Special Edition on the Week of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Special Edition on the Week of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over the past 15 years, the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science. Yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in science... Read more

Women in Science. According to UIS data, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. UIS data also show the extent to which these women work in the public, private or academic sectors, as well as their fields of research. But to truly reduce the gender gap, we must go beyond the hard numbers and identify the qualitative factors that deter women from pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)... Read more

Women and Disaster Risk Reduction

Disaster risk reduction - UN WOMEN. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) involves reducing disaster risks through efforts to analyse and reduce their causes. Gender-responsive disaster risk reduction refers to analysing and taking into account the needs, opportunities, roles and relationships of women, men, boys and girls formed by gender norms within a given culture and society. It requires specific attention to women’s rights and gender equality as part of a proactive and people-centered approach to reducing risks and vulnerabilities.

Disasters affect women, men, boys and girls in different ways. Gender inequalities increase women’s and girls’ vulnerability because they limit women’s and girl’s access to information and resources. This makes it more difficult for them to be resilient and recover from disasters... Read more 

Lives saved in Viet Nam by involving women in disaster planning. For millions of people in rural Viet Nam, the impacts of climate change are mounting and sometimes deadly. As weather patterns change, many of Viet Nam’s women in particular are paying a high price.

However, things are starting to change. “Thanks to good preparation and detailed mapping that we developed in the meetings before each storm, nobody in the village was killed or injured severely in the last year storm season. Crops, fowl and cattle were saved,” explains Ranh, now an official member of the Committee for Flood and Storm Control in her commune. Prior to the project, there were few women on the Committees for Flood and Storm Control (CFSC) in the village. Through the training of women in disaster management, as well as national lobbying – supported by UN Women, UNDP and other stakeholders – the contribution of women has been recognized... Read more

Policy Developments and Outlook: Women Contributions

10th Session of the World Urban Forum: Implementing the New Urban Agenda to drive Sustainable Change. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) and the New Urban Agenda (2016) both acknowledge that urbanization is a key transformative force for sustainable development.

Cities will play an increasingly critical role both in enabling countries to achieve sustainable development and to respond to the climate crisis. It is estimated that up to 65 percent of SDG targets are not achievable without defining a clear role for urban stakeholders in implementation of the NUA and the 2010 Agenda.

Cities have a clear role to play in ending poverty (SDG1); reducing inequality (SDG10); promoting inclusive and sustainable growth and providing full and productive employment (SDG8); ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG12) and combating climate change and its impacts (SDG13)... Read more

UR Central America. This conference seeks to build strategic alliances between experts, organizations, academic institutions and other key actors, to move from understanding risk to action in disaster resilience. Through regional collaboration and integration processes, UR Central America will present best practices and innovations for disaster risk compression and climate risk, and explore a variety of issues from disruptive technologies to community participation, which can be used to improve disaster risk management in the region... Read more

UR Central America will present expert voices in various specialties related to disaster risk management and resilience. Among them is a series of very important professionals and experts in the field... Read more