4 March 2009: The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) organized a press conference with high-ranking African women who are attending the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW53), at UN Headquarters in New York, US. The panel called for gender-specific responses, including plans and programmes to address the impacts of the financial, food and climate change crises.

Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice-President of Gambia, noted that gender inequality has amplified the impact of the crises on African women, who are dependent on remittances, work at or own small business, and make up 60% of the continent’s small farmers. Njie-Saidy highlighted that African countries, which are responsible for only 2% of global greenhouse emissions, are suffering the impacts of climate change in their agricultural sector, with frequent droughts and floods. [UN Press Release] [ECA Press release]