Gender

Dear Gender Community, here is this week’s news selection:

Aid profiles: Aleema Shivji’s lifelong campaign to fight exclusion (The New Humanitarian, May 25, 2023)
> Shivji’s entire career – from working as a physio in Canada in her 20s to leading inclusivity efforts at one of the world’s largest international NGOs – has been devoted to addressing the needs of people on the margins, rehabilitating them personally, advocating for their rights globally, and making sure they have a say in an aid response that often excludes them.
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2023/05/25/aid-profiles-alee…

Ghana peacekeeper named UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year (UN News, May 22, 2023)
> A Ghanaian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) will receive the 2022 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, it was announced on Monday.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136877

Israel ranked lowest of all OECD countries in gender equality index (The Times of Israel, May 29, 2023)
> Jewish state scores worse than Turkey, and over twice as bad as UK and France; director of government group to advance women’s rights urges thorough examination by relevant bodies.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ranked-lowest-of-all-oecd-countrie…

Dear community, here is this week’s news selection:

Dwindling aid leaves Rohingya women exposed to rising violence in Bangladesh (The New Humanitarian, May 9, 2023)
> Kidnappings, shootings, and the threat of sexual violence are forcing Rohingya refugee women to live in fear, often preventing them from leaving their homes to access vital services, according to refugee women, aid workers, and camp officials in Bangladesh.
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2023/05/09/aid-rohingya…

UN marks International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (UN News, May 16, 2023)
> Mentioning this year’s theme in a statement to mark the day, Together Always: United in Diversity, the UN chief called on leaders ‘to speak with one voice' to eliminate stigma and discrimination, that result in sometimes deadly attacks targeting LGBTQI+ communities.
The Secretary-General showed his deep concern over the levels of violence directed towards LGBTQI+ people and how those communities are still vulnerable to multiple forms of attack.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136722

Guterres calls for end to digital divide, stressing ‘tremendous opportunities’ ahead (UN News, May 17, 2023)
> The digital revolution offers “tremendous opportunities” to fast track sustainable development, but Least Developed Countries need much more help getting online if they’re to benefit too.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136742

PRESS RELEASE: Allow women and girls to speak on sex, gender and gender identity without intimidation or fear: UN expert (UNHCR, May 22, 2023)
> Threats and intimidation against women expressing their opinions on sex and sexual orientation is deeply concerning, said Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/05/allow-women-and-girls-s…

Dear Gender Community, this week I want to share with you a Linkedin post that I found interesting. It sparked a discussion in the comments and I hope to read your opinions / feelings about this topic as well. Feel free to comment with your personal experience and/or opinion.

Please find below the link to the post and an interesting resource:

A reflection on gender discrimination in Switzerland
> If anyone is able to find the study this post is referring to, please share it in the comments!
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexandra-dufresne-295a49179_dear-young-…

Academic Careers and Gender Inequality: Leaky Pipeline and Interrelated Phenomena in Seven European Countries (GARCIA working papers)
> Find Switzerland on page 116. An extract:
“Structural characteristics of the gender regime in Switzerland have strong impacts on women’s careers with, for example, very low levels of childcare provision, extremely high childcare costs, high levels of horizontal and vertical segregation, a relatively large gender pay gap, particularly at the upper reaches of the occupational hierarchy. Women tend to work part-time and/or to take extended breaks from the labor market when their children are young .The academic occupational hierarchy continues to manifest a clear “glass ceiling”, although there has been a considerable improvement in women’s access to higher education over the past 15 years. Women are now well represented amongst doctoral students and make up a significant proportion of temporary scientific research positions, but they are much less likely than their male counterparts to reach permanent professorships. Although the 25% women professors target has yet to be reached, there has been a significant increase in the feminization of intermediate levels of the academic hierarchy. Increasing women’s access to scientific occupations is a concerted policy objective and there are signs of quite strong institutional commitment to the fight against horizontal and vertical segregation. But in a country with a low unemployment rate, a small university-educated population and relatively well-paid job opportunities in the private and public sectors, Swiss higher education institutions do not necessarily represent a particularly attractive employer, notably because of the large proportion of temporary, fixed-term contracts that characterize the early stages of an academic career.”
https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/garcia_working_paper_5_acade…

​​Dear Community, please find below this week's selected news. Remember, comments are always open so do not hesitate to share your opinion!

