Introduction Title

The UN must deliver global leadership on financing for gender equality by first improving its own processes, systems and operations. 

Introduction Description

The UN Secretary-General has made gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (GEWE) a top priority of his tenure. The need to accelerate progress has been prompted, in part, by a 2017 external review estimating that only 2.03% of the UN Development System expenditures are allocated to GEWE, while only 2.6% of UN personnel work on the issue.

At its meeting on the gender priorities for the UN System in June 2017, the Executive Committee of the Secretary-General recommended that the UN consider establishing a light and time-bound High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on Financing for Gender Equality to review UN budgets/expenditures across the System and make recommendations on how to strengthen the financing for gender equality.