Advocacy & Lobbying
This series features interviews with a diverse group of parliamentarians, sharing their insights on increasing women's representation in parliament, addressing the impact of violence against women, and exploring the role of men in achieving gender parity. These videos are part of the WYDE | Women’s Leadership Initiative, a collaborative project funded by the European Union and implemented by UN Women in partnership with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The initiative aims to promote women's full and meaningful participation in political processes and decision-making at all levels, with a focus on those who are often left behind. The views and opinions expressed by the parliamentarians are their own and do not necessarily reflect the IPU’s position.
Video available here.
Summary:
Learn more about CEDAW General Recommendation 40 and how to use it in your advocacy
What is CEDAW, and why does it matter?
CEDAW, or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted in 1979, is the key international human rights convention focused on women and girls. This international document is one of the most widely signed treaty bodies, with over 189 states having ratified or signed it.
The influence of this convention extends beyond developing international human rights law standards to also shaping local legal frameworks, informing national policy discourses, and setting the standards of accountability at the national level.
CEDAW is a key instrument to safeguard and ensure the fulfilment of human rights of lesbian, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LBTI) women and girls. Over decades, alongside feminists, groups and activists working on SRHR rights and SOGIESC rights have also extensively engaged in expanding the narrow interpretation of the convention regarding who is included as ‘women’ and ‘girls.’
Over time, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) has also broadened the understanding of “women” to be inclusive of LBTI women. To ensure women’s participation in all aspects of society, the economy, and the market, we must address the long-term and structural absence of women from decision-making systems.
The Committee developed a new General Recommendation (GR 40) to guide States parties on achieving equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems across all sectors.
Published by ilga World; access their full website here.
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“On social media, President Samia Suluhu is objectified simply because she is a woman president. Women journalists work tirelessly to cover her objectively. However, when politicians call for a press conference, social media influencers are given priority, while journalists are relegated to the backbenches,” recounted a woman journalist from Tanzania.
This was during a seminar for journalists from across Africa covering gender matters, convened by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International Idea) in Nairobi.
The journalist, whose identity we are protecting to avoid exposing her to repercussions, including cyberbullying, said social media users, including influencers, have increasingly become a threat to fair coverage of Ms Suluhu.
“The fact is that since she took office, she has introduced changes, such as allowing teenage mothers to return to school. However, some social media influencers have been used to spread rumours that she is a lesbian and that her marriage is broken. Unfortunately, people are more inclined to believe what they spread than what we report,” she said.
While women journalists in Tanzania struggle with the emerging threats of gendered misinformation and disinformation, in Botswana, an attempt to address violence against women politicians failed to take off because of a lack of funds.
In 2023, Democracy Works Foundation engaged an organisation running a toll-free helpline for people living with HIV to expand its services to include receiving complaints from women politicians facing violence both online and offline.*
Full article published by The Nation on 21 May 2025.
Image credits: The Nation
Geneva, Switzerland — Globally, 308 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across 73 countries, a figure that continues to rise with escalating conflict, climate change, food insecurity, and disease outbreaks.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by crisis, suffering from preventable pregnancy-related deaths, malnutrition, and high rates of sexual violence. Despite rising needs, the humanitarian system is facing a severe funding crisis, with cuts threatening essential, life-saving services for women and girls.
UN Women today launched its new report At a Breaking Point: The Impact of Foreign Aid Cuts on Women's Organizations in Humanitarian Crises Worldwide. Based on the results of a rapid global survey conducted among 411 women-led and women’s rights organizations across 44 crisis contexts, the report finds that 90 per cent of surveyed organizations have been hit by funding cuts.
“The situation is critical. Women and girls simply cannot afford to lose the lifelines that women’s organizations are providing. Despite their roles as essential providers, advocates, and watchdogs, women’s organizations have been severely underfunded even before the recent wave of reductions. Supporting and resourcing them is not only a matter of equality and rights, but it is also a strategic imperative,” said Sofia Calltorp, Chief of UN Women Humanitarian Action.
Full article published by UN Women on 13 May 2025.
Not long ago, the English and History Departments at the College of Education for Girls at Anbar University stood as silent witnesses to decades of neglect cracked walls, overcrowded classrooms crammed with ever-growing numbers of female students, and library shelves blanketed in dust. For 25 years, Alaa Abdullah Mufreh, this was the harsh reality of pursuing education in post-conflict Iraq.
Alaa runs her hand across the smooth surface of a new desk in the English Department's lecture hall, smiling as she reflects: “Now, when sunlight streams through the windows during our Shakespeare discussions, I finally feel the university believes in our future too.”
