UN Women

IWD 2014- Parade, official launch, and UN Women stall (14229457541)

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women, speaking at Girl Summit 2014 (14538232760)

Sustainable Development Goal 05GenderEquality

UN Women, officially known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, is a United Nations entity dedicated to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. Established in July 2010, UN Women was created by the United Nations General Assembly to accelerate progress in meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide. The formation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, consolidating resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused on gender equality and women's empowerment: the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Mission and Goals

The primary mission of UN Women is to advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls across the globe. This mission is pursued through several key goals:

• To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), in their formulation of policies, global standards, and norms.
• To help Member States implement these standards by providing suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
• To lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality, as well as promote accountability, including through regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

Structure and Funding

UN Women is headquartered in New York City, with regional offices and country offices worldwide. It is governed by a multi-tiered governance structure, which includes an Executive Board that provides intergovernmental support and oversight to the entity. Funding for UN Women comes from voluntary contributions from UN member states, private sector partners, and other donor communities.

Programs and Initiatives

UN Women works on several fronts to achieve its mission, including:

• Leadership and political participation
• Economic empowerment
• Ending violence against women
• Humanitarian action
• Peace and security
• Governance and national planning

Among its many initiatives, UN Women supports the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 5, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.

Challenges and Criticisms

Despite its achievements, UN Women faces challenges, including limited funding and resources compared to the scale of global gender inequality. Criticisms have also been raised about its effectiveness and the political will of member states to implement changes.

See Also

• Gender Equality
• Empowerment of Women
• Commission on the Status of Women
• Sustainable Development Goals