Dr. Syed Tauqir Shah, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, talks about his commitment to the Geneva Gender Champions initiative.

“Creating conditions where all men and women have equal opportunities.”

 

In 2015 WMO produced a cartoon summarizing the results of the Progress Report on Implementation of their Policy on Gender Mainstreaming.  WMO’s efforts to raise awareness within their community about unconscious bias has made an impact on the composition of member state delegations for greater gender equality.

 

After reviewing gender representation among staff of permanent missions in Geneva, the Geneva Gender Champions Initiative examined gender representation among staff at the professional level and above employed worldwide by UN agencies that are headquartered in Geneva.

This infographic shows that although progress has been made over the last decade, more is needed to achieve gender parity, especially at the higher professional levels, including at Director and “Ungraded” levels.

More data on  gender representation in the UN system is available here, and here.

 

 

Dr Khalid Koser, Executive Director GCERF, and GGC Champion

Kristina Wintermeier, GGC Focal Point, GCERF

 

The Geneva community has embraced the Geneva Gender Champions Network as an important initiative committed to, among other things, moving beyond the all-male panels that have dominated Geneva-based public discussions. As Executive Director of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), I am proud to be a Geneva Gender Champion. To this end, GCERF renews its commitment to organize and participate in only panels that have gender parity; and commits to continue to make gender equality principles a fundamental part of our operational and institutional policies.

In addition, the Geneva Gender Champions Network has inspired GCERF not only to identify, but also harness the full potential of the men and women within the local communities we support. GCERF is a public-private partnership that funds local initiatives to build community resilience to violent extremism. GCERF was established to fill a funding gap. We rely on local communities who are on the frontline to identify: what drives violent extremism in their communities; how to dissuade individuals from succumbing to the appeals of violent extremist groups; and how they can achieve lasting resilience.

Across GCERF’s three pilot countries, (Bangladesh, Mali, and Nigeria), a significant proportion of the initiatives identified by local communities are focused on women and girls. Broadly, they can be grouped in three categories. First, they raise awareness of the dangers of violent extremism, for example by training mothers, teachers, and religious leaders to spot the early signs of radicalisation to violence. Second, they mobilize action against violent extremist threats, for example by empowering women who have significant roles in their families and communities and amplifying their voices and access to networks and resources. Finally, they provide alternatives to violent extremism, for example by creating income-generating activities, training women in goods production, and linking women’s groups with local financial institutions. Because the drivers of radicalization to violent extremism are specific to each individual, adopting and ensuring a gendered approach in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of GCERF projects is the best way to ensure success.

So what specifically does being gender responsive in the field of preventing violent extremism (PVE) look like? GCERF has identified at least three ways in which the international community should champion a gender perspective in PVE.

First, it means recognizing that all men and women have different and differentiated roles as victims, perpetrators, enablers and most importantly, as change agents. There is invariably a difference in how the effects of violent extremism are felt among and between genders. Understanding this can help the way in which donors, civil society, and even the private sector can tailor their approach in engaging with and empowering local communities.

Second, a gender responsive approach to preventing violent extremism means acknowledging that different people have different understandings of gender. Understanding and respecting cultural norms, whilst ensuring that GCERF funding is not deepening or perpetuating gender inequalities, is fundamental to our success in engaging and strengthening communities.

Third, a gender responsive approach means debunking, and when necessary, exploding myths. To be clear, women and girls are neither immune from recruitment and radicalization, nor are they immune from perpetrating acts of violence. Many women are also passive and complicit in the face of radicalisation to violence, even when it directly affects their family members. Similarly, to say that men and boys are only joining violent extremist groups out of a sense of adventure and extreme masculinity, would be ignoring a host of additional and opposing drivers. GCERF therefore places considerable emphasis on gathering and generating data and evidence to help focus its efforts, but also inform wider debates.

GCERF is proud to be able to use its global reach to help reinforce the impact of the Geneva Gender Champions Network.

