The United Nations created the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women

Published by S. Mally, September 2010, Barcelona (Spain)

Last July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women -UN Women- in order to better help Member States accelerate progress toward their goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The creation of UN Women, which came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact, means the fusion of the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

The main roles of the new Entity 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
To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

UN-Women, which will be operational by January 2011, will be the lead driver and lead voice advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment globally.

For further information on UN-Women please visit www.unwomen.org