The UN Women in IO Survival

Team Members: D. Jones, E. Pattee, and R. Tiller*

*Note: The team members are listed in alphabetical order. While the infographic is created by all the members, Jones and Patte are the only contributors to the blog post, the podcast, and the advocacy letter. The involved team members for each assignment contributed equally.

Info_UNWomen_Survival.pdf

Infographic

Please look at the infographic for the topic explored by the team.

Podcast

Please listen to the team's podcast with Google Chrome. The transcript can be found here.

Podcast_UNWomen_Survival.mp3

Advocacy Letter

Please read the team's letter to the Executive Director, Sima Bahous.

Letter_UNWomen_Survival.pdf

Blog Post

Issues with The UN Women

The UN Women Overview

The UN Women, formally known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, is a branch of the United Nations that works primarily to advance and advocate for women’s rights on an international scale. The UN Women consists of two1 multi-tiered governance structures. One half of which is responsible for operational activities and operational policy guidance to the organization. The other half places more focus on normative (or opinionated) guidance for the UN Women. The organization conducts operations such as negotiations with governments to set standards for equality, and funds programs and services within countries of need to promote womens’ rights.

What’s the Problem?

The issue this organization is facing is that many of its member states and organizational staff, including those in positions of power, represent countries that do not have the infrastructure to promote gender equality themselves2. The country of Yemen, for example, rates the lowest on the gender equality index, yet holds a significant amount of power within the organization. Although this is a result of the structure of the IO, this has led to accusations of mismanagement and corruption, with some suggesting that funds meant to help women are instead being allocated elsewhere. The problem here stems from a lack of training programs implemented within the UN Women budget.

85.6% of the UN Women’s budget3 is currently allocated for developmental activities, though the organization still struggles with member states continuing to oppress women in their states. This is because the representatives sent into the member states do not receive the proper training.

Potential Solutions

One solution to employee training programs could be to reexamine the budget and restructure the budget to be more specific on what developmental activities are. They can also allocate more money into the management part of the budget so they can more effectively evaluate and audit the problems with the current training programs.

UN Women can use funds from MNCs (Multinational Corporations) further to encourage the increase of women empowerment and their role in society. These private sector corporations can use their publicity and resources to raise more funding for the UN Women and to supply resources that certain countries do not have access to.

Sources

(1) Overview of UN Women

“The UN-Women Executive Board: An Informal Guide.” 2021. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/un%20women%20executive%20board%20informal%20guide%20%28clean%20as%20of%2013%20Oct%202021%29_0.pdf.

(2) Corporate Partners

“Business and Philanthropic Partners.” UN Women – Headquarters. https://www.unwomen.org/en/partnerships/businesses-and-foundations/major-partners

(3) Budget Allocation

Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. 2022. “Integrated Budget Estimates for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women for the Biennium 2022–2023.” Advance Unedited Version. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Executive%20Board/2021/2%20-%20AS%20Annual%20Session/Documentation/UNW_IB%202022-23.pdf.

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