Women Watch

1. Work of doctor who helped treat rape victims focus of new film

   The work of a gynaecologist who treats rape victims who have been subjected to sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the focus of a film which has just been released. "The Man Who Mends Women", tells the story of Dr Denis Mukwege.

2. Report lays out "baseline" for progress in gender equality

   Although women are outpacing men in achieving higher levels of education, they are still more likely to pursue the humanities as opposed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That's according to the World's Women 2015, a UN report which looks at how women worldwide are faring in eight critical areas such as health, education, work, power and decision-making, and poverty.

3. Grim but essential, autopsies are saving lives in Bangladesh

   MOHESHALI, Bangladesh – Something went terribly wrong when Asta Banu gave birth. Her labour was difficult and seemed to take forever. When the baby – a boy – was finally born, he was unresponsive. Although Ms. Banu's family quickly arranged transportation to the Thakurgaon District Hospital, their efforts were in vain. During the 20 km drive, the baby slipped into a coma and died.

4. Women worldwide live longer, healthier lives with better education, says new UN report

   20 October 2015 – The lives of women and girls around the world have improved in several areas over the last 20 years but they continue to be victims of gender based discrimination and violence, according to a new report launched today by the United Nations.

5. The World's Women 2015 - Trends and Statistics

   On World Statistics Day, 20 October, the UN Statistics Division launches the new World's Women 2015: Trends and Statistics report, which presents the latest statistics and analyses of the status of women and men in areas of concern identified by the landmark 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. It also reviews progress towards gender equality over the past 20 years.

6. 27 September: Global Leaders Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

   On 27 September, more than 70 world leaders are expected to make concrete commitments and firm pledges to overcome gender equality gaps at a historic event co-hosted by UN Women and the People's Republic of China: the "Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: A Commitment to Action."

7. Family planning vital in post-quake Nepal

   Before Nepal's devastating April earthquake, 20-year-old Tanka Kumari Bishankhe regularly received contraceptive injections. She had already had three children since getting married at age 15. Together, she and her husband decided to not have more.

8. Women "an unused resource" in shipping

   Women are "an unused resource" in the shipping industry, a resource which should be tapped if the industry is to expand. That's according to Lee Adamson, from the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The organization says that only 2 per cent of the world's seafarers are currently women.

9. UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict wraps up official visit to Guinea

   The United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura has wrapped up an official visit to Guinea, where her Office has been supporting an investigation into events that took place in 2009 at a stadium in the capital, Conakry, where more than 100 people were killed and at least 100 women were raped during an opposition demonstration.

10. Ban addresses top peacekeeping officials amid allegations of sexual abuse by UN blue helmets

    13 August 2015 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has conducted an urgent video conference with the heads of United Nations peacekeeping operations, Force Commanders, and Police Commissioners following a series of revelations alleging abuse by UN 'blue helmets' in the field, according to a spokesperson for the Organization.

11. Women: focus on soccer clinics, women's role in humanitarian relief and gender gap in Morocco

    Soccer can teach young boys and girls across the world that they are equals, according to the United Nations. Professional players of the Spanish club, Valencia CF recently held a clinic for aspiring stars at the Beijing Royal School in China. It was organized in partnership with UN Women, which wants to replicate the awareness-raising activity in other countries. Ana Carmo spoke with the agency's Jose Carlos Ferrer and began by asking him what they aim to achieve.

12. New UN agency report shows 'unprecedented' rise in infant mortality in Gaza

    13 August 2015 – A new study carried out by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has revealed that the infant mortality rate in the Gaza Strip has risen for the first time in 50 years, with the agency's health director citing the ongoing blockade as possibly contributing to the trend.

13. Dual discrimination faced by aboriginal women

    Aboriginal women in Australia are facing what has been described by a leading rights advocate as "dual discrimination." The indigenous peoples of Australia make up less than 5 per cent of the country's total population. Many face intolerance because of their ethnic background; women face the extra element of discrimination because of their gender.

14. Video: 2015 World Day against Trafficking in Persons

    The second annual World Day against Trafficking in Persons is being marked on 30 July 2015. To mark this special day, the Principals of eight of the world's key organizations working to tackle this crime have come together to issue a special statement. Together, these eight heads of organizations are urging more to be done to help the millions of women, men and children who fall victim to one of today's most brutal crimes, and to join forces to improve trafficked persons' access to remedies that respond to their individual needs.

