UN WOMEN – MARKING THE WAY TO GENDER EQUALITY

On July 2 of the current year, UN Women (www.unwomen.org) will mark its seventh anniversary. Although there have been previous UN groups that focused on so-called “women’s issues” dating back 40 years, it is worth noting that it took until a decade into the 21^st century for gender equality and empowerment to rise to the level of a comprehensive worldwide program of action. But...better late than never.

Best known as UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women first became operational in January of 2011, following its formation in July of the year before. Previously, there were a number of departments throughout the UN bureaucracy that were charged with catering to women’s survival, development and empowerment needs, but only within the context of unrelated programs.

In a 2006 report on the state of women worldwide, the office of the UN Secretary-General resolved that, in effect, less wasn’t more, and that the multiple UN systems already in place with the goal of contributing to gender equality and the empowerment of women should continue to carry out their work, but that a new overarching entity should be created, whose job it would be to sharpen and underscore the focus and impact of gender equality activities throughout the UN as a whole. The Secretary-General’s report estimated that the new entity would require a half-billion-dollar annual budget in the initial stages between start-up costs and requests for funding at a local country-level.

But it would take another four years of negotiations among UN member states and other stakeholders before a draft resolution could be drawn up and presented to the UN General Assembly. Resolution No. 64/286 was finally passed with unanimous support on July 2, 2010, with UN Women being formed through the merging of the UN’s Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (founded in 1976), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI, in operation since 1997), and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976). Like UNIFEM before it, UN Women became, in turn, a member of the United Nations Development Group.

Although originally begun in 1976 as a “voluntary fund” to support the “United Nations Decade for Women”, UNIFEM garnered a somewhat expanded mandate in 1985, and had been working for four decades with women’s organizations in countries around the world in the development of programs to support gender equality and the empowerment of women. But it wasn’t until 20 years in, during the 1990s, that it achieved the backing to develop gender-responsive budgets for its extensive work in regions including southern and eastern Africa, southern and southeastern Asia, Central America and the Andean region.

When the resolution creating UN Women was finally passed, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked members states for what he called “this major step forward for the world's women and girls,” adding that “UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe.”

UN Women’s mandate is an ambitious one. Besides overseeing the other United Nations gender equality and advancement agencies mentioned, it is also charged with leading, coordinating and promoting the UN’s work and accountability in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Its ultimate goal is to enhance rather than replace other specific gender-related efforts within the United Nations organization including those of UNICEF, the UN Development Program and the UN Population Fund.

Overlapping areas of interest that fall under UN Women’s management and scrutiny for the advancement of women include, among others, leadership and political participation, economic empowerment, measures to end violence against women, humanitarian actions, peace and security, national planning and governance, sustainable development and HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment.

UN Women makes use of the social networks in its outreach, but goes far beyond, taking such direct action as creating a database that examines national constitutions from a feminist viewpoint, mapping rules and principles that deny the rights of women and girls, as well as those that protect women’s rights worldwide. The idea is for this database to provide a tool to human and women’s rights activists worldwide, in order to help them form a clear view of areas in which their help is required and to create plans of action designed to spark and support positive change.

In addition, UN Women works directly to support intergovernmental bodies in creating policies that adhere to international standards and norms for the protection, and advancement of women and girls. The agency also helps member states implement such standards and develop monitoring systems to track bilateral accountability.

Clearly, despite the long way women have come worldwide since the 20^th century, on a global scale, their advancement, empowerment and quest for equality is still in the dawning stages even in the world’s most advanced countries. And the founding of UN Women seven years ago is a landmark on that road, ensuring that something is being done at a worldwide level to guarantee that the world’s nations keep advancing toward the ultimate goal of equal rights and opportunities for all.