[Press release] UN Women and foodpanda Pakistan have reached a mutual understanding for the cooperation and promotion of gender equality in the workplace through initiatives undertaken to address and implement strategies pertaining to gender-responsiveness and an environment devoid of discrimination and harassment.

Women’s voice in decision-making is critical for the development of all. According to the NFHS-5 data for 2019-21 nearly 88.7 per cent of currently married Indian women tend to participate in key household decisions about healthcare for themselves, or make major household purchases.

The two agencies signed an inter-agency agreement for the period 2022-2026 to promote gender-responsive inclusive governance, social protection and disaster risk reduction, women’s economic empowerment and access to justice as well as to fight discrimination against women at all levels in Bangladesh.

UN Women and ILO have long been working with the Government to foster decent work, equal pay and access to resources for women. Both agencies excel in their respective areas of work: UN Women has cultivated strong civil society partnerships and ILO has close working relationship with employers’ and workers’ organizations. Combining these comparative advantages, UN Women and ILO are ideally positioned to promote voice, agency and choice for women and girls in Bangladesh.

[Press release] A dialogue among women leaders in the Asia-Pacific region to mark International Women’s Day 2022 also underscored the severe and unevenly distributed consequences of climate change and environmental degradation, while highlighting women’s voice and leadership in climate action and disaster risk reduction.

When I saw this happening, I did not want to be a silent spectator. I wanted to make a difference in my community. This is when I joined the village dengue prevention committee. We worked hard to raise awareness among the public and helped remove mosquito breeding sites. I am proud to say that our hard work paid off and we managed to eradicate dengue in the area.

Winifrida Elizabeth Nawaratne is a human rights activist and an active member of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka. She became engaged in social work following a course on human rights at the University of Colombo, which she took after retiring from her job as a typist. She was a participant in UN Women’s multistakeholder dialogues titled “Promoting Women’s Engagement in Effective Solid Waste Management in Sri Lanka”. Winifrida dedicates her time to promoting women’s rights and women’s empowerment in her community in Puttalam, north-western Sri Lanka.

UN Women Asia and the Pacific Regional Director Mohammad Naciri discusses the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women, efforts to implement a gender-fair and gender- sensitive pandemic recovery plan, and the continuing partnership between UN Women and ASEAN. He also talks about the role of male leaders, allies, and champions in advancing the gender equality agenda. ASEAN: Emerging data and narratives from the ground indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the burden on women and girls and may be reversing the global progress made on achieving gender inclusion and equality.

Hear directly from some of our inspiring Action Coalition leaders why their organizations are making commitments, and what they are looking forward to.

The villagers of the Giay ethnic minority are often at the mercy of the weather, so UN Women is helping them avert losses in their main livelihoods of farming and raising chickens and fish. Quang Kim, a commune in Ta Trang village near the capital of Lao Cai province in northern Viet Nam, is often hit by flash floods and landslides during the storm season. “The income of my family depends much on planting rice and selling chicken and fish, but all were buried by the flood in October last year,” said Ho Thi Nhung, 38, who lives here with her husband and two sons.

Women who are “most disadvantaged” need “equal participation in all relevant planning and decision-making processes,” with regards to multi-stakeholder engagement for climate action, said Saad Alfarargi, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development. This includes in particular “women with disabilities, girls and young women, minority women, indigenous women, and members of other disempowered and marginalized groups,” he said.

I am the co-founder of ila, a social enterprise start-up that uses human-centred design to help businesses foster inclusion. During COVID, women have been disproportionately disadvantaged, and in times of lockdown, 15 million women are affected by gender-based violence every three months. I wanted to create a support system where bystanders are trained to help domestic abuse victims and redirect them towards help by becoming allies; that’s how my team at ila came up with our application ALLY.

The first regional review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Asia and the Pacific concluded today with a call for greater collaboration among countries in the region to implement this global framework for action to reap the benefits of migration for all.

[Prees release] Women and girls across South-East Asia who are members of an ethnic minority, live in a rural location, or suffer from poverty are at greatest risk of being left behind despite the region’s recent progress in gender equality, according to a new report by ASEAN and UN Women.

COVID19 has completely changed my life. After the university closed, all academic activities were suspended, and I was forced to return home. I live in a remote village in Bogura district and aside from worrying about my studies and the health risks posed by COVID19, I am also suffering from poor connectivity issues. However, I am trying to do my part during the crisis.

“The pandemic has completely transformed the ways we used to do things. Our Women Peace Café (WPC) work has been affected, everything has shifted to digital platforms, and the situations have changed at home. As soon as the university closed, I had to move back home. Because of the health crises, the number of chores increased at home and we had to do more cleaning and sanitizing to remain safe.

There are still 840 million people still living without electricity – most of them in poor and remote areas. While those who can afford it will buy kerosene lamps or candles, many people live in complete darkness once night falls, and this figure will have increased during the pandemic when so many have lost their livelihoods. Kerosene and candles also offer poor quality light at a high cost to the environment – one kerosene lamp can emit one ton of carbon dioxide in five years.

Shila Ale is a well-recognized woman human rights defender from Barahathawa Municipality, Province 2, Nepal. As member of Respect Nepal, a grassroots women’s organization (GWO), she has been working relentlessly to strengthen access to justice for women and excluded groups.

On July 10th, 2020, young leaders from China together with representatives from UN Women, research institutions, media and private sector companies attended “Promoting Gender Equality through Social Innovations” online dialogue co-organized by UN Women China and Tencent, one of China’s leading tech companies.

Martinho Carvalho Sarmento, recently promoted to the position of Inspector General, knows the benefits of having women involved in conflict mediation and prevention.