Recommendations into action brief COVID-19: Safe cities and safe public spaces for women and girls

Date: Monday, December 21, 2020

This brief details some of the ways safe city partners from different sectors, in a short six months, have taken action in line with the recommendations set out in UN Women’s Policy brief on COVID-19 and ensuring safe cities and safe public spaces for women and girls.

Universal health coverage, gender equality and social protection: A health systems approach

Date: Thursday, December 10, 2020

This discussion paper focuses on the interconnections between policies to move toward universal health care (UHC) as a key element of social protection and those to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment, and human rights. Based on an analysis of country experiences, it shows how gender is a key fulcrum on which all health system elements are leveraged and is hence central to achieving UHC.

COVID-19 and ensuring safe transport with and for women and girls

Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2020

The brief highlights trends and impacts of COVID-19 on women’s safety in transport. It includes examples of strategies put in place to provide safer transport modes for women and girls throughout the global pandemic, with a focus on availability, accessibility, and affordability, and makes recommendations on how different sectors can contribute to a comprehensive approach to improve women’s mobility.

Work with men and boys for gender equality: A review of field formation, the evidence base and future directions

Date: Friday, November 6, 2020

This discussion paper assesses the evidence base of the “men for gender equality” field in light of three aspects of its emergence as a field, namely: its un-interrogated use of the category of “men”, its recourse to social psychological accounts of gender norms, and the implications of its NGO form for its ability to collaborate with and be accountable to resurgent intersectional feminist mobilizations.

UN Women impact stories series

Date: Monday, October 5, 2020

This series, updated quarterly, illustrates the human impact of UN Women’s work across the world, highlighting the partnerships that make this work possible. These stories share how we and our many partners are striding forward to realize a better world for women and girls

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.

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.

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.

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.

RESPECT Women: Preventing violence against women – Implementation package

Date: Friday, July 31, 2020

This implementation package is a suite of practical resources and tools to support the implementation of the RESPECT Women: Preventing Violence against Women Framework. The package is built upon the global evidence base, expert recommendations and practitioner consensus to support policy makers and practitioners in developing ethical and effective VAW prevention programming.

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.

Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: Report of the Secretary-General (2020)

Date: Thursday, July 30, 2020

The present report, submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 73/148, provides information on measures taken by Member States and activities carried out within the United Nations system to eliminate violence against women and girls. The report emphasizes the urgency of efforts to eliminate violence against women in the context of COVID-19 as well as reporting on advances in eliminating sexual harassment. The report includes conclusions and specific recommendations for future action.

Trafficking in women and girls: Report of the Secretary-General (2020)

Date: Thursday, July 30, 2020

The present report, submitted pursuant to UN General Assembly resolution 73/146, provides information on measures taken by Member States and activities carried out within the United Nations system to eliminate trafficking in women and girls. The report focuses on efforts to address the gender dimensions of trafficking, with a special focus on the economic drivers and consequences of trafficking, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trafficking of women and girls.

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.

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.

COVID-19, women, girls and sport: Build back better

Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2020

This brief focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls in sports in five areas—leadership, gender-based violence, economic opportunities, media participation and representation, and girls’ participation in sport—and presents key recommendations to different actors in the sport ecosystem to respond to the crisis with a gender perspective and recover better in terms of gender equality.

COVID-19 and violence against women and girls: Addressing the shadow pandemic

Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2020

This brief presents emerging evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on violence against women and girls (VAWG). The brief advocates for measures that prevent and respond to VAWG in the current circumstances of lockdown as well as for investments that ensure the safety of women and girls in longer-term recovery plans.