UN Women

The Global Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign has been intense, interesting and important. Incase this is the first time that you are hearing about it...the campaign "urges the UN and the Member States to create an agency that can operate with an impact, and make this agency operational without delay". When I first heard about the plans for a new UN Women's agency, I thought of the four current entities that work exclusively on women's issues--DAW (division for Advancement of Women), OSAGI (Office of the Special Advisor for Gender Issues), INSTRAW (UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women) and UNIFEM (UN Development Fund for Women). Also, UNDP and UNFPA do important work on gender equality. Therefore, I did not see the point of a new entity. 

Intern at UNPFII

However, I quickly discovered that the reason that the new entity (UN Woman) was being considered was to strengthen the current structure that was under resourced and fragmented. Furthermore, the existing entities do not have access to the highest decision-making tables at the UN. Therefore, it makes sense that a new, improved ‘Composite Entity’ would be created. 


On the 2nd July 2010, UN Women was launched and my hope for it is that it lives up to expectations. The vision is that UN Women would "holistically incorporate both a global policy-making mandate and a strong programmatic (operational) capacity at global, regional and national levels. Its hybrid structure brings together the normative and operational elements of the Department, Fund and Program. ing women’s rights entities, DAW, OSAGI, UNIFEM, and INSTRAW. To improve the UN’s women’s rights work, the entity will have important new functions, such as leading and coordinating the UN’s work on gender equality and women’s empowerment globally, regionally and in the countries where it is active, and holding the UN system accountable for gender mainstreaming. The new entity will be lead by an Under-Secretary General who is a member of the Chief Executives Board, and it will have more financial resources than the existing entities".

If properly implemented, the hope is that it would remedy the existing fragmentation of the current system and deliver effective results for women. Yet, implementation is a recurring weakness within the UN system. The entities new website states "establishment of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women — to be known as UN Women — is a result of years of negotiations between UN Member States and advocacy by the global women’s movement. It is part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact.

In a recent statement , Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe.” I hope so. I am a firm believer in the necessity for equality of both men and women. I feel that opportunities need to be provided to everyone based on merit and without any prejudice. I agree that a UN entity is necessary. I agree that the reasoning behind the creation of UN Women is sound. Therefore, we all just have to wait and see what happens. This is a positive result for women and girls worldwide. 

Ironically, my concern for UN-Women, is its reason for existence, strength and primary function. According the the FAQ section on the GEAR website. The new entity will absorb UNIFEM, DAW, INSTRAW and OSAGI. It will incorporate all of their mandates and assets, and therefore continue their work. UNIFEM’s donor-supported programmes will be carried over to the new entity since there are pre-existing agreements with programme countries and donors. This has the potential to become a double edged sword. The organisation will be better funded, more powerful but it will also be taking on all the 'baggage' from the other entities.


However, what is obvious is that on the 2 ^nd of July, the world witnessed what could possibly be the most progressive reform at the UN in the past 20 years. The doption of a Resolution which would consolidate the efforts by the previous four UN gender agencies to advance the rights and conditions of women around the world is a momentous step forward and was preceded by tireless work from civil society organizations, who strongly advocated for the reformation of gender equality architecture at the UN. The GEAR (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) Campaign, the most visible of the civil society groups, was closely involved in the process for achieving system-wide coherence in designated areas at the UN.

We can only wait and see what happens. We can only hope that their first Under-Secretary General is up to the challenge (more).