This publication provides an overview of the different themes discussed during peer-to-peer learning dialogues on addressing sexual harassment in 2021, 2022, and 2023. It puts forward concrete recommendations to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment in the UN system and beyond.

UN Women’s founding resolution mandates the organization to ensure accountability and gender mainstreaming across the UN system for its work to advance the achievement of gender equality and the advancement of women. This report shares best practices and reflections on the multiple forms this mandate takes at the global, regional, and country levels, also identifying drivers that catalyse and enhance impact.

Annually, Gender Focal Points meet to exchange good practices and are recognized for achievements in advancing gender parity across the UN system in their respective entities. This report summarizes the Global Annual Gender Focal Point Meeting held on 17–19 October 2022. Gender Focal Points joined virtually from duty stations and remote working environments all around the world.

This paper proposes replacing the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Gender Inequality Index with two new gender indexes: the Global Gender Parity Index and the Women’s Empowerment Index. The proposal builds on a review of concepts of gender equality in the capability approach that underpins UNDP’s human development paradigm and the relevant international policy frameworks. It also implements current proposals for reform.

This publication provides a summary of the key statistics on the representation of women in the UN system, barriers to achieving gender parity, and recommended actions to assist UN entities to reach gender parity.

This report summarizes the Global Annual Gender Focal Point Meeting held on 18–20 October 2021. Gender Focal Points met to exchange good practices and were provided with capacity building and training, tools and knowledge exchange, and opportunities to learn from leaders and experts from the UN system, civil society, and academia on how to drive change across the UN system.

This publication presents an overview of the reflections on the peer-to-peer learning dialogues organized as part of the outreach and knowledge sharing efforts of the Chief Executives Board for Coordination Task Force on Addressing Sexual Harassment within the organizations of the UN system.

This report assesses the status of women in the UN system for the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019. It contains recommendations aimed at assisting entities in the UN system to achieve gender parity, including through rigorous implementation of policies and a range of coordinated actions.

These field-specific enabling environment guidelines provide tailored guidance for personnel in the field, especially in mission settings, to help increase the representation of women and accelerate efforts to reach gender parity in the UN system. The guidelines support the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s system-wide strategy on gender parity and complement the enabling environment guidelines for the UN system and its supplementary guidance.

This report is a first-of-its-kind initiative of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE), the single largest network of gender focal points in the UN system. It presents a critical stocktaking of 51 UN entities’ support to the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2014–2019.

The digital revolution brings immense potential to improve social and economic outcomes for women. Yet, it also poses the risk of perpetuating existing patterns of gender inequality. This report begins by outlining a conceptual framework for understanding the mutual shaping relationship between gender and technology. It then focuses on three areas to identify opportunities and risks in the digital revolution: education, work, and social/welfare services.

In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework to discuss two interrelated realms: backsliding on gender equality policies and the emerging political space for feminist responses to this backsliding. We illustrate our framework with empirical observations from three Central and Eastern European countries: Croatia, Hungary, and Poland. We aim to contribute to an understanding of the gendered aspects of de-democratization and the functioning of illiberal democracies.

This paper examines how the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been integrated into the national debate on gender equality in Ecuador. It identifies which policies from the Agenda have been taken into account and which have been rejected. It also examines how the actors involved in clarifying the scope of these policies—women’s movements, sexual diversity organizations, public officials, and UN agencies—have coordinated their activities with the Agenda.

This report provides a summary of the 2019 Global Annual Meeting of Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women in the United Nations, organized in September 2019. It includes conclusions from the sessions and action points for accelerating gender parity efforts and implementing an enabling environment across the UN system. The report concludes with remarks by the UN Women Executive Director and recognition of good examples of implementing the “Enabling environment guidelines”.

In this report, the UN Secretary-General assesses the status of women in the United Nations system for the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. Since the previous report, the representation of women in the Professional and higher categories in the United Nations system has increased from 42.8 per cent to 44.2 per cent. The largest increases were registered at the highest levels (Under-Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General), which is a direct result of the efforts of the Secretary-General in line with his commitment to reach parity at the highest levels by 2021.

On the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, UN Women’s “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future” campaign demands equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end to sexual harassment and violence against women and girls, health care services that respond to their needs, and their equal participation in political life and in decision-making in all areas of life.

The “Enabling environment guidelines for the United Nations system” will support efforts to create a working environment that embraces equality, eradicates bias, and is inclusive of all staff. These guidelines include good practices and recommendations on workplace flexibility, family-friendly policies, and standards of conduct, as well as on recruitment and talent management.

This short history of the Commission on the Status of Women from its inception in 1946 to today highlights the Commission’s advocacy for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It summarizes the Commission’s key achievements in developing the global legal and normative framework, and in advancing its follow-up and implementation at the national level, for the benefit of women and girls everywhere.

This report provides a summary of the Global Annual Meeting of Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women in the United Nations, held in October 2018.