Un Women

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. The main roles of organization are to support inter-governmental bodies such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards, and norms; to help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society; and to lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality as well as promote accountability, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress. UN Women acts on two fronts: it supports international political negotiations to formulate globally agreed standards for gender equality, and it helps UN Member States to implement those standards by providing expertise and financial support. UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; empowerment of women with regard to economy, leadership, and political partnership; and achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action, and peace and security. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment: Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). UN Women was founded in July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly and is headquartered at the United Nations in New York, United States with presence in Africa, Americas and the Caribbean, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe. It operates a network of sub-regional, country, and liaison offices.

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