Africa: To Attain the SDGs, We Must End Female Genital Mutilation

The tips of our fingers have densely packed nerve endings. That is why a miniscule paper cut activates our pain receptors and causes stubborn pain for a day or two. Now consider… Read more »

East Africa: Women Hold the Key to Success of Pastoralism

Women in pastoralist areas of East Africa are critical to the health of livestock in their communities, holding the key to effective animal vaccination campaigns meant to protect… Read more »

Africa: UN's High-Level Appointments Should Give Priority to Gender in Geographical Rotation

The UN's high-level appointments have mostly been on the basis of "equitable geographical rotation"--with Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Latin America and the… Read more »

Africa: To End Child Marriage in Southern & East Africa, Governments Need to Strengthen Laws & Implementation

Almost one third (32%) of women aged 20 to 24 in Eastern and Southern Africa - around 50 million - were married before 18 years old. To address this pervasive problem, the Southern… Read more »

Ghana: Peacekeeper Cecilia Erzuah Promotes Gender Equality By Example

Cecilia Erzuah was torn between two opposite career paths at the end of university. The week she was supposed to begin military training, her professor offered her a position as a… Read more »

Nigeria: Women Challenge 'Colonialist' Patriarchy

Bukes Saliu wakes up very early every workday to beat the gruesome Lagos traffic to head to a job quite unusual for a woman to engage in Nigeria. She is a forklift operator in one… Read more »

Africa: African Women's Reproductive Rights Under Threat - Global Pushback Puts Lives At Risk

Almost 30 years ago in 1994, the world witnessed a historic event as 179 nations convened on African soil, in Cairo, for the International Conference on Population and Development… Read more »

Kenya: Kenya's Population Growth Decreases As More Women Embrace Modern Family Planning

According to a family planning brief, more than 370 million women in middle and low-income countries were finally embracing modern contraception to help curb unintended… Read more »

Ethiopia: Sexual Violence Survivors in Tigray Need Urgent Medical, Psychological and Economic Support

The war in Tigray, northern Ethiopian, led to sexual and gender-based violence against women, but when Hilina Berhanu Degefa, researcher, gender policy expert and co-founder of the… Read more »

Africa: Taking Stock of Two Decades of Trailblazing Protocol On Women's Rights in Africa

It promised to be the most defining, groundbreaking, and transformative protocol on African women's rights. Specific in its approach, broad in its reach, and unique in its… Read more »

Africa: A Flawed GDP Bypasses Women's Unpaid Care Work

Last week the IMF offered a cautious estimate of positive global economic growth for this year, warning 'we are on track, but not out of the woods'. But with the IMF and… Read more »

Africa: Stubborn and Persistent - the Gender Pay Gap Refuses to Budge

By Jemimah Njuki and Jocelyn Chu Read more »

Nigeria: How Nigeria's Legal System Is Failing to Safeguard Widows' Rights

In February this year, Chichi Okonkwo not only lost her husband but was stripped of everything they owned together. Her husband was severely injured in a car accident about a month… Read more »

Africa: Afghan Girls, Women Deprived of Education, Find Hope in Africa

When providing education to her small group of Afghan girls, who had been studying at a boarding school back home, became tenuous, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, relocated them to Rwanda. Read more »

Rwanda: Women Seek to Boost Innovation and Creativity in Agribusiness

Adeline Umukunzi, a 28-year-old woman mushroom farmer in Musanze, a district located about 100 km north of the capital Kigali, said women have often been the unseen faces of… Read more »

Africa: The Need for More Funding, Especially to Women, Towards Climate Adaptation Goals

There is a significant funding gap for climate adaptation - especially for women. Public financing will not be sufficient to close this gap, but it will be crucial for supporting… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Women's Savings Clubs Struggle Under Weight of Unstable Currency

For years, self-employed and unemployed women in Zimbabwe formed neighbourhood "clubs" where they pooled money together for everything from buying bulk groceries to be shared at… Read more »

Africa: When the President of the General Assembly Was Given a Seat At a Summit - A Back Row Seat

When the United Nations commemorated 'International Day of Women in Diplomacy' last week, the President of the General Assembly (PGA) Csaba Kõrösi rightly pointed out… Read more »

Malawi: Cyclone Freddy Has Put Women & Girls in Malawi At Greater Risk of Sexual Abuse & Exploitation

"Cyclone Freddy was a terrible experience, and now many women who lost their homes and their livelihoods are at increased risk of sexual exploitation and abuse," warns Caleb… Read more »

Africa: Girls Redrawing the Future of Artificial Intelligence

A few weeks ago we celebrated the Girls in ICT Day and I am wondering how can we keep moving the digital equality needle so that more women out of the 259 million that are… Read more »

Africa: Population Denialism Is Reminiscent of Climate Denialism

A new study estimates that global heating will push billions of people outside the comfortable range of temperature and weather in which we have evolved. Read more »

Benin: World Hunger Day - Renewing Our Commitment to Elevating Women As Change Agents for Ending Hunger

This upcoming weekend, on May 28, we are commemorating World Hunger Day. The day serves as a reminder that more than 800 million people around the world are living with hunger and… Read more »

Africa: Empowering Women Is Key to Breaking the Devastating Cycle of Poverty & Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Studies consistently show that women have lower rates of agricultural productivity compared to men in the region, but it's not because they're less efficient farmers. Read more »

Africa: Gender Gap in Academia - Glass Ceilings & Sticky Floors

By Victoria Galán-Muros, Mathias Bouckaert and Jaime Roser Read more »

Africa: The Last Mile to Malaria Elimination - Confronting Gender Inequalities & Power Dynamics

For centuries, malaria has remained one of the deadliest diseases, inflicting great suffering on families and perpetuating the cycle of poverty in many communities and nations. The… Read more »