Dr. Ammar Abdul Wahab, Head of the English Department confirms: “Today, the University of Anbar has gained global recognition in international rankings, and I firmly believe it is steadily advancing toward a brighter and more distinguished future.”
Thousands of members of an Islamist group protested proposed gender equality reforms in Bangladesh over the weekend.
It comes after the Bangladeshi Women’s Affairs Reform Commission proposed giving women more rights over property and inheritances, and decriminalising sex work.
The Commission also proposed banning polygamy — when one person has multiple spouses.
The Hefazat-e-Islam group say the recommendations violate Sharia law, and have committed to a nation-wide protest later this month.
Background
A 2020 report by UN Women and Monash University found misogynistic attitudes are widespread in Bangladesh, and that approximately half of Bangladeshi men believe women “seek special favours and preferential treatment under the guise of equality.”
Last year, the Bangladeshi Government collapsed following months of protests about a quota system for public service jobs.
The Government responded violently, with dozens of protesters killed before then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country.
An interim government was established in the aftermath, led by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who has committed to holding elections next year.
In November 2024, the interim government established the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission, tasked with giving recommendations to increase women’s participation in society and work.
Full article here published by The Daily Aus.
Image source: The Daily Us
A new report from the Environmental Voter Project (EVP), shared first with The 19th, finds that far more women than men are listing climate and environmental issues as their top priority in voting.
The nonpartisan nonprofit, which focuses on tailoring get out the vote efforts to low-propensity voters who they’ve identified as likely to list climate and environmental issues as a top priority, found that women far outpace men on the issue. Overall 62 percent of these so-called climate voters are women, compared to 37 percent of men. The gender gap is largest among young people, Black and Indigenous voters.
The nonprofit identifies these voters through a predictive model built based on surveys it conducts among registered voters. It defines a climate voter as someone with at least an 85 percent likelihood of listing climate change or the environment as their number one priority.
“At a time when other political gender gaps, such as [presidential] vote choice gender gaps, are staying relatively stable, there’s something unique going on with gender and public opinion about climate change,” said Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the organization.
Read here the full article published by The 19th News on 14 April 2025.
Image by The 19th News
As smoke from wildfires in Canada smothered New York City in a polluted haze in June 2023, some worried patients called the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center asking if it was safe to come in for their appointments. Was the outside air so unhealthy that they should postpone their visits? Pregnant women expressed concern about how the heightened pollution might affect them and their fetuses. If they did venture outside for any reason, what masks should they wear?
The doctors understood the fears but did not want women to postpone visits, especially if the patients were pregnant. “If people cancel their appointments during pregnancy, it can put them and their baby at risk of health problems,” says Blair Wylie, MD, an obstetrician who had joined Columbia eight months prior to lead its new Collaborative for Women’s Environmental Health.
The department changed some appointments to virtual.
Wildfire smoke was not the environmental risk that Wylie expected to address when she moved to New York after leading maternal-fetal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “I was thinking of heat waves. I was thinking of floods,” she says.
Read here the full article published by the Association of American Medical Colleges on 6 June 2024.
Image by the Association of American Medical Colleges
New York, New York
March 10, 2025
AS PREPARED
The United States thanks the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and co-facilitators Cabo Verde and Costa Rica, as well as all participating delegations and civil society partners, for their efforts in developing the Political Declaration.
While we are not a CSW member this year, we engaged in negotiations because the United States strongly supports protecting women and girls, defending their rights, and promoting their empowerment.
We are pleased the Declaration focuses on respecting, protecting, and promoting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women and girls. In signing Executive Orders to defend Americans from unhealthy and extremist gender ideology, President Trump has made clear his Administration “will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”
We also appreciate that the text addresses the need to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls. The Administration of President Trump has committed to protecting women by, among other things, curbing mass migration and securing borders. Violence against women and girls is rampant on migratory routes. Further, as we have seen in many tragic cases in the United States, women and girls are victimized by foreign criminals operating individually or in gangs. We must work against the open-borders ideology that tolerate such assaults on the rights of women.
However, several aspects of the text make it impossible for the United States to support the Declaration. These include, but are not limited to:
Language to Protect Women and Girls
It is the policy of the United States to use clear and accurate language that recognizes women are biologically female and men are biologically male. It is important to acknowledge the biological reality of sex to support the needs and perspectives of women and girls. We are disappointed the Political Declaration did not focus on the needs and perspectives of women and girls through precise terminology.
The United States supports the elimination of discrimination on the basis of all protected classes, including race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, national origin, and genetic information. We note the United States is not a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and interpret references to CEDAW as relevant to States Parties and the implementation of their obligations. The United States emphasizes that non-binding declarations such as this Political Declaration do not change the current state of conventional or customary international law or imply that States must join or implement obligations under international instruments to which they are not a party.
