Resources for Women

Democracy With Women, For Women (2010): This United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) report provides an analysis of the first round of grants issues by the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in partnership with UNIFEM. These grants aimed to advance gender equality and democratic governance around the globe. Many improvements in women’s political participation were realized in a diverse collection of countries. Read more about the changing face of governance here http://www.unifem.org/attachments/products/UNDEF_Round_I_Evaluation_web_1.pdf.

Reaching the Marginalized (2010): This United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report highlights the impact the financial crisis on the quality of education children receive. A need for the Fast Track Initiative, which aims to overcome education marginalization, is also described. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001866/186606E.pdf.

Women in Politics: 2010: The UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) released a global overview of the status of women’s political power. Find the country rankings at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/womeninpolitics2010/Women-In-Politics-EN-2010.pdf.

2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: There are considerable development gains being made to ensure women’s equitable access to and control over financial and economic resources. Read about the impact of inequality of access to resources here http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/WorldSurvey2009.pdf.

Confronting Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations (2009): This International Women’s Tribune Centre report explains the rights everyone possesses under international law and informs individuals of what they can do to confront the issue of sexual violence. Claim your rights here http://www.iwtc.org/Legal_Handbook/Handbook.pdf.

The Global Gender Gap Report (2009): As prepared by the World Economic Forum, this report provides a historical look at gender disparity within a global context. Canada is ranked 25 out of 124 counties according to the Gender Gap Index 2009. http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf.

Report on the 53nd meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (2009). Mary Scott, VP National Council of Women of Canada, attended the most recent meeting of this United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and reports on the purpose and conclusions of the meeting. See the report at http://www.ncwc.ca/pdf/csw53.pdf.

Training Manual on Gender and Climate Change (2009): As part of the effort to foster gender sensitive climate change policy-making, the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) launched a Gender and Climate Change Training Manual http://www.wedo.org/

UN General Assembly Debates Restructuring UN Gender Equality Infrastructure (2009). A U.N. review panel in 2006 called for the creation of a comprehensive women's agency to oversee all U.N. efforts on behalf of women. Two years later, activists are trying to push the effort back on track. http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3517.

Women News Network (2008) A non-profit media news network dedicated to disseminating international women's news not found in the public media stream. The network includes a number of online programmes, including bimonthly in-depth featured news, a breaking news portal, an online film/video library, and an online women's radio library. The goal is to empower the voices of women internationally by educating the public, the international non-governmental organisation (NGO) community, and United Nations (UN) agencies and affiliates worldwide. http://womennewsnetwork.net/breaking-news-portal/

Women, War, Peace and Displacement (2008). This site allows you to wiew resources about the effects of war on women, including displacement. This portal contains excellent resources on Women, Peace and Security at http://www.womenwarpeace.org/node/3.

Louise Arbour's Successor Named (2008). Another staunch defender of women’s rights has been appointed to succeed Canada’s Louise Arbour as High Commissioner for Human Rights, one of the most politically sensitive and complex posts within the UN family. She is Navanethem (Navi) Pillay of South Africa, a lawyer and high court judge who founded Equality Now, which campaigns internationally on women’s rights. For the past decade she has served with two of the most important international criminal courts, first with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and most recently with the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She heads an organization that now has 1,000 staff working in 50 countries with a total annual budget of some US$150 million.

Women Leaders Ask Where is Our Money (2008). Even though seven out of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) impact on women, both donors and governments receiving aid overlook the need to make resources available for gender empowerment.* Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, executive director of African Women's Development Fund told IPS in an interview that far too little money is made available for gender empowerment. "How you allocate your resources tells much about where your priorities are. Women are 50 percent of the world's population. They should be a priority," she argues. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42914