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 Organization’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. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:
The main roles of UN Women are:
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. Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the UN Charter, UN Women, among other issues, works for the:
Increased ability of CSOs to advocate for law reform through improved tools and methods for legal reviews of national laws to ensure compliance in CEDAW, and through enhanced understanding of issues faced by disadvantaged groups of women.
Strengthened understanding of WHR norms and standards, and increased use of international instruments such as CEDAW and the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW Convention (OP-CEDAW) among legal professionals, law makers and justice sector actors, which resulted in an expanded regional pool of WHR experts.
Improved understanding of inter-agency coordinated implementation and monitoring on CEDAW by parliamentary, judiciary and executive arms of governments at national and subnational levels in several counters.