Launch of the NEW Wikigender

A new version of Wikigender will be released soon!

The new platform will offer a more intuitive interface with easy-to-find information. A major development will be the launch of a French Wikigender to accompany the English version. Stay tuned via @Wikigender for more details coming soon!

Call to Action!

On 25 September 2015, during the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, the U.K. Government and UN Women co-hosted the event Transforming Economies: Empowering Women and Girls. Over 200 governments, civil society organizations, business leaders and individuals took a stand and made concrete commitments for women and girls’ economic opportunities within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Call to Action was endorsed to sustain the momentum for action to ensure measurable results and impact by 2030. Join these 200 leaders from across the world by making your own commitment or that of your organisation: www.empowerwomen.org/sdg.

New framework for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment for Europe

A new framework for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment was adopted in September for the EU’s activities on gender equality and women’s empowerment in EU’s external relations. The framework, “Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations (2016-2020)“, aims to support partner countries, especially in developing, enlargement and neighbouring countries, to achieve tangible results towards gender equality which is at the core of European values, as well as the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 4 pillars of the framework include:

• Fighting violence of any kind against women and girls
• Economic and social empowerment
• Strengthening voice and participation
• Shifting institutional culture

FAO publications and featured articles

Publications

Rural Women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

This new book from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) uses data to provide a better overview of the gender gap in agriculture and rural areas. The work explores the issues raised in the FAO’s flagship publication, The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011: Women in agriculture – Closing the gender gap for development from the perspective of a number of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The impact of cash transfers on the economic advancement, decision-making and capacity of women

It is often claimed that cash transfer (CT) schemes have an empowering effect on women, but available evidence on empowerment outcomes is far from conclusive, particularly as to whether CTs actually improve women’s bargaining power and decision-making in the household. This policy brief considers the concrete benefits of CT schemes for women, particularly in the context of economic empowerment, economic advancement, decision-making power, self-esteem and social empowerment.

See more publications here!

Featured articles

• Empowering rural women: a solution to end hunger
• Community Gardens, Community Gains: Women and men working together in Zimbabwe

Click here to read the articles!

FAO featured video: Gender Equality in Agriculture: A Toolkit (Set of 3 Videos)

These three video animations form the core of a training toolkit on gender and agriculture, developed by experts at FAO’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. The toolkit highlights the need to consider gender inequalities in agriculture in the region and explains the importance of reliable gender statistics for agricultural and rural development. It also presents 18 indicators that can be used for obtaining a more gender-sensitive picture of the reality faced by women and men involved in agriculture, and for measuring gender-related changes over time.

See more videos!

“Women, Business and the Law: Getting to Equal”

This new World Bank report provides quantitative measures of laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunities. This fourth edition covers 173 economies, including 30 economies that were not previously covered. For the first time, it explores laws in areas such as gender discrimination in access to credit, financial support for parents, care leave for sick relatives, child marriage, marital rape and protection orders for victims of domestic violence.

Find out more

Events

Access our calendar of events and add your own event!

From 22-26 June, Wikigender organised an online discussion to discuss how to mobilise new and ambitious investments to operationalise the ‪SDGs‬ commitments on ‪genderequality‬ and women’s rights. The discussion was led by several lead discussants: Samina Anwar and Zohra Khan (UN Women); Chiara Capraro (Christian Aid); Nerea Craviotto and Angelika Arutyunova (AWID); and Emily Esplen and Keiko Nowacka (OECD). A summary report is currently being drafted and will be shared at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa. Stay tuned on @Wikigender to read the report! In the meantime, see the whole discussion thread here.

On 27-28 May, the OECD Development Centre and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) presented the results of the SIGI Uganda in Kampala, Uganda. The launch event included a presentation of the methodological framework, survey design and results, as well as the technical construction of the Index and policy implications.

• Find out more about the event and access the report!
• From 18-22 May Wikigender organised an online discussion on the topic: read the comments and the summary report!

The I am (wo)man Campaign of UN Women/Empower Women highlights individual success stories of women who have been empowered. Share your inspiring stories from empowered women within your organization or from women who have benefited from initiatives in the communities where you work. For example, see America Scores, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Panama Canal, USAID, and Youth for Technology. For questions and indication of interest, please contact diana.rusu@unwomen.org.”

Empowering women in Afghanistan

This publication assesses the gender impacts of the Integrated Dairy Schemes (IDS) approach in Afghanistan and results from a field mission to Afghanistan. Findings confirmed that the IDS approach has a sustainable positive impact on rural Afghan women and their families, both in terms of increased income availability and social empowerment.

Globefish Research Programme, Vol. 119: Executive Summary (FAO, 2015)

Women participate in all segments of the seafood industry, including fishing, farming, trading and selling, monitoring and administration. But the widespread lack of consideration for their role and work in the seafood industry is, in many respects, disadvantageous to them and ultimately bars them from participating fully and equitably in the industry. The primary aim of this report is to increase awareness of business leaders and policy makers, to expand their knowledge and sensitization about the value women bring to the seafood industry, and to encourage them to consider each time they develop a new project or a policy: “Have we not overlooked women?

See more publications here!

