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 News
and events
 International
Women’s Day
8 March 2011
Equal access to education, training and science and
technology: Pathway to decent work for women
 International
Women's Day (IWD) is 100 years old today. This gives us an opportunity
to celebrate the history of women's rights and the struggle for gender
equity in health, as well as the advances achieved. It also provides the
opportunity to take a closer look at the challenges still faced by women
around the world. The theme of International Women’s Day in 2011 is
"Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway
to decent work for women". In the health sphere, access to education,
technology and employment for women and girls prevents illness. It also
increases women and girls’ opportunities to protect their health,
because it reduces the likelihood of childhood marriage, leads to
healthier spacing between births and results in more regular health
checks.
Advances in medical products and health technologies have revolutionized
women's health over the past few decades and have empowered women to
take control of their own health through birth control, early detection
of cancers, and prevention of illness through the tetanus toxoid and
human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. However, large numbers of women
and girls do not have freedom of mobility, are prevented from taking
part in decision-making, and do have not equal opportunities to earn a
livelihood. Among other consequences, these conditions (social
determinants?) pose barriers to women and girls in obtaining the best
level of health possible. We must all continue, and indeed increase, our
efforts to address gender-related barriers to optimal health attainment
for women and girls, and men and boys.
Today, we recognize and honour the roles of women and girls in advancing
women’s rights and health. Gender equality is good for health.
International Women's Day
8 March 2010
Equal rights - Equal opportunities - Progress for all
"Today is International Women's Day. Let me join you in celebrating and
acknowledging the contribution and meaning that our mothers, wives,
grandmothers, sisters, daughters, female colleagues and friends, and
indeed all women, bring to all our lives. The theme for International
Women's Day 2010 is Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for
all. This in perfect alignment with Article 1 of the WHO
constitution, which states that the objective of the World Health
Organization shall be the attainment by all peoples of the highest
possible level of health. Health policies and programmes must address
the underlying social determinants of health, including gender
inequalities, if they are to improve women’s and men’s health and
achieve health for all."
Regional Director's statement:
English -
Arabic
Roll ups
United Nations web site
Women, Gender and Health, WHO headquarters
CSW54:
WHO panel discussion on women and health
WHO calls for action to improve the health
of women & girls:
What would
it take to make health systems work better
for women?
This panel discussion at CSW54
will take forward the evidence of the global
report "Women and health: today's evidence
tomorrow's agenda", recently released by the
World Health Organization (WHO). The
discussion will bring together country
representatives, UN partners and civil
society on making health systems work better
for women.
Topics to be discussed include:
-
15 years after Beijing: where are we
going from here with health systems?
-
Women and health: today's evidence
tomorrow's agenda
-
Primary health care renewal: to be and
what to be
-
A gender approach to health systems
Venue:
Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, Manhattan Room,
New York
Date: 3 March 2010,
10:50-12:30
Contact: Monika Gehner, WHO
Department of Gender, Women and Health,
+41
22 791 39 41,
gehnerm@who.int
The 54th session of the
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will
undertake a fifteen-year review of the
implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action and of the outcomes
of the twenty-third special session of the
General Assembly.
World
Sight Day 8 October 2009
Gender and eye health-equal access to care
The theme of this year’s World Sight Day is “Gender and
eye health—equal access to care”.
Key messages for World Sight Day 2009
-
Nearly two-thirds of blind people worldwide are
women and girls.
-
In many developing countries, women are less
likely to receive eye care services than men.
-
Equal access to eye care could substantially
reduce blindness in poor countries.
-
VISION 2020 programmes employ strategies that
effectively address gender inequity.
Press release (Arabic
-
English)
Fact sheet (Arabic,
pdf 382 kb -
English, pdf 462 kb)
World Sight Day 2009 web site
Integrating gender into HIV/AIDS programmes in the health sector
Tool to improve responsiveness to women's needs
A hands-on WHO tool to integrate gender into
HIV/AIDS programmes
International
Women's Day
UN Secretary General message
Gender, Women and Health
WHO headquarters
Statement by Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General, World Health Organization
"On the 8th of March, the International Women’s Day,
WHO will join the international community to
celebrate the economic, political and social
achievements of women, past, present and future.
