System-wide strategy on gender parity: UN Women’s status report and updated implementation plan

Achieving gender parity continues to be an urgent priority not only as a basic human right, but also as it is essential to the United Nations’ efficiency, impact, and credibility. It is important to create a working environment, at all levels and wherever the United Nations operates, that embraces equality, eradicates bias, and is inclusive of all staff, so that we can truly lead by example and leave no one behind. UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched his “System-wide strategy on gender parity” on 13 September 2017, to operationalize system-wide efforts to advance this priority at the United Nations.

The Secretary-General’s strategy includes six UN Women–specific recommendations, which were incorporated and highlighted in UN Women’s initial implementation plan (December 2017). As requested by the Secretary-General, this status report and updated implementation plan elaborates on the progress made and results achieved since 2017, based on the specific requests for UN Women. It also reports on UN Women’s system-wide work as well as internal progress.

Implementation, follow-up, and monitoring the progress of the key recommendations are critical to ensure that the momentum on parity is sustained and the strategy is successfully rolled out. UN Women continues to be committed to supporting the UN system to reach gender parity based on this updated plan, as well as on its mandate to lead, promote, and coordinate efforts to advance the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities.