We cannot leave change up to the world leaders.”


Pip Gardner

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Pip Gardner, from the United Kingdom, is a gender equality and human rights activist and a member of the UN Women’s Generation Equality Youth Task Force since 2019.

“Over these last two years I’ve been working alongside fellow colleagues in the Youth Task Force to ensure that the perspectives of LGBTQI youth, myself being a trans and queer person, are really taken into consideration,” shares Gardner.

“I think the biggest thing we can do at the Forum is to reframe the conversation about gender equality for all genders and not just equality between men and women.”

At the global level, Gardner hopes that world leaders include LGBTQ+ people in their actions coming out of the Forum, and they encourage each of us to #ActForEqual at a local level.

“Why not find out about local Pride activities or LGBTQ+ actions taking place in your community this month?”


Doreen Moraa Moracha

Doreen Moraa Moracha, from Kenya, is an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence.

She aims to create hope, raise awareness and bring encouragement for people living with HIV.

“I joined the Generation Equality Youth Task Force because I believe I bring the voice of young women and girls who are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of the HIV epidemic is still felt to date,” says Moracha.

“We need to address the inequality when it comes to women and girls living with HIV. 

At the Forum, Moracha wants to see leaders commit to removing laws and policies that undermine the achievement of gender equality and oppress women and girls.

“Your voice matters, no matter how small you think it is, it’s going to bring the change we need in order to achieve gender equality,” she says.

“I believe we can.”


Julieta Amara Martínez

Julieta Amara Martínez, from Chile, is a climate justice activist with a gender perspective.

“In a world where women represent 70 per cent of the world’s most vulnerable people, 80 per cent of climate refugees, and only 38 per cent of national delegations at COP25, it is essential to give girls the tools and spaces to become agents of change,” she says.

For Martínez, the Forum is significant because it will be an intersectional, inter-generational opportunity to dialogue and act with the purpose of achieving gender equality.

She would like to see leaders commit to concrete actions and deadlines in favor of gender equality and encourages everyone to play a role and #ActForEqual.

“We all have to build the change...The strength is in the community.”


Kehkashan Basu

Kehkashan Basu is an environmental and human rights activist.

She works with people affected by climate disasters, focuses on education for sustainable development, and is a Youth Leader of the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice.

At the Generation Equality Forum, Basu hopes commitments are made to localizing the Sustainable Development Goals, localizing solutions, and recognizing the unique challenges that girls and women face across the world.

She’s also pushing for more and better gender-disaggregated data to inform climate action policies.

“I would also like leaders to commit to having sex and gender-disaggregated data in place that does not brush women’s issues under the rug, but actually highlights them and recognizes how we can bring about solutions.”


How can you #ActForEqual?
2021 can be a landmark year for gender equality if we #ActForEqual and step up for gender equality. Use #ActForEqual on social media to share your activism and the topics you are passionate about.

Register for the Generation Equality Forum by 27 June 2021 to join the multi-actor and inter-generational gathering and follow UN Women on social media to stay up to date with Forum news.

World Refugee Day

Together with refugees, we build a safer and more vibrant world

Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021

20 June is World Refugee Day and this year’s theme is about the power of inclusion – “Together we heal, learn and shine”.

Every two seconds, someone is forced to abandon their homes, fleeing crisis. At least 100 million people were forced to flee their homes in the last decade, seeking refugee either within or outside the borders of their country. By the end of 2019, 79.5 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide.

This year’s World Refugee Day is unfolding against the backdrop of global crisis and social change, as the COVID-19 pandemic has left few lives and places untouched. The pandemic has exacerbated existing vulnerabilities of women and girls, who constitute approximately half of those displaced; they face higher risks of gender-based violence, abuse and exploitation, and have difficulty accessing justice, health and response services.

The critical gaps in gender equality are a key driving force behind the Generation Equality Forum taking place in Paris from 30 June to 2 July. The Forum will announce a set of catalytic Action Coalitions with acceleration plans on key areas that matter to all women and girls – from gender-based violence, to climate change, technology, health, and economic systems that leave women and girls behind.

On World Refugee Day, here are some voices of refugees and displaced people who step up every day to build a stronger, safer and more vibrant world, despite many challenges. Generation Equality stands #withrefugees today and every day.

