Women and gender issues

On International Women’s Day, the Secretary-General, celebrating all women and girls around the world, called for gender equality in innovation and technology, as well as for the digital gender divide to be closed and women and girls’ representation in science and technology be increased.

From freedoms vanishing under Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to sexual violence committed against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, the rights of women around the globe remain under threat more than two decades after the Security Council first decided to crystalize the issue on its agenda, delegates heard today, during a ministerial-level debate on women, peace and security.

Ministers and other high-level officials spotlighted ways in which their Governments are promoting digital technology, education and innovation for girls and women, while also ensuring online safety to narrow the gap in the gender digital divide, as the Commission on the Status of Women continued its sixty-seventh session today.

In Mongolia, the United Nations and humanitarian partners are appealing for an additional $3.5 million for a humanitarian response plan to reach 53,000 people in communities affected by Dzud — a severe winter weather event that follows a summer drought, freezing or starving large numbers of livestock to death.

Highlighting the new opportunities digital technology is creating for women and girls around the world, speakers renewed calls for investments to bridge the gender digital divide, ensure a safe digital environment and ensure the full participation of women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and math, as the Commission on the Status of Women opened its annual session today.

Six months after devastating floods struck Pakistan, the United Nations and its partners have reached more than 7 million people with food and other essential services, including life-saving interventions for children. Yet only 30 per cent of the Floods Response Plan has been funded so far.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York today:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for International Women’s Day, observed on 8 March:

The United Nations continues to mobilize emergency teams and relief operations in response to the earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria. A Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team is supporting the coordination of the International Urban Search and Rescue Operations and assisting with situational and humanitarian needs analysis.

United Nations officials in Iraq condemned the abhorrent killing of 22-year-old Tiba al-Ali, whose death is a regretful reminder of the violence and injustice that still exists against women and girls in the country today.