Equality Cafe: Media & Legal edition ahead of International Women’s Day 2026

Theme: Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls

Date of event: 9 March 2026
Time: 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM (EAT)
Organizers: UN Women and UNHCR 

Nairobi, Kenya 5 March 2026, As the world prepares to mark International Women’s Day 2026 under the global theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls,”, UN Women and UNHCR will convene a Media & Legal Café in Nairobi on 9 March 2026—a pivotal dialogue space bringing together journalists, legal actors, civil society, youth groups, and refugee-led organizations to spotlight women’s access to justice in the East and Southern Africa region.

This engagement comes on the eve of the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), which will take place from 9–20 March 2026 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. CSW70 will focus on the priority theme: ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including dismantling discriminatory laws and structural barriers. 

Despite decades of advocacy, no country in the world has closed the legal gaps between women and men—a fact underscored by UN Women’s global analysis. Globally, women hold only 64% of the legal rights held by men, and at the current rate of progress, it will take an estimated 286 years to close legal protection gaps. 

The Media & Legal Café will contextualize these global trends within the East and Southern Africa region, where conflict, digital harms, shrinking civic space, and discriminatory norms continue to undermine women’s access to justice. It seeks to transform rights into lived equality by strengthening accountability, amplifying survivor voices, and supporting justice actors to eliminate impunity.

The Café will convene media and legal stakeholders to:

• Strengthen awareness and advocacy on barriers that women and girls face in accessing justice, including survivors of violence, refugees, and displaced women. 
• Amplify lived experiences, featuring justice champions whose personal stories offer insight into systemic gaps and opportunities for reform. 
• Promote responsible media reporting and collaborative action between journalists and legal practitioners to foster accountability and survivor-centered justice.

Event Highlights

The Café will feature:

• Opening and closing remarks by senior leadership from UN Women and UNHCR. 
• A presentation on technology-facilitated gender-based violence and the justice processes involved (UNODC). 
• A personal testimony by justice advocate Josina Z. Machel, speaking on her long-standing pursuit of justice after surviving gender-based violence. 
• An expert panel including: 
  • Faith Adhiambo, immediate former President of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK),
  • Ms. Mammy Masime, Congolese refugee and expert on refugee women’s rights,
  • Equality Now specialist on access to justice. 
• Media networking, Q&A, and a facilitated sharing session with journalists from across the region.

The Café complements UN Women’s global call for rights that are enforced, justice that is accessible, and action that is bold. According to UN Women, IWD 2026 and CSW70 mark a generational moment to reverse rollback, strengthen legal protections, and reinforce global commitments to gender equality. 

Media Opportunities

Journalists will have the opportunity to:

• Engage directly with justice advocates and survivors
• Access regional data and insights on women’s rights and justice
• Conduct interviews with panelists, UN Women and UNHCR leadership

RSVP & Contact

Media representatives are invited to register their attendance by contacting:

UN Women: [ Click to reveal ] 

UNHCR: [ Click to reveal ]