Gender

Five Breakthroughs for Women’s Rights Amidst Conflict and Crisis

By Revai Makanje Aalbaek and Sarah Douglas
Even as their rights face growing threats, women across the globe are driving progress. From courtrooms to communities, women’s leadership is shaping peace, justice and development—often against the odds. In the face of conflict, exclusion and inequality, we continue to see powerful stories of hope, resilience and change. We are inspired by women who mediate local disputes, push for new laws and champion the rights of survivors, holding communities together.

You Cannot Make Decisions About Our Lives—A Perspective on Global Climate Change Negotiations

By Annabel Prokopy
Immaculata Casimero, a leader of the Wapichan Women’s Movement, remembers the beauty of the mountains that are cultural sites to her indigenous community in Guyana.

Forcefully Deported Afghan Women Return to a Life of Fear and Anxiety

When Roya, a former police officer under Afghanistan’s Republic government, left the country with her family, she felt a great sense of relief, having escaped from the horrors of Taliban rule. She never imagined that less than three years later she would be forced back into the same conditions, only worse.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 2025


 
Violence against women is a human rights emergency in every country. One in three women worldwide experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

Arrested for a Greeting: The Price Afghan Women Pay for a Simple Word

The Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, is the name given by the Taliban to their religious police, tasked with enforcing strict Islamist rule on the people of Afghanistan. But for Afghan women, the name evokes only fear and terror, as they bear the harshest consequences of its actions.

Lawmakers Urged to Consider Emerging Drivers of Child Marriage

By Cecilia Russell
Closing the chapter on child marriages is still a distant ambition in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, and despite great strides at developing and passing legislation to eradicate it, existing and emerging drivers are still at play, making youngsters vulnerable to the practice.

Humor, Courage, and Coffee: Inside Asia’s Independent Media Resistance

By Zofeen Ebrahim
In Pakistan, journalism is a risky profession—and the danger only intensifies if you’re a woman, young, and a freelancer, says 30-year-old Saba Chaudhry, a journalist from a village near Narowal, in Punjab province.

Asia-Arab Parliamentarians Forge Regional Pathways for Gender Justice and Youth Empowerment

By Hisham Allam
Inclusive legislation, empowered youth, and anti-violence policies are inseparable aspects of sustainable development and were the key messages at a conference of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Asian and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development held in Cairo on October 24, 2025.

From Slogans to Systems: Five Practical Steps for Turning Social Development Commitments into Action at Doha and Beyond

By Mavalow Christelle Kalhoule
Thirty years ago, world leaders gathered in Copenhagen and made a promise: people would be at the center of development. This November, Heads of State and Government will meet again in Doha, Qatar, for the Second World Summit for Social Development or WSSD2.

Children’s Education Must Be Put At The Forefront of Climate Discussions At COP30

By Oritro Karim
In 2024, the climate crisis has disrupted schooling for millions of students worldwide, weakening workforces and hindering social development on a massive scale. With extreme weather patterns preventing students from accessing a safe, and effective learning environment, the United Nations (UN) and the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies (EiE Hub) continue to urge the international community to assist the most climate-sensitive areas in building resilient education systems that empower both students and educators.

Tanzania’s Pandemic Fund Ushers in a New Era of Health Preparedness

By Kizito Makoye
When COVID-19 hit Tanzania in 2020, Alfred Kisena’s life was torn apart. The 51-year-old teacher still remembers the night he learned that his wife, Maria, had succumbed to the virus at a hospital in Dar es Salaam. He wasn’t allowed to see her in her final moments.

Tackling the Hidden Toll of Breast Cancer in the Pacific Islands

By Catherine Wilson
The burden of breast cancer, the most common cancer among women, is global, and the projected increase in cases in the coming decades will affect women in high- and low-income countries in every region.

In Zimbabwe, Secondhand Clothes From the West Are Collapsing the Local Textile Industry

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
Shamiso Marambanyika assists a male customer in selecting a pair of jeans on a Saturday morning in Mutare, a city in the eastern part of Zimbabwe.

When Taliban Shut Down the Internet, Women Lost their Lifeline to Aid, Education & Each Other

By UN Women
When the Taliban recently cut off the Internet and phone networks across Afghanistan, millions of women and girls were silenced. For those with connectivity, the blackout severed their last link to the outside world – a fragile connection that had kept education, work, and hope alive.

Women’s Leadership at the Heart of Disaster Risk Reduction

By Raquel Lagunas and Ronald Jackson
Climate and environmental challenges are hitting harder and more often, reshaping people’s lives around the world. While disasters touch everyone, their impacts are not felt equally. The most marginalized, especially women and girls, are too often the first to suffer and the last to recover.

XDR-TB Drug Trial Participants Continue to Celebrate its Success

By Ed Holt
When Tsholofelo Msimango joined a small trial of a new drug regimen for tuberculosis (TB) treatment a decade ago, she had no idea whether the medicines she was about to be given would help her.

Taliban’s New Internet Restrictions Keep Afghanistan Out of the Global Spotlight

At the end of September, the Taliban abruptly severed Wi-Fi and fiber-optic internet in Afghanistan for 48 hours without any explanation. The disruption caused consternation and suffering among millions of Afghans, especially those who depend on the internet for education and online commerce.

UNICEF Calls for Global Support to Protect Displaced and Starving Children in Haiti

By Oritro Karim
New figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that displacement has surged significantly in Haiti, deepening existing security and humanitarian crises in a country where nearly 90 percent of the capital is controlled by armed gangs.

Parliamentarians Seek Solutions to Protect Children from Digital Abuse

By Cecilia Russell
Vulnerable children are being targeted online faster than parliamentarians and law enforcers can act, a conference convened by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) heard. Yet, with international cooperation and sharing of ideas, lawmakers believe the scourge of online abuse can be addressed.

Breaking the Silence in Tokyo: A Kazakh Filmmaker Confronts the Nuclear Scars Through Her Documentary “Jara”

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

 
[caption id="attachment_192574" align="alignleft" width="300"]Aigerim Seitenova stepped forward in a black T-shirt and green skirt to introduce her 31-minute documentary, “Jara – Radioactive Patriarchy: Women of Qazaqstan.”　The screening event was co-organized by the Kazakh Nuclear Frontline Coalition (ASQAQQNFC), the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee, and Peace Boat, with support from Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (JANA).

UN’s Cost-Cutting Mergers Come Under Scrutiny While Search for Locations Worldwide Continues

By Thalif Deen
Faced with a severe liquidity crisis and a hostile Trump administration, the UN continues to merge some of its multiple agencies, and move them out of New York, relocating to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Perhaps the first two agencies to be merged will be UN Women (created in 2010) and the UN Population Fund (created in 1967), with some staffers moved to Bonn and others to Nairobi.
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