The World Today: April & May 2015: Empowering the 49 per cent

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Women comprise just under half the world’s population and great strides have been made in advancing their rights. Yet their participation in the workforce is actually falling and their earning potential is still restricted. And this is not just a Third World problem: the West is also guilty. Enabling women to work benefits everyone

Hillary Clinton’s envoy to the world’s Islamic communities talks about the identity crisis among Muslim youth that Islamic State is exploiting through Sheikh Google

Denmark may have a female prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, but the percentage of women on company boards is still only 19 per cent. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The Danes take equality seriously but without Norwegian-style quotas for company boards, men still hog the top spots

The low-cost safe cotton sanitary towels which were developed for use in rural areas. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The stigma around menstruation puts India’s adolescents at risk

A woman smokes a hookah in Shiraz. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Hopes of improving the lot of women in Iran are being dashed

Agnes Binagwaho, Rwanda’s minister of health, one of nine female cabinet members. Photo:AFP/Getty Images

Equality is championed in Rwanda but real influence belongs to the president

In the words of Hillary Clinton, ‘the biggest piece of unfinished business in the 21st century is full rights and opportunities for women and girls.’

Articles

A Ukrainian soldier in an armoured vehicle near the city of Artemivsk. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Sending guns to Kyiv will only escalate the conflict

The G20 needs to put gender equality at the heart of its agenda. Correcting the stark imbalances in economic opportunities for women and bringing more women into the labour force should be central to meeting its economic objectives. To this end Chatham House has been promoting the creation of the W20 as the official engagement group for gender equality.