© Ed Pagria
Globally, around 63 per cent of women have access to the internet today, compared to 69 per cent of men
13 March 2023 - During a dialogue with women civil society leaders in the UN General Assembly Hall on Monday, Secretary-General António Guterres heard about the critical need to make the internet safer for women and girls – and to ensure that they are equal participants in global conservations, both online and in-person.
The town hall with representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was held as part of the annual session of the UN Committee on the Status of Women (CSW), which meets in New York every March.
Its latest two-week session - known as CSW67, which runs through Friday - is focused on the theme of innovation, technological change, and education in the digital age.
Civil society also used the town to appeal for more action on other issues critical to women and girls, such as greater representation at the UN, ending the war in Ukraine, and eliminating all forms of gender-based violence.
Direct Link to Full 16-Page2023 UN Report: G2300784.pdf (squarespace.com)
Ensure decent work for key workers
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how societies have undervalued essential workers, as well as the importance of giving such workers adequate pay and decent working conditions.
Source: WUNRN – 16.03.2023
António Guterres cautioned that ‘gender equality is growing more distant’ and called for ‘collective action’ to bridge divide
March 6, 2023 - Global progress on women’s rights is “vanishing before our eyes”, the secretary general of the UN, António Guterres, has warned, saying the increasingly distant goal of gender equality will take another three centuries to achieve.
“Gender equality is growing more distant. On the current track, UN Women puts it 300 years away,” Guterres said in a general assembly speech ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, as he launched two weeks of discussions led by the Commission on the Status of Women.
“Women’s rights are being abused, threatened and violated around the world,” he added, as he ticked off a litany of crises: maternal mortality, girls ousted from school, caregivers denied work and children forced into early marriage.
“Progress won over decades is vanishing before our eyes,” Guterres said.
Direct Link to Fill 4-Page Document:
Bedrock-of-Climate-Justice-Brief-Final-221104.pdf (data2x.org)
Source: WUNRN – 13.03.2023
By Sharon Ng’etich, Climate Change Officer – Economic, Youth and Sustainable Development Directorate (EYSD)
Climate change is not gender neutral. It affects men and women differently, with profound adverse effects on women due to existing social inequalities. Because climate change exacerbates these inequalities, it is therefore the vulnerable groups within societies who suffer the most from its negative impacts.
The societal roles and responsibilities attributed to women mean they often have less access to resources and information and are less included in decision making, political participation and power structures. This results in women having lower adaptive capacities to cope with the impacts of a changing climate and as such they face disproportionate negative impacts compared to men.
Despite this, women continue to play an important role in the response to climate change.
