Remarks by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security

Milana Lazić works at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), managing the “Assistance to European Union (EU) Pre-Accession” project. This project works with EU potential and candidate countries in the Western Balkans and Turkey to make gender equality more visible in the region with a focus on improving how gender equality is monitored across public policies, legislation, and in practice. EIGE provides technical expertise to relevant countries, especially in developing national Gender Equality Indices. Lazić spoke with UN Women about the Gender Equality Index and EIGE’s support to the countries in the region.

25 women entrepreneurs from 9 countries across Europe and Central Asia joined a bootcamp through an intensive training programme to increase their capacities in attracting investors to their businesses. Organized jointly by UN Women and KAGİDER as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator Initiative supported by Mary Kay, the bootcamp culminated in the “Investors Pitch Finale” on 29 April and brought women entrepreneurs together with investors to pitch their early-stage startups, minimum viable products and business blueprints to investors and businesspeople.

UN Women will provide needs-based and demand-driven technical and logistical support to existing and aspiring networks and platforms, and individual members or affiliates of women’s civil society organizations (CSOs) and women’s rights advocates in order to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment and the overall women’s rights agenda. UN Women invites eligible organizations and individuals to submit their requests for technical and logistical support, to finance a limited range of eligible activities as elaborated in this announcement.

In this interview, Gashi explains how the organization’s programme on the economic empowerment of survivors, implemented within the EU-funded regional programme on ending violence against women “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds,” provides women survivors of violence with the skills and means to provide for themselves and reintegrate independently into their communities.

Governments across Europe and Central Asia gathered at the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development to discuss the progress and share best practices of achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

UN Women recently organized workshops in Izmir and Adana, cities in western and southern Turkey, for male participants to help them understand traditional masculinities and discuss men and boys’ engagement for achieving gender equality.

As the gender gap across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) persists around the world and in Kosovo , more than 100 young women studying in STEM fields participated in a virtual event to mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Organized by the UN Women office in Kosovo, in cooperation with the Office of the Presidency and the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, the event delivered the message that today’s girls can become tomorrow’s leading scientists and innovators, shaping a fair and sustainable future for all.

The challenges of making budgets respond equally to the needs of women and men were debated at a pane l, supported by UN Women in Kosovo and organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on 16 March. Under the title “Accountability in Local Governance: Citizens' Priorities Addressed through Gender Responsive Budgets,” the panel brought together high-level representatives from local governments.

UN Women in Turkey plans to award several Small Grants to eligible civil society organizations (CSOs) in the range of USD 2,500 to USD 30,000. Small Grants are intended exclusively to finance a limited range of eligible activities to support the development or strengthening of women’s CSOs and women-led CSOs’ institutional capacities. UN Women invites eligible applicants to submit Small Grants applications for the eligible activities, as elaborated in this advertisement.

UN Women held a two-day seminar from 18–20 February for the Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) Planning and Budgeting Committee. Organized in Afyon, in western Turkey, the seminar focused on gender-responsive planning and budgeting as well as promoting women's empowerment in Turkey.

Raisa Buga has been an educator for 32 years and is currently a geography teacher and the principal of the Dimitrie Cantemir High School in Cornesti town of Ungheni district in Moldova. Being a longstanding local resident, she has always strived to promote gender equality in her community, educating several generations in the spirit of equality and mutual respect.

UN Women spoke to two Georgian colleagues and researchers – Gvantsa Jibladze, a social researcher, and Dako Bakhturidze a gender data specialist and monitoring and evaluation consultant – who made up one of the two winning teams of the Gender Data Datathon organized by UN Women and ForSet, a creative data design and technology enterprise based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Organized as an extension of the 2020 Tbilisi DataFest, the Datathon engaged 60 participants divided into six teams that competed to develop the best data product based on the results of UN Women’s Rapid Gender Assessment (RGA) of the impacts of COVID-19 on women and men in 13 countries in Europe and Central Asia. The winning female duo – with the technical support of a graphic designer – Tamta Bakhsoliani - created an animated video about how dramatically the pandemic has increased the burden of unpaid work on women from different groups.

Amiran Karatsev is an 18-year-old activist from Tajikistan, currently living and studying Sociology and Psychology in Moscow. For the past four years he has been active in promoting women's and girls' rights and talking about feminism. He fights gender stereotypes in Tajikistan through social media and public speeches.

Gresa Hasa is the co-founder and editor in chief of ‘“Shota’” magazine, the first progressive feminist magazine in Albania. She is a strong advocate for women’s rights and has long been on the frontlines of the feminist and student movements in the country.

As part of the Generation Equality campaign, the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia is rolling out the Awake Not Sleeping: Reimagining Fairy Tales for a New Generation collection of 28 reimagined fairy tales from across Europe and Central Asia to drive transformative change for women and girls and build a gender-equal society.

Helena Dalli is the first European Commissioner for Equality. She was appointed to the post after a longstanding career in politics in Malta, both as a parliamentarian and a minister of portfolios including industrial relations, equality and social dialogue.

The UN Women Rapid Gender Assessment survey revealed that the burden of household and care responsibilities were not distributed evenly, as only 46 per cent of women versus 67 per cent of men in Albania reported receiving help from their partner. Daniela Fejzaj, a 40-year-old information technology professional and mother of two, recalls the endless chores during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Gender equality and women’s rights are not just women’s issue, it is a human rights issue. Women combat for their rights every day everywhere. But to achieve an equal world for all, men should question power dynamics in their actions and words and take responsibility for change.

Women community leaders in Gaziantep supported vulnerable Turkish and Syrian women under temporary protection during the ‘stay at home’ measures that lasted between March and June, and referred women in need to service providers. Minevver Tuvarlak, who reached out to 80 women as a community leader, says that women experienced an increase in their household and care work, without sufficient support from their husbands.