2024 Empey Lecture: Re-imagining solutions for gender equality in a time of crisis

Gender equality remains an urgent and an under-actioned global priority, yet there is a sense of intensified polarization on gender equality around the world and within multilateral spaces. Tensions between human rights and development are at the center of this friction. Ahead of Beijing+30 in 2025, how do we foster a global movement for urgent action and accountability for gender equality without compromising on the systemic changes that are needed to guarantee human rights for all women and girls in all their diversity? How do we continue to prioritize gender equality during crises, including the climate crisis and conflicts? In this instalment of the annual Empey Lecture, Jemimah Njuki will explore the tensions using examples from work at UN Women, and how we can re-imagine a win-win situation for gender equality and for the world while galvanizing global action.

Register

Our guest speaker

Jemimah Njuki is the Chief of the Economic Empowerment section at UN Women where she leads work on sustainable development, women in the world of work, transforming care systems and sustainable finance. She is a recognized leader on gender equality and women’s empowerment, having directed global initiatives promoting women’s economic empowerment. Jemimah previously worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as the Director for Africa, where she worked with African governments and key stakeholders to develop evidence for transformative policy change.

She led the UN Food Systems Summit’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Lever of Change and was instrumental in establishing the Coalition to Make Food Systems Work for Women and Girls, and the Global Food 5050 initiative. She has led other global initiatives on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment including International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GRoW), the Women in Agriculture programme at CARE USA, and the Poverty, Gender, and Impact programme at the International Livestock Research Institute. She has been named among the top 100 gender and policy experts.

Jemimah holds a PhD in Development Studies and has published widely on gender equality and women’s empowerment.