UN Women kicks off #RaiseYourVoice to end violence against women

Date: Friday, November 26, 2021

Under the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, UN Women urges everyone to take a stand when they witness violence against women and girls. The #RaiseYourVoice (#KayıtsızKalmayın) campaign informs people what to do when they witness violence at https://fireflies.digital/. The platform invites visitors to join the online solidarity movement by recording voice messages and sharing them on social media.

Believe Survivors. Act Now. Sara Gashi’s Story, Kosovo

Date: Thursday, November 25, 2021

Only 1 in 10 women survivors of violence seek help from police, globally. But even those who do often withdraw from the justice process due to poor responses from police or other judicial actors. Women’s access to justice starts with believing survivors and taking action, every day. Through this special editorial series for the 16 Days of Activism, UN Women showcases the voices of survivors and programmes that transform lives and communities.

Take Five: “We must raise awareness, to change society’s attitudes towards violence against women and to prevent such crimes”

Date: Monday, November 22, 2021

Natia Merebashvili is the Deputy Prosecutor General of Georgia. She has accompanied a number of improvements to the way the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia handles violence against women (VAW) cases, with support from UN Women and with generous funding from the Governments of Norway and Sweden.

Press release: UN Women launches its Awake Not Sleeping initiative reimagining fairy tales to promote gender equality

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2021

UN Women’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia launches its new creative writing initiative, "Awake Not Sleeping: Reimagining fairy tales for a new generation", which aims to change the way societies think about women's and girls’ roles, human potential and rights by rewriting and reimagining fairy tales.

Take Five: “It was my job to scream for the victims!”

Date: Monday, November 15, 2021

Ivana Mastilović Jasnić, a journalist from the daily Serbian newspaper “Blic”, was the first to report the sexual harassment of Marija Lukić by her employer, former mayor of the Serbian municipality of Brus, Milutin Jeličić Jutka. She also broke the story of rape and sexual harassment accusations by actress Milena Radulović and others against their acting instructor, Miroslav Aleksić.

Call for Proposals to support the establishment of a regional funding mechanism for the Central Asia women’s movement.

Date: Friday, November 12, 2021

Spotlight Initiative regional programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan will identify potential Responsible Parties that will build capacity of a CSO on requirements for grant-making procedures and provide technical support to develop strategies for resource mobilization and use of alternative funding mechanisms.

From Where I Stand: “When we do not give up, when women support each other, we can always succeed” says Hive director

Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Blerta Basholli is a filmmaker whose feature film “Hive”, a Sundance Festival triple winner, is now Kosovo official entry for the Oscars’ international feature category. Hive follows the true story of a woman from Kosovo who breaks barriers to become a successful entrepreneur. After her husband went missing during the armed conflict of the 1990s, she and other women widows from the village of Krusha established a cooperative to produce and sell the pepper-based condiment ajvar, and other local food products. Despite the hardships they experienced, they continued to support their families and contributed to post-conflict recovery and peacebuilding efforts in their community. Today, this cooperative has a large market base and even exports internationally. UN Women spoke to Basholli about why she brought this inspiring story to screens around the world.

Call for Proposal: Improving quality, access and utilization of services on response to gender-based violence (GBV) for women and girls with disabilities (WGWD) in 6 target districts (under the Spotlight Initiative)

Date: Friday, November 5, 2021

The objective is to increase the capacity and resources of medical forensic services and 6 relevant CSOs to deliver higher quality and more coordinated essential services and access to justice to WGWD - survivors of violence, especially those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. This will be supported by increased access to information to women and girls’ survivors of violence and their families regarding access to quality essential services.

I am Generation Equality: Gresa Hasa, feminist activist

Date: Thursday, November 4, 2021

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.

International Day of the Girl Child conference in Turkey puts a spotlight on girls as future leaders in the digital era

Date: Thursday, November 4, 2021

How do you empower girls and support their leadership in the digital world? This was the focus of the Seventh International Day of the Girl Child Conference, organized by UN Women, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Turkey, in partnership with the Aydın Doğan Foundation.

I am Generation Equality: Jasmina Zahirović

Date: Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Jasmina Zahirović is a 20-year-old IT student from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has been a member of the IT Girls, a joint initiative of UNDP, UNICEF, and UN Women, from Bosnia and Herzegovina since the initiative's establishment.

