Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2020

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2020

The pandemic has interrupted progress on gender equality, but it can be brought back on course. This year’s edition of “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot” brings together the latest available evidence on gender equality across all 17 Goals, underscoring the progress made, but also the progress interrupted as a result of COVID-19.

Regular resources rise to the immense challenges of COVID-19

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2020

This brief summarizes how UN Women is deploying regular resources in response to COVID-19. It highlights how regular resources have enabled a faster and more comprehensive response and details the results of practical assistance to women and girls, especially those in vulnerable communities, and advocacy for a gender perspective in national, regional, and UN system efforts.

Sexual harassment in the informal economy: Farmworkers and domestic workers

Date: Friday, September 4, 2020

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.

Humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction: 2019 annual report

Date: Friday, September 4, 2020

This report details key results UN Women achieved in 2019 in collaboration with UN and civil society partners. Looking ahead, the report also sketches out the steps UN Women has taken to ensure that it remains fit-for-purpose to prepare and respond to increasingly complex and protracted crises that cut across conflicts and disasters.

From insights to action: Gender equality in the wake of COVID-19

Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shrinking working hours, increased care burdens, and heightened violence have exacerbated the challenges that women and girls face. Unless action is taken, by 2021 around 435 million women and girls will be living in extreme poverty, including 47 million pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19. This publication presents the latest evidence on the multiple impacts of the pandemic on women and girls.

Gender perspectives and confidence building for inclusive peace: Getting parties to a shared negotiation table through trust

Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Confidence building is an area that is receiving significant attention in mediation processes around the world. Meanwhile, feminist analysis of the theories and practices of confidence building is nascent. Based on conference discussions, this report summarizes perspectives and early analysis on confidence building from a women, peace, and security perspective. It also offers preliminary recommendations for further research and action.

Bridging the gap: Sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH)

Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2020

This advocacy paper seeks to reflect and progress dialogue on the connections between sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). It advocates a rethinking of current approaches, including that centring survivor voices and understanding their common causes and dynamics is necessary for elimination.

#MeToo: Headlines from a global movement

Date: Monday, August 31, 2020

This resource analyses Twitter data on the use of the hashtag #MeToo in different countries. Research was conducted in cooperation with UN Global Pulse, the Secretary-General’s initiative on big data and artificial intelligence for development, humanitarian action, and peace.

‘Who holds the microphone?’ Crisis-affected women’s voices on gender-transformative changes in humanitarian settings: Experiences from Bangladesh, Colombia, Jordan and Uganda

Date: Friday, August 14, 2020

This research uses participatory methodologies to explore the experiences of diverse crisis-affected women around gender-transformative change in four humanitarian settings in Bangladesh, Colombia, Jordan, and Uganda. The study provides entry points and recommendations for Grand Bargain signatories to move towards gender-transformative humanitarian action by enhancing women’s meaningful participation in humanitarian responses, and the localization of humanitarian action to women’s rights organizations and self-led groups.

Data and violence against women in politics: Expert group meeting report and recommendations

Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2020

UN Women organized an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on “Data and violence against women in politics” (VAWP) on 4–5 December 2019, in New York, as a part of its ongoing efforts to tackle this issue. This report provides an overview of the expert discussions and the key takeaways identified during the meeting. It also highlights key discussion points to inform future efforts to collect data on VAWP.

Sexual harassment against women with disabilities in the world of work and on campus

Date: Monday, August 10, 2020

This discussion paper aims to address the limited scope of discussions and actions relating to the lives of women with disabilities and sexual harassment. It calls for centring the knowledge of women and girls with disabilities in all efforts to end sexual harassment in the world of work and on campus. It contributes to the development of intersectional approaches for addressing sexual harassment as it manifests in the lives of women with disabilities.

The digital revolution: Implications for gender equality and women’s rights 25 years after Beijing

Date: Friday, August 7, 2020

The digital revolution brings immense potential to improve social and economic outcomes for women. Yet, it also poses the risk of perpetuating existing patterns of gender inequality. This report begins by outlining a conceptual framework for understanding the mutual shaping relationship between gender and technology. It then focuses on three areas to identify opportunities and risks in the digital revolution: education, work, and social/welfare services.

COVID-19 and conflict: Advancing women’s meaningful participation in ceasefires and peace processes

Date: Monday, August 3, 2020

This brief addresses the importance of women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation to an effective pandemic response and to peacemaking efforts, and how the women, peace and security agenda can provide a critical framework for inclusive decision-making and sustainable solutions. It also provides preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on women’s participation in ceasefires and peace processes and offers a series of recommendations, including on “building back better”.

Addressing emerging human trafficking trends and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

Date: Thursday, July 30, 2020

Around the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new risks and challenges to victims and survivors of trafficking and has also worsened the vulnerabilities of at-risk groups, especially women and children, to trafficking in human beings. Based on data collected through a global survey of survivors and frontline organizations, this publication analyses the emerging COVID-19 human trafficking trends and consequences and offers concrete policy recommendations to address them.

Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations: Report of the Secretary-General (2020)

Date: Monday, July 27, 2020

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.

Minimum requirements checklist for integrating gender equality in the implementation of the UN Framework for the Socioeconomic Response to COVID-19

Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2020

This checklist provides minimum requirements for the integration of gender equality in the implementation of the "UN framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19". In particular, this checklist is intended to support UNCTs that are undertaking gender/intersectional analyses and/or members of the Gender Theme Groups (GTGs) in UNCTs to effectively integrate gender equality in UNCT COVID-19 recovery and socioeconomic response plans.

Gender-responsive humanitarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Date: Monday, July 13, 2020

Complementing the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19, this accompanying gender programme from UN Women seeks to support the whole of the humanitarian system to deliver better for women and girls in the midst of this global pandemic. The programme’s overall objective is to ensure that the most affected and at-risk women and girls play their fullest role in response to COVID-19 and are protected from its impacts.

Spotlight on gender, COVID-19 and the SDGs: Will the pandemic derail hard-won progress on gender equality?

Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Health emergencies such as COVID-19, and the response to them, can exacerbate gender inequality and derail hard-won progress not only on SDG 3 but on all the SDGs. This paper draws insights from emerging data and shines a spotlight on the long-term impact of the crisis on the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The paper concludes by outlining policy priorities drawn from the evidence presented.

Fund for Gender Equality annual report 2019–2020

Date: Monday, July 6, 2020

Supported by photos, data, infographics, and individual impact stories, the annual report highlights key achievements of the 18 active projects in 2019. It offers a snapshot of the impact the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 on grantees and the populations they serve, and the ways they are responding to it. Finally, it presents the results from its latest efforts to accelerate progress by fostering innovation and peer learning.

Decision tree: Data collection on violence against women and COVID-19

Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2020

This decision tree guides data collectors through the various considerations, viable options, and alternative data sources for obtaining information without jeopardizing participants’ safety or the data’s integrity. In doing so, it aims to identify data sources and methodologies that are useful for strengthening services and referral pathways for women experiencing violence during COVID-19.