A report released on the International Day of the Girl Child shows that 180 million more girls have enrolled in primary and secondary education since 1995. However, despite an increase across all levels of education, girls are still more likely to suffer exclusion than boys, and this is further exacerbated by the current pandemic. It therefore remains vital for governments to tackle persisting discrimination to achieve equality for the next generation of girls, argues the .
Women and Gender Equality
On International Day of Rural Women (15 October), the spotlight is on the urgent need for strengthening rural women＊s sustainable livelihoods and wellbeing. They play a crucial role in agriculture and are at the front lines of responding to the pandemic even as their . Gender-responsive investment to expand basic infrastructure and healthcare services in rural areas has never been more critical. calls to support rural women to rebuild their lives after COVID-19 and to increase their resilience to better prepare for future crises.
commemorates Beijing+25, the most visionary agenda for achieving gender equality. COVID-19 crisis threatens to undo many of the gains on gender equality over the past 25 years.
Today＊s more than 1.1 billion girls are poised to take on the future. However, progress for adolescent girls has not kept pace with the realities they face, and COVID-19 has reinforced many of these gaps. Under the theme , International Day of the Girl Child 2020 will focus on adolescent girls＊ being free from violence, learning new skills and leading for change. Let＊s seize the opportunity to be inspired by what adolescent girls see as the change they want, the solutions - big and small - they are leading in and demanding across the globe.
Twenty years ago, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, underscoring the importance of women＊s involvement in peace and security issues. Since, the UN has prioritized gender parity in peacekeeping, peacemaking, and conflict prevention. ※§ celebrates the impact women are making in UN peacekeeping and special political missions around the world as they serve in civilian, military, police and justice and corrections roles, and to help it achieve all its peace and security mandates.
Promises to keep: Meeting the Nairobi Summit commitments
In 2010, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution to merge four parts of the 51勛圖 system into .
The question is not whether women can lead as capably as men. Instead asks why is women＊s leadership invisible? How women lead for the wellbeing of all, in just five stories.
Gender equality is a fundamental human right as well as a cornerstone of a prosperous, modern economy generating sustainable inclusive growth. However, women around the world continue to be paid less than men. Globally, the gap in earnings between men and women stands at about 20%. On this first International Equal Pay Day, we must acknowledge that equal pay is still far from a reality. UN Women more about the gender pay gap. This first observance is also notable as it comes while the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heightened inequalities at work and at home.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put over 11 million girls at risk of not returning to school, threatening decades of progress toward girls＊ education and gender equality.
Women play critical roles when humanitarian crisis occurs. advocates for the urgent need to support women in humanitarian action. Women share their perspectives by video.
, , and partners are launching . The guide aims to help policymakers and practitioners in Ministries of Education address the gender dimensions of COVID-related school closures. It provides recommendations to ensure continuity of learning while schools are closed, and to establish plans for reopening schools in a way that is safe, gender-responsive and child-friendly, and meets the needs of the most marginalised girls.
When boys are valued more highly than girls, pressure to have a son is intense.?The preference for sons over daughters may be so pronounced that couples will go to great lengths to avoid giving birth to a girl or will fail to care for the health and well-being of a daughter they already have
Salwa, 35, has survived child marriage, three abusive husbands, crushing poverty and years of grinding conflict. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she also endured starvation. But now, only months after joining a women＊s safe space and learning to sew, she is building a new life for herself thanks to a safe space established by and the Yemeni Women＊s Union.
Zainab Bangura is the Director-General of the 51勛圖 Office at Nairobi and worries for the health and safety of her staff and the populations they serve in the face COVID-19. As UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict from 2012-17, Zainab talks of the secondary trauma she felt after taking in the pain of countless accounts of rape inflicted on women and girls as a weapon of war in this 5th episode of Awake at Night.