A fatwa was issed against me; they condemned me for normalizing obscenity and indecency among women by persuading them to come out of their homes. … I said, ‘You should also give a fatwa against Hazrat Khadija (the first wife of Prophet Muhammad) because she was also a trader.’ “God has not made us as weak as we have made ourselves.”

A cross-agency training on gender in communications brought together UN staff from 13 agencies in Nepal last month. The two-day session provided the 25 participants with a range of tools and skills to develop gender-responsive communication materials in their respective lines of work. “There is a need for devising coherent communications plans and strategies that position the United Nations as the torchbearer of incorporating gender in communications,” said Valerie Julliand, UN Resident Coordinator.

Women worksite supervisors in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) are now able to demand work , manage worksites , and assert themselves when wages are not paid.

Most Pacific Island governments have made commitments to advance gender equality by ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), signing up to the Beijing Platform for Action, Millennium Development Goals and United Nations Security Council Resolutions.