In March 2024, trade ministers from around the world formally recognized the contribution of women’s participation in trade to advance economic growth and sustainable development in the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Declaration at the World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference. Yet women still face various barriers preventing them from fully participating in trade.   The recently […]

The 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) delivered on March 22, 2024 robust commitments by UN Member States to strengthen financing and institutions to eradicate women’s and girls’ poverty. Globally, 10.3 per cent of women live in extreme poverty today, according to the report presented by the UN Secretary-General to […]

Women’s rights are under attack, and governments must act to reverse that dangerous trend, the UN chief told a his annual town hall event with civil society activists on Wednesday, as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) session continued its first week, with a host of side events highlighting deteriorating conditions around the […]

The annual UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meets in March each year to address the widespread inequalities, violence and discrimination women continue to face all around the world. Here is a brief five-point guide to this high-profile UN event. 1. Pushing for action for eight decades The work of the Commission began […]

More than 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM); an increase of 30 million or 15 per cent compared with figures from 2016, new UN estimates revealed on Friday 8th March 2024. Released on Friday, coinciding with International Women’s Day, the data compiled by UN Children’s Fund […]

The UN chief on Friday launched a plan to boost empowerment of women and girls around the world, unveiling details at a meeting commemorating International Women’s Day on the theme of investing in women and girls. “Equality is overdue; to achieve it, we must match rhetoric with resources,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “We must invest in […]

At the current rate of investment, more than 340 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030, according to UN Women. As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on 8 March by investing in women, we look at what needs to be done to improve the economic situation of women around the world. […]

Progress on women’s representation in national legislatures was “slow and mixed” in 2023, registering a growth of 0.4 per cent over the preceding year, the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) reported on Tuesday 5 march 2024. The global proportion of women in the world’s voting chambers inched up to 26.9 per cent on the back of […]

Workers worldwide look forward to payday. But while a paycheck may bring a sense of relief, satisfaction, or joy, it can also represent an injustice—a stark reminder of persistent inequalities between men and women in the workplace. The gender pay gap stands at 20 per cent, meaning women workers earn 80 per cent of what […]

This International Women’s Day, 8 March 2024, join the United Nations in celebrating under the theme Invest in women: Accelerate progress. The world is facing many crises, ranging from geopolitical conflicts to soaring poverty levels and the escalating impacts of climate change. These challenges can only be addressed by solutions that empower women. By investing […]