Category: Gender Equality

Proportion of women parliamentarians worldwide reaches ‘all-time high’

UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein | Women parliamentarians of the Afghan Lower House (Wolesi Jirga or “House of the People”) arrive at their inauguration ceremony in Kabul (2001). The proportion of women parliamentarians worldwide reached more than 25 per cent last year– a historic first but still far from gender parity, UN partner the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) […]

This week the 78th Session of the General Assembly in New York began

Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, attends the opening the High- level General Debate of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly. The Minister was joined by Assistant Minister McAllister, DFAT Secretary Jan Adams, Ambassador James Larsen, Mr Rob Mitchell MP Member for McEwen, Mr Andrew Wallace MP Member for Fisher […]

How girls are moving the goalpost in Iraq

Over two billion people around the world watched the Women’s World Cup Final in August, and tucked away on the left coast of the Tigris River in Mosul, Iraq, a group of teenage girls and their families scoured the internet to find streaming sites to catch the game. The screening was fuzzy, but the vision […]

Afghanistan: UN predicts restrictions on women’s rights will worsen economic catastrophe

UNAMA/Farzana Zeba Kalam/An Afghan girl snatches a moment away from her watermelon selling duties to work on her homework The draconian restrictions on women’s ability to study and work have contributed to the calamitous socio-economic situation in Afghanistan, with devastating consequences for the population, according to a UN report released on Tuesday. The Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook […]

Libya: Crimes against humanity committed since 2016 – rights probe

27 March 2023 UN-appointed independent human rights investigators on Monday said there are grounds to believe that Libyan authorities and armed militia groups have been responsible for “a wide array” of war crimes, and crimes against humanity in recent years. In the case of State security forces, human rights violations were committed to quash dissent and exploit […]

Equality drive launched by African women leaders at landmark conference

UN Women/Ryan | Brown African women leaders are playing a key role in transforming the continent. 14 February 2023 Women Women leaders called for swift, concerted action to advance gender rights at the first International Conference on Women’s Transformational Leadership, in Juba, South Sudan on Tuesday. Almost 400 women leaders from 15 African countries joined the UN-backed […]