UN Women Update

Annual Executive Board Meeting and Strategic Plan

UN Women is governed by an Executive Board that oversees the organization's operational activities based on policy directions set by the UN General Assembly, ECOSOC and the Commission on the Status of Women. The Board engages with the executive boards of other UN development agencies to coordinate work on gender across the UN system.

The Annual Session of the UN Women Executive Board, took place from the 27–30 June 2011. The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, a network of over 300 women's rights, development, human rights and social justice groups around the world that worked for over four years with UN member states and the UN Secretariat to help create UN Women, made a statement to the UN Women Executive Board during its Annual Session drawing attention to a number of concerns.

Further, highlighting the significance of UN Women's first Strategic Plan, the foundational document, according to GEAR, "spells out the vision, workplan and programmatic activities for the new entity globally, the strategic plan is an important step towards the development of a global agenda that will advance human rights, development, peace and security for all women."


Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice

Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice is UN Women's first major report, following the organization's launch in early 2011. The report, released on 6 July 2011, recognizes the positive progress made – 139 countries and territories now guarantee gender equality in their constitutions, for example – but also shows that too often, women continue to experience injustice, violence and inequality in their home and working lives.

To ensure justice becomes a reality for all women, UN Women calls on governments to:

  • Repeal laws that discriminate against women, and ensure that legislation protects women from violence and inequality in the home and the workplace.
  • Support innovative justice services, including one-stop shops, legal aid and specialized courts, to ensure women can access the justice to which they are entitled.
  • Put women on the frontline of justice delivery. As police, judges, legislators and activists, women in every region are making a difference and bringing about change.
  • Invest in justice systems that can respond to women's needs. Donors spend US$4.2 billion annually on aid for justice reform, but only 5% of this spending specifically targets women and girls.

“With half the world's population at stake, the findings of this report are a powerful call to action. The foundations for justice for women have been laid: in 1911, just two countries in the world allowed women to vote – now that right is virtually universal. But full equality demands that women become men's true equals in the eyes of the law – in their home and working lives, and in the public sphere,” said Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.

For the official press release, see here.