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For ALL Women and Girls
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In 2025, UN Women, the youngest UN organization, proudly celebrates our 15th year. Today we are a global force, driving change in 109 countries, delivering for 4 billion women and girls, half of humanity. We are a global advocate, a trusted partner, and the United Nation's engine for women's rights and gender equality.
From its founding, UN Women has been different: intersectional, transformative, feminist and global. We are charged to stand for the rights, equality and empowerment of ALL women and girls; to drive meaningful change; and to mobilize and influence everyone – from rural villages to global boardrooms – to join us.
Shaped by UN Member States and women's movements, UN Women embodies the solidarity that the 21st century demands. Lasting partnerships, including with our loyal donors, are at the heart of all our achievements. Amid rapid changes, from backlash to breakthroughs, gender equality is not just what we do. It is who we are.
women and girls in 83 countries have better legal protections of their human rights
organizations in 95 countries improved capacities to serve women
invested in women's civil society organizations fighting for gender equality.
countries expanded civil society participation in policy design and decision-making
countries improved services for survivors of violence against women
more women and girls covered by peace and security plans (since 2021)
Women and girls in crises gained life-saving assistance
Increase in gender data production to measure the SDGs (since 2016)
increase in UN country teams reporting performance on gender equality
UN Women has never been more central in delivering for ALL 4 billion women and girls. In everything that we do, we amplify the voices and strengths of women and girls to break barriers and realize rights.
In politics and the economy, crisis and peace, for generations today and tomorrow – our results in 2024-2025 reached every corner of the world. Achieved with our partners in governments and business, civil society and across the United Nations, these advances added to the already lasting legacy of our first 15 years. Together, we have ignited the fight for a gender equal world.
In Pakistan, police superintendent Pari Gul Tareen shares why woman leaders make a difference.
UN Women and its partners have pushed women's leadership further than ever before. We back women to run and win elected offices, and to champion inclusive policies in public and private leadership. Women-led organizations, among our most important and enduring collaborators, hold decision-makers and whole societies to account, demanding more change, faster, now.
Impact 2024/5: In Jordan, women won over 40% more parliamentary seats and garnered twice the votes of the previous election. A wave of new women leaders in seven county governments in Kenya passed new legislation on the environment and corporate social responsibility and increased investments in women in agriculture. Nine countries in Latin America adopted laws to stop violence against women in politics. A movement of women, young people and human rights defenders in Libya and collaboration with the national election commission and UN country team boosted the registration of women voters by 10% in 60 municipalities.
In public policy, Senegal is revising national legislation to embed gender in all national statistics and better reflect the experiences of nearly 9 million women and girls; a new web platform puts gender statistics in the hands of civil society groups advocating for equality. India devoted its highest-ever share of total government spending to gender equality, approximately USD38 billion. Guatemala doubled public funds for survivors of violence.
UN Women-backed quota systems have reset political power. The number of countries with equal shares of men and women in parliament almost quadrupled, from 7 to 27, including Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Mexico, Moldova and Senegal.
UN Women plants seeds of transformation that make economies grow for women. Our focus is the fundamentals of a fair economic order, such as decent jobs, social protection at every stage of life, shared care responsibilities, digital tools and access to markets. Women in over 70 countries count the gains – in incomes and empowerment. Where women win, entire economies thrive.
Impact 2024/5: Digital wallets helped nearly 12,000 home-based workers in Pakistan increase income by 73%. In Egypt, over 240,000 rural women in community savings groups improved financial management by using an app instead of the traditional tin box. Over 2.2 million women migrant workers in Indonesia stand to gain better information and services through the "Safe Travel" mobile app. State legislation gave women preferential access to public contracts in Nigeria, opening opportunities for over 1 million women-led businesses. Brazil enshrined shared caregiving responsibilities in law; over 37 million working-age women stand to benefit. Viet Nam made pensions more accessible to women in the informal economy.
