but he does have a corruption question mark over it doesn't look good for the image to get a ticket that's not going to do anywhere you know knowing that before you say the rich you get why there's a lot of disillusionment with the u.n. across the globe to survive it is called for and then breaks doesn't build confidence or great skill to join me mad the front of my guests from around the world take the hot seat and we debate the week's top stories and think issues here and i'll just if. you can. see. throughout history women have faced many challenges in their fight for equality and does some countries make enormous advancements others have failed and inequality remains deep rooted there have certainly been some powerful women in modern history from margaret thatcher to endure a gandhi santucci and. what legacy have they or are they leaving

behind as women in all parts of the world still suffer violence discrimination and under representation what is the status of global gender equality and help can progress to make. march eighth marks international women's day but is it an occasion to celebrate border protest we find out more as we sit down with the woman in charge of promoting gender equality at the united nations executive director of human women. talks to al jazeera. un women executive director. thank you so much for talking to al-jazeera thank you for having me we're meeting in the middle of women small. and we're coming up on international women's day is this a day to celebrate

a day to protest a day to be an activist what is it. why because even though we've made progress and it's important that we celebrate. their achievements but we also haven't come far enough we have a lot of work that we still need to do so we still need to be activist but also some of the gains that we've had are being eroded so we have to protest and defend and there's massage me and many other hundred full and helpful challenges that women still face and because of that protest is also in order the u.s. . is unveiling a new initiative as we come on international women's day to try to quantify what the status of women and girls worldwide is why is this data initiative

important. it's important to have the data to disaggregate when ever we collect data so that we can see what's happening to boys and girls what's happening to men and women because in that way when we take correctional action we can be more more measured more purposeful and we can take a correctional action that is highly informed not guessing but also does see the theme of international women's day is about equality equality hit equality has to be measured it's about building smart we have to be clear what is it that we have to be building for women a what are the what kind of infrastructure works for women so we date our way able to be a bit more precise in this theme it theme for this year is also about being

innovative is sought in all of these areas data is always important because it helps us. to be accurate does this mean revisiting how our policy is drafted for example physical accommodations for girls who are entering and building the kind of schools so that they can take care of their physical needs and also take care of their intellectual these is it as simple as a recognition of that fact is in some cases it is about revisiting the way we make policies they may in the way we locate and money is treasuries in and government it is about also being able to see how many girls drop out of school at what age do they drop out why do they dropouts if we don't collect the data we will never know if girls actually do stay out of school when they're menstruating and

how many of them stay away and the impact that has on their academic performance if we're unable to provide evidence about this phenomena is sometimes when we raise the importance of sanitation in schools as a critical human rights people don't believe that this is this serious but when you have data being able to show the pattern it means that when you build and you look it builds then you build smart when you innovate you make sure that you provide this services at school and at home so that this is this right which is about dignity as well because senate it is about dignity is respected to n. n. is taken serious is that part of the fundamental definition of feminism recognising the whole person absolutely feminism is about respecting the rights of people of

all sexualities but more than anything else being active in trying to correct. into discrimination it exist this is not that responsibility of women alone this is the expert this is that is one spirit of everyone who believes in equality is saw feminism is not just about and for women feminism is about both men women and all other genders working together to make the situation better for everybody we hear so much about intersectionality the recognition that feminism doesn't come out of one particular cultural economic racial ethnic framework that there are many. is that what you have seen in your work as you were director you were woman director sometimes but i also have to say more and more

policymakers intersection intersectionality it's not always been. like that so it's helpful that more and more activists articulate this very clearly and more police make embracing that because to be a feminist you must care about the whole woman for the full cycle of her life but also the different aspects of the woman's life so you can't be a feminist and be homophobic be a feminist and not care about disability be be a feminist and be indifferent to issues of violence against women you have to care about the whole human being and everything that affects the women you can be a feminist and be a racist you have to be the full package is there a need to tailor. feminism based on the local

culture based on where a patriarchal way of running society has been predominant how do you tailor policy when the patriarchy has been. has really been the fundamental power source patriarchy is bad for everybody saw we need to reach about. the impact and the effects of patriarchy in every society the way in which we fight it in different contexts us obviously can take different forms and shape but the starting point is that we have to be clear violence against a gal and a woman anywhere in the world what ever political system they live in is bad we have to say everywhere discriminating against women and girls in any society denying them the right to education denying them their rights to work is

