Gloria Steinem: A voice for women. A lifetime of challenging inequality by United Nations News, agencies   3 Sep. 2026 (UN News)   Gloria Steinem, the journalist and women's rights campaigner who became one of the most influential voices of the feminist movement, has died at the age of 92. In an announcement, her family said she had passed away on Wednesday at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her.   UN News revisits a powerful moment from Ms. Steinem's appearance at UN Headquarters in New York in 2016, when she took her message about violence against women to the global stage.   In her landmark speech ten years ago, the pioneering activist warned that violence against women is inseparable from questions of peace, security and democracy.   “The single most important element or determinant of whether a country is violent within itself or whether it will be willing to use military violence against another country is not poverty, not access to natural resources, not religion or even degree of democracy. It’s violence towards females.” ‘This is a world issue’.   Ms. Steinem pointed to the many forms violence against women can take, from sexual violence in war – to trafficking, female genital mutilation (FGM) and violence in the home.   She also spoke about the consequences of cultures where sons are prioritised over daughters, and the resulting long-term impact on societies.   “This is not a women’s issue… This is not a children’s issue. This is a world’s issue.”   Violence against women remains a pervasive global public health and human rights concern. According to the latest data from the gender equality agency UN Women, an estimated 840 million women – almost one in three – have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life.   Ending violence against women and girls is central to the global effort to achieve gender equality. For Ms. Steinem, the treatment of women offered a revealing measure of the societies in which they lived.   “The easiest way to figure out how democratic and peaceful any group is, is to see: are there women there and how are they being treated?”   Ms. Steinem became one of the most recognizable voices of the feminist movement in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. She helped highlight issues including reproductive rights, discrimination, political representation and violence against women – bringing them into the mainstream. She was also a co-founder of Ms. magazine and worked with generations of activists seeking greater equality.   Underlining that “each of us has some part of the knowledge, the solution, the insight, the understanding that will contribute to the whole”, she said that listening was key.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168272 http://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/facts-and-figures/facts-and-figures-ending-violence-against-women http://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/what-is-feminism http://equalitynow.org/news/news-and-insights/commemorating-and-celebrating-gloria-steinem-the-life-and-legacy-of-a-feminist-trailblazer/ http://www.ms.now/opinion/gloria-steinem-death-feminism-living-room-talking-circles http://womensmediacenter.com/about/press/press-releases/womens-media-center-mourns-passing-of-gloria-steinem-wmc-co-founder-journalist-author-activist-feminist-organizer-friend http://now.org/media-center/press-release/our-hero/ http://www.thenation.com/article/activism/gloria-steinem-feminism http://msmagazine.com/author/gloriasteinem http://www.gloriasteinem.com/about http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/convening-report-nairobi Visit the related web page
	Still Just a Girl. What it takes to end child marriage by Plan International   July 2026   Every three seconds, somewhere in the world, a girl under 18 is married. This reality touches the lives of 12 million girls each year, robbing them of their childhood, education and the chance to shape their own future.   Girls who marry before their 18th birthday are more likely to drop out of school, experience intimate partner violence and become trapped in a lifetime of poverty. They are also at higher risk of health complications from pregnancy and childbirth, a leading cause of death among adolescent girls.   Globally, the rate of child, early, and forced marriages and unions (CEFMU) has declined in the past decade, but progress has been uneven and too slow to meet sustainable development goals by 2030.   At the current pace, it will take 300 years to eliminate this harmful practice.   Three regions bear the greatest burden. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of child marriage in the world, affecting one in three girls. South Asia still has the highest number of child brides due to its larger population, despite making the most progress in reducing child marriage. In Latin America and the Caribbean, progress has stalled for decades and informal unions are common, falling under the radar of legal frameworks against child marriage.   http://plan-international.org/publications/still-just-a-girl/ http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/en/ Visit the related web page
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