By: Nadia Neophytou United Nations (UN) secretary general Antonio Guiterres says that Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will stay on for a second term as executive director of UN Women. South Africa’s Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka joined the organization, which is tasked with empowering women and encouraging gender equality, four years ago. Under her, UN Women established the much-publicized HeForShe campaign, that engages men and boys on issues of gender equality. UN Women has played a significant role in ensuring that women were put front and centre of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and that the responsibility of ending gender inequality became everyone’s responsibility. She has said she wants to use the next four years to build on the momentum already achieved to put the new Strategic Plan for 2018-2021 into practice, as well as work towards implementing the 2030 Agenda with gender equality and women’s empowerment at its…
Details Emerge of 500M Euro EU-UN Program on Women’s Rights, Family Planning
By: Vince Chadwick The European Commission is preparing a 500 million euro ($570 million) program with the United Nations on women’s rights, which is to be announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September, according to a senior European Union aid official. “The [EU development] commissioner has proposed this to the U.N. and we are talking right now to the U.N. to shape the program,” Klaus Rudischhauser, deputy director-general of DEVCO — the European Commission’s development arm — told Devex in Brussels recently. Rudischhauser said the initiative will focus on preventing violence against women but that it would have a broad scope, noting it followed the decision by United States President Donald Trump earlier this year to reinstate the “global gag rule,” resulting in the loss of an estimated $600 million of funding for reproductive health. The new program was “in the pipeline” before Trump’s…
How Procurement and Sourcing Can Help Close the Gender Gap
By: Sydney Lazarus Procurement functions can play a big role in supporting women-owned businesses, argues a new report produced by UN Women. The report points out that corporations are in a powerful position to help close the gender gap through their procurement and sourcing departments. Even though corporate spend accounts for trillions of dollars every year, only 1% of that sum goes to women-owned businesses. (In comparison, for U.S. federal contracts, the figure is 4.7%) The benefits of sourcing from more women-owned businesses go beyond the women themselves. The World Economic Forum has found that gender equality is positively correlated with the country’s gross domestic product and level of competitiveness. Similarly, the World Bank has reported that “underused or misallocated” female labor leads to economic losses. But what do corporations themselves stand to gain? First, and perhaps most important to the c-suite, there are benefits to the…
How are Resilient Couples Different
Couples who are able to withstand tough times in their relationship are more likely to gain a stronger connection to one another. No relationship is void of challenges hence the importance of resilience. Resilience is simply the ability to bounce back and grow and thrive during challenges, change, and stress. The following are ways to achieve resilience in a relationship: CARE rather than confront during tough conversations. Resilient couples know how to communicate assertively — that is, in a clear, confident and controlled manner. While that’s easier said than done, particularly with tough conversations, here’s a model to help: C — Communicate the facts. A — Address your concerns in an objective way R — Reach out and ask the other person for his/her perspective E — Evaluate outcomes Most importantly, do your homework before you even have the conversation. Ask yourself whether you have an accurate understanding of the…
The Nourishing Taste of Bobotie
Bobotie (pronounced ba-boor-tea) is a delicious national South African food that is made from a mixture of curried meat, fruit and creamy golden topping similar to moussaka. Often time bobotie, consist of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping and served with sambal. It is popular in the Cape Malay community (in the Cape of Good Hope) South Africa at which time it was made with a mixture of Mutton Pork.
Women and the Egg Freezing Controversy
By: Eruke Ojuederie In developing nations, fertility among women has been perceived as one of the greatest gifts a husband can have. It has served as the basis for a healthy marriage on the one hand and broken marriages on the other. Whatever be the case, psychology experts have stated that once a woman starts aging she focuses more on family and loved ones which include children. Dr. Jordan B Peterson a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto in one of his speeches pointed that when a woman clocks 30 she begins to feel the urgent need to have a child. Psychology, societal, and cultural beliefs all tilt towards the significance of fertility in women, however, in recent times, there has been a turn around with the inception of new medical discoveries. How it all began Freezing of eggs was introduced with the first cryopreservation of…
The Giant Strides of Andrea Jung
Born in Toronto, Jung was born in 1959 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her family moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, when she was only two years old. Jung’s mother was born in Shanghai and was a chemical engineer; her father was born in Hong Kong and was an architect. Jung has one younger brother, Mark. When she was young, Jung studied not only the regular subjects offered at a Massachusetts school, but studied the Mandarin language as well.