Women's Leadership
Ulaanbaatar, May 22, 2025 /MONTSAME/. The “We Women” Forum, jointly organized by the Secretariat of the State Great Khural, the United Nations, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), opened on May 21, 2025, at the State Palace.
Speaker of the State Great Khural of Mongolia Amarbayasgalan Dashzegve delivered opening remarks, stating, “Last year, amendments were made to the Law on Parliamentary Elections, adopting a mixed electoral system and legislating that no less than 30 percent of the candidate list of political parties and 50 percent of candidates in constituencies must be women. As a result, of the 1,341 candidates in the 2024 Parliamentary Election, 38.7 percent, or 520 candidates, were women, a historic high, and 32 women were elected to the State Great Khural, bringing women’s representation in Parliament to 25.4 percent, also a record.”
Full article published by Montsame on 22 May 2025.
Image by Montsame
Women bring different perspectives of cultures and conflict and when those voices are at the negotiating table a lasting peace is more likely, writes Maha Akeel.
It is important to include women at the negotiation table of conflict resolution and peacebuilding early in the process and not be persuaded to delay that for any reason. Ensuring that women’s rights, needs, and expectations are reflected in any texts adopted during the talks lays the groundwork for their political participation and social empowerment later. Third-party mediators can and should play a role in including women in such negotiations whether as negotiation delegates or mediators. A mediator is a neutral third party and a negotiator takes sides or negotiate on behalf of a side.
Including women in peace processes
Research indicates that women’s participation in peace processes, whether at the formal or informal level, leads to a more durable peace. Women not only bring different experiences of war from men but also different perspectives. Most often, through their informal networks and grassroots activism, women can bridge ethnic, cultural, and religious divides, such as in Liberia, Nigeria, and Somalia.
Despite these documented benefits, women face barriers to their effective participation in peace negotiation processes. One of the most persistent and difficult to overcome is the structural problems of patriarchy. Patriarchal structures define the roles women are allowed or assigned to play in peacebuilding and their level of involvement. Even if their numbers are increasing steadily in the political sphere, women remain constrained by patriarchal structures of male leadership.
Mediators play an important role in supporting women’s inclusion in peace processes and in leading by example through having women in mediation. However, from 1990 to 2018, mediation was involved in only 34 per cent of the total 876 conflict-years, and of those mediations only 10 per cent included at least one woman as co-mediator. Despite evidence that women’s full participation makes peacebuilding much more effective, the number of women in decision-making roles is actually falling.
In 2023, women represented only 9.6 per cent of negotiators, 13.7 per cent of mediators and 26.6 per cent of signatories in peace processes. According to a report by the United Nations Secretary General, women were virtually absent from talks on ending the conflicts in Ethiopia, Sudan, Myanmar and Libya. In Muslim societies, culture and tradition are most often used to justify the exclusion of women from peace processes even though the women are active. In fact, women were consulted and included in resolving conflicts and negotiating peace since the time of Prophet Mohamed.
Full article published by the London School of Economics on 23 May 2025.
Image credits: LSE
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming our world—but when it reflects existing biases, it can reinforce discrimination against women and girls. From hiring decisions to healthcare diagnoses, AI systems can amplify gender inequalities when trained on biased data. So how can we ensure AI is ethical and inclusive? Zinnya del Villar, a leading expert in responsible AI, shares insights on the challenges and solutions in a recent conversation with UN Women.
What is AI gender bias and why does it matter?
“AI systems, learning from data filled with stereotypes, often reflect and reinforce gender biases,” says Zinnya del Villar. “These biases can limit opportunities and diversity, especially in areas like decision-making, hiring, loan approvals, and legal judgments.”
At its core, AI is about data. It is a set of technologies that enable computers to do complex tasks faster than humans. AI systems, such as machine learning models, learn to perform these tasks from the data they are trained on. When these models rely on biased algorithms, they can reinforce existing inequalities and fuel gender discrimination in AI.
Imagine, training a machine to make hiring decisions by showing it examples from the past. If most of those examples carry conscious or unconscious bias – for example, showing men as scientists and women as nurses – the AI may interpret that men and women are better suited for certain roles and make biased decisions when filtering applications.
