The machine operator is not what one might expect: a strapping young man or seasoned construction worker. Instead, Judette Leurbours, a single mother of four, is one of the women driving the rubble removal progress in Nazon.
Joanna Stavropoulos
"Most of the work in the fields is in women's hands," says rural extension officer Claudia Nhatembe, during a break from the sweet potato fields on the rich soils of IIAM's Umbeluzi Agricultural Station, some 30 kilometers outside the capital, Maputo. "It's hard work—plowing, sowing, and harvesting. For men, it's mostly handling the plantation's irrigation systems."
Cristiana Pereira
This should not be a question. Of course, women—especially since we make up 50 percent of the world's population! Every day we read or hear about how girls and women are excluded or absent from places like the secondary school classroom or the boardroom, and even from the World Economic Summit at Davos—where only 16 percent of participants had a second X chromosome.
Mary Ellen Duke
The exchange of sex for money remains a major driver of the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout Southeast Asia, but the karaoke bars, massage parlors, beer gardens, and other settings where these transactions are brokered remain some of the most viable employment venues for vulnerable women.
Staff
Yemen is one of 20 "hot spot" countries for child marriage, a conservative Muslim nation where a seventh of all girls are married by age 14 and nearly half by age 17. In rural districts, girls as young as 9 are often betrothed. Most "hot spot" countries are clustered in central Africa, with other pockets in Southeast Asia and Central America.
Derek Lee
At age 12, Loko, whose last name is withheld for privacy reasons, was forced to marry a man 50 years her senior. As with many child marriages in her home country of Ethiopia, it was a family member who made the decision that derailed her childhood. The 10th of 11 children, she was sold off by her older brother after their father died. Marriage brought a destitute life—her husband was too old to work, and they often went hungry.
Elisa Walton
Donald Steinberg is the deputy administrator for USAID. He previously served as deputy president of the International Crisis Group. He is also a former member of the U.N. Civil Society Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security, a former board member of the Women's Refugee Commission, and also previously served on the advisory panel to the executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women. He has written extensively on issues related to women in conflict and gender empowerment, and has been a strong advocate for gender issues throughout his career.
Staff
Three years ago, USAID decided to do something about the challenges would-be entrepreneurs like Yohannes face by partially sharing loan risk with a bank in Ethiopia. With a USAID guarantee, the bank agreed to start lending to women seeking loans for small- and medium-size enterprises, opening the door to credit for Yohannes and other female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia.
Stephanie Grosser
USAID is playing a central role as the United States crafts a strategy to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which lays out a broad set of approaches designed to empower women in conflict-affected nations.