Empowering women, youth and persons with disabilities in Jordan

Ibtsam Sayeed Ahmed, 40, is using her story to empower other women, youth and people with disabilities to stand up for their rights, Jordan. Photo: UN Women/ Lauren Rooney
“In 2012, a bomb hit my house in Dar'aa [Syria], and with that one bomb, my life completely changed,” says Ibstam Sayeed Ahmed, 40. “Momentary pain turned into years of pain. I had to learn to walk again, to adjust to only having one hand, support myself, and ultimately learn how to live again.”

Ahmed fled to Jordan with her sister, but they were separated at the border amid the mayhem of others fleeing. Her sister returned to Dar’aa and was killed days later.

“I was very alone in the world,” says Ahmed.

“Overcoming all of my hardships was difficult. My mobility was not my only barrier. Being a woman, alone in the camp, unsupported, added to my strain. But I did it! I took each day as it came, each new step, and reminded myself to keep on persevering.”

Ahmed got a job in the UN Women Oasis Center as a teaching assistant, educator and peer facilitator, which allowed her to financially support herself and save to pay for her medical bills. Today, she actively empowers women, youth and persons with disabilities to stand up for their rights and pursue an education.

“Empowering yourself is key to breaking any barrier that is in front of you. And in empowering myself, I then had the confidence to empower others,” she says.

Read more here.

Teaching girls to read and write in Bangladesh

Rima Sultana Rimu. Photo: UN Women/Mahmudul Karim
“When I look around me, I see that women and girls in the Rohingya community are treated as less than men and are not given the same rights and opportunities,” says Rima Sultana Rimu, an 18-year-old peace activist in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, host to one of the world’s largest refugee settlements.

“This year, all the problems that the Rohingya girls and women are facing in the camps have been made much worse with the Covid-19 pandemic. Many girls have not been in school…There has been an increase in child marriage in the camps, and I have launched a campaign to raise awareness of how damaging this can be to girls.”

When Rimu started speaking out for women’s rights, some of her family members were in opposition. They told her she was disrespecting her religion and behaving improperly. She pressed on, determined.

“Most of the women and girls in the Rohingya community can’t read or write, so they cannot fully understand their rights,” says Rimu. “Without education, girls struggle to become economically empowered, which means they will never be in control of their own futures. Teaching girls how to read and write is one of the biggest ways I can make a difference.”

“I feel very positive and strong. I love this work and I have big plans for myself,” she says. “Maybe one day I’ll even be Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Why not? I will not stop until every woman and girl becomes aware of their rights and can live happily and safely as equals.”

Read more here.

The power of sport in transforming refugee lives in Luxemburg

Ethiopian marathon runner and former refugee Yonas Kinde in Ham forest, Luxembourg City. Photo: UNHCR/Colin Delfosse.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Yonas Kinde has swapped the cheers of international races for the sounds of nature during early morning runs in the forest near his home in Luxembourg.

Five years after competing in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio as part of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team, Kinde now fits his training in around his other commitments – studying for a qualification in pharmaceutical logistics and working in a hospital pharmacy that is distributing COVID-19 vaccines. “In this difficult moment, it makes me happy that I can contribute, that I can do something for the COVID patients,” he says.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, refugee doctors, nurses and pharmacy workers like Kinde have worked on the front-lines to contain the spread of the virus, treat patients and help people get vaccinated. But long-distance running remains Kinde’s passion. He rarely goes a day without training.

On World Refugee Day, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on communities and governments to include those forced to flee in health care, education and sport. Giving refugees opportunities to get involved in sport can help them to gain confidence and feel welcomed and included in their new communities.

“Thanks to sport, I met a lot of important people in my life,” he said. “Sport gave me a family, not just in Luxembourg, but around the world.”

Read the full story here. 

Working on the front lines of COVID-19 prevention in Uganda

Women peace mediators from Nyumazi Settlement in Uganda receive hygiene items to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Photo: UN Women/Aidah Nanyonjo
By 9 a.m., the morning sun already feels hot in the Bidibidi settlement for refugees and displaced persons, located in the Yumbe District of Uganda. A steady file of women gathers around a borehole to collect water. They will repeat this chore again in the evening.

