Mainstreaming gender within UNECE
UNECE is committed to achieve and maintain gender equality and women’s empowerment in all its areas of work, and in the equal representation of women in its staff. Therefore, UNECE is mainstreaming gender which
requires both integrating a gender perspective into the content of the different policies, norms and standards, and addressing the issue of representation of women and men in the various processes leading towards equitable outcomes.
What we do to mainstream gender
- We mainstream gender in the work of our substantive divisions, as well as in our organizational culture. The UNECE Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women provides a practical guidance for the entire organization to achieve and maintain gender equality and women’s empowerment in all its areas of work, and in the equal representation of women in its staff. The Policy and its accompanying Gender Action Plan have been fully aligned with the UN System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP). They contain actions and measurable outputs both at the level of UNECE’s eight sub-programmes and for cross-sectional activities, including the key UN-SWAP areas of the representation of women in the organization, capacity building of staff and gender in evaluations. Complementing the Policy on Gender Equality, UNECE developed its Gender Parity Strategy in 2017 to achieve equal representation of women and men in UNECE.
- UNECE continues to regularly monitor and report on the implementation of its gender equality policy. Following the UN-SWAP requirements, UNECE ranks its activities according to the Performance Indicators that are common for the UN system. In line with the UN-SWAP second generation, UNECE Report for 2020 reflects key results contributing to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women in the context of the SDGs. The summary, analysis and key insights from this report are included in the UNECE UN-SWAP 2.0 Report Card. and the main areas for improvement with recommendations - in the UN Women SWAP letter to UNECE. All UNECE Divisions participate in the preparation of the UNECE strategic actions and Gender Action Plan, its implementation and annual reporting. These actions are included in the UNECE Gender Action Plan 2021.
In focus: Examples of gender mainstreaming within UNECE’s work
At UNECE, a gender dimension is mainstreamed across the technical areas of the eight UNECE subprogrammes: trade, transport, statistics, energy, population, housing, forestry and environment.
Within the housing subprogramme, the guidelines of the Committee on Housing and Land Management were revised in 2017 which recommend the analysis of a gender dimension in housing and urban development policies. In the cases of Armenia and Kazakhstan, the country profiles on housing and land management include the assessment of a gender dimension in relation to ownership of housing.
Within the trade subprogramme, the Steering Committee on Trade Capacity and Standards mandated the secretariat to incorporate “a gender perspective into the UNECE methodology for studies on regulatory and procedural barriers to trade”. The Declaration on ‘Gender Responsive Standards and Standards Development’ supports national standards bodies and standards developing organizations to contribute to gender equality by improving gender balance in standards development and ensuring that the content and impact of standards, when implemented, are gender responsive.
Under the environment subprogramme, Environmental Performance Reviews (EPR) are carried out to assess a country’s progress in reconciling their environmental and economic targets. Several of these performance reviews address gender issues. In the case of Bulgaria, the review includes a section on gender balance using sex-disaggregated data on female representation in legislative power, and school enrolment. The Environmental Performance Review of Tajikistan addresses legal provisions of equal opportunities, gender parity in the access to education, representation in legislative, executive and judicial power, and school enrolment.
Within the transport subprogramme, the ministerial resolution on “Embracing the new era for sustainable inland transport and mobility” highlights the importance of mainstreaming gender in the transport sector. As transport and mobility are an important element for access to work, education and social services, they can be a facilitator for social inclusion for all.