UN Women - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Women attend a community meeting held at the UN Women multipurpose centre in the Ngam refugee camp. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
UN Women is the global champion for gender equality, working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girl can exercise her human rights and live up to her full potential. We are trusted partners for advocates and decision-makers from all walks of life, and a leader in the effort to achieve gender equality.
Our mandate
UN Women works in normative, operational and coordination level and has the following main roles:
- 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 lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality as well as promote accountability, including through regular monitoring of system-wide progress
What we do
All human development and human rights issues have gender dimensions. UN Women focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, and that can unlock progress across the board. We focus on five thematic areas:
- Leadership and political participation
- Economic empowerment
- Ending violence against women
- Peace and security, and humanitarian action
- Governance and national planning
In focus
Planet 50-50 by 2030
UN Women envisages a world where all women and girls have equal opportunities and rights by 2030. Step It Up asks governments to make national commitments that will close the gender equality gap – from laws and policies to national action plans and adequate investment.
Women and Sustainable Development Goals
With the new global 2030 roadmap and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by UN Member States on 25 September 2015, UN Women takes a look at how women are affected by each of the 17 proposed SDGs, as well as how women and girls can — and will — be key to achieving each of these goals. Goal 5 is known as the stand-alone gender goal because it is dedicated to achieving these ends.
Where we work
Headquartered at the United Nations in New York, UN Women promotes women’s empowerment, rights and gender equality globally, as well as within and among individual countries through a network of sub-regional, country and liaison offices.
Nordic Liaison Office
UN Women’s Nordic Office situated at UN City liaises with Nordic governments, parliamentarians and key decision-makers, as well as UN Women National Committees in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the private sector, media, civil society and all UN agencies based in Copenhagen. The Nordic countries have a steadfast relationship with the UN, and are strong advocates for gender equality both within their own countries and as part of their development cooperation policies.