buried in any society so we must not accept any explanation that suggests that there are some people who have a higher threshold for pain women in particular cultures can tolerate a bit of oppression more than women in other senses when a woman is raped whether she is raped in helsinki or in johannesburg or in bujumbura the peds and the pain is the same and we need to accord them the same descent see and we need to be consent for all the women wherever they are and wherever they are and it's worth pointing out that just this week the inter-party parliamentary union that the percentage of women in national legislatures around the world has gone up by one percent to just about twenty four percent a slow increase but an increase nonetheless doesn't make

a difference when women hold political power i guess it does make a difference but it makes a big difference if their numbers are significant we need a critical mass we have. not reach the critical mass across the world that would ensure that you actually string the pendulum decisively we're going the right's way in in some situations we're going that way in particular because of activism of ordinary people trying to hold their leaders accountable but we need people to vote for women when elections come because the fact that we do not have enough women in positions of authority it is because we do not elect women and sometimes when women make them saves make themselves available to be elected there's a lot of pressure and violence which sometimes discourage women but nevertheless

you still see women in every election in many countries making themselves available to be elected so we also need to encourage society to recognize that if we don't change the look in fear of politics the look and feel of the security institution we will not be able to have in the course of security force an inclusive inclusive parliaments that can look after the interests of everybody. who will be able to address issues from different perspectives if we continue to allow these institutions to be predominately led by men we had to do we are denying ourselves that richness of the contribution that can come from women and i'm not saying that women or women are perfect that they will make the right decision but in the interests of women means that we give us

a chance here of more women that will stand for other women but also we need to engage the majority of the men who are there so that amongst them we can have those that are concerned about broader society is encouraged to stand up into also lead from the front you talk about women putting themselves out there. encountering pushed or in some cases violence. i'm thinking of the saudi women drivers pushing for more equality and a very mundane skill that you and i take and read in. women campaigning for stronger domestic violence laws in russia and finding themselves imprisoned. when it be easier to say oh my gosh i don't want to go to prison i'll just put up with the status quo. can we accept that the truth of the matter is that said to is only change because some people. believe in

a purpose that is bigger than them and they put themselves out there to to make the changes we continue to need people like that in our societies we also need young people is also to be initiated into activism so that they too are able to take a stand and to fight for the rights of their communities and to save their their own future the new yourself you have been a word disloyal or you were just really president of south africa you know what the pressure is and what the responsibility people placed on you when you serve and what was pope was gratifying about you know i think the important thing about making yourself a public representative is to know that you are not there for yourself you are not you're there in order is to serve so you have to gauge your success by the number

of people whose lives are changing because of the work that you do you also need to understand that for that kind of a job is a no one has to thank you it is a thankless job you have to keep on trying even if they are and people who are the cheering you. you also need to know that it is not about self and richmond very important it is a lonely it is a life of sexual highs but it is very gratifying any many of these official posts that we we undertake the institutions actually provide you with enough platform and support. to to live a descent life saw for so much. for people that so much. is is being given much more is expected so that you can serve people we have much less

than what you have in knowing their chair not there for yourself that being a public service is not being a public master actually there to serve always has to be has to be paramount and i think as leaders we really have to lead. by example it is not as difficult as the sometimes make it to be it can be done how important is it to help women such as cory aquino indira gandhi merkel theresa may. running a country what message does that serve to all of society it tells especially girls that this job can be done by someone who looks like me this job can be done by. there is a story i don't know if it's true but it's interesting never the same where boys were asked in germany if they would want to be a head of state and one boy says well now in germany you can be

a head of state only guilds can be heads of state because for the time that seven year old had lived they only knew one person who was a head of state and it was it was a woman saw that begin to shape how he says this role can you imagine how many roles in society where girls never see women or girls in those position and what and how that must shape the way girls a aspire in choose the their careers the diversity and the presence of men and women in positions of authority sends a message to boys and girls that this is for you to we are actually even challenging private sector my kids sing in advertising industry to ensure that we have got a change studio types in marketing and advertising we have companies

that have come together and are partnering with us and we have formed and stereotype alliance and our our focus is to change the way the marketing and advertising industry projects both men and women in the best interest of creating a society where everyone can be a fair amount but isn't that a problem isn't that easy for companies to do with three percent of the biggest u.s. corporations are run by women the women get to middle level professional status but can't seem to get into that upper. shouldn't the pressure be there as well. absolutely. not we have to take and do everything. we have to get them to project to society through their marketing and

advertising we have to engage directly with shareholders with c o's to change their boards one of the complaints that we are pushing forward as young women is fifty fifty representation of men and women incorporate in corporate boards because next year we are going to be twenty five years after the adoption it's going to be twenty five years after that ocean of the beijing platform which is one of the most comprehensive agreement that exist amongst nations for supporting gender equality and the fact that we're still talking about such dismal numbers in the presentation of women means that we actually have to be very direct about interesting that a presentation of women in boards i saw that even the churches now are calling for diversity in board these are really desperate times we only have ten countries in the world with cabinets that fifty fifty representation ten i

