Coordination for gender equality and the empowerment of women existed prior to the establishment of UN Women: Inter-agency work on the advancement of women and gender equality dates back to the first World Conference on Women in Mexico in 1975.
In 2010, the General Assembly conferred upon UN Women a mandate to lead, coordinate and promote accountability in the UN System as well as to support gender mainstreaming across the system as an integral part of its work.
The QCPR (A/RES/75/233) calls upon all entities of the United Nations development system to continue enhancing and accelerating gender mainstreaming through the full implementation of the UN-SWAP and the UNCT-SWAP scorecard.
For Beijing+25, IANWGE for the first time conducted a review of the UN system's support for implementing the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Security Council adopts Resolution 2475 on persons with disabilities in armed conflict.
The Joint Inspection Unit, JIU review of UN-SWAP concluded that it has been a catalyst for progress towards gender mainstreaming and an effective framework for tracking system-wide advancement and achievement.
The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all three pillars of the work of the United Nations: peace and security, human rights and development.
UN Women joins the first Global Disability Summit and announces its commitments to a corporate strategy and to pursuing a dedicated window on women and girls with disabilities for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.
An updated UN-SWAP 2.0 and the UNCT-SWAP Scorecard were rolled out, contextualizing the frameworks with the 2030 Agenda and extending their focus from processes and institutional arrangements to cover results.
The General Assembly adopts its first ever resolution on women and girls with disabilities.
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopts General Comment No 3 on Article 6, Women with disabilities. The general comment provides guidance for implementing the article.
UN Women joins the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD), created to overcome barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from enjoying all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
UN Women joins the Inter-Agency Support Group, established in 2006 by the United Nations Chief Executives Board (CEB) as a United Nations system-wide platform to address mainstreaming disability into the global agenda.
The Quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (A/RES/67/226) requests the United Nations development system to expand and strengthen the use of the UNCT gender equality scorecard and welcomes the development of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP), under the leadership of UN-Women, as an accountability framework to be fully implemented by the United Nations development system.
The United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination CEB endorsed the System-Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (UN-SWAP) for adoption across the UN system, a key IANWGE initiative.
Resolution A/RES/64/289 established UN Women in response to acknowledged weaknesses in the UN system's ability to effectively and coherently address issues of GEWE.
The United Nations Country Team Performance Indicators for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment were endorsed by the UNDG principals.
The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE), the largest network of gender focal points in the UN system, was established It includes 60 representatives from UN offices and departments, specialized agencies, funds and programmes.
The first Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality held its inaugural session in New York on 22 and 23 October 1996.
The Fourth World Conference on Women endorsed gender mainstreaming as a critical and strategic approach for achieving gender equality commitments Governments from around the world agreed on a comprehensive plan to achieve global legal equality, known as the Beijing Platform for Action.
UN Women strengthens effective UN action on the global, regional and national levels. We bolster capacities central to UN programmes and policies, advocate for greater resources, and guide and implement joint development programmes to achieve gender equality. We support measures upholding accountability for commitments to gender equality and play a key role in increasing knowledge about gender equality and women’s empowerment work in the United Nations.
UN System and Inter-Agency Coordination Mechanisms
UN Women works through high-level UN inter-agency bodies to promote the integration of gender perspectives into system-wide policies, as well as policies applying to specific issues and sectors.
UN Women leads and guides the work of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE), the longest-standing gender-specific body that advocates and promotes gender mainstreaming in the UN system.
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Gender mainstreaming at the global level
UN Women supports gender mainstreaming in all policies and programmes in the UN system through guidance and services to strengthen the relevant capacities of the system and member states, upon their request.
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Gender mainstreaming at country level
UN Women spearheads initiatives to support gender mainstreaming efforts by the UN development system at the country level. This includes guidance and support to UNCT Gender Theme Groups and advice and guidance on the UNCT gender equality marker and on establishing financial targets for gender equality at the country level
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UN-SWAP
The United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) endorsed the System-Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (the UN-SWAP) for adoption across the UN system in 2012. As an accountability framework for accelerating gender mainstreaming in the UN system, the UN-SWAP, for the first time in UN history, provided UN entities with a set of performance indicators to benchmark performance and measure progress across all business areas.
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UNCT-SWAP
The UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard is a global, standardized, evidence-based monitoring and accountability framework that promotes adherence with minimum gender mainstreaming requirements in the UN system at the country level. Its updated version was adopted in 2018 by the UNSDG and covers joint processes, institutional arrangements and gender equality results delivered by the UN at country level.
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Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality
Since its beginning, UN Women has addressed the exclusion of women and girls with disabilities across all areas of its work. This has led to significant gains in mainstreaming the rights of women and girls with disabilities and to gender-responsive disability inclusion. UN Women is actively engaged in inter-agency, multi-stakeholder and normative processes, and joint United Nations initiatives on disability and intersectionality, including by providing operational support at the global, regional and country levels.
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