In this case study series, UN Women and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange join forces to assemble practical fact sheets on a diverse selection of innovative financing instruments that have been launched across developed and emerging markets by a range of entities, with the intent to reduce gender gaps.

This policy paper highlights how the linkages between violence against women and girls and climate change have been integrated in the agreed conclusions and recommended actions coming out of the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, and discusses key opportunities drawn from examples of promising practices and adaptable resources for implementing them.

This paper argues for investing in free universal high quality childcare services in order to reduce gender inequality in earnings and employment. It estimates the employment-generating and fiscal effects of investing in free universal childcare in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and the United Republic of Tanzania. The study estimates the total costs of investing in childcare services to increase the enrollment (coverage) rate for children in formal childcare services to different target levels.

This edition of the “UN Women impact stories” series focuses on women in leadership. Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, is crucial to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. These stories feature some of the women leaders who are paving the way.

This report explores some key indicators of women’s economic empowerment in labour markets and women’s political participation and economic leadership in the Indian Ocean Rim region through three dimensions: resources, agency, and achievements. It highlights good practices, case studies, and challenges and opportunities for investments and initiatives, and provides key recommendations for Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member States and other stakeholders to realize women’s economic empowerment in the region.

This report examines the roles of women in fisheries and aquaculture in countries of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the challenges and opportunities for their economic empowerment. The report provides a set of recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders to further advance gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in this sector.

Analysing data from 11 national household surveys, this research found that, while women typically earn less than men and pay more in transfer fees, the average remittance amounts they send are the same as or even greater than those of men, implying that they tend to remit a larger portion of their earnings than do men. The research also showed that migrant women are more dependent on in-person cash transfer services to send remittances.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, the agricultural sector remains critical to local and regional economies. Based on original research in five countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania), this policy brief shows that gender gaps in agricultural productivity do not arise because women are less efficient farmers but because they experience inequitable access to agricultural inputs, including family labour, high-yield crops, pesticides, and fertilizer.

This brochure showcases some of UN Women’s thoughts and practices around innovation that could accelerate gender equality and women’s empowerment. The examples range from pilot programmes with marginalized beneficiaries to partnerships with start-ups; from frontier technologies to non-tech interventions that challenge mindsets; and from procedural improvements to capacity-building.

This policy brief reviews the effects of cash transfers on the rights and capabilities of adolescent girls and boys, using a gender and capability lens and focusing on three key capability domains: education, sexual and reproductive health, and freedom from violence. Based on this evidence, the brief highlights the importance of a “cash plus” approach to enhancing adolescents’ multidimensional well-being and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

TRANSFORM Issue 14, “Working together to empower voices”, is a special edition focused on the inter-related themes of gender, evaluation, transformative change, marginalized voices, and leaving no one behind in pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 5.

UN Women’s project, “Promoting and protecting women migrant workers’ labour and human rights: Engaging with international, national human rights mechanisms to enhance accountability”, is a global project funded by the European Union (EU) and anchored nationally in three pilot countries: Mexico, Moldova, and the Philippines. This brief draws from the project’s knowledge products and provides an overview of the key situational and policy concerns for women migrant workers in each of the three pilot countries.

Based on research and lessons learned from UN Women’s EU-funded global project “Promoting and protecting women migrant workers’ labour and human rights: Engaging with international, national human rights mechanisms to enhance accountability”, which is piloted in Mexico, Moldova, and the Philippines, this Brief explores the economic and social contributions of women migrant workers to development.

Based on research and lessons learned from the joint UN Women–EU-funded global project, “Promoting and protecting women migrant workers’ labour and human rights: Engaging with international, national human rights mechanisms to enhance accountability”, which is piloted in Mexico, Moldova and the Philippines, this Brief considers the different ways that women transfer and spend remittances, and provides recommendations to better understand and maximize these remittances.

This brief provides an overview of the international human rights system as it applies to the promotion and protection of women migrant workers’ rights. Using examples from the joint UN Women–European Union project, “Promoting and protecting women migrant workers’ labour and human rights”, this brief illustrates how these mechanisms can be used by governments, civil society and development partners to enhance the rights of women migrant workers in law and practice.

Based on research and lessons learned from the joint UN Women–European Union project, “Promoting and protecting women migrant workers’ labour and human rights: Engaging with international, national human rights mechanisms to enhance accountability”, which is piloted in Mexico, Moldova and the Philippines, this brief provides an overview of a methodology for developing gender-responsive migration laws.

This report illustrates the nuanced interaction between women’s migration for labour, their scope of contributions to development and the economic, social and personal costs incurred throughout their migration highlighting the importance of labour and human rights to realizing the human development potential of women’s labour migration while critically considering what constitutes development: by whom, for whom, and at what cost. The report illustrates how gender mainstreaming of the migration for development model can enhance the protection of rights and opportunities for women migrant workers, and contribute to more inclusive and sustainable development.

This report reviews migration systems through the use of legal reviews and legislative comparison, providing an analysis of existing mechanisms, frameworks, legislation and policies vis-à-vis women migrant workers, with particular attention paid to the alignment of national legislation with international frameworks, like CEDAW. The report concludes by providing a set of recommendations aimed at global and regional actors, including the ratification of international treaties, enforcement of CEDAW and the creation of a new international instrument to promote the rights of women migrant workers.

This report provides a detailed account of the lived realities of women migrant workers. The report focuses on specific sectors with high concentrations of women migrant workers, as well as the global issue of trafficking, to illuminate the gender-specific vulnerabilities and risks faced by women throughout their migration trajectory, and highlights the agency of women workers as they navigate challenges to claiming labour and human rights across borders.

This publication presents results from a Moldovan study on services provided for migrants, including returnee women. It provides key recommendations for actions to improve services destined to migrants, particularly to returnee women, and to create a dialogue platform for migrant women to access existing services. Furthermore, it includes a list of the most relevant NGOs that provide services for migrants in Moldova, including contact details and information about specific services offered.