This six-minute video shows how the FAO Dimitra Clubs in Niger have been crucial to ensure women’s access to land and water, while contributing to nutrition, food security and gender equality, thereby reducing rural poverty. The transformative approach of the Dimitra Clubs induces behavioral changes in various aspects of daily life for individuals, households and communities in rural areas. Dimitra Clubs are groups of rural women and men who voluntarily decide to get organized to discuss their development challenges, find solutions and take collective action to improve their livelihoods and take control of their own lives.

See more videos!

• Guatemala’s Ministry of Agriculture approves first-ever Policy on Gender Equality
• Angling for gender equality in the seafood industry
• New visual guide to protect children from pesticides
• How a global campaign to eradicate sheep and goat plague can help 400 million rural women

Click here to read the articles!

Access our calendar of events and add your own event!

The World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law project, currently in its fourth publication cycle is seeking legal experts for pro bono participation in legal data collection. Experts are most often lawyers, academics, judges, NGOs and practitioners with expertise in family law, labor law, land law, or legislation concerning violence against women.

If you are interested in learning more and filling out legal surveys for the project, please submit a request online. Contributors are publicly recognized on the Women, Business and the Law website, and in the print report.

On 10 December, the Land Portal launched an innovative and collaborative Open Data platform that combines data about land issues from diverse and credible sources around the world, enabling easy data exploration, manipulation and customisation. The platform aims to become the leading online destination for information, resources, innovations and networking on land. The vision of the Land Portal is to improve land governance for the benefit of those with the most insecure land rights and the greatest vulnerability to landlessness through information and knowledge sharing. Find out more!

Community Garden in Dangarandove, Zimbabwe: Women making a difference

See featured articles and more videos!

2015 call for Global Community Champions for Women’s Economic Empowerment

EmpowerWomen.org is seeking applications from dynamic and creative women and men from all over the world to champion women’s economic empowerment. Are you passionate about gender equality and women’s economic empowerment? Do you want to apply your skills to make a difference in your own community and beyond? APPLY NOW! #GlobalCommunityChampion #EmpowerWomen #genderequality #EconomicEmpowerment

Coming up: UN Women focuses on the education and training of women

As part of their Beijing+20 Campaign, since June 2014 UN Women focuses each month on one of the 12 “Critical Areas of Concern” identified in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In February, the focus will be on “Education and training of women”. Read more

This Seminar defined common action within the MENA-OECD Governance programme, including regional policy dialogue, country-based support and strengthening gender mainstreaming as part of governance reforms in the region. Find out more about the event and access the publication on “Women in Public Life: Gender, Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa”.

What happened in January?

Check out the January media review for our latest selected news articles and blogs on gender equality issues. Read more and see the February media review, which is updated daily.

11 March: Achieving Beijing: The Role of Social Norms for Gender Equality: side event at CSW59

This side event was jointly organised by the OECD Development Centre, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). The panel and Q&A discussion focused on how integrating social norms into development interventions can accelerate progress towards the transformative agenda of the Beijing Platform and make a real difference to the rights and well-being of women and girls.

• Issues Paper: Living up to Beijing’s vision of gender equality: Social norms and transformative change (March 2015)

17 March: Making women’s voices heard from Beijing to Post-2015 in social media

This side event was organised by the OECD Development Centre, in partnership with UN Women and with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. The panel and Q&A discussion focused on how social media can empower women to take a larger role in decision-making processes within the post-2015 agenda.

• Watch the video of the event below
• Summary of the event
• Résumé de l’événement
• Issues paper: Can social media effectively include women’s voices in decision-making processes? (March 2015)

The new and improved Gender and Land Rights Database (GLRD) cconsists of three main sections: country profiles, gender and land-related statistics, and the all-new Legislation Assessment Tool – and also highlights key publications and resources related to gender-equitable land tenure. It will also feature regular online discussions on targeted issues relating to gender and land in different countries and contexts. Find out more!

See more videos!

Featured FAO publication: Women In Agriculture In Pakistan

This report highlights the overall status, challenges and contributions of women in agricultural subsectors across Pakistan, and provides a road map for improvements. Recommendations focus on enhancing the economic impact of women’s work in agriculture; promoting socio-cultural factors such as education, literacy, and nutrition; enhancing the legal status of women and ensuring policy and institutional strategies that will promote income-generating activities for rural women farmers. See more publications here!

UN Women’s Beijing+20 campaign: Women and health

Improved health care for women affirms their right to the highest standards of health throughout their lives. In April, UN Women’s Beijing+20 campaign highlights the significance of women’s health on the overall quality of life, and the discrimination that often bars them from receiving preventative care and adequate medical attention. Don’t miss in particular an op-ed from Melinda Gates. Read more

• Pêcheurs du Monde: women fish-processors of Burundi in spotlight at film festival in France
• Ethiopian women cooperative increases incomes thanks to FAO-Eataly partnership
• Int’l Women’s Day 2015: Women farmers key to fighting hunger
• Fighting food loss with flowers: hibiscus jams and juices in the Gambia
• Of ponds and plates – and much more

Click here to read the articles!

Access our calendar of events and add your own event!