15. Liberia's new labour law commits to decent work

    MONROVIA (ILO News) – Liberian President Sirleaf has signed into law the Decent Work Bill, the country's first labour law since the 1950s...The new law explicitly promotes fundamental rights at work, including freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively; the right not to be subject to forced or compulsory labour; the right to equality at work, and to equal working conditions regardless of gender or other irrelevant criteria; and the right not to be subject to the worst forms of child labour. The law also seeks to implement certain fundamental rights found in Liberia's Constitution.

16. Women: focus on local politics, migrant workers and the gender gap in Maldives

    UN Radio looks at Haitian women playing a greater role in local politics, migrant workers in Europe and the gender gap in Maldives.

17. Bangladesh: Empowering Women Against Natural Disasters

    ROYGANJ UPAZILA, SIRAJGANJ – Holding a makeshift soil leveler with one hand, directing her peers with the other, Sima Rani Das stood ankle-deep in mud along the roadside. "Everybody make sure to drink water," she said, as the sun had reached its zenith and the temperature was up in the 30s. About 25 women were fortifying a road-cum-embankment, built to prevent flooding and support a road in Rampur village.

18. Colombia: Violence Often Breeds More Violence

    Violence often breeds more violence. And that is what Catalina has experienced since she was displaced from her small farm outside of the city of Medellin. Forced to flee with her small daughter, then two years old.

19. Maldives tackles climate change and gender inequality

    Maldives is making strides in confronting challenges such as climate change and achieving gender parity, according to the UN. Located in the Indian Ocean, the island nation has been described as "ground zero" for monitoring the impact of climate change.

20. ADDIS: investing in gender equality vital to economic growth, sustainable development, says Ban

    Increased investments in gender equality are vital if the world is to achieve sustained economic growth and development, United Nations Secretary-General said today during the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "It is clear that we have not invested sufficiently in gender equality," Mr. Ban said at a side event hosted by UN Women and the World Bank on Financing for Gender Equality. "We know that persisting gaps in gender equality and women's empowerment in the world have been a barrier to the full achievement of each of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

21. Speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Women-World Bank event on Financing for Gender Equality, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    I thank UN Women and the World Bank Group for bringing us together to focus on the crucial issue of financing for gender equality. From my recent review of the 20 years of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, it is clear that we have not invested sufficiently in gender equality.

22. Speech by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at the side event Financing for Gender Equality – Results and Good Practices, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Mr. Secretary-General, Ministers, and friends. It's wonderful to see you. Twenty years ago, the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women put forward a Platform for Action that made a powerful case for gender equality. Among other things, it recognized two important principles: (1) "that equality between women and men is a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice;" and (2) that "broad-based and sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development is necessary to sustain social development and social justice."

23. After months adrift at sea, migrants receive critical care in Indonesia

    KUALA CANGKOI, Indonesia – Montas spent the first months of her pregnancy at sea, crowded onto a boat with hundreds of other migrants. The passengers had set out to find a better life – perhaps in Malaysia or Australia – but ended up more desperate than ever. The captain abandoned their boat, leaving them stranded on the open ocean.

24. Targeted investment in women needed to break gender inequality

    Investments which target the development of women and girls around the world are needed to break gender inequality and discrimination, according to the UN agency with deals with gender issues. The international community is meeting in Ethiopia from Monday to discuss how best to finance future global development programmes.

25. Education essential to vision of a life of dignity for all, says Ban at Norway summit

    7 July 2015 – The Oslo Summit on Education for Development is a chance to reaffirm the human right to education, an opportunity to mobilize political commitment, and "our moment" to galvanize international support for education, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared today in Norway, where he has been attending a number of high-level events over the past two days.

26. Clinic helps end dangerous traditional practices in rural Bangladesh

    CHANTI HAZRADANGA, Bangladesh – Traditions run deep in the indigenous communities of north-western Bangladesh, where many people are reluctant to seek professional medical care during or after pregnancy. But a clinic in the village of Chanti Hazradanga, in Panchagarh District, is helping to change minds about maternal health – and is saving lives in the process.

27. Guatemala's Ministry of Agriculture approves first-ever Policy on Gender Equality

    For the first time in its history, Guatemala's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food has a comprehensive Policy on Gender Equality.

28. Syrian sisters repay a mother's selfless care and love in Damascus

    DAMASCUS, Syria (UNHCR) – Every morning, Amal, a single mother, wakes up early to get her children ready for school. She feels good, because she knows they will be safe and free from any immediate threat of conflict.

29. Growing gender gap in mobile phone use

    Men have greater access to mobile telephone services across the developing world and use them more than women. That's according to a director at the Connected Women Programme of the GSMA, an association of mobile operators.

30. Investigation launched following abuse of girl in CAR

    An investigation has been launched in the Central African Republic, by the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, following allegations that a UN peacekeeper had sexually abused a young girl.