This is called AI gender bias— when the AI treats people differently on the basis of their gender, because that’s what it learned from the biased data it was trained on.
Full article published by UN Women on 5 February 2025.
What you need to know:
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The Finnish President, who is on a three-day official visit to Tanzania, made the remarks during a tour of the facility in Ilala District on Friday, 16 May 2025.
Dar es Salaam. The President of Finland, Mr Alexander Stubb, described the Finnish-supported initiative Machinga Complex in Dar es Salaam as a shining example of multi-stakeholder cooperation to promote gender equality and empower women.
The Finnish President, who is on a three-day official visit to Tanzania, made the remarks during a tour of the facility in Ilala District on Friday, 16 May 2025.
He praised the Women’s Leadership and Economic Rights (WLER) Project as a model of collaboration between the governments of Finland and Tanzania, UN Women, and women in both business and politics.
Full article published by The Citizen on 16 May 2025.
Image by The Citizen
As we commemorate World Telecommunications and Information Society Day this year, with its theme of gender equality in digital transformation, we focus on the transformative power of technology in the lives of women across Egypt. Central to this progress in Egypt is the Qodwa-Tech initiative, launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Since its inception in 2019, Qodwa-Tech has been empowering women across all governorates, training over 32,000 women so far. Its core mission is to bridge the gender digital divide by equipping women with essential digital skills—from social media marketing and e-commerce to advanced areas like artificial intelligence—and fostering leadership capabilities.
Today, we shine a spotlight on inspiring women beneficiaries of the Qodwa-Tech initiative—women whose lives are being transformed by the power of technology. Their stories exemplify resilience, innovation, and leadership—proof that digital inclusion is a vital tool for achieving gender equality and sustainable development.
Full article published by UNDP on 17 May 2025.
Naila Kabeer is a Professor Emerita in Gender and International Development at the Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also a Faculty Associate at LSE’s International Inequalities Institute and serves on the governing Naila’s extensive work and research focuses on gender equity, social justice, labour markets, and poverty alleviation. Naila Kabeer joined a two-day Expert Group Meeting organized by UN Women to address one of the most persistent barriers to gender equality in political and public life: discriminatory social norms. The event held on 4-5 February 2025 brought together feminist scholars, policymakers, activists, and practitioners to chart a path forward for transforming social norms and ensuring women’s full and effective political participation. This experts’ meeting was organized under the WYDE | Women’s Leadership, funded by the European Union, which is a collaborative global effort aimed at advancing women’s full and effective political participation and decision-making at all levels, especially those most often left furthest behind.
what advice would you give to young women aspiring to lead in their communities and countries?
Have courage. The world is not always kind to young women who step forward! Find support, build alliances, you don’t have to face the system alone. Be present in every space where decisions are made and make people aware that gender equality matters everywhere. Having allies and a strong constituency behind you will give you the strength to keep going. And finally, never let anyone put you down!
Full interview available here.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global emergency of multiple dimensions. Most national governments have adopted extraordinary measures to protect their citizens and overcome the pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 global crisis, 2020 was expected to be a year for reviewing achievements and accelerating progress on gender equality after 25 years of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and 20 years since UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. There is now major concern that COVID-19 and its impact will push back fragile progress on gender equality, including in relation to reversing discriminatory laws, the enactment of new laws, the implementation of existing legislation, and broader progress needed to achieving justice for all.
This rapid assessment examines how the impacts of COVID-19 are threatening women’s ability to access justice. The assessment reflects challenges faced by women and girls of diverse backgrounds and socio-economic groups, including those experiencing overlapping disadvantages—for example, women on the front lines—and those facing amplified challenges in humanitarian settings. Cross-regional and local experiences are highlighted, and quantitative data is utilized where available. Past epidemics are informative—and sobering—in terms of risks for women and offer lessons about how to prevent and mitigate these risks.
Click here to see the report.
This brief summarizes challenges and recommendations of the impact of the recent pandemic of COVID-19 in Tunisia on gender-based violence, access to justice, women and health, and women’s leadership and political participation. It makes recommendations to be considered by all sectors of society in order to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, to facilitate access to justice and social care. It also includes data and trends regarding the impact of the pandemic of the COVID-19 on women and girls in Tunisia.
