In July of 2010 the United Nations created an organization devoted solely to promoting gender equity and empowerment of women.
Officially becoming operational in January of this year, UN Women seeks:
- To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms.
- To help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
- To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.
Read more about UN Women here About UN Women | UN Women.
Sophie thanks for this link, i see they have a goal of also increasing political participation of women and they also have interesting data on women participation in different regions http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/democratic_governance/facts_figures.php
Wow, what a great link and how relevant to our previous discussion. This post on increasing female participation in the political process is really driving a lot of traffic. Its great to see that there is such an interest and support for the important issue