Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
As per National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Indian IT/ITeS industry employs 41.38 lakhs persons as of FY 2018-19(E), adding around 1.7 lakhs employees (including women) from previous year. The technology automation has not replaced workers, but improved productivity and provided workers the time to focus on other …
Between 1995 and 2018, the steepest decrease in new HIV infections among women occurred among adolescent girls and young women (aged 15 to 24 years)—a decline of 44% globally. Prevention programmes that focus on this age group are having an impact. Nonetheless, in 2018, approximately 6000 adolescent girls and young …
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Schemes for youth and women, 02/03/2020. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is implementing Pradhan Mantri Yuva Udyamita Vikas Abhiyan (PM-YUVA), Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs and Start-ups by Women (WEE) and National Entrepreneurship Awards Scheme (NEAS) for entrepreneurship development of youth and women.
Nearly 64 million girls were born in 1995, the year the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted, beginning their lives as the global community committed to improving their rights. In 2020, nearly 68 million girls are expected to be born. The analysis presented in this report shows that …
The global community has good cause to celebrate the progress achieved over the last quarter century in the name of girls’ rights. But we cannot lose sight of the challenges girls still face every day. Twenty-five years ago, the Beijing Platform for Action recognized that childhood is a separate space …
Empowering people, ensuring inclusiveness and equality is fundamental to realizing sustainable development. What change is needed to strengthen empowerment and promote inclusion and equality of all people within our efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda, including its central aspiration to leave no one behind? This report helps to answer that …
The Asia-Pacific Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Beijing+25 Review was adopted at a three-day Ministerial Conference, organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in November 2019. The Declaration …
India’s economic growth story has left women behind. Female labour force participation has stagnated, and present labour trends, technological disruptions and restrictive social barriers will likely foment further declines. Over the coming decade, India will have the largest working-age population in the world. That demographic dividend as well as an …
Sericulture farms in India’s northeastern state of Assam, are suddenly witnessing a rush of female workers. Improved connectivity of villages is a major reason for this transformation. Women self-help groups (SHGs) involved in sericulture, a major cottage industry in the region, are happy with the new roads built through forest, …
The Free to Shine campaign1 is an initiative of the African Union, the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and partners to address the growing complacency in the response to childhood HIV in Africa. The campaign aims to leverage the unique engagement and advocacy of first ladies in …
The Union Cabinet’s approval of the amended Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Bill 2020 was reported on January 29. This amendment was long due and has made some anticipated changes demanded by women’s groups and courts, including the Supreme Court. The Act is not yet available in the public domain …
Since unpaid care work is central to women’s selfhood and ascribed identities as daughters, daughters-in-law, wives and mothers, it features integrally in the power dynamics of the household. As a fundamental feature of their daily lives and equations within the family (especially marital), women are judged for their performance of …
Women, Business and the Law 2020 tracks how the law affects women at various stages in their lives, from the basics of transportation to the challenges of starting a job and getting a pension. This year’s study shows that progress is being made, with all regions improving their average scores. …
Malnutrition is a huge burden on the Arab Republic of Egypt's economy. Undernutrition--manifested by poor linear growth (stunting), wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies in children, and by anemia among women of reproductive age--collectively saps an estimated two percent of Egypt’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) through forgone productivity and health care …
The WFP 2020 Global Hotspots Report highlights grave challenges in sub-Saharan Africa over the next six months with Zimbabwe, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central Sahel region standing out when it comes to the needs of hungry children, women and men. The WFP report notes that …
Wind energy, like other parts of the global energy industry, remains largely male-dominated. Yet opportunities exist to improve the gender balance, make greater use of women’s skills, and entrench wind power as part of an inclusive and sustainable energy system for the future. This brief tracks the presence of women …
The surge in armed violence across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is having a devastating impact on children’s survival, education, protection and development. The Sahel, a region of immense potential, has long been one of the most vulnerable regions in Africa, home to some countries with the lowest development indicators …
Gender disparities are a persistent form of inequality in every country. Despite remarkable progress in some areas, no country in the world—rich or poor—has achieved gender equality. All too often, women and girls are discriminated against in health, in education, at home and in the labour market—with negative repercussions for …
This paper examines whether participation in workfare and food grain subsidy programs in India impacts health and nutritional status of women and children in participating households, using short-term morbidity and body mass index (BMI) as indicators. Using the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), a nationally representative panel data survey conducted …
This paper examines whether participation in workfare and food grain subsidy programs in India impacts health and nutritional status of women and children in participating households, using short-term morbidity and body mass index (BMI) as indicators. Using the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), a nationally representative panel data survey conducted …
