At the 2005 World Summit, Member States resolved to take measures to promote gender equality, eliminate pervasive gender discrimination and promote the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres. As part of this commitment, the World Summit called on the Secretary-General and all decision-making bodies to take further steps in mainstreaming a gender perspective in United Nations policies and decisions.
Please note: only publishing dates after March 2013 may be considered reliable.
Pages tagged with Gender equality and the empowerment of women
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Promoting gender mainstreaming; Fostering inter-agency collaboration in knowledge management and knowledge sharing; United Nations System Staff College.
Staff security and safety; Enhancing governance and accountability; Enhancing financial resources management; Enhancing human resources management; Coordinating United Nations system response to the threat of avian influenza; Inter-agency collaboration in information and communication technology.
The United Nations system is unique in the range and coverage of its structures and mandates and in the diversity of the means of action that are at its disposal. These characteristics can be a unique source of strength in addressing the increasingly complex and interrelated challenges that the international community is facing.
The issue of gender equality and gender mainstreaming was considered by all executive heads as an area in which insufficient progress had been made and further change was required. To that end, the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women presented the Board at its fall 2006 session with a proposed system-wide policy on gender equality and a strategy on gender mainstreaming.
During the reporting period, the High Level Committee on Programmes and the High-level Committee on Management continued the innovative practice of joint meetings that they had begun in 2006 in order to address cross-cutting issues from both a programme and a management perspective. Those meetings were intended to address major emerging issues relevant to the work of both committees that were of importance across the work of the United Nations system.
The Board was informed of the UNite to end violence against women campaign, which had been launched by the Secretary-General on 25 February 2008 with the overall objective of increasing public awareness, political will and resources for preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. The campaign provided a common framework for the United Nations system and its partners to address the scourge of violence at the global, regional and national levels.
During 2010/11, the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) intensified its efforts to align the strengths and expertise of its member organizations to respond to the mandates of Member States in a coordinated and effective manner. The adoption by the General Assembly of its resolution 64/289 has been an important directive for the United Nations system in further strengthening the coherence of its system-wide efforts, as detailed in the present report.
The entities of the United Nations system individually and collectively made significant progress towards mainstreaming gender equality and the empowerment of women into the normative and operational work of the United Nations. In response to Economic and Social Council agreed conclusions 1997/2, CEB endorsed in October 2006 the United Nations system policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women as a means to accelerate gender mainstreaming within the policies and programmes of the United Nations system.
CEB addressed the issue of mainstreaming cross-cutting issues into the work of its member organizations by developing concrete tools, instruments and processes with regard to gender mainstreaming, human rights and disaster risk reduction, in support of intergovernmental decisions calling for coordinated system-wide actions in those areas.
Strengthening United Nations system support for sustainable development; Accelerating the mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues into the work of United Nations system organizations; Strengthening United Nations coordination for sustainable development challenges ahead.
In response to General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of United Nations operational activities for development of the United Nations system, the United Nations Development Group placed the highest priority on ensuring coherent implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review across the system with a firm focus on high-impact areas.
In response to General Assembly resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of United Nations operational activities for development of the United Nations system, the United Nations Development Group placed the highest priority on ensuring coherent implementation of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review across the system with a firm focus on high-impact areas.
The UN System-Wide Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women was endorsed by the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) in October 2006, as a means of furthering the goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment within the policies and programmes of the UN system, and implementing the ECOSOC agreed conclusions 1997/2.1.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. She was sworn into office on 19 August 2013 and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this position, having devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality and social justice. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka has worked in government and civil society, and with the private sector, and was actively involved in the struggle to end apartheid in her home country of South Africa.
Enhanced cross-sectoral collaboration holds much promise in mainstreaming a number of crosscutting issues, such as HIV/AIDS, gender and human rights. One notable example of crosssectoral collaboration among organizations of the UN system in Southern Africa is the Regional Inter-agency Coordination and Support Office (RIASCO), a platform established for innovative programming on food security, HIV/AIDS and the humanitarian crisis.
The Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) is a system-wide network of Gender Focal Points which promotes gender equality and empowerment of women throughout the system.
World Conference of the International Women's Year: Mexico City (19 June to 2 July 1975)
The first world conference on the status of women was convened in Mexico City to coincide with the 1975 International Women's Year, observed to remind the international community that discrimination against women continued to be a persistent problem in much of the world.
World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace: Copenhagen (14 to 30 July 1980)
World Conference to review and appraise the achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace:Nairobi (15 to 26 July 1985)
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted unanimously at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (4-15 September 1995) held in Beijing, China, by representatives from 189 countries.
Four world conferences on women convened by the United Nations in the past quarter of a century have been instrumental in elevating the cause of gender equality to the very centre of the global agenda. The conferences have united the international community behind a set of common objectives with an effective plan of action for the advancement of women everywhere, in all spheres of public and private life.
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 Gender Community of Practice includes policies and practices of UN system organizations to raise the level of awareness of the gender issues.
The UN System-Wide Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women was endorsed by the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) in October 2006, as a means of furthering the goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment within the policies and programmes of the UN system, and implementing the ECOSOC agreed conclusions 1997/2.
The High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) fosters coherence, cooperation and coordination on policy and programme dimensions of strategic issues for the UN system.