Tapping private sector power, Iceland issued the world's first sovereign gender bond of €50 million, setting a global precedent for leveraging capital markets to improve services for low-income women. Work-life balance and care policies are among the many improvements for 39 million employees of the 11,000 companies globally that have signed the Women's Empowerment Principles.
Asmaa, an expert car mechanic in Egypt, is working towards her dream of owning her own repair business.
UN Women has pushed care work towards the centre of economic policymaking. It's about time. Care's USD10 trillion annual global contribution, made mostly by women, is larger than the tech industry.
No more killings, no more excuses. The 16 Days campaign takes a global stand against femicide.
UN Women and women's movements – together, we are unstoppable in ending all forms of violence against women and girls. With unflagging advocacy and far-reaching alliances, we've stiffened protections and stood behind tough new laws that make such violence a crime. By changing norms, so people agree that violence is intolerable, not permissible, we prevent it from happening altogether.
Impact 2024/5: Kazakhstan overhauled its criminal code, labour code and education law to bolster protections for 10.3 million women and girls. Combined legal aid and psychosocial services in the State of Palestine assisted over 17,000 women survivors. Across Bolivia, 88 municipalities offered specialized services to over 44,000 survivors with disabilities. Samoa launched a 10-year action plan for governments, communities and civil society to dismantle attitudes and practices that perpetuate violence.
Marshalling its extended partnerships, UN Women banded together with regional and international organizations, civil society, parliamentarians and traditional leaders to preserve a law banning female genital mutilation in The Gambia. Nearly 70,000 women in Malawi have better services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence based on partnerships with women's organizations, political leaders, local authorities and male champions, including through the UN-European Union Spotlight Initiative.
With UN Women's support, 90 countries, home to 3 billion women and girls, have made services responding to violence more available and centred on putting survivors first.
In every crisis, when and where it matters most, UN Women brings women and girls to the heart of humanitarian responses. We continuously invest in women's front-line activism and leadership. From climate disasters to conflict zones, women have the skills and vision for recovery, and the courage to lead and move forward.
Impact 2024/5: In Afghanistan, UN Women has stood its ground -- defending women's rights against erasure. Our commitment to work “by women, for women” has sustained 240 women's organizations in all 34 provinces to deliver services and livelihoods for women and girls. In Ukraine, we assisted over 180,000 women and girls, collaborating with 54 women's organizations in the hardest-hit areas, opening employment options and extending the first reparations for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Life-saving aid in eight Arab States reached over 470,000 women, girls and their families.
Through the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee, UN Women pulls the entire international humanitarian system together to act for women and girls. From Colombia to South Sudan, 100% of humanitarian response plans now have provisions to stop gender-based violence. In 60 countries, national governments, 600-plus women's organizations and 49 United Nations organizations are mitigating gender-driven disaster risks.
Investment in women-led organizations in Ukraine is building resilience, stability – and the future.
UN Women has steered the humanitarian system to engage women and girls not just as beneficiaries but as leaders with rights to claim space, shape solutions and demand accountability. In 19 countries, humanitarian teams routinely seek guidance from local women's organizations and gender experts.
Global evidence makes a compelling case: Women improve the prospects for peace.
From the frontlines of war to the corridors of diplomacy, UN Women links women's movements in the quest for peace. Together, we demand full respect for women's rights and equal leadership. Over and over, women make peace not just about another power play – but a chance to uphold justice, hear all voices and stabilize societies for everyone.
Impact 2024/5: In Sudan, UN Women and the African Union back a forceful coalition of 49 women-led organizations determined to foreground women's demands in peace talks, including justice for rampant gender-based violence. With longstanding support resulting in Colombia having the world's highest share of women peace negotiators, UN Women helped the country broker its first national action plan on women, peace and security. It also advanced a peace agreement goal by increasing women's land ownership. Georgia achieved 82% of its national action plan aims and launched the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors to improve livelihoods and services in conflict-affected localities. Across the Sahel, 103 women's organizations joined forces by forging a regional peacebuilding movement.
