Katalin Bogyay, the ambassador of Hungary to the UN, about to cast her secret ballots for the elections in the General Assembly Hall, June 17, 2020. The process required new procedures amid the pandemic, but it went well by all accounts. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
The author's June 10 blog post about the downsides of trans rights activism — including the erosion of the legal definition of sex and its replacement with gender — has been met with outrage by trans activists and with joy by those seeking open dialogue.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, at UN headquarters after King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. With them is Ralph Bunche, a UN official who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Bunche, an American, marched with the Kings in civil rights protests in Alabama in 1965. YUTAKA NAGATA/UN PHOTO
The Women’s March, 2017, above. A new campaign led by women in the United States with global experience are advocating that a feminist foreign policy be instituted in all branches of the federal government, regardless of national politics. JOHN JACK/CREATIVE COMMONS
Latin American women have always suffered from an epidemic of violence, but Covid-19 has brought hope that new protections could help stem that tide. Women performing “A Rapist in Your Path,” in Mexico City, a feminist anthem that originated in Chile. CREATIVE COMMONS
Billions of people have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the unprecedented nature of the economic and health crisis could quickly turn into a housing crisis, the author writes. Many advocacy groups and others are proposing ways to avert such a disaster as well as to help people without a home. JOHN PENNEY
The head of the UN Environment Program, Inger Andersen, at the agency’s Champions of the Earth Awards, Sept. 26, 2019, in Cipriani, New York City. With the pandemic now upending agendas, Andersen hopes something positive will emerge eventually, such as “keeping wildlife wild,” she said. UNEP
Reports of domestic violence are rising as Covid-19 races across the planet and people are ordered to stay home. But as UN Secretary-General Guterres said on April 5: “For many women and girls, the threat looms largest where they should be safest. In their homes.” Like many countries, Spain, above, is in lockdown mode. JOHN PENNEY
UN Women’s executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka, speaking at the Commission on the Status of Women’s annual meeting in March 2020, at UN headquarters. The conference had been cut to a single day from 11, as the Covid-19 virus began racing from China to the rest of the world. Now, the Generation Equality Forum is postponed until 2021. RYAN BROWN/UN WOMEN
UN Women is postponing two long-planned international meetings designed to give civil society groups a leading role in advancing gender rights 25 years after a landmark 1995 Beijing conference on women.
Certain factors contributing to gender imbalances in some populations have resulted in “missing girls,” like in Vietnam, above, and “disappearing men,” like in Russia. The Covid-19 pandemic will have enduring effects on the imbalances as well.
Normally, the numbers of males and females in a human population are about the same across all such populations. However, pregnancy interventions by couples and unhealthy lifestyles among young men have produced gender imbalances, giving rise to “missing girls” in some populations and “disappearing men” in others.
