TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 16, September 2019

Date: Monday, September 30, 2019

This issue of TRANSFORM focuses on the meta-synthesis of UN Women evaluations completed during 2017 and 2018. The meta-synthesis reviewed and aggregated insights from 39 evaluation reports against selected development and organizational effectiveness and efficiency criteria. The issue also discusses internal and external enablers that drive or impede progress towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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.

Gender mainstreaming principles, dimensions and priorities for PVE

Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019

This guidance note offers comprehensive background information and resources, along with guidelines and guidance for the UN system, in supporting Member States in their efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism (P/CVE)—with a primary focus on preventing violent extremism (PVE).

Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2019

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Are we on track to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls? This report brings together the latest available evidence on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, underscoring the progress made as well as the action still needed to accelerate progress.

What will it take? Promoting cultural change to end sexual harassment

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019

This discussion paper on cultural change needed to end sexual harassment offers inputs on training, victim-focused work, rational reporting and collective ownership. It recognizes the work of the global women’s movements that put the issue in the spotlight, the women who led the international clamour for recognition of their voices and accountability for all perpetrators.

Meta-synthesis of UN Women evaluations 2017/2018

Date: Saturday, August 31, 2019

This meta-synthesis reviewed and aggregated insights from 39 evaluation reports completed during 2017 and 2018 against selected development and organizational effectiveness and efficiency criteria. The purpose of the report is to contribute to organizational learning and effective knowledge management through the identification of recurring findings, lessons learned, and evidence on the key areas of work of UN Women.

Women in development: Report of the Secretary-General (2019)

Date: Monday, August 5, 2019

In this report, the Secretary-General underscores measures taken at the national level to incorporate a gender perspective into national sustainable development policies and strategies; promote sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth strategies that benefit women and active labour market policies on full and productive employment and decent work for women; eliminate gender-based occupational segregation and gender wage gaps; accelerate the transition of women from informal to formal employment; prevent and eliminate all forms of violence, discrimination and sexual harassment against women at work; and promote the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities.

Improvement in the status of women in the United Nations system: Report of the Secretary-General (2019)

Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2019

In this report, the UN Secretary-General assesses the status of women in the United Nations system for the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. Since the previous report, the representation of women in the Professional and higher categories in the United Nations system has increased from 42.8 per cent to 44.2 per cent. The largest increases were registered at the highest levels (Under-Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General), which is a direct result of the efforts of the Secretary-General in line with his commitment to reach parity at the highest levels by 2021.

Gender equality and women’s rights in the context of child custody and child maintenance: An international and comparative analysis

Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2019

This discussion paper identifies some of the most prevalent custody and child maintenance regimes in cases of divorce, dissolution of a civil union, and separation of parents, and examines them with an emphasis on their impact on women’s rights and gender equality.

Understanding why youth fight in the Middle East: The case of Pankisi

Date: Monday, July 1, 2019

This report explores the gender, age, and religious identity dynamics that contributed to a disproportionate number of young men traveling from the small Pankisi Gorge region of Georgia to become foreign terrorist fighters in the Middle East from 2014 to 2016.

World survey on the role of women in development: Report of the Secretary-General (2019): Why addressing women’s income and time poverty matters for sustainable development

Date: Monday, June 17, 2019

The 2019 “World survey” is focused on the reasons for the high levels of income poverty and time poverty among women and contains an analysis of the rationale for taking an integrated policy approach to addressing the double bind experienced by women in that regard, as a timely and relevant means of achieving sustainable development, in particular in low-income contexts.

A tale of multiple disconnects: Why the 2030 Agenda does not (yet?) contribute to moving German gender equality struggles forward

Date: Friday, May 31, 2019

This study addresses the percolation and domestication of the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – Transforming our World” in Germany with a view to understanding its impact on domestic gender equality policies. Concentrating on federal-level policymaking, the main finding of the study is that the 2030 Agenda and SDG 5 have, as of yet, not had a discernible impact on domestic gender equality struggles.

RESPECT Women: Preventing violence against women

Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2019

RESPECT Women is a policy framework launched by twelve UN, bilateral, and multilateral agencies, which outlines steps for a public health and human rights–based approach to scaling up prevention programming on violence against women. It builds on the learnings compiled in the UN Prevention of Violence against Women Framework (2015), and in additional systematic reviews, to provide evidence-based strategies on preventing violence against women.

Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future

Date: Monday, May 6, 2019

On the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, UN Women’s “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future” campaign demands equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end to sexual harassment and violence against women and girls, health care services that respond to their needs, and their equal participation in political life and in decision-making in all areas of life.

Handbook: Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work

Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2019

This handbook, produced by UN Women and the ILO, provides practical guidance and examples of how to address violence and harassment against women in various work settings. The handbook includes: background on the issues, relevant international and regional policy and legal frameworks, the role of state and non-state actors, social dialogue, situations in which women are more exposed, how to respond, and entry points for prevention.

Equality in law for women and girls by 2030: A multistakeholder strategy for accelerated action

Date: Thursday, March 14, 2019

Globally, more than 2.5 billion women and girls are affected by discriminatory laws and the lack of legal protections. This policy strategy seeks to fast track the repeal of discriminatory laws in 100 countries between 2019 and 2023, focusing on six thematic areas, and will address the legal needs of more than 50 million women and girls.

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.

Supplementary guidance on the ‘Enabling environment guidelines for the United Nations system’ in support of the ‘Secretary-General’s system-wide strategy on gender parity’

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2019

The “Enabling environment guidelines for the United Nations system” will support efforts to create a working environment that embraces equality, eradicates bias, and is inclusive of all staff. These guidelines include good practices and recommendations on workplace flexibility, family-friendly policies, and standards of conduct, as well as on recruitment and talent management.

A short history of the Commission on the Status of Women

Date: Friday, February 1, 2019

This short history of the Commission on the Status of Women from its inception in 1946 to today highlights the Commission’s advocacy for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It summarizes the Commission’s key achievements in developing the global legal and normative framework, and in advancing its follow-up and implementation at the national level, for the benefit of women and girls everywhere.

Gender equality and inclusive growth: Economic policies to achieve sustainable development

Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2019

This publication shows that economic growth is an inherently gendered process and that gender-based inequalities can, in fact, be barriers to shared prosperity. It argues that, for growth to be gender-equitable and truly inclusive, the pattern of growth must create decent work and productive employment for women and men. This would require policymakers to rethink the role of macro-level economic policies, including trade, industrial, macroeconomic, finance, and investment policies.