Gender

Empower Her, Empower Us: A Call to Empower UN Women Now

By Shihana Mohamed
In her opening statement, Annalena Baerbock (Germany), President of the 80th UN General Assembly, only the fifth female to hold this position over 80 years, stated, “Our future as an institution will also be shaped by the selection of the next Secretary-General. And here we must pause and reflect. In nearly eighty years, this Organization has never chosen a woman for that role. One might wonder how out of four billion potential candidates, there could not be found a single one. … Like 80 years ago, we are standing at a crossroads.”

African Voices at UNGA80: Building Sustainable and Self-Reliant Systems Through Innovation

By Oritro Karim
On September 24, African-led organizations convened a high-level side event during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) The event - African-led Innovation: Shaping Sustainable Futures With or Without Aid - was organized in partnership with eHealth Africa, Population Services International (PSI), Population Council, and Reach Digital Health. The dialogue amplified voices from African-led organizations and highlighted the importance of homegrown innovations for sustainability—regardless of the availability of foreign aid—amid shrinking donor funding and widening global inequalities.

Ending Child Marriage Needs a Culture of Accountability, Respect for the Rule of Law

By Naureen Hossain
Global leaders came together at the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly to commit to ending child marriage, calling on all world leaders to make concerted efforts to ensure accountability and enforce the laws that prohibit it.

Record Number of Women Living Within Striking Distance of Military Conflicts

By the Peace Research Institute Oslo
The battlefield is no longer distant; for millions of women, it’s next door. An estimated 676 million women – nearly 17 percent of the global female population – lived within 50 kilometres of a deadly conflict last year, according to a new report from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). That is the highest figure recorded since the end of the Cold War.

African Leaders Commit to Climate-Health Nexus and Adaptation Solutions

By Friday Phiri
At the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 8-10 September, African leaders committed to the climate and health nexus and their desire to advance climate-resilient and adaptive health systems on the continent.

Afghan Women Die Needlessly After Natural Disasters

In normal times, women in Afghanistan face dire living conditions relative to their counterparts in other parts of the world, given the iron grip of Taliban repression. However, the powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, and Laghman at the end of August was out of the ordinary.

From Fishers to Forest Keepers: Women and Communities Reviving India’s Mangroves

By Aishwarya Bajpai
As the climate crisis intensifies, long-term adaptation strategies have become urgent. Among the most effective nature-based solutions are mangroves—resilient coastal forests that protect communities, preserve biodiversity, and capture carbon.

How Stigma Undermines Contraceptive Use Among Women in Sierra Leone

By Madina Kula Sheriff
Eunice Dumbuya, a young activist in Freetown, Sierra Leone, still remembers being called promiscuous after getting a contraceptive implant a few years ago. She knew the risks of an unplanned pregnancy in her conservative country, so she made a choice.

New Report Investigates Violence Against Women and Girls Through Surrogacy, Sparks Global Dialogue

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
A United Nations report calling for the global abolition of surrogacy has sparked intense debate among experts, with critics arguing that blanket bans could harm the very women the policy aims to protect.

Gender Equality: The Key to Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability

By S. Mona Sinha
On Monday, three decades on from the historic Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly meets to discuss recommitting to, resourcing, and accelerating the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action – an historic agreement which mapped the path to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

Inside Africa’s Big Bet on Youth to Feed the Continent and Who’s Actually Getting Funded

By Chemtai Kirui
Winnie Wambui leans forward on the panel stage, microphone in hand, scanning the room until she spots a raised hand.

Why Collective Healing is Central to Peacebuilding

By Sania Farooqui
Wars and oppression leave behind not just rubble and graves. They leave behind invisible wounds, profound trauma carried by survivors. And most often, women carry the largest burden. They are targeted not only because of their gender, but because surviving and leading threaten structures based on patriarchy and domination.

UN Warns of Escalating Humanitarian Emergency in Haiti As Armed Gang Violence and Aid Deepen Crisis

By Oritro Karim
In recent months, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to exert dominance over nearly 90 percent of the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Rising violence, the collapse of essential services for millions, and severe cuts to humanitarian funding have left the international community struggling to provide immediate relief and find a sustainable, long-term solution.

Experts Launch a Climate and Health Curriculum for African Negotiators Ahead of COP30

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
Despite climate change being a health risk multiplier, health is often underrepresented in climate negotiation processes. Experts attribute this to a lack of funding by the African governments and a lack of capacity building among climate negotiators.

Banks Embed Climate Risk, Gender and Sustainability in Finance Products

By Robert Kibet
As climate shocks intensify across East Africa, from failed rains in Kenya’s arid north to devastating floods in Tanzania’s coastal belt, the region’s banks are emerging as unlikely but powerful players in the resilience race.

No Progress Without Women’s Freedom

In recent weeks, the walls of the Afghan capital have been plastered with slogans about women's hijab: “Unveiling is a sign of ignorance”; “Hijab is a father's honour and the pride of Muslims”.

50 Years On: Lebanon’s Civil War, Feminist Peacebuilding, and the Fight Against Silence

By Sania Farooqui
This year marks half a century since the start of Lebanon’s civil war in 1975 - a conflict that lasted 15 years, killed over 150,000 lives, and resulted in as many as 17,000 missing. Decades later, the legacy of that war is still everywhere: in the silence of classrooms without history books, in families who never knew what happened to their missing loved ones, and in violence made mundane in all parts of society.

UN Mobilizes Amid Cascading Earthquakes in Eastern Afghanistan, Aiming to ‘Build Back Better’

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
United Nations aid organizations are rallying after a series of earthquakes and powerful aftershocks wreaked unprecedented havoc across eastern Afghanistan—particularly in the mountainous provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar.

Afghan Women to the International Community: Real Action, Not Mere Sympathy or Words of Condemnation

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the Taliban retaking power in Afghanistan. All these years have been one long nightmare for  the women of Afghanistan, the ones who have borne the brunt of oppression – arguably the worst of its kind anywhere in the world.

From Matriarchy to Victims: An Ongoing Story of Indigenous Women in Canada

By Randa El Ozeir
If European colonialism had never happened in Canada, matriarchy would still have been strong in Indigenous culture.

‘Who Will Take the Mic at the United Nations When Doing so Might Cost Them Their Freedom?’

By CIVICUS

 
CIVICUS discusses civil society’s challenges in engaging with United Nations (UN) processes with an activist from a Salvadoran queer-led organisation who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
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