Click here to see the report (in French).
Background Pandemics and outbreaks have differential impacts on women and men. From risk of exposure and biological susceptibility to infection to the social and economic implications, individuals’ experiences are likely to vary according to their biological and gender characteristics and their interaction with other social determinants. Because of this, global and national strategic plans for COVID-19 preparedness and response must be grounded in strong gender analysis and must ensure meaningful participation of affected groups, including women and girls, in decision-making and implementation. 1 WHO calls on its Member States and all global actors to guide investments in quality and gender-sensitive research on the adverse health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19. Countries are advised to incorporate a focus on gender into their COVID-19 responses in order to ensure that public health policies and measures to curb the epidemic take account of gender and how it interacts with other areas of inequality.
Click here to see the advocacy brief.
As the impact of COVID-19 intensifies globally, we have curated a selection of resources and information on gender-sensitive responses and women’s leadership in times of pandemic. You will find a list of relevant resolutions, useful tools, virtual meetings, and calls and stories from the frontlines of the institutional and policy responses to the pandemic and its effects.
This page will be regularly updated with new resources from our partners and other institutions providing gender-sensitive support and guidance.
Resolutions
- The European Parliament adopted a resolution addressing EU coordination on the COVID-19 pandemic response calling the European Commission and Member States to prioritize aid and crisis-mitigation measures for the most vulnerable citizens, women in particular. Click here to see it.
- The Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) adopted a resolution calling for gender mainstreaming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring participation of women in decision-making at all levels. Click here to see it.
Useful tools
- We recently hosted an e-Discussion on women's leadership in the COVID-19 response in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish to raise awareness on the importance of including women's voices and of gender-sensitive responses to the crisis and to collect good practices and recommendations from members of our network. Click here to see the e-Discussion in English and here to read the summary.
- The UN Secretary-General issued a policy brief that explores how women and girls’ lives are changing in the face of COVID-19, and outlines suggested priority measures to accompany both the immediate response and longer-term recovery efforts. Click here to see it.
- UN Women is working with partners to bridge the gender data gap and deliver a more accurate picture of the gender dimension to the COVID-19 response so that it can be more effective for women and girls. Click here to see the data.
- This UN Women issue brief highlights the impact of the current global pandemic on violence against women and girls and makes recommendations to prevent and respond to this phenomenon, at the onset, during, and after the public health crisis. Click here to see it.
- The Inter-parliamentary Union published a guidance note for parliaments that includes recommendations on women’s participation and leadership in parliamentary decision-making on COVID-19, gender-responsive COVID-19 legislation, and government action oversight on the pandemic from a gender perspective. Click here to see it.
- The UN Women office for the Americas and the Caribbean developed an informative brief with recommendations on how to incorporate women and gender equality in the crisis management response. Click here to see it.
- The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) has issued a detailed guidance note on a range of measures that governments should take to uphold women’s rights as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to download it.
Virtual meetings
- Talk on “Gender and Covid-19”: Why do more men die from the virus than women? And why isn’t this fact impacting research into a vaccine in the U.S.? Hosted by Francesca Donner, gender director at The Times and editor of the Times newsletter In Her Words, this talk provides answers to these pressing questions with Caroline Criado Perez, author of the award-winning book "Invisible Women” and Alisha Haridasani Gupta, gender reporter for In Her Words. Listen to the conversation here.
- Talk on “Leadership in a Time of Crisis”: What does good leadership in crisis look like? In this time of unprecedented challenge related to COVID-19, what can we learn from the great leaders of the past? In this webinar conversation, experts explored these and other key questions about leading in a time of crisis. Click here to access the recording.
- Talk on “Why We Need to Make Women Visible”: Fawcett Society hosted on 7 April an online conversation with prominent gender equality advocates and leaders about how Coronavirus is affecting women and girls in the UK and why we need to make their experiences more visible. Click here to watch it.
- Upcoming conversation with Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson and Halla Tómasdóttir on 16 June 2020 at 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT: The COVID-19 pandemic is an extraordinary test of leadership, and women in global leadership positions are rising to meet the challenge. This session will feature former President of Ireland Mary Robinson and Halla Tómasdóttir — a former candidate for President of Iceland, CEO and entrepreneur — in a dynamic discussion on Leadership in Times of Crisis: Lessons From Women World Leaders. To learn more about the event and to register, please go here.
