United Nations Radio

More than 200,000 people have signed on to a website campaign to stop violence against women. The internet-based advocacy campaign is organized by the UN Development Fund for Women, known as UNIFEM. Academy-Award winning actress Nicole Kidman is the spokesperson for the campaign, which hopes to garner 10 million signatures from people around the world.

UNCTAD's New Women in Business Award

In 2000, Sana Zaal Burgan, a woman from Jordan, came up with a great idea. She had earned her degree in pharmacy in 1995 from Jordan University and had started working for a local company. But something was missing. She felt that with her skills and ambition, she had much more to offer to society and to life.

Large-scale biofuel production may increase marginalization of women

Large scale plantations for the production of liquid biofuels like bioethanol and biodiesel, in developing countries could not only exacerbate the marginalization of women in rural areas, but also threatens their livelihoods, says a new study from FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The study notes that production of such liquid biofuels requires use of resources that women traditionally have little access to - resources like land, water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. I spoke to co-author of the study, Yianna Lambrou, who says that while biofuel production can offer opportunities for farmers, they will only trickle down to the farm level if pro-poor policies are put in place to empower women.

Producer: Geraldine Adams

(duration: 14'00")