Forty-year-old Joyce Maka waits for more women to arrive at the water collection point. The mother of three is a refugee herself; she arrived from South Sudan in 2018, after the rebels had killed her husband. Today, she is among 12 peace mediators in the settlement, and she is here to raise awareness about prevention and health safety measures to combat COVID-19.

“We encourage them to stay at least two metres away from each other; we also encourage them to wash their hands before and after pumping water,” Maka explains.

As the number of COVID-19 cases in Uganda rose, women peace mediators, who resolve community disputes and challenges, joined the fight against the pandemic in refugee settlements in the districts of Yumbe and Adjumani, bordering South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They meet people on the streets to have one-on-one conversations, making sure that every household has a hand washing point, clean racks to store utensils and access to toilets.

Read the story here.

Exemplifying solidarity in Turkey

Najmat Alsabah Mustafa is a Syrian leader supporting Turkish and Syrian women in Gaziantep before and during COVID-19. Photo: Courtesy of KEDV
Najmat Alsabah Mustafa is a Syrian community leader in Gaziantep, Turkey. As part of the ‘Home to Home Solidarity Programme,’ jointly run by UN Women and the Foundation for the Support of Women's Work (KEDV), she learned leadership skills and now helps vulnerable Turkish and Syrian women access healthcare, legal assistance, psycho-social and livelihood support.

Between December 2019 and April 2020, Mustafa and her colleagues visited 764 Syrian and Turkish women. However, when COVID-19 prevention measures made home visits difficult, the community leaders started using their phones to stay in touch with vulnerable women and provide help when needed.

“Through phone calls, I realized that the household chores of Syrian women doubled during COVID-19,” says Mustafa.

“I talk to many women who are over 65 years old. They tell me how the situation has psychologically affected them. Through the solidarity groups, we support each other. Women talk about their needs and problems, and together we try to find solutions. We also share our own experiences and ideas on how to divide household chores among family members,” she adds.

“As women, we are among the most affected by COVID-19 in our community. Because of community pressure, many cannot complain about their conditions. Thanks to the programme, we can reach women, and make sure their voices are heard by relevant institutions.”

“When we support each other, we can overcome all challenges,” Mustafa added.

Read more here.

UN Women Executive Board to convene annual session 2021

Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021

The UN Women Executive Board will convene for this year’s annual session from Monday 21 to Wednesday 23 June 2021, remotely via the Zoom Platform.

The President of the Executive Board, Alie Kabba, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, will open the Session at 10 a.m. EDT. UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, will deliver opening remarks, which include updates on the COVID-19 response and the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of Operational Activities for Development (QCPR).

Over the three days, the Executive Board will receive briefings on the draft Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and on the draft integrated budget estimates of UN Women for the biennium 2022–2023. The Board will further consider reports of the UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women on the implementation of the Strategic Plan 2018–2021; on the evaluation function of UN Women in 2020; the corporate evaluation of UN Women’s coordination and convening role in ending violence against women; the internal audit and investigation activities for the period of 1 January to 31 December 2020; the report of the Advisory Committee on Oversight for the period of 1 January to 31 December 2020; and UN Women’s related management responses.

There will be several briefings on policy and program matters, including on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 72/279 and the implementation of recommendations in the independent victim-centred review of UN Women policies and processes on tackling sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. During a special segment, the Board will also bid farewell to outgoing Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

The detailed agenda of the 2021 annual session and all official documents may be accessed on the Executive Board webpage. The session can be followed via UN Web TV

Statement: Set women at the heart of recovery decisions and processes
Statement by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on the outcome of the summit of G7 nations.

Date: Monday, June 14, 2021

The meeting of the G7 group of nations, representatives from the European Union, as well as invited guest countries including Australia, India, and the Republic of Korea, in Carbis Bay, Cornwall from 11 to 13 June 2021, presented a timely opportunity to agree multilateral action on many of the issues of international global concern that deeply affect the lives and futures of women and girls, including building forward from the COVID-19 pandemic, equitable access to vaccines and medicines, and addressing climate change.

Beyond public health, the pandemic has had far-reaching social and economic consequences for women and girls, exacerbating already high levels of violence against women, dramatically increasing the unpaid care burden on women, and, through rapid and lasting job losses, exposing the deep vulnerabilities of women’s engagement in the labour market. Overall, it has had a regressive impact on the ability of women and girls globally to claim and exercise their rights.

