Gender Equality | United Nations

Gender Equality | United Nations
In Cambodia, hundreds of people joined the Siem Reap Running Race in 2015, saying no to violence against women. Gender Equality was made part of international human rights law by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948. Photo: UN Women/Niels den Hollander
Gender Equality
Gender Equality
The unfinished business of our time
Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development. Moreover, it has been shown that empowering women spurs productivity and economic growth.
Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go to achieve full equality of rights and opportunities between men and women, warns UN Women. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to end the multiple forms of gender violence and secure equal access to quality education and health, economic resources and participation in political life for both women and girls and men and boys. It is also essential to achieve equal opportunities in access to employment and to positions of leadership and decision-making at all levels.
Gender equality is more important than ever if we are to create prosperous economies and a healthy planet. However, we face a critical challenge: the need for an additional $360 billion per year to close the gender equality gap by 2030.
To revert this trend, he has identified five key areas that need joint action: Investing in women, ending poverty, implementing gender-responsive financing, shifting to a green economy and care society and supporting feminist change-makers.
The UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres has stated that achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world.
The United Nations and women
UN support for the rights of women began with the Organization's founding Charter. Among the purposes of the UN declared in
Article 1 of its Charter
is “
To achieve international co-operation … in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion
.”
Within the UN’s first year, the Economic and Social Council established its
Commission on the Status of Women
, as the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Among its earliest accomplishments was ensuring gender neutral language in the draft
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Women's rights as a human right
Gender Equality was made part of international human rights law by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948. That milestone document in the history of human rights recognized that “
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
” and that “
everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, … birth or other status
.”
As the international feminist movement began to gain momentum during the 1970s, the General Assembly declared 1975 as the International Women’s Year and organized the first World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City. At the urging of the Conference, it subsequently declared the years 1976-1985 as the
UN Decade for Women
, and established a Voluntary Fund for Decade.
In 1979, the General Assembly adopted the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
, which is often described as an International Bill of Rights for Women. In its 30 articles, the Convention explicitly defines discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. The Convention targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations, and it is the first human rights treaty to affirm the reproductive rights of women.
Five years after the Mexico City conference, a
Second World Conference on Women
was held in Copenhagen in 1980. The resulting Programme of Action called for stronger national measures to ensure women's ownership and control of property, as well as improvements in women's rights with respect to inheritance, child custody and loss of nationality
Birth of Global Feminism
In 1985, the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, was held in Nairobi. It was convened at a time when the movement for gender equality had finally gained true global recognition, and 15,000 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participated in a parallel NGO Forum.
The event was described by many as “the birth of global feminism”. Realizing that the goals of the Mexico City Conference had not been adequately met, the 157 participating governments adopted the
Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies
to the Year 2000. The document broke new ground by declaring all issues to be women’s issues.
Beijing Conference on Women
The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, went a step further than the Nairobi Conference. The
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
asserted women’s rights as human rights and committed to specific actions to ensure respect for those rights.
In 2025, the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
celebrated its 30º Anniversary with a
new publication
that reviews the progress made and marks priorities for further action, especially considering the report shows that
in 2024, nearly a quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash on women’s rights
Commission on the Status of Women
The
Commission on the Status of Women
(CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
During the Commission’s annual two-week session, representatives of UN Member States, civil society organizations and UN entities gather at UN headquarters in New York. They discuss progress and gaps in terms of gender equality. Member States agree on further actions to accelerate progress and promote women’s and girls' enjoyment of their rights in political, economic, and social fields.
An Organization for Women and the whole support of the UN System and their agencies
On 2 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted to create a single UN body tasked with accelerating progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. The new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – or
UN Women
– merged four of the world body’s agencies and offices: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.
UN Women focuses on four main areas: promoting women's leadership and political participation, empowering women economically, ending violence against women, and supporting women's full and equal participation in peace processes and security efforts.
