Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective Into All Policies and Programmes in the United Nations System

E/RES/2017/9View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 12cMainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations System, published in 2017.

What other versions does this mandate have?

24 versions · 2002–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is E/RES/2025/4

2025E/RES/2025/4Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations systemLatestCompare with previous version
2024E/RES/2024/3Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations SystemCompare with previous version
2023E/RES/2023/11Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations SystemCompare with previous version
2022E/RES/2022/18Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations SystemCompare with previous version
2021E/RES/2021/7Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations SystemCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Coordination Within UN System Gender Equality Gender Mainstreaming Operational Activities Women's Advancement

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2018.

2018E/2018/53Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

29 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General and the recommendations contained therein, and appreciates that it continues to include comprehensive and systematic system-wide data collection and evidence-based analysis, allowing for comprehensive follow-up on progress made throughout the United Nations system in the implementation of resolutions of the Economic and Social Council on gender mainstreaming;

Urges the United Nations system to accelerate gender mainstreaming in policies and programmes, including in support of the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development6 at the global, regional and country levels;

Stresses that the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality constitutes a key forum for advocating, coordinating and monitoring progress in the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into the overall substantive normative, operational and programmatic work within the United Nations system, and looks forward to its continued role;

Also stresses the need for the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, as well as other existing inter-agency networks, including the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, the High-level Committee on Programmes, the High-level Committee on Management, the United Nations Development Group and its working mechanisms at the global and regional levels, the United Nations Evaluation Group, the Finance and Budget Network of the Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the Representatives of Internal Audit Services of the United Nations Organizations and Multilateral Financial Institutions, to continue, as appropriate, to take concrete actions to further promote gender mainstreaming in the United Nations system and to take increased responsibility for the implementation of relevant performance indicators of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women;

Welcomes the important and continued extensive work of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for more effective and coherent gender mainstreaming across the United Nations, recognizes its role in leading, coordinating and promoting the accountability of the United Nations system in its work to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women as established by the General Assembly in its resolution 64/289, and also recognizes the role of UN-Women in assisting Member States, upon their request, in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at the international, regional, national and local levels;

Recognizes the importance of strengthening the capacity of UN-Women, including through adequate and sustainable funding, to carry out its mandates for normative support, coordination and operational functions, inter alia, for coordinating the United Nations system in the full and effective mainstreaming of a gender perspective and the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action12 and of its review and appraisal at the international, regional, national and local levels, as well as its contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including through systematic gender mainstreaming, the mobilization of resources to deliver results for women and girls and the monitoring of progress with data and robust accountability systems;

Calls upon the United Nations system, including its agencies, funds and programmes, within their respective mandates, to continue to work collaboratively to accelerate the full and effective mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the United Nations system at the global, regional and country levels, in accordance with previous Economic and Social Council resolutions and General Assembly resolutions 64/289 and 71/243, commensurate with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, bearing in mind its universal nature and that the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is essential for the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals, including by:

Ensuring, where relevant, that corporate and country-level strategic documents, including the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks, or their equivalents, in accordance with programme countries’ priorities, mainstream a gender perspective through a dedicated gender equality outcome as well as the integration of gender equality and the empowerment of women across all other Sustainable Development Goal-related outcome areas (twin-track approach);

Supporting the application of a gender perspective in the preparation of organization-wide and country-level documents, such as the strategic, programmatic and results-based frameworks and evaluations, and continuing to promote more coherent, accurate and effective monitoring and reporting on progress on gender equality, the impact of the promotion of gender equality and the use of common indicators on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, taking into account the situation of women and girls who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and those in vulnerable situations;

Continuing to implement the System-wide Action Plan, including by ensuring compliance with all performance indicators and enhancing the consistency and accuracy of reporting in order to achieve full annual reporting by the entire United Nations system, and continuing to promote the institutionalization of transparency and robust accountability systems;

Increasing investments to address issues in critical areas of the System-wide Action Plan, including policy development, resource tracking and allocation, the equal representation and participation of women, including organizational culture, and capacity development and assessment;

Launching and fully implementing, beginning in 2018, the updated System-wide Action Plan and United Nations country team scorecard;