This is the moment therefore to ensure that women are set at the heart of recovery decisions and processes that ensure their rights, meet their needs, and recognize their contributions. In that regard, UN Women supports the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council’s recommendations and the call for renewed commitments to the target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income for Official Development Assistance. The impact of COVID-19 on women and girls is particularly acute in less developed countries, where debt alleviation and financing initiatives will be particularly important alongside national budgets in order to support aspects like education for all, ending gender-based violence including online harassment, strengthened domestic and international social care infrastructure, efforts to ensure women’s equal access to capital and labour markets, and a gender-responsive approach to climate financing, investment, and policies.

The COVID-19 crisis has underlined the complexities of our interconnected global ecosystem and the imperative for multilateral action and global cooperation in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We urge G7 leaders to continue championing gender equality and women’s empowerment, including by demonstrating the representation and leadership of women in delegations, and encouraging them to secure their commitments on gender equality through funding and concrete action.

The G7 outcomes precede the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, to be held 30 June to 2 July 2021, and from which it is expected that a five-year, consolidated set of ambitious, transformative, and well funded commitments to achieving gender equality will result. The Forum, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with youth and civil society, will be attended by Heads of State and will bring together a wide range of stakeholders in gender equality from across the world.

It aims to spur new action that accelerates progress in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted by world leaders in 1995 and achieve immediate and irreversible progress towards gender equality. The commitments of the G7 group of nations are an influential aspect of such new action, and we urge them to join us in Generation Equality, and to draw on upon the specific recommendations of the Gender Equality Advisory Council for their actions both domestically and globally.

I am Generation Equality: Diane Ndarbawa, youth activist for economic justice

Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021



Diane Ndarbawa, President of Manki Maroua. Photo Courtesy of Diane Ndarbawa
I am Generation Equality because…

Three things you can do to become part of Generation Equality:
Promote reducing technological and digital barriers for women and girls
Help finance entrepreneurial projects and income-generating activities for young girls and women

Join the #GenerationEquality campaign by sharing stories like this with your friends and social media networks
“Everyone has a role to play in defending women’s rights. We must all actively support women and girls in our communities, so that they can have access to decent work and are not left behind.

I [believe in] financially empowering adolescent girls and women and supporting their professional growth. Through my organization, Manki Maroua, I work every day to foster respect for women’s economic rights, including improved working conditions.

Being an Action Coalition Leader is allowing me to raise the voices of women in my community and present our ideas and expectations for action on an international platform. I hope that participating in the Generation Equality Forum will help remedy the difficulties that women and girls encounter on a daily basis.

Accelerating equality, leadership and opportunity for women and girls worldwide

The Generation Equality Forum offers the opportunity to elevate the work of organizations that fight for the rights of women and girls, especially those most vulnerable and marginalized. The Forum is championing the work of young people and giving us a space where our views and ideas are listened to closely, while taking into account our diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds.

I hope that discussions are backed by technical and financial contributions to young people to support us in our innovative projects, in Africa and all around the world. It is critical that Forum commitments are put into action. Real change depends on that.

Driving economic justice

My #ActForEqual is helping women and girls to become autonomous and independent.



“We must all actively support women and girls in our communities.”



The Forum should support advocacy to ensure that governments adopt gender-responsive laws, especially as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has paralysed women’s economic activities, increased unemployment and the burden of unpaid work, and overall, accentuated extreme poverty. Legal change is urgently needed to speed-up progress on gender equality, economic justice, and safeguard this progress in the long-term.

Another way to secure economic justice is by supporting organizations that are working with women in local communities, for example, those that offer technical expertise and financial backing to girls and women entrepreneurs. 

Driving innovation is also important. One of Manki Maroua’s primary objectives is to maximize the use of digital technology in supporting income-generating activities, thereby transforming the daily lives of adolescent girls in Cameroon. The voices of women from diverse backgrounds should be at the heart of technological innovation.

Finally, all these actions must be placed in the broader context of the fight against climate change, which means that respecting and protecting the environment should always be a cross-cutting priority.”


Diane Ndarbawa is the President of Manki Maroua, an association of girl-child mothers in Cameroon. She also represents the Generation Equality ForumAction Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights, working to ensure that systems and structures are gender-responsive, equitable, free of violence and harassment, and resilient to economic shocks such as the recent ones brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ndarbawa’s action priority is improving technical and financial support for women’s and girls’ projects.

