From where I stand: “Young people must speak up and act to protect LGBTIQ people and women in Indonesia”

Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Patriarchal values still predominate in the societies of Indonesia. Sexism permeates all levels of daily lives, including in work and public spheres. And it is even worse in political decision-making: LGBTIQ people are treated as tokens and women are sexually objectified by men in almost all decision-making processes. They are not treated as equal partners who can help better Indonesia society. Indonesia is unique with its communities of diverse religions living together in tolerance from west to east. But when sexism, extremism and patriarchy converge, the result always is oppression of LGBTIQ people and women in almost in all aspects of their lives. Patriarchal values still predominate in the societies of Indonesia. Sexism permeates all levels of daily lives, including in work and public spheres. And...

UN Women and Sunlight Launch Learning Platform to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment in Indonesia

Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2019

[Press Release] Today, UN Women and Unilever’s brand Sunlight launched WeLearn, a new online learning platform that aims to improve equal learning opportunities to empower women who want to start or grow their business through skill development.

Generation Equality: Vietnamese people create modern fairy tales for equal future

Date: Thursday, October 17, 2019

[Press release] UN Women, Embassy of Ireland and ChildFund Viet Nam are inviting all legal residents in Viet Nam, especially children and the youth, with no age limation, to participate in a new contest to eliminate gender stigma and stereotypes in fairy tales. The competition, called “Generation Equality’’, starts from 17 October 2019 and will run until 27 November 2019. The winner will have a chance to work with a professional team to develop their stories into a comic book or a video animation. The competition is part of activities to commemorate the Vietnamese Women’s Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign 2019 and the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 2020.

From where I stand: “I have to train harder to be seen at the same level as the male fighters.”

Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2019

“I was born on a farm in Rayong, a province just a couple hours south of Bangkok, Thailand. I started muay thai at the age of five to combat the bullying that I faced in school because I was shorter and smaller than most of the other students. My father was also a muay thai fighter and I joined his gym, which started my journey into martial arts.

A new MOU to propel gender equality across Japan

Date: Friday, October 11, 2019

[Joint press release] Today, UN Women and Junior Chamber International Japan (JCI Japan) have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the acceleration of gender equality nationwide in Japan through the advancement of the HeForShe solidarity movement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goal of MOU is to achieve the SDGs in Japan by 2030. The primary focus is on the SDG 5, ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women.

Growing women’s entrepreneurship in Bangladesh

Date: Monday, October 7, 2019

Forty-year-old Parveen Akhter is the founder and Managing Director of Glamour Boutique House and Training Centre, the only small factory run by a woman in Jessore, a small town in the southwestern region of Bangladesh. The 4,000 square feet-factory produces textile and clothing and employs 52 women.

SCSW launches Sindh’s first strategic plan for women empowerment

Date: Monday, October 7, 2019

[Press release] The Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW) today launched Commission’s first ever three-year Strategic Plan, with support from UN Women Pakistan, outlining three strategic priorities including review of Sindh’s laws, rules, regulations, policies and programmes from gender perspective, ii) actions to end violence against women and girls, iii) and institutional capacity building of the SCSW.

From where I stand: “Empowering women benefits the entire family and our next generation.”

Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Tie Lingmei 40, lives with her family in Qiaotou Village of Qinghai Province in China. With her ambition and the help of UN Women, she improved living conditions for herself as well as for many other women in her village. “I used to work as a taxi driver along with my husband in the county. Because I could not leave my child alone in my hometown, I decided to sell the car, came back and set up an agricultural cooperative with the help of our village secretary.

UN Women-led training boosts gender communications across agencies in Nepal

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019

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.

Take five: “Changing social norms cannot begin without the meaningful participation of women and girls in all forums pertaining to all aspects of their lives”

Date: Monday, September 16, 2019

Pertti Anttinen is the ambassador of Finland to Nepal, and from July to December 2019 is the designated EU Gender Champion. In December the Government of Finland agreed to continue supporting the implementation of UN Women Nepal’s Country Strategic Note (CSN) for 2018-2022.