Research and data

Photo: World Bank/Nugroho Nurdikiawan Sunjoyo

Cutting-edge policy research, innovative new ideas and robust evidence are critical ways in which UN Women leads the charge in building knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Our commitment to delivering the highest quality research and data gives us a place at the table at global and national policy debates, to help set the agenda and mobilize our partners to take action to advance gender equality and human rights for all.

By developing knowledge and harnessing evidence, UN Women supports civil society and governments to develop laws, policies and strategies, and strengthen their capacity to make gender equality a lived reality.

Our solutions

Our solutions include preparing regular research and data–based flagship reports to call attention to existing gaps and spur action. These include Progress of the World’s Women and World Survey on the Role of Women in Development.

UN Women works with UN system partners to support the production and use of high-quality gender statistics in policymaking. UN Women is an active member of the Interagency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS), which coordinates work on such data across the UN. This group’s work has included the development of a minimum set of 52 gender indicators, as well as new guidelines for measuring violence against women and girls. In addition, UN Women is collaborating with a number of agencies in a global gender statistics programme called Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE).

UN Women has issued position papers on the post-2015 development agenda, and on the global economic crisis, among others, and provides regular substantive inputs to intergovernmental processes, like the Commission on the Status of Women.