UN Women India
UN Women’s Office based in New Delhi covers four countries: India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. In these countries, we strengthen women’s rights by working with women, men, feminists, women’s networks, governments, local authorities and civil society. With all of them, UN Women helps to create national strategies to advance gender equality in line with national and international priorities.
UN Women stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on six priority areas:
- Ending violence against women: Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights. Its impact ranges from immediate to long-term multiple physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death. UN Women responds to violence against women and girls in all its forms – from domestic violence, trafficking to violence in public places.
- Promoting Leadership and Participation: Women are underrepresented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether in elected offices, civil services, the private sector or academia. This occurs despite their proven abilities as leaders and agents of change, and their right to participate equally in democratic governance. UN Women advocates for greater participation of women in politics and decision-making. By working with 67,000 elected women leaders in five states, UN Women was able to ensure that more women participated in local village councils.
- National Planning and Budgeting: National plans, policies, institutions and budgets are where governments begin to translate commitments to women into practical progress towards gender equality. Too often, however, they overlook measures to ensure that public services respond to women’s needs and priorities. UN Women works with economists, planners, government officials, bankers and planning bodies such as NITI Aayog to ensure that policies and budgets reflect the needs of women across the country.
- Economic Empowerment: Women make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home.But they also remain disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation.Many innovations with women farmers, women workers at home, rural entrepreneurs, former women scavengers are re-defining women’s participation in the economy. UN Women sees greater land and property rights as essential ingredients for long term change.
- Peace and Security: The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, enunciated in Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and several subsequent Resolutions, promotes the protection of women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence in conflict, as well as women’s equal and meaningful participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peacebuilding and peacekeeping. Under this normative framework, UN Women India MCO leads action and advocacy on two aspects in mainstreaming gender in international peacekeeping, i.e. effective response and prevention of conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) through pre-deployment training of police and military officers and the targeted inclusion of female officers in peacekeeping through its flagship Female Military Officers Course (FMOC).
- Migration: UN Women India MCO works towards strengthening gender-responsive migration of women domestic workers from India to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries by raising awareness on the risks of unsafe and irregular migration and by informing aspiring women migrant workers about their rights and entitlements which ensure safe and legal migration. UN Women also leads advocacy for the design and implementation of policies and programmes that target safe and informed migration of women domestic workers including the institutionalization of pre-departure orientation training and mass awareness campaigns.
In India, UN Women builds on a strong foundation, working closely with the Government of India and civil society to set national standards for achieving gender equality. In Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, UN Women works through the United Nations to ensure that women become equal partners in development.
News and Updates
Political Will: A Significant Driver of Gender Budgeting
Political will is the motive/will of the political leader of a nation that generates political action. The first person that comes to mind when one talks about political will is Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Everyone’s eyes are on what this political leader will accomplish in their term as head of the state. With regard to Gender Equality, various stakeholders of the Government have emphasised on “women-led development” as the big policy shift. One of the key ways to push this policy, is to make women enablers of the desired change. In my recent experience and interaction with this Government on Gender Budgeting, there are two particular instances of significance that I would like to enumerate upon.
Coverage: UN Women Executive Director takes “Equality Means Business” to India
UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is visiting India this week to meet with gender equality advocates, youth and private sector partners to build momentum towards the upcoming 63rd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (11-22 March), and to re-ignite public discourse towards the full implementation of the visionary Beijing Platform for Action.
Co-hosted with UN Women, P&G’s first IMEA #WeSeeEqual Summit brought together business and government leaders, and influencers to share inspiration and surface insights around the myths that prevent us from accelerating our progress for gender equality. The Summit brought together the leading voices to share perspectives on gender equality in its many facets including women’s economic empowerment, the role of advertising and media, the myths that are holding us back from equal representation in leadership and the workplace.
UN House turns orange to support ending violence against women
As part of the global 16 Days of Activism campaign, the UN House in India turned orange on Friday, ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, marked annually on November 25. The special event, under the theme “Orange The World: #HearMeToo”, was organised by UN Women, along with the UN in India, as part of the UN Secretary General’s UNiTE campaign that is set to continue till the International Day of Human Rights.
From where I stand: “I feel good about the change that I have been able to bring”
When I was in Class 11 and there was no money for attending school, I dropped out. I continued with my studies at home by taking notes from my friends and borrowing books. This is how I kept myself connected with studies, and I joined back school as soon as I had the means to do so. I am currently pursuing my studies and working simultaneously at the Empowerment Centre.