Freedom of Opinion and Expression
With regard to paragraph 15(j), we note that in recent years governments have censored speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech. Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation,” governments infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of Americans. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.
Right to Development
We regret the Political Declaration includes language on the purported “right to development,” as this term does not have an internationally agreed meaning. We cannot accept references to this as a “right.”
The 2030 Agenda
Another concern we have about this resolution is its reaffirmation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although framed in neutral language, the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs advance a program of soft global governance that is inconsistent with U.S. sovereignty and adverse to the rights and interests of Americans.
In the last U.S. election, the mandate from the American people was clear: the government of the United States must refocus on the interests of Americans. We must care first and foremost for our own – that is our moral and civic duty. President Trump also set a clear and overdue course correction on “gender” and climate ideology, which pervade the SDGs.
Put simply, globalist endeavors like the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs lost at the ballot box. Therefore, the United States rejects and denounces the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, and we will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course.
Equal Pay for Equal Work
The United States understands the intention of the inclusion of “equal pay for work of equal value” to promote pay equality between men and women, and accepts the formulation on that basis. The United States works to achieve pay equality by observing the principle of “equal pay for equal work.”
Temporary Special Measures
With respect to so-called “temporary special measures,” and other measures intended to achieve parity for women and girls, the United States opposes the use of quotas, targets, or goals for participation based on sex. It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. Every citizen, including women and girls, should have an equal right and opportunities, without discrimination, to take part in the conduct of public affairs.
Climate Change
The United States does not support the inclusion of references to climate change in this declaration.
Original post available here.
Guest Editors
Roopa Dhatt, MD, MPA, Georgetown University, USA
Anna Kalbarczyk, DrPH, Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, USA
Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 7 December 2025
BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Women's role in politics and public life. We invite research that delves into the role of women in politics and public life, focusing on their leadership, participation, and the challenges they face. We welcome studies that examine gender equality, women's rights, and the impact of women's economic participation on public policy and health outcomes, with the aim of fostering a more inclusive political landscape.
Click here to apply.
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In the ever-evolving political landscape of Nigeria, the struggle for gender equality remains a daunting challenge, particularly in the sphere of elective politics. The ongoingordeals of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and other female politicians serve as painful reminders of the deep-seated misogyny that continues to undermine women’s political participation. Despite constitutional guarantees and international conventions advocating for gender equity, women in Nigeria are still treated as political outsiders, systematically excluded, and viciously maligned.
To opine that there are stubborn walls of misogyny been waged against Nigerian women in politics is not an exaggeration. This is as misogyny is deeply entrenched in Nigeria’s socio-political fabric, manifesting in ways that range from subtle bias to outright violence against women who dare to challenge the status quo. The cultural and traditional expectations placed on women limit their ability to assert themselves in the public sphere. Many still believe that a woman's place is in the kitchen or at best in an appointed, symbolic role rather than in the competitive arena of elective politics.
In fact, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s political journey is a testament to the relentless opposition faced by women in politics. Despite her competence, courage, and determination, she has been subjected to smear campaigns, character assassination, and physical threats. Her case is not isolated. Women like Remi Sonaiya, ObyEzekwesili, and Aisha Yesufu have all faced virulent attacks simply for daring to seek political relevance. The misogynistic environment discourages many women from aspiring to public office, as they are often reduced to objects of ridicule rather than being recognized for their ideas and leadership capabilities.
Read here the full article published by Modern Ghana on 2 March 2025.
Image by Modern Ghana
Women are more likely to be hesitant in expressing their opinions about politics online than men, a new survey by Statista Consumer Insights has found. This was the case in all of the 21 countries polled, with the gender gap narrowest in Finland at 3 percentage points (22 percent male, 19 percent female) and widest in Mexico at 10 percentage points (26 percent male, 15 percent female). This mirrors wider patterns of gender roles and equality in society, with Finland having scored in the top three places in this year’s Global Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum.
Even aside from gender, the degree to which people express their views on politics online varies greatly by country. For example, in China only 13 percent of respondents on average said they had expressed their opinion about politics online in the past month. This includes having commented on or even liked a post related to politics on social media. In Japan (not shown on this chart), the figure was even lower at just 5 percent (7 percent men, 3 percent women). At the other end of the spectrum comes South Africa, where 32 percent of respondents said they had expressed their political opinion in the past four weeks (37 percent men, 27 percent women).
Read here the full article published by Statista on 17 January 2025.
Image by Statista