Take five: “Success at the Generation Equality Forum is when we are able to translate gender equality from a concept or policy into reality”

Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021


Mavic Cabrera Balleza. Photo: GNWP/Katrina Leclerc
Mavic Cabrera Balleza is the Founder and CEO of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP). She also represents the Generation Equality ForumCompact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA), driving action and resources to accelerate progress on the WPS-HA agenda. Balleza prioritizes localizing national action plans on women, peace and security and gender-sensitive humanitarian action to ensure that they respond to the needs of local communities and marginalized groups.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action?

The COVID-19 pandemic is a conflict and crisis multiplier. It has aggravated the root causes of conflicts and crises, including economic inequalities, food insecurity, and the unavailability of basic social services such as health care and education. The pandemic has also exacerbated gender inequality, which is a major driver of conflicts. The lockdowns during the pandemic led to an unprecedented increase in the incidence of sexual and gender-based violence.

The pandemic has stalled the implementation of peace processes. Implementation plans that require the participation of government agencies and local populations and use of financial resources were stopped. Funding earmarked for many civil society organizations’ peacebuilding programmes has been diverted to support emergency health and humanitarian response.

The shortage of medical facilities, vaccines and supplies amidst new coronavirus variants shows that the pandemic will continue to impact our lives, including our peacebuilding efforts and humanitarian action.

Why is now a vital time to accelerate Women, Peace and Security commitments?

At the onset of the pandemic, women and youth peacebuilders were on the front line. They were the first to go to conflict-affected communities, refugee camps, and settlements for internally displaced persons, distributing relief materials and factual information on preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, they remain unrecognized, underfunded, and excluded in decision-making. To make matters worse, they face attacks and repression from authoritarian governments and armed groups who have taken advantage of the global health crisis to gain more power.

This is a critical time for the Compact to accelerate WPS-HA commitments. To do this, the Compact must call on policymakers, especially governments, to ensure local women’s and youth’s participation in peace negotiations and the implementation of peace agreements – and link formal and informal peace processes. The Compact must also challenge the long-established humanitarian system to re-design humanitarian response so that crisis-affected populations do not remain voiceless recipients of relief goods and services, but are empowered to participate in decision-making.

The Compact must work with donors to review their funding policies. We must advocate for and contribute to a minimum of a five-fold increase in direct assistance to local women and youth organizations. We must also guarantee financing for national and local action plans on WPS and other relevant national mechanisms on WPS-HA.

What changes are most urgently needed in WPS-HA, and why?

Local women and young people have a profound understanding of their countries’ peace and security situation, gender and power relations, and humanitarian needs, because they live this reality every single day. When local populations are able to shape the implementation of the peace, security and humanitarian agenda, it becomes inclusive, participatory, intersectional, and it fosters strong ownership (of local communities).

We need to empower local women and youth to design and implement humanitarian responses and Women, Peace and Security commitments to effectively respond to violent conflicts, the pandemic, and other humanitarian crises. To facilitate this, experts need to transfer their skills and knowledge and share their resources so that local populations can lead their own initiatives. As the Compact, we need to honour the agency, commitment and passion of local communities and get Members States and the donor community to provide funding for local actors in a predictable and transparent manner. 

What inspired the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) to become a Board Member of the Compact on WPS-HA?

We are tired of increasing levels of conflict, insecurity for women and girls, and global military spending on the one hand, and endless commitments with no tangible impact, on the other. It has already been twenty years since the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security was passed, yet we have seen little progress and are suffering from policy fatigue.

GNWP wants everyone – Member States, the United Nations, regional organizations, the private sector, and the donor community – to acknowledge, value, and support civil society, including through funding. We want governments to guarantee our safety and protection as we work together to transform the commitments of the past decades into action. This is why the unique broad composition of the Compact is important; it will ensure a more inclusive and bolder, yet realistic, vision for the Compact throughout the coming five years.

What does success at the Generation Equality Forum look like to you?

Success at the Generation Equality Forum is when we are able to translate gender equality from a concept or policy into reality. This will only be possible if all of us who are now active in the Forum leave our echo chambers, speak with people on the streets, in schools, in factories and offices, in groceries, in markets, in local communities, and explain what gender equality is about. Most of them will probably hear about gender equality for the first time, but that would be our first indicator of success. We should then follow those initial conversations with more profound discussions and collective and transformative actions. 