MediaForShe Congress kicks-off a dialogue on gender equality with the media in Ukraine

Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2021

UN Women’s global movement for gender equality, HeForShe, in partnership with StarLightMedia group, launches a dialogue on gender equality with Ukrainian media. MediaForShe Congress is an event where Ukrainian media will talk about changing approaches to women's representation in the media and the creation of non-discriminatory content.

Turkish Women Olympians Make History

Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2021

More sports women represented Turkey at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics than any other previous Games, and they took home five of the 13 medals won for the country, sparking much excitement and pride back home. Fifty sportswomen along with 58 sportsmen from Turkey competed in the Tokyo Olympics. Even so, the Tokyo Olympics were not Turkey’s most gender-balanced Games. Sixty-six women athletes joined 48 men at the London Olympics in 2012, which was an impressive milestone achieved in Turkey’s Olympics history.

Onwards and upwards for gender equality in conflict-affected eastern Ukraine

Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2021

UN Women launched the second phase of the “Building democratic, peaceful and gender equal society in Ukraine – Phase II” (2021-2024) project in eastern Ukraine, which aims to empower women in playing a leading role in peace and security processes in the region. As part of the launch, UN Women Country Representative for Ukraine, Erika Kvapilova, held key meetings in Zaporizhzhia, a conflict-affected city in eastern Ukraine, with local women’s groups and government partners to discuss progress made towards gender equality and the necessary next steps.

Op-ed: What does energy poverty mean for women?

Date: Monday, October 18, 2021

Zora Dimitrijevic used to have to use at least two carts of wood to heat her home in the village of Dubona, near Belgrade, but it was still cold. She recently recycled her old stove and used the savings to buy a new one that heats up better, makes coffee faster, creates less smoke and consumes less wood. The new stove has also saved Zora significant physical work and time previously spent on providing heat.

Despite the pandemic, rural women in Kazakhstan launch their own businesses

Date: Friday, October 15, 2021

"We must always move forward," says MeruertAralbaeva, a 30-year-old mother and cashier living in Podgornoye village in the Akmola region, in central Kazakhstan. During the coronavirus pandemic, her husband lost his income for several months, and her family struggled. She was among many in Kazakhstan andworldwide who experienced this kind of hardship in 2020. UN Women assists the Government of the...

Take Five: "Gender-responsive planning is a crucial success factor for improving the situation of rural women"

Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021

Aleksandra Vladisavljevic is a gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) and policy expert who has been actively advocating for gender-responsive planning to be included in all sectors to address gender gaps and structural inequality. She spoke to UN Women about the situation of rural women in Serbia and how GRB is a tool to help improve their quality of life. She is working with UN Women in Serbia on institutionalizing the approach under the regional project “Transformative financing for gender equality towards more transparent, inclusive and accountable governance in the Western Balkans”, which is funded by the Government of Sweden (SIDA).

Take Five: Gender-responsive budgets contribute to rural women’s recognition as equal members of rural households in Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021

Gordana Rokvić Knežić is an advisor at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management (MAFWM) of Republika Srpska (RS), and an associate professor of agricultural economics and rural development at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banja Luka. She has been a researcher and consultant in the field of gender-responsive budgeting since 2009, cooperating with UN Women, the MAFWM and the Gender Center of RS. Through her role as a strategic planning advisor in the Ministry, she contributed to the introduction of gender-sensitive measures within the agricultural policy of RS.

Women agricultural producers in North Macedonia get help to grow their businesses

Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Under a new measure achieved through gender-responsive budgeting, 250 women farmers received financial support to expand their businesses.

In Serbia, girls are busting gender stereotypes in tech with their innovative ideas

Date: Monday, October 11, 2021

Hundreds of Serbian girls aged 13–14 are innovating with information technology (IT), inspiring more girls to use these tools to solve problems and pursue IT careers, which are generally regarded as a ‘boys club’.  At a young age, girls in Serbia are often told that innovation and technology are inappropriate for girls.  To tear down such stereotypes, UN Women in Serbia is supporting the “Catch the idea” competition, which is organized annually by...