Over the past two weeks, the Geneva Gender Champions Initiative ran a study on gender representation among accredited diplomatic staff in Permanent Missions in Geneva, using the Blue Books produced on a yearly basis by the Protocol section of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The infographic below shows clearly that progress towards gender parity among staff of permanent missions is far from being achieved and that women are disproportionately represented among more junior colleagues.

As, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN’s specialized agency for information and communications technology (ICT), I am personally committed to helping close the gender digital gap including actions within our organization itself. As one of the founding members of the Geneva Gender Champions initiative launched by the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Michael Møller, and US Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto, I have taken the Panel Parity Pledge to adopt positive measures to improve gender balance among ITU staff, as well as encouraging gender balance among delegates attending ITU conferences and meetings.

I see the issue of gender equality in the tech sector as an urgent and priority issue, not simply a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘must have’.

There are 1.8 billion young people in the world today. Of these, 600 million are teenage girls and young women. Technology is creating large scale opportunities to empower women and girls. But when it comes to making career choices, the majority of countries around the world are witnessing a chronic global decline in the number of female tech students.

This is in turn contributing to a predicted global employment shortfall, with at least two million information and communication technology (ICT) jobs which will not be able to be filled, due to the lack of qualified staff. Like all challenges this also provides opportunity; enormous opportunity for governments, academia, industry and international organizations to work together to achieve gender parity in the highly imbalanced tech sector.

The ICT ecosystem needs to include more women, more women leaders, professionals, creators and entrepreneurs. It is because of this gap that since 2010, ITU has been encouraging its 193 Member States, more than 700 private sector members and 120+ members from academia to support and celebrate international Girls in ICT Day, which is held every year on the fourth Thursday in April.

The day is an important part of an international drive to encourage more female students to study STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – and to prepare for ICT careers. Led by ITU’s Development Sector, and with strong buy-in from the tech sector, national governments, academia and NGOs, ‘Girls in ICT Day’ has rapidly grown into a global movement, with an estimated 5,600 events organized in over 160 countries, reaching more than 200,000 girls. As ITU Secretary-General I would like to thank our growing community for their commitment and staunch support which has enabled ITU to become a major force in promoting and increasing opportunities for women and girls in ICT careers.

We’re delighted also to announce on 18 May 2016 a new call for nominations for the third annual GEM-Tech awards (GEM means Gender Equality and Mainstreaming) together with our sister agency UN Women. This prestigious global prize recognizes outstanding contributions from women and men (individuals and organizations) in further addressing the issue of digital gender divide issues by embracing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote greater gender equality to empower women and girls. Indeed, we were honoured to name Ambassador Hamamoto as a GEM-Tech Global Achiever in 2015 because of her leadership, including by establishing the Geneva Gender Champions.

These initiatives and awards can play an important role in highlighting what works and where initiatives can be scaled and further investments made. Moreover, it showcases how ICTs dramatically improve socio-political and economic outcomes, as well as gender equality for women and girls and how to advance their role as decision-makers and producers in the technology sector.

I am personally proud to be part of the Geneva Gender Champions initiative and to be known as a Geneva Gender Champion. As the Secretary General of ITU I will continue to push for change and to work towards greater gender equality in the ICT sector worldwide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Møller Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva and Pamela Hamamoto, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva — UN Women’s 2016 International Women’s Day address.

Women are significantly underrepresented In meteorology and related professions, especially at top levels.  WMO is therefore working to eliminate any barriers, to attract more girls into studying science, to retain more women in careers and increase their numbers in WMO governance and management.  Further, WMO is promoting weather and climate services, such as field schools for farmers and guidance on gender-sensitive flood management, which reflect the unique needs and strengths of women, as well as men.  Investments made in women and girls are great multipliers of development progress.  For International Women’s Day, I and my team at the World Meteorological Organization are celebrating the outstanding work performed by female meteorologists, hydrologists, climatologists and scientists around the world by compiling an extensive Women in Action album with dozens of photos illustrating the remarkable work done by women at National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, often performed in remote areas and in challenging conditions.

Full Article: http://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/wmo-celebrates-international-women’s-day

Full Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldmeteorologicalorganization/sets/72157662903687524