To make this happen, as Compact members and Action Coalition leaders, we need to ensure that women, young women, girls, and LGBTQI+ persons from around the world – including those living in conflict and crisis-affected situations – are meaningfully included in decision-making on the priority issues of the Generation Equality Forum. This is the only way to ensure that the outcomes of the Forum meet their urgent priorities and needs. This is the what success looks like to me.

Read more about the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action here.

Commitments to action: Generation Equality Action Coalitions drive change
Find out how you can #ActForEqual and make a commitment.

Date: Monday, June 7, 2021


The Generation Equality Forum taking place in Paris from 30 June to 2 July will see world leaders and activists coming together to make game-changing commitments and bold actions under six Action Coalitions and the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action. These global, multi-stakeholder partnerships will create impact for women and girls everywhere through catalytic initiatives and investments to bridge the most critical and persistent gender equality gaps.

Now, more than ever, when the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the widening gaps in gender equality, the Forum will channel global consensus, investment, and action in critical areas, like: economic justice, feminist climate action, gender-based violence, technology and innovation, feminist leadership, peace, security and humanitarian action, and sexual and reproductive rights.

UN Women is inviting women’s and feminist organizations, youth-led organizations, governments, philanthropies, international organizations, private sector companies and others to make bold commitments for equality at the Generation Equality Forum.

Commitments and actions come in all shapes and sizes, but they are scalable, measurable, and forged in partnership with others. They can be financial investments, advocacy to support transformative changes, policy changes and programmes on the ground.

Find out how your organization can make a Commitment under the Action Coalitions or take action on the Compact.

Hear directly from some of our inspiring Action Coalition and Compact leaders why their organizations are making commitments, and what they are looking forward to.

Why commitments matter

Kate Hampton, CEO of Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Photo: CIFF
Kate Hampton, CEO of Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Action Coalition

“There's a real opportunity as we build back from COVID-19 to place women and girls at the heart of recovery but achieving this will require the highest level of leadership to put gender equality on the agenda. This makes the timing of the Generation Equality Forum really exciting, as we need to have a global moment around gender equality to drive commitments and tackle the pushback against the rights of women and girls. I also hope that the Forum widens the base of supporters and advocates for gender equality. We need to re-energize global and local feminist movements, as well as broaden allyship across different sectors. Young people have a particularly important role to play in bringing new energy and diversity.”



Joanita Babirye. Photo courtesy of Joanita Babirye
Joanita Babirye, Co-founder of Girls for Climate Justice, Climate Justice Action Coalition

“Empowering young women and girls to become climate leaders is an essential part of provoking action. Women and girls should be able to demand climate justice, but this is only possible when they are equipped with the tools and knowledge to hold everyone accountable and to break the barriers that are hindering their access to resources. For me, the transformation needed is to make women and girls fully aware of the issues and leaders of the solutions.”


Why we #ActforEqual

Mavic Cabrera Balleza. Photo: GNWP/Katrina Leclerc
Mavic Cabrera Balleza, Founder and CEO of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action

“We know that local women and young people have a profound understanding of the peace and security situation in their country, of gender and power relations, and of their humanitarian needs, because they live this reality every single day. However, we also know that they are not recognized as experts or acknowledged for what they can contribute to building solutions. As a result, there is no funding for these local actors to carry out the solutions that they have developed. We need local women and youth to be empowered to design and implement humanitarian responses and the commitments on Women, Peace and Security on their own. To facilitate this, experts need to transfer their skills and knowledge and share their resources so that local populations can lead their own initiatives.”


Diane Ndarbawa. Photo Courtesy of Diane Ndarbawa
Diane Ndarbawa, President of Manki Maroua, Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition

“What motivates me is the desire to benefit adolescent girls and women in my community. I want to contribute to financially empowering the women and girls in my area and to support their professional integration. Overall, I am working every day to achieve respect for women’s economic rights, as well as to see the protection of the rights for women involved in economic activities, such as through the improvement of their working conditions.  Being an Action Coalition Leader has allowed me to raise the voices of women in my community and to bring our ideas and expectations for action to the international level.”


