UN Chronicle E-Alert: EMPOWERING WOMEN

The Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Angela King, recently urged the Security Council to further integrate women in peace processes. This is another step taken by the United Nations to empower women and thus promote the ideal of equality envisioned in the UN Charter.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan underscored the relevance of gender equality at this years International Womens Day celebration: In our work to reach the objectives of the Millennium Declaration, gender equality is not only a goal in its own right; it is critical to our ability to reach all the others. Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role. When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier and better fed; their income, savings and reinvestment go up. And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries."

The UN Chronicle frequently reports on the advancement of women, covering issues as
diverse as womens financial independence and their potential role in saving the environment.

Here are some recent articles featured in the Chronicle regarding the empowerment of women.

Web Articles
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2003/webArticles/012903_womens_rights.html">Women's Rights on the UN Agenda"
    by Liz Willmott, for the UN Chronicle
    
Issue 2, 2002
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2002/issue2/0202p46.html">NGOWatch: Reapers, Solitary No Longer"
    
Issue 4, 2001
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2001/issue4/0104p6.html">Guest Column: Women as Victims and Resolvers of Hunger"
    by Ana Paula dos Santos, First Lady of the Republic of Angola.
        
Issue 1, 2001
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2001/issue1/0101p50.html">Gender Equality: Addressing Women's Concerns"
    by Diana Lee-Smith, Coordinator, Gender Policy of the Urban
    Secretariat, UNCHS (Habitat), Nairobi, Kenya.    
    
Issue 2, 2000
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2000/issue2/0200p75.htm">Microcredit: Moving Women Forward"
    by Denise Hughes and Anna Awimbo. Hughes is Media Director
    and Awimbo is Research Director of the Microcredit Summit
    Campaign in Washington, D.C., United States.
        
Issue 3, 1999
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1999/issue3/0399p14.htm">Supporting Women's Empowerment in Djibouti"
    by Zubaida Rasul, Division for Arab States and Europe,
    United Nations Population Fund (UNPF).
        
Issue 2, 1999
· http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1999/issue2/0299p72.htm">Saving the Environment: Women at the Wheel"
     by Akiko Domoto, Member, House of Councillors, Government of Japan.