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.

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 brief focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls in sports in five areas—leadership, gender-based violence, economic opportunities, media participation and representation, and girls’ participation in sport—and presents key recommendations to different actors in the sport ecosystem to respond to the crisis with a gender perspective and recover better in terms of gender equality.

This study serves as an evidence-based instrument that demonstrates how leveraging attitudinal change can be used as a critical tactic towards advancing gender equality. The findings have the potential to inform policymakers, advertisers, private sector leaders, civil society, and decision-makers on challenging discriminatory attitudes and gender roles that perpetuate gender inequality and women’s subordinate status in society.

In an effort to address the impacts of COVID-19, companies are developing a number of socially beneficial communications for the public. It is essential that these communications avoid harmful stereotypes and seek to depict positive and progressive gender portrayals.

Modern day society is surrounded by media (television, film, radio, print and social media); consuming information, entertainment and ever-increasing channels of communication. These platforms, and the content they deliver, present both unrelenting challenges and incredible opportunities for achieving gender equality and eliminating violence against women and girls. This handbook is designed to provide specific guidance on how to work with media for the achievement of these goals.

This media study is part of UN Women’s EU-funded project, “Promoting and protecting women migrant workers’ labour and human rights: Engaging with international, national human rights mechanisms to enhance accountability”. It focuses on representations of women migrant workers in sending and receiving countries. Articles from newspapers in Canada, Italy, Mexico, and the Philippines are analysed using a gender perspective. Three dominant representations of WMWs are identified: victims, heroes and threats. The implications of these representations are explored and a woman migrant worker–centred approach is recommended.

This guidance note provides an overview of issues related to gender equality, women’s empowerment and sustainable energy and provides guidance for UN programming and work with policy makers around sustainable energy that integrates the gender dimensions.

This report, supported by 13 UN agencies, calls for a transformation to integrated policy making, where social equity, economic growth and environmental protection are approached together. It is a contribution of governments, experts, researchers and development practitioners ahead of the ‘Rio+20' UN Conference on Sustainable Development.