UN Women's tireless advocacy has pushed forward global norms, with a steady increase in Security Council resolutions incorporating gender. The Pact for the Future adopted by UN Member States in 2024 endorses a dedicated action on women, peace and security. UN Women deployed 23 gender experts to UN-mandated human rights investigations in 2024. We supported the global Peacebuilding Fund in allocating 43% of its funds to gender-responsive peacebuilding, far surpassing a 30% target.
UN Women has influenced the growth of an entirely new public policy area through national action plans on women, peace and security. Adopted by 112 countries or territories, up from only 32 in 2011, the plans guide steps to realize gender equality as fundamental to peaceful societies.
UN Women is built to persuade and engage, to inspire hope and unrelenting action. We spark movements that push past backlash to change the world. Our connections go deep: women leaders from all generations, governments, businesses, sports heroes and more. We are open to all who are with us for rights, equality and empowerment for 4 billion women and girls.
Impact 2024/5: Mirroring a new wave of fearless, youth-led movements rising across the world, Generation Equality, a global coalition of activists, has delivered nearly 2,000 new or stepped-up policies, 4,400 programmes and 5,700 advocacy actions. Two million HeForShe activists have built global solidarity among 600 million citizens and consumers, racking up achievements such as closing gender pay gaps in governments, sports and businesses. The global Unstereotype Alliance harnesses the persuasive power of 240 advertising firms from five continents. In 2024, they aligned over USD 100 billion in global ads with progressive social norms.
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence global campaign has fired up the next generation of feminists, with record rates of engagement among young women aged 18 to 24 in 2024. In Chile, digital tools have empowered a wave of 3,000 Indigenous women leaders. One of our newest movements, the UN Women AI School in Asia and the Pacific, links changemakers intent on harnessing AI for gender equality.
We are power! And we demand change for ALL women and girls!
As digital technology took off, so did UN Women, the youngest, digitally native UN organization. Our creative, often award-winning social media outreach has made gender equality visible, viral and impossible to ignore, attracting 15 million followers and counting.
ALL women and girls
UN Women thanks its 177 financial partners and donors for putting resources behind their words and insisting that there is no better investment than in women and girls. Equality for all makes a better world for everyone.
Every contribution to UN Women has a ripple effect. Every woman or girl who gains empowerment transforms her life, her family, her community, her nation. Our total investment of USD 623 million1 in 2024 reached 109 countries and territories, home to 3.2 billion women and girls. Every dollar advanced our mandate to advocate, act and influence the achievement of gender equality.
Overall contributions received in 2024 grew 5.6% compared to 2023, reaching USD 594.4 million, reflecting continued and widespread commitment to gender equality and to UN Women's strong results and effective financial management. UN Women has earned the trust of its partners with its thirteenth consecutive unqualified audit opinion and consistently high evaluation ratings.
Regular resources remain crucial to operational effectiveness and accountability. They fuel advocacy for the rights of ALL women and girls and sustain UN Women's capacity to move the broader United Nations to act for women's rights, gender equality and women's empowerment.
Contributions of other resources increased 10.7% to USD 429.9 million in 2024. Flexible funding of Strategic Notes increased as well. This direct investment in priorities defined by our country offices grew 56% to USD 42.9 million in 2024; 16 partners provided funding to 18 country offices, up from 10 and 15, respectively, in 2023.
Our partnership base, including our donors and non-funding partners, diversified and grew by 8%. Engagement with public sector institutions rose by 21%, including local and regional governments. A 7% increase in our private sector partners' portfolio resulted in more resources and additional shifts in business practices to advance gender equality. National Committees in 13 countries drove a 26% growth in fundraising from individuals, companies and grant-makers.
Despite global commitments, direct funding to civil society from all sources has dropped. UN Women helped to hold the line through its commitment to local women-led organizations, providing USD 110 million through grants and programme partnerships in 2024. We host both the United Nations Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund and the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, which together transferred over USD 48.2 million to 323 organizations and 344 women human rights defenders. The funds help develop more responsive, adaptive funding models, empowering individuals and organizations by enabling and showcasing strong performance and crucial contributions.
2014 to 2024