In addition to UN Women, the United Nations relies on the active participation and support of other agencies such as UNFPA, UNICEF, FAO, and UNDP, among others. These agencies contribute significantly to raising awareness about critical social issues such as child marriage, the imperative to end female genital mutilation, the importance of ensuring healthy pregnancies, and finally, the promotion of the role of women in both local and national economies. Together, they form a comprehensive and collaborative system committed to advancing the rights, health, and empowerment of women and girls worldwide.
UN Ongoing efforts
Women and the Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations is now focusing its global development work on the recently-developed 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
. Women have a
critical role to play
in all of the SDGs, with many targets specifically recognizing women’s equality and empowerment as both the objective, and as part of the solution.
Goal 5
, to "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls" is known as the stand-alone gender goal, because it is dedicated to achieving these ends. Deep legal and legislative changes are needed to ensure women’s rights around the world, considering
that 54% of countries still lack laws in all key areas of gender equality
, including on equal rights to enter marriage and initiate a divorce.
Stark
gender disparities
remain in economic and political realms. While there has been some progress over the decades, on average women in the labour market still earn around 20 per cent less than men globally. In 2024, women held only 27 per cent of seats in national parliaments and 35.5 per cent of seats in local governments, and 107 countries have never had a woman Head of State.
Eliminating Violence Against Women
The UN system continues to give particular attention to the issue of violence against women. The 1993 General Assembly
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
contained “a clear and comprehensive definition of violence against women [and] a clear statement of the rights to be applied to ensure the elimination of violence against women in all its forms”. It represented “a commitment by States in respect of their responsibilities, and a commitment by the international community at large to the elimination of violence against women”.
Violence against women is a pandemic affecting all countries, even those that have made laudable progress in other areas. Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed and an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their life (30 per cent of women aged 15 and older).
To create awareness of this endless problem, the UN launched in 2008 the UNITE to End Violence against Women initiative, a multiyear effort to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world.
The initiative, under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, supports the civil society through a 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign around the world.
Managed by UN Women, UNITE calls on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, media, and the UN system to join forces to address the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.
Besides, in September 2017, the European Union and the United Nations joined forces to launch the
Spotlight Initiative
, a global, multi-year initiative that focuses on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
The
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
is observed on 25 November.
International Women's Day and other observances
International Women’s Day
is observed annually on 8 March. International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. It is a day, observed by many countries around the world, on which women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.
Besides International Women’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the UN observes other international days dedicated to raising awareness of different aspects of the struggle for gender equality and women's empowerment. On January 25, the UN celebrates the
International Day of Women in Multilateralism
; February 6, the
International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation
is observed, February 11 is the
International Day of Women and Girls in Science
, March 10 is the
International Day of Women Judges
, June 19 is the
International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict
, June 23 is
International Widows' Day
, June 24 is
International Day of Women in Diplomacy
, October 11 is the
International Day of the Girl Child
and on October 15 the
International Day of Rural Women
is observed.
Gender equality within the UN system: Inclusive language and the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan
Given the key role that language plays in shaping cultural and social attitudes, using gender-inclusive language is a powerful way to promote gender equality and eradicate gender bias.
Being inclusive from a gender language perspective means speaking and writing in a way that does not discriminate against a particular sex, social gender or gender identity, and does not perpetuate gender stereotypes.
That is why the UN launched its own
guidelines
included recommendations and materials, created to help United Nations staff use gender-inclusive language in any type of communication — oral or written, formal or informal — and are a useful starting point for anyone.
Latest internal efforts of the UN in this respect are reflected in the launch of the
UN System-Wide Gender Equality Acceleration Plan (GEAP)
on March 2024. The GEAP is a flagship initiative led by the UN Secretary-General to accelerate progress on gender equality across the UN system.
It sets out the UN commitment to accelerate ongoing efforts to achieve much needed internal UN transformation. When fully implemented, the GEAP will enable all UN entities, no matter their mandate, to support all 193 UN Member States and other stakeholders to advance the rights of women and girls.
This ambitious plan is rooted in
Our Common Agenda
and commits to placing women and girls at the centre of renewed, inclusive multilateralism.
Resources
UN Conferences - Women and gender equality
UN Women
Gender Equality Acceleration Plan
Facts and figures
Gender Snapshot 2024
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at 30
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