Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing different behaviors, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender.
Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University. She is a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a worldwide women's strategy firm, and a co-founder of Seneca Women. Melanne Verveer co-authored the book Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose with Kim Azzarelli.
Zonta International is an international service organization with the mission of Building a Better World for Women and Girls, in support of Sustainable Development Goal 5.
Womankind Worldwide is a UK-based, feminist global women's rights organisation that works in solidarity with women's movements around the world to bring about lasting change in women's lives. Founded in 1989, Womankind partners with women's movements in Africa and Asia to support them in their efforts to change discriminatory laws and policies, challenge gender norms and stereotypes, and provide transformative programmes and services to women and girls.
The status of women in Bangladesh has been subject to many important changes over the past few centuries. Bangladeshi women have made significant progress since the country's independence in 1971, where women in the region experienced increased political empowerment for women, better job prospects, increased opportunities of education and the adoption of new laws to protect their rights through Bangladesh's policies in the last four decades. Still, women in Bangladesh continue to struggle to achieve equal status to men due to societal norms that enforce restrictive gender roles as well as poor implementation of laws that were set to protect women.
Women in Uganda have substantial economic and social responsibilities throughout Uganda's many traditional societies. Ugandan women come from a range of economic and educational backgrounds. Despite economic and social progress throughout the country, domestic violence and sexual assault remain prevalent issues in Uganda. Illiteracy is directly correlated to increased level of domestic violence. This is mainly because household members can not make proper decisions that directly affect their future plans. Government reports suggest rising levels of domestic violence toward women that are directly attributable to poverty.
Geeta Rao Gupta is a leader on gender, women's issues, and HIV/AIDS who is serving as United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues since May 2023. She previously served as executive director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women and senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation since 2017. She is frequently consulted on issues related to AIDS prevention and women's vulnerability to HIV and is an advocate for women's economic and social empowerment to fight disease, poverty and hunger.
Sarah Degnan Kambou is president of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), a global research institute that focuses on making women integral to alleviating poverty worldwide.
The Women's National Committee of Yemen is a government-affiliated body working to empower women. Local Yemenis work on the committee in coordination with national and international partners to safeguard women's fundamental human rights. The Millennium Development Goals provide the framework guiding the committee's main policy priority areas.
Women's property rights are property and inheritance rights enjoyed by women as a category within a society.
Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization that works to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal 5, an initiative focused on improving maternal health. The organization is based in New York and uses a multifactorial approach involving access to a healthy diet, clean water and sanitation, health services, and appropriate education during pregnancy and childbirth. It is targeted towards reducing maternal mortality, achieving universal access to reproductive health, and improving the lives of girls and women globally.
The Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues is located within the United States Department of State. In 2009, Melanne Verveer was appointed to be the first Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. From September 2013 to May, 2017, Catherine M. Russell was appointed to this position. From May 2017 through December 2019, there was no ambassador for this office. Kelley Currie, a political appointee, joined the Global Women's Issues Office as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large in January 2020. Geeta Rao Gupta is the current Ambassador-at-Large for the office as of May 18th, 2023.
Females in Nigeria have a basic human right to be educated and this right has been recognized since the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) According to a report in 2014, female education has an important impact on the development of a stable, prosperous and healthy nation state resulting in active, productive and empowered citizens. Educating girls develop growth rates, encourages independence of the girl child and reduces social disparities. In 2009, the Nigerian Population Council (NPC) observed that women with higher educational qualifications are more likely to be in formal wage employment than those at the level of primary school education.
Gender inequality both leads to and is a result of food insecurity. According to estimates, women and girls make up 60% of the world's chronically hungry and little progress has been made in ensuring the equal right to food for women enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Women face discrimination both in education and employment opportunities and within the household, where their bargaining power is lower. On the other hand, gender equality is described as instrumental to ending malnutrition and hunger. Women tend to be responsible for food preparation and childcare within the family and are more likely to be spent their income on food and their children's needs. The gendered aspects of food security are visible along the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
International Day of the Girl Child is an international observance day declared by the United Nations; it is also called the Day of Girls and the International Day of the Girl. October 11, 2012, was the first Day of the Girl Child. The observation supports more opportunity for girls and increases awareness of gender inequality faced by girls worldwide based upon their gender. This inequality includes areas such as access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from discrimination, violence against women and forced child marriage. The celebration of the day also "reflects the successful emergence of girls and young women as a distinct cohort in development policy, programming, campaigning and research."
Ravi Verma is the regional director for the International Center for Research on Women's Asia Regional Office and leads the organization's local and regional efforts on various aspects related to research, providing expertise in building capacity and participating in policy dialogue on issues that include adolescent girls, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and gender-based violence.
Jackie Asiimwe–Mwesige,, is a Ugandan human rights lawyer and philanthropy advisor. She is the current Chairperson of the East African Philanthropy Network (EAPN) and chief executive officer of CivSource Africa, a philanthropy advisory service company that she founded in 2017.
Sustainable Development Goal 5 concerns gender equality and is fifth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by United Nations in 2015. The 17 SDGs recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Feminist foreign policy, or feminist diplomacy, is a strategy integrated into the policies and practices of a state to promote gender equality, and to help improve women's access to resources, basic human rights, and political participation. It can often be bucketed into three categories: rights, resources, and representation. The concept was first coined and integrated into governmental policy by Margot Wallström, former Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister.
Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo is a Ugandan professor of Women and Gender Studies, advocate for gender equality, social transformation and respect for women's rights. She is also a social anthropologist, feminist and social norms researcher and a lecturer at Makerere University. She and Marjorie Keniston McIntosh co-authored a book called Women, Work and Domestic Virtue in Uganda 1900-2003 which won the Aidoo-Snyder Prize.