This also offers an opportunity to focus attention
on what remains to be done to achieve gender
equality and empowerment of women in line with
Millennium Development Goal 3."
Read the full statement
UN-ESCWA
Launches a Supportive Guide in the Arab Region on Gender in the
Millennium Development Goals
Beirut, 14 September 2008 (United Nations Information Services) --
On the occasion of the 12th Regional Coordination Mechanism Meeting
(RCM), UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary, Bader Omar AlDafa, launched a
report on “Gender in the Millennium Development Goals: Information
guide for Arab Millennium Development Goals reports” at the UN
House, Beirut in the presence of representatives of UN regional
organizations and media institutions.
The Guide is the result of cooperation among the various UN
organizations as a response to the need to develop a single
information gathering monitoring system for gender sensitive
indicators and sex-disaggregated data. “It provides a statistical
framework for an evaluation and follow-up of international
agreements on the matter, such as those contained in the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the United
Nations Millennium Declaration,” AlDafa said.
The guide summarizes the main gender issues and concerns in the
region in the context of each Millennium Goal. It also provides a
detailed assessment of the availability of sex-disaggregated data
and gender sensitive indicators in the Arab region for gender
responsive monitoring and reporting of MDGs. For access to the
full report, follow this link:
http://www.escwa.un.org/divisions/scu/GenderMDG/index.asp
 Progress
of the World’s Women 2008/2009, Who Answers to
Women? Gender and Accountability
United Nations, New York, 18 September 2008. —
Ahead of a high-level meeting of world leaders on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) next week, a new report,
Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009, Who Answers to Women?
Gender and Accountability, released by the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), reveals that much
stronger accountability mechanisms for tracking progress on gender
equality are needed in order to meet national and international
commitments to women’s rights.
Full report
National Women’s Committee in Yemen calls for a
minimum legal age for marriage of 18
 The National Women’s Committee (NWC), in Yemen has
called for a minimum legal age for marriage of 18 in
order to end child marriage, which is prevalent in rural
areas of Yemen. The NWC has also proposed
accountability, either a one year jail sentence or a
$500 fine, for those that defied the early marriage
law. Establishment of a minimum marriage age of 18 was
first proposed in 2000 but has not yet been presented to
parliament by the Yemeni parliament's Islamic Sharia
Codification Committee. The 1994 Personal Status Law
has a minimum marriage age of 15 but amendments in 1999
gave authority to a girl’s guardian to decide her
readiness for marriage. The NWC is pushing for formal
presentation of the proposed law to parliament.
Yemen is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
Retrieved from the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs: humanitarian news and analysis.
Report can be found
online at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79584
Women
and Men in Afghanistan
 Baseline Statistics on Gender
Ministry of Women's Affairs
United Nations Development Fund for Women
2008
Full document
Security Council Demands Action
to End Sexual Violence As A Tactic In War With New
Resolution 1820
 The
resolution demands that all parties stop sexual violence against
civilians and begin taking measures, from the training of troops and
upholding of military discipline procedures, to protect women and
girls. Sexual violence crimes should be excluded from amnesties
reached at the end of conflicts and States are called on to
strengthen their judicial and health-care systems to provide better
assistance to victims of violence. A UN envoy will soon be
appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tasked entirely with
advocating for an end to violence against women.
Read the resolution (pdf)
 “Gender
and Landmines – From Concept to Practice”
The Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines is delighted to
announce the launch of the report, “Gender and Landmines
– From Concept to Practice”, which studies the
significance of gender in the impact and the
effectiveness of mine action. It gives the reader an
overview, together with concrete examples, on how gender
can be mainstreamed in mine action.
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