- Upcoming seminar entitled “Leadership in crisis: What do we expect from leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic?” on 25 June 2020 at 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EDT: It’s rapidly becoming clear that Covid-19’s effects are gendered in complex ways, in ways that can either reinforce or challenge existing inequalities. Leadership is one of the most visible arenas for observing this. This seminar focuses on leading, leaders, and leadership, asking questions and looking for hope. To learn more about the event and to register, please go here.
Calls and news
- The United Nations Secretary General António Guterres urged governments “to put women and girls at the centre of their efforts to recover from COVID-19,” reminding them that women’s leadership and equal representation and decision-making power is key. Click here to learn more.
- Thirty-six women leaders from all over the world signed a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council José Singer Weisinger urging for global action in response to the greatest peacetime challenge that humanity has faced. Click here to learn more.
- The Secretary General of the Inter-parliamentary Union Martin Chungong and the Secretariat of the International Gender Champions co-published an opinion piece reflecting on the gendered implications of the current COVID-19 pandemic and proposing solutions to counter the negative effects on women and girls. Click here to read it.
- The Socialists and Democrats, together with the leaders of the Party of European Socialists and its women’s organization PES Women sent a letter to the European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen, calling for a proactive gender-sensitive response to the crisis. Click here to learn more.
- Dubravka Šimonović, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, issued a call to receive information on the increase of gender-based violence against women and domestic violence in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here for more information.
- The CEDAW Committee calls on governments and multilateral institutions to ensure women’s equal representation in formulating responses to COVID-19 and strategies to recover from the crisis. Click here to download the statement.
- With an open letter, Deliver for Good, a network of more than 500 supporting organizations committed to championing gender equality, calls on governments to apply a gender lens and put girls, women, and gender equality at the center of COVID-19 preparedness. Click here to learn more.
- What do countries with the best coronavirus responses have in common? Women leaders, answers Forbes in a recent article. From New Zealand to Iceland, women leaders are showing a novel way of dealing with a crisis. What are they teaching us? Click here to find out.
- How to prepare and respond to COVID-19? Leaders of cities, states and countries faced an unprecedented test. The ones who passed this test with flying colors are disproportionately women. This is despite the fact that they make up only 7% of heads of state. Click here to learn more.
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“Rise for All” is a new initiative that brings together women leaders to mobilize support for the UN Recovery Trust Fund and the UN roadmap for social and economic recovery, as laid out in the new United Nations Framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19. Click here to see their video message.
For more resources and news on COVID-19 and gender equality, please go here.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing untold human suffering and is likely to heighten gender-based inequalities around the world. As economic activity comes to a halt, women who face disadvantage in access to decent work will suffer the most. What's more, health pandemics can make it more difficult for women and girls to receive treatment and health care. There is also a growing concern that violence against women and girls is intensifying as women with violent partners find themselves isolated from the people and resources that can help them.
UN Women has been closely following the political and economic response to COVID-19 and how it is impacting women and girls. We are working with partners to bridge the gender data gap and deliver a more accurate picture of the gender dimension to the response so that it can be more effective for women and girls. As more gender data is produced and disaggregated, UN Women will make it available.
It is our job to support governments to uphold the rights of women and girls – something that is even more urgent in times of crisis.
Click here to see the data.
Crisis management or emergency situations such as COVID-19 can have serious impacts on the lives of women and girls, if gender dimensions are not considered. Issues such as care work, economic autonomy, physical or sexual violence, women's participation in decision-making, disaggregation of data by sex, gender analysis, and irregular migration are just some of the areas of concern that must be part of an effective response to the health crisis that the world is going through right now.
The UN Women office for the Americas and the Caribbean has developed the informative brief “COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean: how to incorporate women and gender equality in the management of the response to the crisis”.
This document indicates different impacts and a series of recommendations so that decision makers can integrate the gender perspective as the key for an effective response to COVID-19 that integrates the needs of women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Click here to see the informative brief.