The “Women in politics: 2023” map, created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, presents new data for women in executive positions and national parliaments as of 1 January 2023. Data show that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision-making worldwide and that achieving gender parity in political life is far off.

On 24 December 2022, the Taliban banned women from working in international and national non-governmental organizations, the latest attack in a series of systematic infringements on the fundamental rights of women and girls since August 2021. Developed two weeks after the ban, this gender alert analyses the impact of the directive through the insights of Afghan women’s civil society organizations.

These recommendations are the first of their kind and underline the critical role migrant women human rights defenders play in securing the rights of people on the move. Migrant women human rights defenders include women, girls, and gender-diverse persons of all ages who promote and protect the human rights of people on the move, whether they are migrants themselves or not, irrespective of whether they self-identify as a woman human rights defenders.

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 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.

The Taliban’s position on women’s rights has been central to its worldview and vision for society. This gender alert documents how changing dynamics in Afghanistan are impacting women’s rights and gender equality one year after the Taliban take-over of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.

Drawing on a unique global dataset of nearly 5,000 measures adopted by 226 countries and territories in response to COVID-19, this UN Women and UNDP report finds that government responses paid insufficient attention to gender dynamics, though instances of innovation hold important lessons for gender-responsive policymaking during crises. The report analyses the factors that led to a strong gender response, generating key lessons for resilience and preparedness for future shocks.

With the aim of continuing to strengthen and support the evaluation function, the UN Women Independent Evaluation Service (IES) has developed an updated version of the evaluation handbook. The handbook follows the evaluation process through planning, preparation, conduct, reporting, evaluation, use, and follow-up. For each stage, the handbook has been updated to align with the current UN Women evaluation policy and coverage norms, as well as IES structure, governance, and processes.

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.

This working paper features data and analyses of women’s representation in 133 countries and areas. The paper considers the impacts of legislated quotas and electoral systems in local elections on women’s political participation and identifies remaining data gaps on women’s political participation in local government, including data disaggregation, underused electoral data, and the need for new data collection tools.

In the first “gender alert” since the Taliban took over Kabul on 15 August 2021, UN Women brings gender data and analyses on the impact of the rapidly evolving context on women’s rights in Afghanistan.

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 asks what needs to change in the approach of the United Nations system as a whole to make significant practical progress on gender equality in disaster risk reduction by 2030. It asks how the United Nations system, and each individual entity, can better support Member States to empower women and promote women’s leadership in disaster and climate risk governance to underpin risk-informed sustainable development that leaves no one behind.

Environmental emergencies threaten to destroy lives, economies, cultures, and societies. They harm a wide range of human rights, with differential effects based on gender. States and other actors have obligations and responsibilities under international law and policy to address environmental crises and to prevent their negative, gendered impacts on enjoyment of human rights. These messages highlight key human rights obligations and responsibilities with respect to gender and the environment.

This working paper analyses how women leaders at the national and subnational levels of government managed COVID-19 response and recovery from January 2020 through March 2021. The paper finds that women decision-makers demonstrated effective leadership, rapid response, and implemented socially inclusive policies and provides recommendations on how to ensure women’s participation and contribution to the pandemic response and recovery.

The guidance note discusses key concepts and norms about violence against women in politics, including definitions and normative frameworks, and provides practical guidance for addressing violence against women in politics at country level through different interventions.

This issue of TRANSFORM summarizes the “Corporate thematic evaluation of UN Women’s support to National Action Plans on women, peace, and security”. Through this evaluation, the Independent Evaluation Service assessed the criteria of coherence and coordination, effectiveness, organizational efficiency, sustainability, and the extent to which a human rights approach and gender equality principles were integrated into National Action Plans to meet women, peace, and security commitments and adopt accountability frameworks in conflict and post-conflict countries.

The IPU–UN Women “Women in politics: 2021” map presents global rankings for women in executive, government, and parliamentary positions as of 1 January 2021. The data shows all-time highs for the number of countries with women Heads of State or Heads of Government, as well as for the global share of women ministers.

The MeToo movement and much other work have increased public attention on sexual harassment. Yet, many workers still await adequate protection and enjoyment of their rights. This discussion paper focuses on sexual harassment of workers in the informal economy, with a focus on farmworkers and domestic workers. The paper provides suggestions for action by governments and civil society organizations for a world of work free from sexual harassment.