This guide provides an overview of key and emerging issues in the gender and sustainable energy nexus, illustrated by research findings and case studies. It has been drafted with a view to supporting policymakers and development practitioners in government, the private sector, and civil society, as well as in the UN system, who are involved in designing and implementing sustainable energy policies, programmes, and projects.

This guidance note is part of a series of guidance notes on gender analysis in technical areas that seeks to contribute towards gender mainstreaming. The focus in this guide is the thematic area of energy infrastructure, which is a sector dominated by men and where gender analysis can provide vital data to practitioners on the key entry points for integrating gender equality and social inclusion into energy infrastructure projects.

This UN Women submission was prepared in response to a call for inputs from the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, for his Report on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Peace and Security.

“Safe consultations with survivors of violence against women and girls” provides practical steps, safety measures, and actions that government agencies, civil society and survivor organizations, and United Nations’ entities can take to incorporate survivors’ voices into ending violence against women and girls programming. It takes into account survivors’ diverse circumstances, addresses individual needs, and reduces the risk for further harm and suffering.

This research paper provides an overview of the global estimates of gender-related killings of women and girls in the private sphere in 2021. It also features policy recommendations to support comprehensive and multisectoral approaches to prevent and address gender-related killings and other forms of gender-based violence against women and girls.

This guidance note offers analysis and recommendations to the United Nations system on how to leverage the platform of the UN Global Focal Point for the Rule of Law (GFP) to advance the implementation of the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda. The publication highlights the existing and potential value of the GFP as a coordination mechanism for gender-responsive rule of law support, through which the United Nations can more effectively and efficiently promote the implementation of the WPS agenda, including the advancement of gender equality and women’s human rights.

This UN Women submission was prepared in response to a call for inputs in March 2022 from the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court to support the development of a policy on gender persecution.

The war in Ukraine has had devasting impact on women and girls worldwide, widening gender gaps, and increasing rates of food insecurity, malnutrition, and energy poverty. This policy paper reviews the available evidence, recommending urgent attention to its consequences for women and girls. It is complementary to the briefs produced by the UN Secretary-General’s Global Crisis Response Group on the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the global response and recovery.

This report provides a detailed history and analysis of the survivor-centered social, legal and political strategies that were employed by those involved in the Sepur Zarco case—a landmark 2016 verdict by a Guatemalan court, convicting two former military members of crimes including sexual violence, sexual slavery, and domestic slavery committed against Maya Q’eqchi’ women near a military rest outpost in Sepur Zarco during Guatemala’s internal armed conflict.

Administrative data is crucial to better understand violence against women (VAW) and to inform prevention and responses to VAW. This publication identifies eight steps for improving the collection and use of VAW administrative data and makes recommendations for data producers and policymakers to help with future decision-making and planning.

This research paper and policy brief explore what women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice means and “looks like” in policy and practice. The publications focus specifically on women and addressing the unique barriers to women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice processes as a result of gender-based discrimination.

UN Women partnered with the Inter-Parliamentary Union to prepare a handbook on gender-responsive law-making. This handbook aims to serve as a resource for lawmakers from around the world for designing gender-responsive laws. Such law-making should address the strategic needs of women and girls and must encompass enacting new laws and amending or repealing laws which are outdated, inconsistent with constitutions, or discriminate against them.

This report on the proceedings of the global conference “Gender-inclusive peace processes: Strengthening women’s meaningful participation through constituency building” explores current challenges, best practices, and recommendations on how best to leverage the practice of constituency building to further gender-inclusive peace.

This background paper was prepared ahead of the high level seminar, organized by UN Women in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on “Strengthening women’s participation in peace processes: What roles and responsibilities for States?” in Rome, Italy, on 3 and 4 December 2019. The paper analyzes policies and strategies adopted by Member States and other international actors to foster women’s meaningful participation, particularly related to mediating peace.

This report reflects the main arguments presented during the the high-level seminar, organized by UN Women in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on “Strengthening women’s participation in peace processes: What roles and responsibilities for states?” in Rome, Italy, on 3 and 4 December 2019, including the persistent barriers to women’s meaningful participation in peace and mediation processes and the opportunities that exist to remove them.

This research stems from the development of Regional Women Mediator Networks and the increased value these networks have acquired in recent years. With a focus on the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network, the paper aims to analyze the significant contribution this initiative can offer to the global agenda of Mediation for the 21st century and its unique added value for the next 20 years of the women, peace, and security agenda.

This research explores the causes of the under-investment in gender-inclusive peace in conflict and post-conflict settings and the significant gaps in financing that make the implementation of Women, Peace and security commitments more difficult. This paper focuses on the three case studies of Colombia, Iraq, and the Philippines.

This report on the proceedings of the 2018 conference “Women’s meaningful participation in peace processes: Modalities and strategies across tracks”, explores innovations, trends, and challenges in the interplay between official, high-level processes and unofficial processes in which civil society plays a leadership role.

Under the framework of the UN Joint Global Programme on Essential Services, UN Women, together with UNODC and the IAWP, have developed a handbook on gender-responsive police services for women and girls subject to violence. The handbook is based on and complements existing global and country-specific handbooks and training materials for law enforcement and covers areas such as gender-responsive police investigations, prevention, intersectionality and institutional change.

This brief series recognizes that, despite advancements, we have to build a stronger bridge between empirical scholarly work, new policy directions, and actual practice on the ground. The series seeks to address that gap and contribute to the realization of the women, peace and security agenda through the promotion of evidence-based policy and practice.