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Women attend the observance of the International Women's Day 2024, at the United Nations in New York, U.S., March 8, 2024.
Hard Numbers … in honor of International Women’s Day, March 8
46: American girls are outperforming boys in many key educational areas, from on-time high school graduation rates (89.1% vs. 82.9%), to likelihood of being held back in kindergarten (100 girls per every 145 boys get held back), to enrollment in at least one Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate class (46% vs. 38%). Girls are even closing the math achievement gap, according to a study by Education Week.
4: Olympic gold medal runner Faith Kipyegon could potentially run the mile in under four minutes, according to new research in the journalRoyal Society Open Science.The phenom from Kenya could run the mile in 3:59 under the right conditions, the researchers posited; if they’re right, she’d be the first woman to do so.
15: A court in Arizona’s Maricopa County on Wednesday permanently blocked a 15-week abortion ban from going into effect. The decision affirms the state’s constitutional protection for abortions up to 24 weeks, which Arizona voters approved by ballot measure last year.
42: Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, has the highest approval rating of any European Union country leader, tied with Poland’s Donald Tusk at 42%. But that doesn’t mean she’s safe from challenge: The Italian economy grew less than projected last year, and it’s a long way till those 2027 elections.
The future women want
GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke with Annemarie Hou, Executive Director of the UN Office for Partnerships, which conducted the campaign, to learn more about the survey, and why there are reasons for hope in the face of so many challenges. An overwhelming 85% of women identify themselves as advocates for women’s rights and believe women’s representation will improve in the next decade. Despite issues like climate, conflict, peace and justice still being top concerns, women are still optimistic.
"Women fell between the cracks" during COVID — former UN Women chief
During the pandemic, former UN Women chief Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says many women were "caught up in the crossfire that is not of their own making," accounting for two-thirds of jobs lost due to COVID. What's more, she adds, women forced into the informal job market to make ends meet had a hard time returning to formal jobs once lockdowns ended. And since government incentives didn't target them enough, "women fell between the cracks."
She spoke during "Measuring what matters: How women are critical to pandemic recovery," a livestream conversation on October 28, 2021, hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
How education has improved women’s lives around the world
What has been the driving force for improving women's lives around the world in the last decade? It's education, says UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. "The macroeconomic policies of most countries are not gender-responsive," says Mlambo-Ngcuka, but "women have been increasingly graduating at the top of their classes, and in many countries doing better than boys." She joined Ian Bremmer to discuss how the global fight for gender equality has progressed over the past decade and how the pandemic has turned back the clock on so much of that fight.
Their conversation is part of the latest episode of GZERO World, which began airing on US public television stations nationwide on Friday, March 19. Check local listings.
Watch the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer episode: Why the pandemic has been worse for women: UN Women's Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
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Why the pandemic has been worse for women: UN Women's Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
The global fight for gender equality wasn't a resounding success before the pandemic hit, but progress was being made. In many corners of the world, however, COVID-19 turned back that clock significantly. Violence against women—especially in the home—has been skyrocketing over the past year, says Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women and the UN's top advocate for gender equality. And the toll on girls has been just as severe, says Mlambo-Ngcuka, with the UN estimating that as many as 11 million girls who left school during the pandemic will never return. At the same time, it has been women who have shepherded the world through the worst pandemic, as they occupy the majority of frontline healthcare jobs. Mlambo-Ngcuka joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
Podcast: Why the pandemic has been worse for women: insights from UN Women's Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Listen: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director for UN Women, joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast to discuss the toll COVID-19 has taken on the global fight for gender equality, especially on girls. In fact, the UN estimates that as many as 11 million girls who left school because of the pandemic will never return. At the same time, it is women who occupy the majority of frontline and healthcare jobs.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.
How the pandemic has increased violence against women and worsened inequality
This week's horrific Atlanta shooting, which took the lives of six women of Asian descent, stirred outrage and fear across the US at a time when Asian and Asian American women are facing an onslaught of verbal and physical violence. But violence against women has been skyrocketing across the world since the start of the pandemic, says Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women. Mlambo-Ngcuka joined Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to talk about how COVID-19 has turned back the clock on the global fight for gender equality and the toll that it has taken on girls, in particular.
In fact, the UN estimates that as many as 11 million girls who left school because of the pandemic will never return. At the same time, it is women primarily who have been getting the world through the worst pandemic, as they occupy the majority of frontline and healthcare jobs. You can catch Mlambo-Ngcuka's interview on the latest episode of GZERO World, which starts airing on public television stations nationwide starting Friday, March 19. Check local listings.