How the Action Coalitions will drive change:

Céline Bonnaire. Photo: Jean Luc Perreard
Céline Bonnaire, Executive Director of the Kering Foundation, leader of the Gender-Based Violence Action Coalition

“Our ambition is to share our experience, share our network, scale up our work and mobilize a broader group of companies to join us in combatting gender-based violence. We firmly believe that everyone has a role to play in putting an end to violence against women… After this Forum, everyone should understand how they can become an agent of change and promote gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence at all levels, from the personal and family level up to the institutional and societal level as well. I hope that each participant will come away from the Forum knowing what change they could implement the next day to help achieve gender equality.”

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

Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2021


Health workers participating in UN Women India’s Second Chance Education programme display their “Certificate of Completion Essential Upskilling for Nurses on COVID-19 Pandemic Management”. Photo: UN Women
“It is the responsibility of women to hold the social fabric together – be it at home, in health centres and schools, or caring for the elderly – all of this is unpaid care work (and it continues to increase),” explains Mita Lonkar from the Chaitanya Foundation in New Delhi, India, one of many NGO partners of UN Women in India, providing critical support to women and their families, as the country struggles to cope with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The majority of those on the front lines of the pandemic are women, there’s need to provide resources like healthcare, education and training for women,” adds Lonkar. “Women are particularly vulnerable economically – their personal finances are weaker and their position in the labour market is less secure, as compared to men.”

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. Data from at least seven states indicate that women constitute 34 – 42 per cent of COVID-19 infections. The needs are exponential – from basic needs for food, personal protective equipment, hygiene and sanitation products, and vaccines, to longer term support to get women back into the workforce and access start-up financing.


Participants in UN Women India’s Second Chance Educational and Vocational Learning Programme. Photo: UN Women
Worldwide, COVID-19 has led to more job loss for women, and India is not an exception. Female labour force participation was on a downward trend even before the pandemic and women’s earned income was just one-fifth that of men’s – well below the global average. In the informal sector, the situation is worse and 91 per cent of women in India are engaged in informal and home-based sectors. The time that women in India spend on unpaid domestic chores is 10 times more than men. As the pandemic rages on, many women have had to stop paid work to care for their families.

Chaitanya Foundation has been working with UN Women since2019 to roll out its Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning programme in India, which has reached more than 50,000 women. The programme is now facilitating access to employment for women who have completed their training, as well as helping small entrepreneurs who need smaller capital investment, as many of their loans have been denied during the pandemic.

The crisis has made it clear to Lonkar and her team that society must take a hard look at how it values and pays for women’s work. 

Susan Ferguson, UN Women Representative in India, agrees: “Whether it’s at home, in the office or in the field, we must stop taking women’s work for granted. And, we must expand educational opportunities for women and girls.”

“UN Women India’s Second Chance Education programme is a good example of how we can simultaneously address the pandemic recovery and offer opportunities for women to advance their careers, by training front-line health workers while providing employment pathways,” adds Ferguson.


Right now, UN Women and its partners in India are providing masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment for front-line responders; training health workers in COVID-19 response; supporting women’s livelihood projects and offering cash transfers to women in need. To mitigate the heightened risk of gender-based violence against the backdrop of existing inequalities, UN Women is also supporting the training of counsellors, social workers and staff at One Stop Crisis Centres –facilities where women survivors can access a comprehensive set of services: medical attention, legal aid as well as temporary shelter.

UN Women is seeking immediate funding to sustain and expand these initiatives.

Access to information is another area of concern for women’s organizations on the ground. “Women’s development and empowerment depends on the availability and accessibility of quality information. Information penetrates every aspect of our daily lives… and yet, it appears that most women lack access to relevant, accurate and timely information,” points out Mita Lonka of Chaitanya Foundation. Misinformation about the COVID-19 disease and vaccination is widespread, and lack of information for women can have fatal consequences.

UN Women is launching communications efforts in partnership with civil society and youth groups to increase access to verified information, fight misinformation and improve women’s knowledge about COVID-19 disease prevention and vaccine, as well as how to access medical services, emergency accommodation or protection orders when escaping violence.

To support UN Women and its partners working to empower and protect women and girls in India, donate today.

