Before the devastating flood, Kavita earned a living by making products from dry date palms, sewing, and embroidery. “The water washed away everything I had made with my own hands. All raw materials and unfinished products were swept away.

"UN Women is Strengthening its Stance Towards Better Gender Equity & Inclusiveness, Women Safety, Digital Literacy And Financial Education"

A forum of business, governments, civil society organisations, unions and international organisations is considering how best to leverage international agreements and national legislation to further sustainable development.

India is among the most important countries when it comes to the global economic growth and structural transformation story. A commensurate improvement in its labour market outcomes and a fair distribution of the fruits of economic progress will spur further economic growth and the benefits it brings.

As peacebuilders, all three women have been motivated by their personal suffering from the conflict. And in the communities, the damage lingers, they said. Damayanthi said her father disappeared during the conflict in 1989. “It doesn’t matter if we are Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim -- we have all suffered losses due to the conflict,” she said.

H.E. Pertti Anttinen, the Ambassador of Finland to Nepal served as the EU Gender Champion, and advocated the advancement of the rights of women and girls in Nepal. This year, Finland and UN Women celebrated 10 years of collaboration in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Nepal. We spoke to Mr. Anttinen at the end of his tenure and asked him about his views on the status of gender equality in Nepal.

When the recent floods hit Fatimah Gul’s house, everything happened so quickly that she was unable to bring any belongings or food supplies. The elderly widow lost most of her belongings when her village was one of the very first to be hit by floods in Swabi District of the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the 2022 World Economic Forum Report, Bangladesh continues to top the gender gap index in South Asia. While the country has achieved a high ranking on women’s political empowerment, it has scored low on gender parity in economic participation and opportunities. We know, there has been a reduction in both men and women’s workforce participation due to the COVID 19 pandemic, however the proportional impact has been higher for women.

It takes a village - There is a saying that goes: It takes a village to raise a child. Similarly, it takes a village to support a person in a humanitarian crisis. With record-high humanitarian needs around the world, this year’s World Humanitarian Day (WHD) builds on this metaphor of collective endeavour to grow global appreciation of humanitarian work.

The responses from 1,809 students and 350 staff and lecturers in universities in Ha Noi, Thai Nguyen and Thanh Hoa province, demonstrate the extent and impacts of sexual harassment in the higher education sector. UN Women funded the survey under the Safe Campus initiative, a regional project to eliminate violence against women. “I’ve received many comments on my appearance and in many cases, I feel uncomfortable and anxious. Before I didn’t know that’s a form of sexual harassment.” said My Duyen, 19, a female student at Hong Duc University.

Hanoi, Viet Nam – The Viet Nam Women’s Union discussed with Government, social organizations and international agencies today how it can help develop a national plan to achieve the United Nations goal of strengthening the role of women and women’s organizations and concerned stakeholders in promoting Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda.

Now is the time to address the interlinking challenges of gender inequality, poverty reduction, social inclusion, health care, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. Youth have been, and will continue to be a part of the conversations and action to restore the planet and integrating biodiversity in the transformation of food systems, and therefore will also remain closely engaged in the implementation work of the Action Coalitions that were launched during the Generation Equality Forum. On International Youth Day, join us in uplifting the voices of youth and celebrating their leadership.

Ishan Priyaranga, 27, is Minister of Public Transport (Kalutara District) in the Youth Parliament of Sri Lanka. In October 2021, Priyaranga attended a series of “multi-party dialogues” that UN Women hosted as part of its project, funded by the Government of Japan, on implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Sri Lanka.

Vilashini Weerasinghe is Assistant Director of the Sri Lanka Planning Service, a Government institution in Badulla, capital of Uva Province. She has been working to address issues faced by plantation workers for the last 17 years. In October 2021, Weerasinghe attended a series of “multi-party dialogues” that UN Women hosted as part of its project, funded by the Government of Japan, on implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Sri Lanka.

On 9 August, UN Women joins indigenous peoples around the world to commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. This year, the day focuses on the theme “Indigenous Languages”, and calls to revitalize, preserve, and promote indigenous languages around the world. The 370 million indigenous people living across 90 countries are the custodians of the majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages. Every two weeks, an indigenous language disappears, risking the loss of indigenous cultures and knowledge.

The first cohort of young thought leaders have been recruited through UN Women’s flagship 30 for 2030 Network. The talented group of 32 gender-equality leaders aged 14-35 were recruited from 15 countries across Asia and the Pacific, and will engage with the regional and country offices to provide expertise on youth and gender issues and will be supported by UN Women to co-design new campaigns and initiatives.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has clearly outlined her commitment to eliminating this scourge of violence against the women of Bangladesh. Nothing hurts her more, she has said, than violence against women. Her government has enacted several strong policies and action plans to promote gender equality and address violence against women, including the Domestic Violence Protection and Preservation Act 2010, National Women Development Policy 2011, Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act 2012 and the Child Marriage Prevention Act 2017, which clearly demonstrate the will to make changes.

“I have seven sisters and brothers. All of us have worked abroad, like 80 per cent of young people in my village“said Thuy Tien, 29, a mother of two in Thach Long commune, Hong Linh district, Ha Tinh - a rural poor province from the North Central region of Viet Nam.

Senior Indonesian Government officials today discussed how they could follow up on a joint report by National Counter Terrorism Agency and UN Women that showed that violent extremist groups in South-East Asia have been strengthening their campaigns by exploiting social hostilities towards women.

Mallika Iyer, 26, an Indian-American, served until July 2022 as Director of Asia and the Pacific and Europe Programs and Humanitarian Action at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. The civil society organization, based in New York, provides inputs to the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security, to which UN Women provides expertise. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Iyer is now studying at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.