Enhancing standards and methodologies for the use of the United Nations system at the global, regional and country levels in order to improve the systematic collection, analysis, dissemination and use of accurate, reliable, transparent and comparable data and statistics and, where applicable and with due respect for confidentiality, open data and statistics related to achieving gender equality, disaggregated by, inter alia, income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographical location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts;

Increasing the investment in and focus on outputs and outcomes relating to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls to ensure adequate resources for assisting in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including through enhanced common budgetary frameworks, gender-responsive planning and budgeting, joint funding mechanisms and joint resource mobilization efforts;

Collaborating with UN-Women to harmonize gender marker systems to allow for comparability and aggregation to set and meet financial targets on resources to be allocated for this purpose and to assess the resource deficits for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, also in the context of United Nations Development Assistance Framework common budgetary frameworks;

Ensuring, as appropriate, that the United Nations Development Group continues to guide and support United Nations country teams on mainstreaming a gender perspective in the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks, that all regional United Nations Development Groups develop and maintain dedicated expertise on gender mainstreaming so as to provide integrated and coherent support to United Nations country teams, and that country-level coordination mechanisms, including gender theme groups or their equivalents, are fully empowered through clear mandates, capacity and sufficient resources to provide strategic support and advice to United Nations country teams in enhancing their gender mainstreaming efforts;

Strengthening capacities and using existing resources, including institutions and infrastructure, to assist in the development and application of unified training modules on gender mainstreaming and on results-based management in support of programming for gender equality;

Continuing to better align gender equality programming with national priorities across sectors, including by supporting capacity-building for government institutions and the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into legislation, policies and programmes in relation to national gender equality priorities;

Continuing to include gender equality networks in planning and programme implementation, as well as continuing to build strategic partnerships with relevant actors, including civil society and women’s organizations, as appropriate;

Continuing and, where appropriate, strengthening efforts to achieve gender parity in appointments in the Professional and higher categories within the United Nations system at the headquarters, regional and country levels, inter alia, in appointments of resident coordinators, humanitarian coordinators, Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, Deputy Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and other high-level posts, including, as appropriate, through the application of temporary special measures, in full compliance with Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations and keeping in mind the principle of equitable geographical representation, with due regard to the representation of women from developing countries;

Ensuring that managers provide strong leadership and support to promote and advance gender mainstreaming, and leveraging the leadership and convening role of resident coordinators, in accordance with the provisions of General Assembly resolution 71/243, to address gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as an integral part of the work of United Nations country teams, including through joint initiatives, collective advocacy and strengthening of the coordination of gender-responsive operational activities across sectors;

Strengthening collaboration and coordination among United Nations staff working on gender equality and gender focal points to ensure systematic gender mainstreaming across the work of the United Nations in development, peace and security, and human rights, as well as in humanitarian action;

Continuing to work closely with the humanitarian coordinators to integrate a gender perspective into all facets of humanitarian action and ensure the equal promotion and protection of human rights for all, with equitable access to services;

Promoting strategic advocacy and coherent communications on gender equality issues within United Nations country teams;

Supporting efforts by the governing bodies of United Nations entities to devote adequate attention and resources to gender mainstreaming in their plans and activities;

Requests the United Nations system, in particular UN-Women, in consultation with Member States, to address the issue of sustainable resourcing for the implementation of the updated System-wide Action Plan, and encourages Member States in a position to do so to support UN-Women in this regard;

Also requests the United Nations system to continue and increase support to Member States, with their agreement and consent, in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and of national policies for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, inter alia, by providing support and capacity development to national machineries for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and all national entities, in accordance with their functions;

Requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the organizations of the United Nations system to ensure that recruitment strategies, promotion and retention policies, career development, anti-harassment and sexual harassment policies, human resources and succession planning, work/family policies, management culture and mechanisms for managerial accountability accelerate the achievement of gender parity, and in this regard to coordinate with the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services in addressing these issues;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council at its 2018 session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, including on accountability of the United Nations system at the global, regional and country levels and on progress made in the implementation of the System-wide Action Plan.

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Who created this mandate?

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What does this mandate say?

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