As the International Labour Organization Convention 189 on domestic work turns two years old, we offer a look at how governments, unions and the private sector, supported by UN Women, are working towards ensuring that this female-dominated profession is regulated and worker’s rights are protected. Cross-posted from UN Women According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there [...]

Uruguay was the first country to ratify International Labour Organization Convention 189 on domestic workers’ rights, adopted two years back on 16 June 2011, in Geneva. A Uruguayan union leader looks back on that achievement, its impact and what remains to be done. Cross-posted from UN Women “Come on women, it’s time for us to stand up [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women UN-Habitat studies show that women in urban areas are twice as likely as men to suffer some form of violence, especially in developing countries. Violence is a daily reality that disproportionately affects women and girls in the poorest districts of any city. Owing to their poverty, survivors among these populations have less access [...]

In a new editorial article, cross-posted from UN Women , Lakshmi Puri, UN Women Acting Head and Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, puts forth the organization’s call for a stand-alone goal to achieve gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment in the post-2015 agenda, by focusing on three critical areas: safety, access and voice. From the sidelines to the [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women Saran Keïta Diakité is a lawyer in Mali and President of the Malian branch of the NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security (Réseau Paix et Sécurité des Femmes de l’Espace CEDEAO). As the Donor Conference on Mali starts in Brussels, in her own words she speaks about the atrocities occurring in her [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women To run as a political candidate in Iraq demands courage and determination – even more so for a woman. Fourteen candidates, including one woman, were murdered in the run-up to local elections held in April – the first elections to be run by the Iraqis themselves without any international help since 2003. Maryam [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women To run as a political candidate in Iraq demands courage and determination – even more so for a woman. Fourteen candidates, including one woman, were murdered in the run-up to local elections held in April – the first elections to be run by the Iraqis themselves without any international help since 2003. Maryam [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women On World Press Freedom Day, we highlight award-winning Cameroonian journalist and blogger Chi Yvonne Leina, a correspondent for UN Women media partner World Pulse. She is the founder and coordinator of Gender Danger, a grassroots women`s organization that is fighting to end the practice of breast ironing in Cameroon. She attended the United Nations [...]

Author: Lakshmi Puri, UN Women Cross-posted from Trust Law A big step was taken at the United Nations in March when Governments adopted an historic agreement in the Commission on the Status of Women to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The agreement, which breaks new ground with its strong focus on prevention, protection of women’s [...]

Cross-posted at the Community Blog, from UN Women. “If the dispute is not that serious, if it is just slapping and there is no blood, we just let the family work it out,” says an elderly customary leader, Norberto Tomas, addressing a group of 50 community members gathered for the inauguration of a community space in the [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women The sound of women laughing and making jokes are all one can hear standing outside the Tailoring Workshop container at the Women and Girls Oasis in Zaatari refugee camp located in the Jordanian Governorate of Mafraq, close to the Syrian border. It is estimated that more than 70,000 people have been killed [...]

This story was cross-posted from UN Women Bangkok, 9 April 2013 – The launch of Thailand’s pioneering One-Stop Crisis Centre by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on 9 April reinforces the continuing efforts to respond to and prevent violence against women and girls after Thailand joined UN Women’s newest global initiative, COMMIT. UN Women Regional Director Roberta Clarke (wearing black) congratulates [...]

This post is a part of UN Women’s 1,000 Days for Action on the Millennium Development Goals, a countdown to the MDG deadline on 5 April 2015.  Read more here about the current status of MDGs  on gender equality.  Women march in Huánuco for Zero Discrimination and Zero Violence towards HIV-positive women during the IVth decentralized meeting of [...]

This article has been cross-posted from UN Women . While women in El Salvador are working to implement a new law against gender-based killings of women, UN Women and OHCHR have come together to promote a regional protocol against such crimes throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. “No more femicides,” reads this graffiti, scrawled on a wall in Mexico [...]

Cross-posted from UN Women .  “Violence puts women behind and creates a situation that does not allow women to use their full potential,” said a woman, sitting in an airy, green park, after watching a gripping interactive theatrical performance on violence against women in Khulna, Southern Bangladesh in November last year. “The ultimate loser is society.” Photo credit: [...]

By Ana Lukatela,  UN Women ‘s peace and security section programme specialist. This was originally posted in The Guardian .  Nasima Bibi was one of the 16 female health workers murdered in co-ordinated attacks across Pakistan in December and January. And on 8 February nine, as yet unnamed,  female health workers in northern Nigeria were killed  in same manner – by gunmen [...]

Photo credit: UN Women/Laura Beke Written by Mwasapi Kihongosi. 24-year-old Mwasapi led a Caravan for Change in November 2012 – a bus consisting of 25 activists who visited five different regions of Tanzania over eight days in November 2012 to raise awareness and encouraging people to “Open Up!” and speak out against violence against women. He also won the global [...]

Photo credit: UN Women/Laura Beke Written by Mwasapi Kihongosi. 24-year-old Mwasapi led a Caravan for Change in November 2012 – a bus consisting of 25 activists who visited five different regions of Tanzania over eight days in November 2012 to raise awareness and encouraging people to “Open Up!” and speak out against violence against women. He also won the global [...]