UN Women – United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

UN WOMEN is the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was created in 2010 from the merger of four UN bodies active in promoting equal opportunities. Switzerland strongly supported and was actively involved in establishing the new entity.

The main focal areas of UN Women's work

Over many decades, the UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality, including through landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes.

For many years, the UN has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally, including inadequate funding and no single recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues.
UN Women was created to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels.

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the UN Charter, UN Women, among other issues, works for the:

elimination of discrimination against women and girls;
empowerment of women; and
achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women and Switzerland

Since the start of a consultation process on the creation of the new gender entity, Switzerland has favoured the creation of a composite structure capable of linking standards in the area of gender equality and the promotion of women at the international level with the activities of the United Nations in developing countries. Switzerland alongside other donor countries has spoken out in favour of giving this institution the powers it needs to ensure the quality of efforts to promote equality among men and women in UN development programmes and projects. The high degree of confidence that Switzerland enjoys in the UN General Assembly enabled the Swiss negotiators in New York to play a facilitating role in the process on several occasions and to help unblock the negotiations at times when they appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

The creation of this entity is part of a package of reforms with the aim of streamlining and optimising the operational activities of the United Nations system. Switzerland has been involved for several years in the UN General Assembly as well as in the governing bodies of UN agencies that it helps to finance, such as UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA, to assure the successful implementation of these reforms. The establishment of “UN Women” is one of the tangible results of this commitment.

Additional Information and Documents

UN Women - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
http://www.unwomen.org
UN Women - Comité national suisse

En Suisse, ONU Femmes est représentée par le Comité national suisse d'ONU Femmes. Celui-ci informe et sensibilise le public helvétique sur la situation de la femme et soutient, grâce à des dons, des projets d’ONU Femmes triés sur le volet. Le Comité accorde une importance particulière à la promotion économique des femmes et à la lutte contre la violence à l’égard des femmes, en Suisse et à l’étranger.
http://www.unwomen.ch/home.cfm?lan=3
Creation of a new United Nations agency for women
Gender