In this report, the UN Secretary-General provides information on the global prevalence of female genital mutilation and its impacts on women and girls, referencing recent data and evidence on what works to eliminate it. He provides an analysis of progress made to date by Member States, the UN system, and other relevant stakeholders. He also includes information on efforts to anticipate and address the impacts of global humanitarian crises and ongoing conflicts on the elimination of female genital mutilation. He draws conclusions and proposes recommendations for future actions.

This discussion paper assesses the evidence base of the “men for gender equality” field in light of three aspects of its emergence as a field, namely: its un-interrogated use of the category of “men”, its recourse to social psychological accounts of gender norms, and the implications of its NGO form for its ability to collaborate with and be accountable to resurgent intersectional feminist mobilizations.

Pursuant to UN General Assembly resolution 73/149 on intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation, the present report provides information on the prevalence of the practice worldwide and its impact on women and girls, with reference to the most recent data and evidence.

RESPECT Women is a policy framework launched by twelve UN, bilateral, and multilateral agencies, which outlines steps for a public health and human rights–based approach to scaling up prevention programming on violence against women. It builds on the learnings compiled in the UN Prevention of Violence against Women Framework (2015), and in additional systematic reviews, to provide evidence-based strategies on preventing violence against women.

This policy note explores policy and programming interlinkages between different forms of violence and considers entry points in the areas of (i) national legislation, (ii) prevention strategies, (iii) response for survivors, and (iv) data and evidence, for increased coordination and collaboration to advance the objectives of ending both female genital mutilation/cutting and other forms of violence against women and girls, in particular intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence.

The following booklet contains relevant sections of the principal international agreements over the past 20 years where countries have committed to responding to violence against women and girls, from the Beijing Platform for Action to the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper documents the pervasiveness of women’s lack of income security in old age across a large number of countries, but also points to a number of important policy measures that can be taken to address gender pension gaps. It was produced for UN Women's flagship report Progress of the World's Women 2015-2016 to be released as part of the UN Women discussion paper series.

This paper investigates the extent to which financial services offered through posts may serve women in the developing world better than financial institutions (FIs). We find evidence that posts do seem to include women to a greater extent than FIs. We conclude that a more deliberate attempt at the financial inclusion of women by postal operators has the potential to yield even more success in this regard.

This study examines the borrowing behaviour of women and men within households in Ecuador, Ghana and Karnataka, India, and investigates whether the correlates of having asset debt differ for women and men. It provides answers to interesting questions, such as where they borrow from (formal versus informal sources) and whether the person responsible for the loan is involved in the decision to take out the loan.

This study constitutes a pioneering effort to measure whether women accumulate physical and financial assets as either remittance managers or migrants themselves. Based on household asset surveys in Ecuador and Ghana, the authors find that women have fared as well as men in their ability to acquire assets through remittances or savings earned abroad, but overall, a relatively small share of migrant households are able to accumulate assets, a finding requiring the attention of policymakers.

Achieving the SDGs needs high levels of private and public sector investment. This paper demonstrates that gender relations and the distribution of unpaid care work affect and are affected by the investment climate. The paper offers a set of policy conclusions that would promote a gender-equitable investment climate.