Women

Led by Iya Akilah and Kemba Jaramogi, the women of Fondes Amandes blend tradition and science to restore forests, fight fires, and revive communal practices – challenging climate colonialism with grassroots power.

El Salvador’s commitment to UN Resolution 1325 faces a crossroads: Past progress is now at risk as President Bukele’s growing militarization threatens women’s rights and equality, reviving echoes of the country’s war-torn past.

Ukrainian women have become indispensable in national defense and resilience, reshaping gender norms and taking on critical roles. Without direct support for local women’s groups, their impact risks being undermined by structural exclusion.

In an age marked by rising authoritarianism and anti-gender backlash, feminist peace in the Western Balkans stands as both an act of resistance and a re-imagining of security itself. The Women, Peace and Security Agenda needs to be reviewed.

At CSW69, calls to fund feminist futures grew stronger amid economic injustice, fragmented advocacy, and a political declaration dodging anti-rights backlash - echoed not in plenary halls, but in sidelines, courtrooms, and coalitions demanding more.

We must band together to defend feminism, gender equality and democracy, demands Lisa Paus, Member of the German Bundestag and Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

In her laudatory speech, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel honours the different lives of the laureates and what unites them: their commitment, their convictions and their dedication to women's rights in Belarus.

Acceptance speech. Belarus is a country where women took to the streets with flowers and were thrown into prison vans. By Darya Afanasyeva

Irina Alkhovka pays tribute to earlier generations of women, such as her former university professor and founder of this award, Anne Klein. She says their resilience and courage serve as a beacon for all of us, in every era.

It is impossible to imagine a just, sustainable, and diverse future that does not include women, and especially rural women, as they are the ones leading the transformation of the agrifood system in Latin America. 

The number of farmers in Poland is declining, but fortunately there is one group in rural areas that is trying to build farms based on new principles. These are young women who embody the ideas of agroecology: diversification of production, rural cooperation and care for the environment. 

Halida Uzunović, a Bosnian war survivor, talks about her experiences during the Bosnian war, especially the harrowing events in Foča that became a byword for brutal ethnic cleansing. The former head of the Foča War Victims Association also reflects on her commitment to breaking the silence about these atrocities and to advocating for truth and justice for the survivors and victims, despite their ongoing social stigmatisation and the denial by some political actors that war crimes occurred.

I am convinced that we also need gender mainstreaming in peace and security policy! Greeting from the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Lisa Paus, MP

In her acceptance speech Joumana Seif talks about the long road necessary to prosecute the crimes committed by the Syrian regime, to punish the perpetrators and also about the injustices suffered by women and how she is trying to support them in Germany.

With her work the lawyer Joumana Seif has played a critical role in having sexualised violence recognised as an offence that constitutes a crime against humanity, says Dr. Imme Scholz, head of the Anne Klein Women's Award jury.

Russia is constantly attacking civilian targets in Ukraine, including residential buildings, factories, educational and health facilities.

Despite the high number of rapes, the judicial progress that has been made, and the judgements passed by international, national and local courts, most of the affected women are still far from receiving compensation, reparations, or recognition as a victim.

Feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues are almost as diverse as the communities themselves, yet both movements are discriminated against, marginalized, often attacked, and violated, simply because of their non-conformity to conventional and hegemonic notions of gender.

Increase in domestic violence, lay-offs, care responsibilities, restrictions on domestic and international movement, economic insecurities, psychological burdens - these are just a few of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in Asia in the last two years. The gendered nature of COVID-19 impacts is obvious and has sparked large feminist responses in the region.

Feminist leadership requires an active experience of meaningful engagement - a deliberate effort to create the deeper human connections of trust, inspiration, empathy and solidarity. In an age of extreme uncertainty, these connections cannot be an after-thought.