What We Do

All human development and human rights issues have gender dimensions. UN Women focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, and that can unlock progress across the board.

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End Violence against Women
This fundamental violation of women’s rights remains widespread, affecting all countries. Women need strong laws, backed by implementation and services for protection and prevention.
Photo: UN Women/Samir Jung Thapa
Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction
In the past decade, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 41 per cent of all disasters worldwide, and over 90 per cent of all global deaths from disasters. The region is also home to a number of protracted crises, which, when combined...
UN system coordination
When different parts of the multilateral system act together, they can deliver greater results—and maximize the use of scarce resources. Within the UN system, UN Women is mandated to lead, promote and coordinate efforts to advance the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities.
Haribai fought all odds to become a worksite supervisor under the world’s largest pay-for-work programme, MGNREGA. Here she collects her earnings at the local bank in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. As part of a project supported by UN Women’s Fun
Trust Funds
A multi-donor initiative, the Fund for Gender Equality is dedicated to programmes that increase women’s economic opportunities and/or political participation at local and national levels. Managed by UN Women on behalf of the UN system...
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Advancement of human rights of LGBTIQ+ people
About 2 billion people live in places where consensual same-sex relations (in approximately 62 UN Member States) and transgender people are criminalized. At least 41 countries—22 per cent—specifically criminalize consensual same-sex relations between women, and women in other countries may also be criminalized for different aspects of their gender identity.
Photo: UN Women/Adrianus Mulya
Economic empowerment
Women lag far behind men in access to land, credit and decent jobs, even though a growing body of research shows that enhancing women’s economic options boosts national economies. Macroeconomic policies and policy-making can make the connections to gender equality...
CEDAW & Women's Human Rights
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women sets comprehensive international standards for women’s human rights. Signatory governments are obligated to take steps in laws and policies to achieve these norms.
Peace and Security
There is international recognition that women bear the brunt of modern conflicts, including where rape is a weapon of war. Specific threats to women must be identified and stopped, and women must be at the centre of peace talks and post-conflict reconstruction.
Youth voters dip their fingers into the indigo-blue dye. Photo: UN Women/Betsy Davis Cosme
Governance
Across all areas of life, whether in political bodies or corporate boardrooms, women have a limited say in the decisions that affect them. Quotas and other special measures open more space for women’s participation. New skills help women realize their full leadership potential.
HIV & AIDS
Although much progress has been made in part of the Southeast Asia region, AIDS is increasingly acquiring a women’s face. UN Women brings principles of gender equality and a rights-based approach to achieve the goal of halting and reversing the spread of HIV in the region.
Photo: UN Women/Nicholas Axelrod
Programme implementation
UN Women implements programmes (and their component projects) at country, multi-country, and regional levels through implementing partners, which include government entities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies, non-UN intergovernmental organizations, and UN Women (direct implementation). UN Women issues calls for proposals and calls for expressions of interest to identify and select, through a competitive process, suitable implementing partners.