Press release: Economic empowerment of rural women positively impacts social norms and strengthens food security

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Originally published by the World Food Programme

Economic empowerment of rural women as farmers, entrepreneurs and leaders contributes towards alleviating poverty, increasing food security and achieving gender equality. These findings, based on an evaluation of a six-year multi-agency global initiative implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger, and Rwanda, were shared at a high-level event in Rome earlier this week.

The programme, 'Accelerating Progress towards Rural Women's Economic Empowerment’, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls (UN Women) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) together with national governments and supported by the governments of Sweden and Norway was evaluated at the end of its first phase of implementation and findings shared.

“Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are pre-conditions for the eradication of poverty and hunger and are essential to achieve all Sustainable Development Goals. By bringing four UN agencies and key partners together, the Joint Programme has achieved long-lasting change for rural women, their families and their communities," said WFP Deputy Executive Director Amir Abdulla. “By providing access to innovative tools and addressing barriers that hold women back, the project has shown that empowering rural women means empowering communities and unleashing the potential of future generations.”

The second phase of the programme that aims to build on the successes of the first phase, bringing more rural women into the programme and contributing to global learning and policy dialogues on the rights of rural women, will commence in January 2022.

Addressing stakeholders at the event, Eva Lövgren, Deputy Director for International Organisations and Policy Support, SIDA said, “Today’s event is another brilliant example of how learning can be shared. It is clear that the Joint Programme has built a foundation on which proven methods for strengthening women’s economic empowerment can be replicated and scaled. Now the programme stands ready to build on what works”.

Building resilience, decreasing vulnerabilities and promoting economic empowerment
The findings revealed that women participating in the programme benefited greatly from enhanced agricultural practices through access to productive assets, labor-saving technologies, market linkages and leadership training, which meant that they were able to increase their agricultural productivity, obtain more sustainable income and ensure a better diet for their families.

A positive shift in social norms was also observed, which meant that women played a greater role in household and community-level decision-making. For example, men in Nepal and Niger reported growing support to improve the status of women in villages as well as to contribute to household chores.

Women participating in the programme were more likely to be elected to local councils and engage in local governance as a result of improved self-confidence through leadership, technical and business-related training. For example, over 3,000 women in both Ethiopia and Liberia became members of land committees and were involved in decision-making processes.

The economic impacts of COVID-19 and climate change were also largely mitigated for women participating in the programme. Rural women and communities applied climate-smart agricultural practices supported by the programme. During COVID-19, women were able to maintain their income security through the increased availability of cash transfers or access to funds and savings.

“The programme has increased people’s resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, including in those countries that suffered double crises as a result of natural disasters. Given the current context with the pandemic, the increasing devastating consequences of climate change and vulnerabilities to natural disaster, we must apply a resilience lens across all our interventions and ensure that rural women and men have the capacities, assets and resources, as well as access to the services they need to withstand shocks. The potential to build resilience will be an integral part of the programme’s design in the second phase,” said FAO’s Senior Gender Officer, Susan Kaaria.

“The joint programme’s integrated approach allowed rural women to cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through strengthened social networks, savings groups, and solidarity that facilitated access to food reserves and cash savings to withstand household income and food insecurity in the aftermath of the crisis. For the next phase, we can build in greater resilience to climate and other shocks and reducing women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work that is always exacerbated in times of crisis,” said Acting Chief of Economic Empowerment for UN Women, Seemin Qayum.

The success of the first phase of the project that ran from 2014 to 2021 has been attributed in part to the benefits of building synergies and capitalizing on the four implementing agencies' comparative advantages: FAO's policy assistance on agriculture and food security; IFAD's rural investment programmes; WFP's food assistance innovations; and UN Women's technical and policy expertise on women's economic empowerment.

"Today has been an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the progress we have made in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment, and to look forward to what more we need to do," said Meike van Ginneken, IFAD's Associate Vice President, Strategy and Knowledge Department. "Now more than ever, in the wake of the pandemic and the increasingly devastating consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss on rural women and communities- we must continue these efforts. The Joint Programme on Rural Women's Economic Empowerment is well placed to do this and stands ready to scale up."

Launched in 2014, the Joint Programme was the first such initiative to bring together the three UN Rome based agencies and UN Women — with the goal to spearhead a comprehensive UN system response in support of rural women's economic empowerment and securing women's livelihoods and rights. The programme has reached over 80,000 rural women in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger, and Rwanda. A second phase of this programme will be launched in January 2022.