The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 14 is focused on the effort to conserve and sustain the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources. It is an essential goal for the life of the planet and the wellbeing of all. The ocean feeds billions of people and provides livelihoods for billions more - including, of course, women and girls.

CAIRO - 7 January 2018:The Business for Africa and the World summit, Africa 2018, focuses during its first day on the theme “Women Empowering Africa.” The summit will discuss ways to further empower African women and to enhance their engagement as agents for change in the continent through active participation in shaping economic and social policies. It seeks to mobilize established and emerging women leaders from across Africa to propel their success as well as provide a platform for them to showcase and celebrate their achievements. 

The Caribbean appears to fare well in global gender statistics, with a high Gender Parity Index (GPI) and good rankings reported in the most recent World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2017. However, the picture changes considerably when taking a closer look at the rural economy, where agriculture continues to be the main contributor to people’s livelihoods.

Joan Carling is an indigenous rights activist and environmental defender from the Philippines. She has been defending land rights from grassroots to international levels for more than 20 years. Her main concerns include protection of land rights of indigenous peoples, ensuring sustainable development of natural resources and upholding human rights of marginalized people. She has actively participated in global processes to defend these concerns, including those related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and REDD+.

As part of Women's Month and the centenary of Mama Albertina Sisulu, the Department of Social Development will today launch a women empowerment project at Mawewe Tribal Authority in Mgobodi village, Mpumalanga.

The project aims to empower and secure the livelihoods and rights of women living in rural areas, in the context of sustainable development goals and the current national discourse on women's rights to equitable access to productive land in South Africa.

The world is at a “moment of opportunity” in eliminating violence against women and girls, UN-Women Deputy Executive Director Åsa Regnér told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, calling for “unqualified” support for a strengthened feminist movement.

Civil society and government convene to promote a new advocacy initiative to fuel concrete actions that prioritize girls and women in sustainable development programmes and policies in Kenya. 

More than 20 partner organizations today launched the Deliver for Good Kenya Campaign, a new advocacy initiative bringing together cross sector stakeholders to drive progress toward gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kenya.

Although achieving equality for women across the world has been a major focus of human rights movements in 2018, women continue to bear the brunt of inequality. This is according to a new Amnesty International report released on Monday.

Land ownership remains highly skewed within our country. The lack of access to land is even more glaring when we look at the minuscule proportion of women who own land in both rural and urban settings. Providing women land ownership is one sure way to address a range of gender-empowerment challenges plaguing our country. It is thus noteworthy that our Ministry of Human Rights has recently launched a public campaign concerning the rights of women to inherit land under Islamic jurisprudence and the Constitution.

Indisputably, the SDGs cannot be reached if women – half of the world’s population – are left behind. Achieving gender equality implies, inter alia, giving women equal access to and control over resources to enable them to equally benefit from sustainable development. If the SDGs are to make a real difference for gender equality, however, the global vision they enshrine will have to be realized at the local level. This article provides an example of what such processes of localizing the SDGs can look like.

According to NGO Makaam, which helps women in drought-affected areas and has been working with the women’s commission to safeguard the rights of farmer widows, getting legal land title rights for widows in villages remains a major issue.

Following consultations in Vidarbha and Marathwada region where a high number of farmer suicides has been reported, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women, along with NGOs, has created a charter of demands for farmer widows.