ECOWAS strengthens fight against gender-based discrimination (News Agency of Nigeria, May 6, 2023)
> The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is facilitating the empowerment of women and strengthening the fight against gender-based discrimination through policies and programmes.
https://www.nannews.ng/2023/05/06/ecowas-strengthens-fight-against-gend…

Survey: Anti-LGBTQ legislation takes alarming mental-health toll on queer youth (STAT News, May 1, 2023)
> “LGBTQ young people are not inherently prone to increased suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity, but rather they are placed at higher risk because of the mistreatment and stigmatization that they experience in society,” said Ronita Rath, the Trevor Project’s vice president of research.
https://www.statnews.com/2023/05/01/mental-health-lgbtq-youth/

Afghanistan: Women tell UN rights experts ‘we’re alive, but not living’ (UN News, May 5, 2023)
> Following a systematic crackdown on the rights of Afghan women and girls by the Taliban – from attending school to working at the UN – “the stage may be set for multiple preventable deaths that could amount to femicide” unless restrictions are reversed rapidly, independent UN human rights experts announced on Friday, following an eight-day visit to the country.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136382

Dear Gender community, here is this week’s press review!

New report shows 90 per cent of adolescent girls in low-income economies are offline (UN News, April 26, 2023)
> Around 90 per cent of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet in low-income countries, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online, according to a new UNICEF analysis, coinciding with the UN’s International Girls in ICT Day.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1136072

Global Action Against Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill Amid Surge of Violent Attacks (Health Policy Watch, April 25, 2023)
> Protestors gathered outside Ugandan embassies worldwide on Tuesday for a global day of action against that country’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which criminalises all LGBTQ people and proposes a series of punishments ranging from fines to the death penalty.
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/global-action-against-ugandas-anti-homo…

Numbers of note: women in decision-making positions (European Institute for Gender Equality, April 5, 2023)
> The latest data on women in decision-making roles in the Western Balkans and Türkiye paint a mixed picture but are on the right path for the future.
https://eige.europa.eu/news/numbers-note-women-decision-making-positions

Dear Gender Community, here is this week brief news selection:

WHO Director General Calls on Countries to Protect Women’s Right to Abortion (Health Policy Watch, April 18, 2023)
> Two weeks after a Texas judge stirred controversy by banning a popular US abortion pill, WHO’s Director General has explicitly re-affirmed the organization’s support for abortion rights, stating that “women should always have the right to choose when it comes to their bodies and their health”. 
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/who-supports-abortion-rights/

What’s changed since #AidToo? Not much, say sex workers in Sierra Leone (The New Humanitarian, April 19, 2023)
> When Oxfam staff in Haiti were caught paying earthquake survivors for sex, many aid organisations moved to overhaul their safeguarding policies and tried to clamp down on the practice of transactional sex, noting the power disparities between staff and the people they serve.
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2023/04/19/aid-industry…

El Salvador minister calls on WTO members to take action on promoting gender equality (WTO, April 21, 2023)
> Implementing specific action in a coordinated way to advance women’s economic empowerment is crucial, said María Luisa Hayem Brevé, El Salvador’s Minister of the Economy, at a meeting of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender on 21 April. She welcomed WTO members’ work on trade and gender and outlined El Salvador’s projects for promoting gender equality in trade.
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news23_e/iwgtg_24apr23_e.htm

Dear Gender Community, I hope this week’s news selection finds you well. Read below:

Gender inequalities in food and agriculture are costing world $1 trillion: FAO (UN News, April 13, 2023)
> FAO says that gender inequalities such as less access for women to knowledge and resources, and a higher unpaid care burden, account for a 24 per cent gap in productivity between women and men farmers on farms of equal size.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135597
The report in question: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc5343en

