Conflicting identities: The nexus between masculinities, femininities and violent extremism in Asia

Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2020

We know that violent extremism has gendered impacts. But how do gendered power relations influence violent extremism, including why individuals join extremist groups, how these groups function, and what beliefs they hold? UN Women and UPDP commissioned this research volume of expert analyses to explore how unequal gender power structures, including masculinity, fuel and shape violent extremism in South and Southeast Asia.

Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces for Women and Girls Global Flagship Initiative: Second international compendium of practices

Date: Monday, February 24, 2020

This publication illustrates in a practical way how participating cities of the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative are working to implement women’s safety approaches through the lens of intersectionality. These include a range of women-led solutions, from the creation of data, to integrated policies with meaningful participation of women’s rights organizations, to urban planning solutions that prioritize minoritized women, and prevention initiatives addressing discriminatory behaviours.

Spotlight on SDG11: Harsh realities: Marginalized women in cities of the developing world

Date: Monday, February 17, 2020

This study, based on data from 59 low- and middle-income countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Southern Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, finds that women and their families bear the brunt of growing income inequality and failures to adequately plan for and respond to rapid urbanization. The publication examines the effects of multidimensional poverty in urban areas, with women facing greater exposure to life in slum-like conditions than men.

Leveraging digital finance for gender equality and women’s empowerment

Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2019

This working paper provides a basis to review the barriers, risks, and opportunities related to gender and the accessibility and utilization of digital finance, and to help identify pathways that could be leveraged for potential impactful investment returns for women.

TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 15, August 2019

Date: Thursday, August 8, 2019

Issue 15 of TRANSFORM focuses on governance and national planning (GNP), an area of work that has contributed to UN Women’s identity and for which it is recognized and valued. The evaluation of UN Women’s GNP portfolio from 2011 to 2017 assessed the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and extent to which human rights approach and gender equality principles were integrated adequately in UN Women’s approach to GNP.

Corporate thematic evaluation of UN Women’s contribution to governance and national planning

Date: Thursday, June 6, 2019

Governance and national planning (GNP) is an area of work that has contributed to UN Women’s identity and for which it is recognized and valued. The evaluation of UN Women's GNP portfolio from 2011 to 2017 assessed the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and extent to which human rights approach and gender equality principles were integrated adequately in UN Women’s approach to GNP.

“We were like caged birds, this gave us wings to fly”: A review of UN Women programming on gender-sensitive transitional justice

Date: Saturday, June 1, 2019

This report examines UN Women’s experiences implementing a global programme on gender-sensitive transitional justice (2015–2018), funded by the European Union. The report reflects on the programme’s outcomes and shares the strategies used to adapt to challenging circumstances. It shares strategies employed to increase the gender-responsiveness of transitional justice mechanisms, and to adequately respond to sexual and gender-based violence and other gendered impacts of violent conflict and repressive regimes.

Innovation for gender equality

Date: Friday, March 8, 2019

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.

TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 14, December 2018

Date: Friday, December 14, 2018

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.

Can big data be used for evaluation? A UN Women feasibility study

Date: Sunday, April 1, 2018

This study investigates the feasibility of leveraging big data sources—particularly Twitter, Facebook, and radio data—to improve the evaluation of gender equality and women’s empowerment initiatives. In particular, this study seeks to understand the potential role of big data to evaluate the contribution of UN Women to women’s political participation and leadership, using Mexico and Pakistan as case studies.

UN Women Asia and the Pacific illustrated annual report 2016–2017

Date: Thursday, January 11, 2018

In 2016 and 2017, as this report amply demonstrates, UN Women played an instrumental part in mobilizing people to step up efforts to achieve gender equality and contribute to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline. Our efforts gave women more voice, more choice and greater safety; they included women most marginalized in their societies.

Does group farming empower rural women? The Indian experience

Date: Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Few programmes for economically empowering rural women in India have focused seriously on farming—the one occupation in which the women have most experience. This paper examines whether group farming can enable women farmers to overcome resource constraints and gain economically.

Eldercare policies in East Asia and Europe: Mapping policy changes and variations and their implications

Date: Friday, December 15, 2017

Adequate and dignified care provision for elderly populations is becoming an urgent policy issue, not only in high-income countries, but also in many middle- and low-income ones. This discussion paper documents and analyses varieties of eldercare policies, and their readjustments, in East Asia and Europe.

Key barriers to women’s access to HIV treatment: A global review

Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2017

This report was written to highlight the experiences of women living with HIV in accessing treatment and quality care. Led by a Global Reference Group of women living with HIV, this global review uses a gender-responsive and human rights-based framework to explore the various factors that impact women's experience and decision making around treatment.

Neither heroines nor victims: Women migrant workers and changing family and community relations in Nepal

Date: Tuesday, October 31, 2017

This paper examines case studies of returnee women migrant workers in Nepal to look specifically at the narratives emerging from the voices of women migrant workers. It aims to give voice to the subjectivities of migrant women in Nepal, unpacking their reasons for migration and their struggles to secure a livelihood in the context of globalization.

Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces: Global results report

Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2017

This report on UN Women’s Global Flagship Programme Initiative, Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces, shares achievements gleaned from various participating city programmes around the world. A series of stories illustrate what authorities, grass-roots women, women’s organizations and other community partners can do as part of a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls in public spaces.

Gender and land dispossession: A comparative analysis

Date: Monday, August 21, 2017

This paper looks to our understanding of the gendered implications of rural land dispossession through a comparative analysis of five cases that were driven by different economic purposes in diverse agrarian contexts. It identifies some of the common gendered effects of land dispossession, and demonstrates ways in which the gendered consequences of land dispossession vary qualitatively across cases. It was produced for UN Women’s flagship report, World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 2014: Gender and Sustainable Development. It is now also released as part of the UN Women discussion paper series.

Mis/representations of women migrant workers in the media: A critical analysis

Date: Monday, July 31, 2017

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.

Women migrant workers and remittances

Date: Monday, July 31, 2017

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.

Using the international human rights system to protect and promote the rights of women migrant workers

Date: Monday, July 31, 2017

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.