Women’s economic empowerment in the Indian Ocean Rim: Progress and challenges

Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2020

This report explores some key indicators of women’s economic empowerment in labour markets and women’s political participation and economic leadership in the Indian Ocean Rim region through three dimensions: resources, agency, and achievements. It highlights good practices, case studies, and challenges and opportunities for investments and initiatives, and provides key recommendations for Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member States and other stakeholders to realize women’s economic empowerment in the region.

Women’s economic empowerment in fisheries in the blue economy of the Indian Ocean Rim: A baseline report

Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2020

This report examines the roles of women in fisheries and aquaculture in countries of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the challenges and opportunities for their economic empowerment. The report provides a set of recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders to further advance gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in this sector.

‘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.

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.

Migrant women and remittances: Exploring the data from selected countries

Date: Friday, June 12, 2020

Analysing data from 11 national household surveys, this research found that, while women typically earn less than men and pay more in transfer fees, the average remittance amounts they send are the same as or even greater than those of men, implying that they tend to remit a larger portion of their earnings than do men. The research also showed that migrant women are more dependent on in-person cash transfer services to send remittances.

Gender, climate and security: Sustaining inclusive peace on the frontlines of climate change

Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Grounded in a series of case studies from research and programming experience, this report offers a comprehensive framework for understanding how gender, climate, and security are inextricably linked.

Funding for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian programming

Date: Monday, June 8, 2020

This study ascertains the levels of existing funding flows to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and the impact of shortfalls on global humanitarian outcomes.

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.

Women, peace and security: Strengthening accountability through the Universal Periodic Review

Date: Friday, November 1, 2019

This research brief focuses on the Universal Periodic Review process in the Human Rights Council and shows the potential for a powerful relationship between this process and enhanced accountability for human rights obligations relating to the women, peace, and security agenda.

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.