Plan International concerned about safety of children and girls as conflict in Sudan escalates (Relief Web, April 17, 2023)
> The plight of families, especially children and girls, in Sudan remains uncertain amid ongoing conflict, increasing concern for their wellbeing and safety.
https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/plan-international-concerned-about-s…

UN commission examines threats to global education goal (UN News, April 10, 2023)
> Despite global promises and progress, some 263 million children and young people are out of school, indicating that achieving quality education for all by 2030 is “seriously off track”, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned on Monday. The gender theme was picked up by Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), who described education as “a door opener” and “life changer”, particularly for vulnerable women and girls.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135467

Dear community, I hope you had nice Easter holidays with your loved ones. Here is this week’s news selection:

From The Field: A rare safe space for the LGBTI+ community in El Salvador (UN News, April 7, 2023)
> There is just one LGBTI+ community and health centre in El Salvador, and it has become a refuge for many people who have been expelled from their homes, simply because of their sexual identity.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135432

UN chief condemns Taliban ban on its Afghan female staff (BBC, April 5, 2023)
> Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded Afghanistan's rulers immediately revoke the order, saying it was discriminatory and breached international human rights law.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65184767

Iran installs cameras to find women not wearing hijab (BBC, April 8, 2023)
> Iranian authorities have begun installing cameras in public places to identify unveiled women, the police have announced.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-65220595

Dear Gender community, here is this week’s news selection!

Women in peacekeeping: UN Fund calls for new ideas and investment (UN News, March 30, 2023)
> The UN’s Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) launched a fresh call for funding proposals on Thursday, aimed at improving opportunities for uniformed women to serve in peacekeeping operations, and better serve vulnerable communities worldwide.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/03/1135192

Why Ebola sex abuse victims may never find justice (The New Humanitarian, March 29, 2023)
> Very few victims of UN sexual abuse and exploitation ever see justice – whether that means compensation, seeing perpetrators punished, or winning paternity claims, according to rights groups and lawyers who have represented women in such cases.
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2023/03/29/drc-ebola-un-sex…

UN Conference on the Status of Women: We need action to make gender equality in the digital age a reality (Education International, March 29, 2023)
> The 67th session of the UN Committee on the Status of Women (CSW67) held in New York, March 6 to 17 adopted conclusions that acknowledge the critical role of technology and innovation in achieving gender equality and recognise the challenges to gender equality in the digital age.
https://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/27456:un-conference-on-the-status-of-wome…

New care entrepreneurship programme to boost women’s economic empowerment in the Asia-Pacific (UN Women, April 3, 2023)
> The Gender-Inclusive Care Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Program (GICEEP) has been launched in the Asia-Pacific region, to help women turn the persistent and disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work into business opportunities and pathways towards full economic participation.
https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/stories/press-release/2023/03/new-ca…

Dear Gender community, I hope you had a nice start of the week. Please find below this week’s news selection:

Swift Condemnation for ‘World Worst’ Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act (Health Policy Watch, March 22, 2023)
> The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called on Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni not to promulgate the Anti-Homosexuality Act his country’s Parliament passed on Tuesday night. Describing the Act as “probably among the worst of its kind in the world”, Türk said that, “if signed into law by the president, it will render lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are”.
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/swift-condemnation-for-world-worst-ugan…

OPINION: Sports play a vital role in promoting gender equality, says Olympic medallist, basketball star and IOC Member​,​ Pau Gasol (International Olympic Committee, March 27, 2023)
> Sport reflects society. But it can also lead, setting a powerful and very visible example for behaviors, standards and values. As Gender Equality month wraps up, Spanish basketball star Pau Gasol reflects on the ability of sport to promote equality, break stereotypes and help girls pursue their dreams and goals.
https://olympics.com/ioc/news/sports-play-a-vital-role-in-promoting-gen…

Spain might introduce a cabinet gender equality law. What would that mean? (WEF, March 27, 2023)
> The Spanish government has approved a draft Equal Representation Law that would require men and women each to hold at least 40% of cabinet roles.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/03/spain-gender-equality-cabinet-la…