mean choosing and putting together a cabinet is the prerogative of a prime minister any president you don't have to go to two to elections about it which is a much more complex activity so surely when you become a president and you have this amount of power it should be possible to consider using their to one power in or voted so that you have to change society by bringing in the strong the extraordinary women of your country to be in leadership and through them begin to change the way society perceive women that too is wonderful. campaigns we need fifty fifty cabinets in many more countries than we have now and we need fifty fifty boards in many countries than we have now but i also have to highlights the fact that we want this change at the top but we also need to look

at change it's the bottom so that we also change things for those women who it may never sit in boards who may never be in cabinet so that is why things like minimum wage is important because it's for those women who are it's the bottom of the pyramid that is way policies that supports the women in the informal sector social protection in order to make sure that women in the informal sector have maternity leave have access to pensions have access to health care services. because for them these are just the basic things that make them leave from one day to the other so we need a bottom up as well as a top down approach what is the future. gender equality and what is human women doing to make that happen this is something out of the box coming here

each year and women needs everybody because we are a catalyst for change we have a mandate given to us by member states to push them to bring about change is one way in which we are using this mandate is to push for the end of all discriminatory laws in every country so rights now we're focusing a specific countries where the laws are devastating to women and engaging with the countries to bring about changes in in those countries i have to say i'm thankful that they're number of countries that are willing to bring about changes but also they are countries where it is actually quite difficult where sometimes we even see the vessel of the gains that made we are also pushing for countries who already have many good laws to implement the good laws because it

takes a lot to pass a law it's a devastating disappointment when the laws are being passed we are also collaborating in partnering with a private sector for private sector to take on the responsibility of addressing the issue of equal pay because more money for women who sell their labor just as everybody else doing the same amount of work is men and then ending up with less money in their pockets that's an injustice so we're engaging directly with the private sector we have lesion which involves member states private sector civil society human rights activists labor unions to call for for this for this change to happen we are also. actively involved in addressing the issue of financial inclusion and the use of technology in order to make sure that we can

bring about services such as. more money to women in every part of the world because rights now two thirds of people in the world have access to two mobile technology and connectivity that's a lot of people but the number of people who are getting better services as a result of connectivity does lots of with more connectivity and we are pushing for that we working with with partners in that regard because with global connectivity for instance you can improve the quality of health you can provide more money is good you can improve access to education you can reduce the number of travelling that people in rural and isolated areas have to. take in order for them to access services we need to make sure that we influence the way

infrastructure is used we need to influence the way innovation direct itself so that it is in innovation that wants to solve problems we have a lot of innovation but we can have more innovation which is about taking pictures of ourselves we need innovation to address poverty we need innovation to address access to energy access to water it is possible the technology exists now we need the will the political will to do it and we need foresight also in the private sector to recognise that it is important to me is in business really because there's a future customers if you get it right for them to get it right for yourself really that will deliver. thank you so much for talking to al-jazeera thing. it allows for heaven s. when applied to coming back again and giving it. to. the

town. and her husband gavin were sleeping when four teenagers broke down the back the teenagers described as being of african appearance a still on the run the full of this happened i wasn't scared out of black people or people of color or. whatever the focus on african gang crime began in march twenty sixth seen when violence broke out at the moon the festival at federation square in the center of melbourne to gird suit african your table coming together and no one there was a fort bragg out of the car by rolling rolling feel or some of it was because the place becoming involved only started choice and they're just people and that crowd

already did in the media to talk a lot of political person. these people commit crime conducing the race whole human gets blamed for the actions of a few. people have to base sides i have to feel saif side there's a lot of perception issues i think that we need to deal with this while. the world's pollinate says are in decline. in this episode. we need entomologists on opposite sides of the planet protecting insects of all sizes crucial to preserving food chains. i've come to the u.k. to see how old industrial sites are being turned into bug reserves in an attempt to reverse this worrying trend. fighting insect to get on on al-jazeera. it is a very important force of information for many people around the world when the old the cameras are gone i'm still here go into areas that nobody else is going to talk

to nobody. and bring that story to the forefront. overflowing the streets of the capital and cities across algeria protests against the ailing president on now the biggest in decades. and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. venezuela still reeling under the west blackout and recently is. the u.s. government is accused of tracking jonathan activists covering the story of asylum seekers on the mexican border.