UN WOMEN
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
In doing so, UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organisation’s goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact.
UN Women will merge and build on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system which focus exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:
1. Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW);
2. International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW);
3. Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI); and
4. United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
UN Women will be governed by a new Chief Executive Board to provide intergovernmental, policy and operational support, and report annually to the General Assembly on programs and activities. UN Women will be headed by an Under-Secretary General, former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, and will draw from the regular budget approved by the General Assembly.
Meeting the Needs of the World’s Women
Over many decades, the UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality, including through landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth.
Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes.
For many years, the UN has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally, including inadequate funding and no single recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues.
UN Women was created to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels.
The main roles of UN Women are:
To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms;
To help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it and to forge effective partnerships with civil society; and
To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.
UN Women's priority areas include:
1. Expanding women’s voice, leadership and participation, working with partners to close the gaps in women’s leadership and participation in different sectors and to demonstrate the benefits of such leadership for society as a whole;
2. Ending violence against women by enabling states to set up the mechanisms needed to formulate and enforce laws, policies and services that protect women and girls, promote the involvement of men and boys, and prevent violence;
3. Strengthening implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, through women’s full participation in conflict resolution and peace processes, gender responsive early warning, protection from sexual violence and redress for its survivors in accordance with UN resolutions;
4. Enhancing women’s economic empowerment is particularly important in the context of global economic and environmental crises. UN Women will work with governments and multilateral partners to ensure the full realization of women’s economic security and rights, including to productive assets and full social protection;
5. Making gender equality priorities central to national, local and sectoral planning and budgeting: working with partners, UN Women will support national capacities in evidence-based planning, budgeting and statistics.
Executive Board
An Executive Board was mandated to the new organisation in the July 2nd Resolution to govern and advise UN Women which consists of 41 countries.
The board is broken down into a small board for quick decisions and a larger board to ensure geographical representation.
Seats for the Executive Board are allocated accordingly and the following countries have recently been elected to serve on the Board for two and three year terms:
- Africa (10) – Libya, DRC, Congo, Lesotho, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania, Angola
- Asia (10) – Timor Leste, Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, India, Kazakhstan, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea
- Eastern Europe (4) – Estonia, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine
- Latin America (6) – El Salvador, Grenada, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic
- Western Europe and other states (5) – Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark, France, Sweden
- Contributing countries (6 – serving 3 year terms) – United States, Spain, Norway, United Kingdom (4 highest contributors) Saudi Arabia and Mexico (2 highest contributing least developed countries)
The election of the first Bureau of the Executive Board took place at the resumed Organisational Session of the Executive Board on 22 December 2010. The following Board members will serve as the Bureau during 2011.
To find out more about UN Women internationally, visit www.unwomen.org.
Gender Equality Architecture Reform
There has been much discussion about the need for the United Nations to become a more coordinated and efficient system of delivery for the neediest and poorest in the world.
In 2006 the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel for the UN System-Wide Coherence released its “Delivering as One” Report which recommended piloting the idea of “One Program”, “One Budgetary Framework”, “One Leader” and “One Office”. An important part of the re-assessment of the way in which the UN coordinated its gender entities. This is evident in a call for gender to be shown to be a priority for the UN by introducing a separate entity for gender within the UN.
The call for action for this new entity has been driven by women’s groups around the world and has resulted in the establishment of the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign. The result of this campaign is the new gender entity entitled “UN Women”.
UNIFEM
UNIFEM was the United Nations Development Fund for Women, dedicated to advancing women’s rights and achieving gender equality.
It provided financial and technical assistance to innovative programs and strategies that fostered women's empowerment. UNIFEM worked on the premise that it is the fundamental right of every woman to live a life free from discrimination and violence, and that gender equality is essential to achieving development and to building just societies.
Established in 1976, UNIFEM touched the lives of women and girls around the world. UNIFEM maintained strong ties to both women’s organisations and governments, linking them with the UN system to join national and international political action, and to create momentum for change.
UNIFEM focused its activities on one overarching goal: to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality. In support of this goal, UNIFEM worked in the following thematic areas:
Enhancing women’s economic security and rights;
Ending violence against women;
Reducing the prevalence of HIV and AIDS among women and girls; and
Advancing gender justice in democratic governance in stable and fragile states.
Active in all regions and at different levels, UNIFEM worked with countries to formulate and implement laws and policies to eliminate discrimination and promote gender equality in such areas as land and inheritance rights, decent work for women, and ending violence against women. UNIFEM also aimed to transform institutions to make them more accountable to women, to strengthen the capacity and voice of women’s rights advocates, and to change harmful and discriminatory practices in society.
Two international agreements framed UNIFEM’s work: the Beijing Platform for Action resulting from the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), known as “the Women's Bill of Rights”. The spirit of these agreements has been affirmed by the Millennium Declaration and the eight Millennium Development Goals for 2015, combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and gender inequality, and building partnerships for development. In addition, UN Security Council resolutions 1325 on women, peace and security, and 1820 on sexual violence in conflict are crucial references for UNIFEM’s work in support of women in conflict and post-conflict situations.
UN Women Frequently Asked Questions