UN Women: A decade of daring

Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2021

UN Women’s tenth anniversary publication, “A decade of daring”, celebrates the milestones of the organization’s first 10 years.

New feminist activism, waves, and generations

Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021

This paper examines the characteristics of past and contemporary feminisms and dissects the issues with periodizing feminism in terms of “waves”. Part two focuses on understanding the most recent wave of feminist activism by considering its antecedents and main characteristics. It presents three case studies of movements in the Global South; the cases of Brazil, India, and Malawi illustrate some of the ideas, campaigns, and organizational forms of “new feminists”.

COVID-19 and women’s rights organizations: Bridging response gaps and demanding a more just future

Date: Monday, March 22, 2021

This brief provides evidence of the different ways in which women’s rights organizations have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the predicament that many of them face of increased relevance and demand at the same time as civic closure, restrictive work conditions, and diminishing funding. The brief also identifies a set of recommendations to strengthen these organizations in the immediate term and to pave the way for a more equal future.

COVID-19 and women’s leadership: From an effective response to building back better

Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2020

This brief shines a light on the critical role of women’s leadership in responding to COVID-19 and preparing for a more equitable recovery. In addition to considering the pandemic’s immediate impacts on women’s political participation, the brief demonstrates the opportunity to “build back better” by including and supporting women, and the organizations and networks that represent them, in the decision-making processes that will ultimately shape the post-pandemic future.

Democratic backsliding and the backlash against women’s rights: Understanding the current challenges for feminist politics

Date: Friday, June 5, 2020

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.

Youth in action for gender equality: Agency! Leadership! Activism! – Implementation guide

Date: Friday, August 30, 2019

In alignment with the United Nations Youth 2030 Strategy, UN Women’s Youth Plan of Action 2019–2021 constitutes the implementation strategy of UN Women’s Youth and Gender Equality Strategy. It seeks to empower young women, young men, and non-binary people through an intergenerational, intersectional approach, focusing on shifting social norms, supporting policy change, fostering girls’ leadership, and amplifying their voices through effective partnerships.

TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 12, June 2018

Date: Friday, June 1, 2018

TRANSFORM Issue no. 12 focuses on UN Women’s contribution to women’s political participation and leadership from 2011 to 2017. It summarizes learning from past practices that can inform and strengthen future work in this area. It also addresses UN Women’s strategic niche in promoting women’s political participation and leadership in the context of the UN Secretary-General’s call for the United Nations Development System reform to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.

Corporate evaluation of UN Women’s contribution to women’s political participation and leadership: Synthesis report

Date: Sunday, April 1, 2018

The purpose of the corporate evaluation was to assess UN Women’s contribution from 2011 to 2017 towards women’s ability to “lead and participate in decision-making at all levels”, and to provide evidence from past practice to inform its future strategic planning and implementation in this area. It analysed UN Women’s contribution across its integrated mandate at the global, regional, and country levels against four criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.

Fund for Gender Equality 2014 annual report

Date: Thursday, July 23, 2015

In 2014, UN Women's Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) supported 67 active programmes in 60 countries and reached over 310,000 direct beneficiaries. The 2014 Annual report highlights key aggregated results of FGE's active programmes, lessons learned from grantees and emerging promising practices in the strategies used by its partners.