UN Women conducted a research analysis of UN Joint Programmes (JPs) from an overall perspective and with a focus on gender equality and SDG results. The main source of this analysis comes from data included in the Common Country Programming Profile Joint Programme 2019 and collected through the UNSDG Information Management System (IMS).

This brief seeks to explain the status of the implementation of the Gender Equality Marker (GEM) in the UN system (at the entity level, UN Country Team level, and in the inter-agency pooled funds level).

In 2021, UN Women supported the UNSDG Fiduciary Management and Oversight Group (FMOG) Working Group in launching the first survey to all MPTFs’ Administrative Agents. This survey received responces from a total of 115 UN inter-agency pooled funds, equivalent to 70% of the estimated 164 active UN inter-agency pooled funds during the period 2020-2021. Of the total of complete responses received, 49 (or 43%) were from MPTFs and 66 (or 57%) were from standalone Joint Programmes (JPs). 

The brief sheds light on the barriers faced by women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in accessing justice, and explores a series of recommendations to close the justice gap.

This brief presents data on the legal barriers that women with disabilities face when accessing economic opportunities in 190 economies. The new data suggest that only one-quarter of economies worldwide explicitly protect and promote the rights of women with disabilities.
 

This Guidance Note provides an overview of the gender equality marker and its application for the COVID-19 MPTF. It offers a checklist of minimum criteria, as well as tips and good practice examples to support gender mainstreaming throughout proposals and ensure applicant UN organizations
accurately apply gender equality marker codes in their submission.

This report presents a rapid gender analysis of Joint Programmes (JPs) reported in the UNSDG Information Management System (IMS) exploring the extent to which gender and SDG 5 are reported as a focus of the JPs and what the proportion of overall funding is to JPs with a gender or SDG 5 focus. The analysis was developed by the UN Women UN System Coordination Division to strengthen evidence-based analysis, provide a baseline for similar follow-up analysis of IMS data from 2022 and identify trends with the overall objective to inform UN System policies and engagement with UNCTs on strengthening gender equality in JPs. 

The United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Gender and Disability Inclusion (UNWGGDI) collected case studies for the Beijing+30 review process, looking at lessons learned and good practices on gender, disability inclusion, and intersectionality. UN Women received a total 32 case studies from six UN entities (UN Women, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UNOPS) and two UN Country Teams represented by the UN Resident Coordinator’s Offices in India and Honduras.

In reflection of the 12 critical areas of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, violence against women and women in power and decision-making were equally the most addressed critical areas in the case studies, while the critical areas around women and the environment as well as the girl child were equally the least addressed.

This knowledge compendium aims to share reflections for UN entities, Member States, policymakers, and civil society organizations. It synthesizes best practices, innovative approaches, and collaborative efforts to enhance sustainable development and human rights for all. By ensuring that the rights and needs of women and girls with disabilities are adequately addressed, this document reinforces the commitment of the UN system and its stakeholders to a more equitable and inclusive future.

This policy paper is focused on diverse groups of socially marginalized women with diverse disabilities. It highlights how the 12 critical areas of concern from the Beijing Platform for Action have progressed or faced continuing entrenched barriers and dealt with new challenges in the 30 years since the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing.

The focus is specifically on how gender inequality and disability exclusion both compound and create unique concerns for women and girls with disabilities. As they are not homogenous, this paper takes an intersectional approach, identifying the impacts for women and girls with disabilities facing numerous forms of discrimination while having different and multiple types of disabilities. Stereotypes and social and cultural norms are discussed in relation to stigma and discrimination.

The paper also features the voices of diverse women leaders with diverse disabilities, with case studies from various low- and middle-income countries.

The paper was produced as part of the development of the global report on accelerating disability inclusion in a diverse and changing world as well as a set of accompanying documents prepared for the Global Disability Summit 2025. Funding was provided by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany through UNICEF.

UN Women is fully committed to mainstreaming disability inclusion and intersectionality throughout its work, as laid out in the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022–2025. The goal is to ensure a more systematic approach to ensuring the rights of women and girls with disabilities across UN Women’s areas of work.

Disability, gender, and discrimination are closely interlinked, with one in five women experiencing a disability-related exclusion. To address this, UN Women developed a corporate strategy for the empowerment of women and girls with disabilities built on a multi-pronged approach that includes providing normative guidance, integrated policy advice, operational support, and technical assistance for programme and capacity-development. The approach helps ensure that initiatives are both gender-responsive and inclusive of the rights of persons with disabilities.

This brief overviews UN Women’s approach to disability inclusion and intersectionality.