A collection of extracts on what’s being said about gender equality in our world.
Concluding Sixty-Second Session, Women’s Commission Approves Texts on Expediting Gender Equality in Rural Areas, Releasing Female Hostages, Helping Palestinians WOM/2145
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
SIXTY-SECOND SESSION, 13TH & 14TH MEETINGS (AM & PM)
The Commission on the Status of Women, concluding its sixty‑second session today, approved a set of Agreed Conclusions aimed at accelerating gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls, as well as resolutions on assistance to Palestinian women, the release of women and children hostages and the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and the girl child.

Phumzile Mlambo‑Ngcuka
By the terms of the Agreed Conclusions — titled, “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls” — the Commission emphasized the mutually reinforcing nature of those goals and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among other things, it expressed concern that rural women continued to be discriminated against, marginalized and economically and socially disadvantaged; urged Governments to enact laws to ensure women’s land, property and inheritance rights; and called on stakeholders to address the digital divide that disproportionately affected rural women and girls.
Once finalized, the text of the Agreed Conclusions would be transmitted to the Economic and Social Council and its high‑level political forum on sustainable development for inclusion in their work.
“This is a tipping point”, said Phumzile Mlambo‑Ngcuka, Under‑Secretary‑General for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN‑Women), in closing remarks. The time had come to end all forms of gender inequality, with young women in particular leading the way. Stressing that rural women and girls should always be present when decisions were being made about their lives, she said the Agreed Conclusions would help the international community address the special situation faced by women and girls in rural areas. Importantly, the text recognized that the lives of those women were not confined to agricultural production, but were also connected to such issues as infrastructure, education, climate change, unpaid care and domestic work, social protection policies and anti‑discrimination laws.
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Gender equality: More women in politics
Express Tribune, Pakistan, March 24, 2018
httpss://tribune.com.pk/story/1667993/1-gender-equality-women-politics/
Justice (retd) Nasira Javed Iqbal on Friday urged women to take part in politics more actively and also come forward to contest elections.
She said women had made enormous progress in the political arena, but they still have a long way to go before there is equal representation.
‘‘Towards these ends, we must provide training for women political candidates to help build their capacities, and offer voter and civic education and sensitisation campaigns on gender equality,’’ she added.
Call for greater role of women in politics
Nasira said: “We back gender equality advocates in calling on political parties, governments and others to do their part in empowering women.”
Other initiatives which should be taken is to encourage young men and women to engage in advocacy around making gender equality measures central to public policy making. She highlighted women’s equal participation in politics as their basic right.
They constitute nearly half of the total population of the country. Their contribution through their triple roles of productive, reproductive and community management is vital to the development of the economy and society.
Their active participation in the decision making, determining how resources are to be used and in setting national priorities will not only improve the lot of women, it will also deepen democracy and strengthen the process of development in the country, she said.
Women, money and gender equality
Investments into one’s self always pay off
Czech women are starting to discover that investments into themselves make sense long-term and go well beyond money. At the conference Equal Pay Day that will take place in Prague on April 13-14, 2018, money and its role in women’s lives and wellbeing will be the key topic for discussion. The conference is organized by Business & Professional Women, a Czech non-governmental organization that deals with women, gender equality and career growth.
“I value investments that help me to grow further,” says Drahomíra Mandíková, member of the board and head of Corporate Affairs with Plzeňský Prazdroj. “The most meaningful investment that I have ever made was when I decided to go back to school after having graduated economics and start from the scratch in studying communications. I owe where I am today to this decision, which was perceived as an investment at that time. Yet it brought me far and it is the key for my feeling of accomplishment today,” she says.
Cristina Muntean is a Romanian national who moved to the Czech Republic 14 years ago. A former journalist, she switched careers in 2010 when the economic magazine where she was working was closed. “I had the decision which way to take. I decided to change professions; I left the media world and moved into corporate communications and executive development,” she says. Today Cristina is a trainer, mentor and coach of communications, emotional intelligence and leadership for company executives across Central and Eastern Europe. “The most significant investments I made for the last eight years were into my education, so I could develop new skills and settle comfortably in my new professional identity. It was totally worth it,” she adds.
Loredana Popasav is also Romanian; she settled in Prague in 2012, after a 19 years career in media, advertising and marketing in Bucharest. Loredana is a transformative coach at The Simplified Mind, a coaching practice, co-creator of The Human Potential Academy NGO and organizer of Understanding the Human Mind conference. As such, she recognizes the value of meaningful investments into self. “I invest into myself every day. Sometimes it’s sports, learning something new, studying, sometimes it’s something as simple as a manicure, the cream that I use, the dress that I wear, the smile. Myself as a whole is what I have to work with and the better I am, the more I understand, the more I can give to my clients or to my students. Therefore, investing in myself feels natural; it’s part of my job as a human being.” she says.
“I haven’t seen purchasing books, sports or clothing as investments into myself until recently,” says Nicole Erdmann, a German national who moved her family to Prague to follow her career and take over the Property and Expansion management for IKEA in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. “I already know that if I am doing well I have a much better feeling that will positively influence my family, colleagues and friends and they will also feel much better with a better balanced and happier Nicole. I am working hard, so I should also benefit from what I have achieved and re-invest into myself,” she says.
“Life was good to me, so I need to be good back to life,” says Kateřina Zapletalová, member of the board of Moser, the Czech glassworks that are one of the conference corporate partners. “I am investing into myself regularly, mainly into sports, education and regeneration,” she notes.
Women who want a chance to meet the ladies above can join them for a panel discussion within the Equal Pay Day conference. Further valuable names such as Her Excellency Barbara C. Richardson, Ambassador of Canada, Lenka Bradáčová, Chief Prosecutor of the Czech Republic, Sari Brody, Global Director of Diversity and Leadership IKEA Group will hold keynote speeches during the conference as well. Furthermore, Cristina Muntean, Loredana Popasav, and Kateřina Zapletalová will be holding speed mentoring tables on Saturday, April 14th. Time for women to come together, open to sensitive topics, share and hold each other’s back on their journey of growth seems to have arrived to Prague and it’s here to stay.
Pacific people champion gender equality through social media campaign
From Dateline Pacific, 22 March 2018
httpss://tinyurl.com/ya6age4r”
Stories that support gender equality from people in the Asia and Pacific region have been highlighted this month through a social media campaign.
The hashtag #Champions4Equality online movement is run by the United Nations Development Programme and ends this week.
But UNDP want the stories to continue to be shared to not only to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number five on gender equality, but cross-cutting gender equality through the other SDGs.
UNDP’s Salma Elhagyousif spoke with Sela Jane Hopgood on the campaign aims to break barriers for men and women in the Pacific.
SALMA ELHAGYOUSIF – The record of the Pacific region in terms of gender equality is not the best and there are still many challenges that face women in terms of realizing their full potential and also in the regional meeting or the international agreed human rights when it comes to women. Just to give you an example women comprise only 7.5% of national legislative and this is really low compared to other regions in the world. They also have low levels of participation in agricultural labour although there is gender parity in completion rates of primary and secondary schooling. They’re also over-represented in the informal sector, which is usually low paid, part time and unregulated and their labour rights are not protected, so just given all these factors, we thought the campaign is important to highlight that women are still facing challenges, but it’s also important to celebrate the achievements so far and how we can build on them.
SELA JANE HOPGOOD – How did this idea come about to use the stories of men and women talking about their experiences, how did this idea come about to make that as the campaign?
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