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

UN Women logo

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established in 2010 to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

20120314 UNWomenIndia ashutoshNegi femaleSarpanchRajasthan2 UNWomen/Ashutosh NegiUN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women's equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas:

increasing women's leadership and participation;
ending violence against women;
engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes;
enhancing women's economic empowerment; and
making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting.

UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.

UN WOMEN AND THE EU

The Brussels Office aims to: 1) build and strengthen cooperation and partnerships for advancing women's rights and achieving gender equality with the European Union (EU) and other Brussels based institutions; 2) contribute to the strengthening of gender equality in EU policies in line with international commitments to women's empowerment and human rights. The office also engages in outreach, representation and policy dialogue with the governments and other partners in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Regarding private sector, the Brussels Office is also working on expanding partnerships, reaching out and mobilizing commitments around the Women's Empowerment Principles.

MoU signing European Commission and UN Women at the signing of the MoUOn 16 April 2012, the EU and UN Women signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which lays the groundwork for a dynamic partnership both in terms of policy dialogue/advocacy as well as joint programming. With strong political support at the highest level, the partnership outlines areas and modalities of cooperation between UN Women and the EU. The MoU covers both (i) policy dialogue as well as (ii) joint programming and focuses mainly on the following thematic areas: women's leadership and political participation; women's access to economic empowerment and opportunities; combating sexual and gender based violence; humanitarian aid/Women, Peace and Security; responsiveness of plans and budgets to gender equality; gender equality and women's empowerment in the context of global issues (i.e.. sustainable development, climate change).

The EU and UN Women are working together on gender equality and women's empowerment in many parts of the world. Some examples include Increasing Accountability in Financing for Gender Equality Progamme, set up to help national governments; civil society and donors to improve resources and accountability on gender equality in various countries, Enhancing women's participation in peace-building and post-conflict planning in Liberia, Timor-Leste and Kosovo and Spring forward for Women, a regional programme for the South Mediterranean Region, which aims to support national and regional stakeholders to empower women economically and politically.

UN Women website

www.unwomen.org

UN Women in Social Media

http://twitter.com/UN_Women

http://www.facebook.com/unwomen

http://www.youtube.com/unwomen

http://www.unwomen.org/feed/

Contact information

UN Women Brussels Liaison Office
Rue Montoyer, 14
1000 Brussels
Tel : +32 2 213 14 44
Fax : +32 2 213 14 49
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Beyond UN Women