Advocacy & Lobbying
Over 60 percent of Americans support abortion rights—but last year Roe was overturned and 14 states now ban abortions in most circumstances. A president who lost the popular vote by millions appointed three staunch opponents of abortion to the Supreme Court, who joined two right-wing members of the Court to overturn a half-century-old constitutional right to abortion. Then politicians in states with high levels of gerrymandering and voter suppression—such as Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia—banned abortion.
One reason women are losing the right to abortion is that men who do not support women’s rights have supermajority control of most state legislatures and Congress.
In states banning abortion, women’s political representation is remarkably low.
Click here to read the full article published by Ms Magazine on 3 January 2024.
The 2023 edition of the global Women Peace and Security Index (WPS Index) scores and ranks 177 countries in terms of women’s inclusion, justice, and security.
No country performs perfectly on the WPS Index and the results reveal wide disparities across countries, regions, and indicators. The WPS Index offers a tool for identifying where resources and accountability are needed most to advance women’s status - which benefits us all.
The WPS Index is published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Click here to read the full report published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security on 26 October 2023.
Cambodian women remain to face different forms of discrimination and violence against them in their political participation and interests; it is a serious issue although their political rights and participation are fully guaranteed by the Cambodian Constitution and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Representation and meaningful participation of Cambodian women in politics and political leadership remains low compared to their male counterparts at all levels. Despite that, 80 percent of the survey participants acknowledged that women’s participation in politics is crucial, especially for elections in Cambodia toward equitable and inclusive development of the country.
The findings show that 71% of the participants experienced violence against women in politics (VAWIP). The study showed that women in politics both in the ruling party, opposition party, and other parties face the violence of multiple types, dimensions and at all levels. Both female commune councillors and female parliamentarians experienced violence against them but in different forms and degrees. The violence against female commune councillors and female parliamentarians from the opposition party (i.e., former CNRP) is more obvious, dreadful, and frequent than women in the ruling party or other small parties. In the meantime, the female commune councillors experienced more abusive and direct violence against them than the female parliamentarians.
Click here to access the full report.
This project brief presents a short description of the Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Leadership in Political and Business Life Project implemented by UN Women Turkey with the financial support of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
The project's overall objective is to advance women’s leadership and participation in decision-making in Turkey by focusing on key stakeholders and actors in the fields of politics and the private sector.
Click here to access the report published by UN Women.
- Gender equality has suffered since the pandemic began.
- It will now take an estimated 135.6 years to close the worldwide gender gap between men and women.
- However, progress is being made in areas including science and politics.
- Improving paternity policies and representation of women will help.
There is still a huge amount of work to do to achieve gender equality around the world.
The time it will take to close the gender gap grew by 36 years in just 12 months, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021. This means it will now take an estimated 135.6 years for men and women to reach parity, according to the report, which assesses areas including economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and political empowerment.
Click here to read the full article published by The World Economic Forum on 3 March 2022.
Conducted by UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA, and ESCWA, this study on Gender Justice & the Law in the Arab States Region provides a comprehensive assessment of laws and policies affecting gender equality and protection against gender-based violence in Arab countries. The report is composed of 18 country profiles, each of which maps a country’s key legislative developments and gaps regarding gender justice. This introduction provides an overall summary of these country chapters followed by a summary of each country examined.
Algeria: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Bahrain: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Djibouti: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Egypt: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Iraq: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Jordan: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Lebanon: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Libya: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Morocco: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Oman: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Palestine: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Qatar: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Saudi Arabia: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Somalia: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Sudan: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Syria: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Tunisia: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Yemen: Country Summary (AR | EN) Country Assessment (AR | EN)
Source: UN Women