UNIFEM UK: Working for women's empowerment and gender equality

Progress for Women Is Progress for All

UN Reform: proposals from UNIFEM UK and other women's organisations

July 2006

UNIFEMUK set up a consultation meeting on UN reform with other UK women's organisations which was hosted by the Overseas Development Institute on 21 June. Organisations represented included WOMANKIND Worldwide, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland and the UK Gender and Development Network. Following the meeting a joint submission was sent to the UN High Level Panel which is to make recommendations about reform. This proposed the establishment of a new UN agency to be responsible for all areas of activity which impact on women and to report directly to the Secretary General.

Despite widespread acknowledgement by governments that the centrality of gender equality and women's empowerment is crucial to the achievement of sustainable development, peace and human rights, there remains an immense gap between the commitments governments have made and the reality of ordinary women's lives. Women still constitute the poorest of the poor, continue to be subjected to widespread and persistent discrimination in all areas of their lives, and are sidelined from decision-making processes.

The UN has been an important force for change in advancing women's rights globally, but the failure to provide the machineries responsible for advancing gender equality with sufficient resources and authority, or to implement and resource the strategy of gender ‘mainstreaming' effectively, has critically undermined the UN's ability to tackle inequality and promote sustainable development. The multiplicity of UN agencies working on gender equality issues has led to a lack of coordination, duplication of efforts and dilution of available resources.

It is essential that the UN reform process addresses these obstacles. If we are to achieve more effective UN mechanisms to advance gender equality in development, humanitarian affairs, environment, human rights and peace-keeping, women must be part of the process.

More progress could be made if the UN established a coherent single body – for UN Centre and Field Operations and reporting to the UN Secretary General – to deal efficiently, effectively and equitably with advocacy, setting standards, and operational programmes in all areas of activity which impact on women.

This would involve -

Restructuring existing UN entities which focus exclusively on women's issues (including UNIFEM) to establish one well-resourced body led by an Under-Secretary General with thematic and cross-cutting authority. This body would play a dual role: advocacy, research and implementation of initiatives relating to women's empowerment and rights on the one hand, and driving, supporting, and sustaining the gender mainstreaming work of other UN agencies on the other.
Giving the restructured women's body the capacity to initiate and coordinate gender programmes which are currently run by other agencies but do not constitute their main mandate, eg the UN Development Programme and UNICEF. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) should also report to the new body given that its key role is female reproductive health and choice. Cost savings should result from these proposals through consolidated office functions and administration, as well as increased effectiveness and efficiency.
Ensuring the new body has the authority, resources and mandate to drive, support and sustain the process of ensuring the centrality of gender mainstreaming within each UN agency. Gender mainstreaming must be implemented systematically and backed up with political will, resources (financial, technical and human) and effective monitoring and accountability mechanisms. The UN has failed to date to reach this strategic objective.
Rationalising in-country and regional UN offices to create one office per country/region, ensuring that gender equality and human rights are represented at all levels in that body. Each office should provide for the new women's agency to proactively promote women's equality and gender mainstreaming at country/regional level.
Establishing an effective accountability mechanism that functions at all levels – local, regional and international – and includes the representation of diverse women's rights advocates as part of its governing body.

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