Gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of human rights and is an aspiration that benefits all of society, including girls and women. The universal advantages of gender equality have been well-documented, and several international frameworks have affirmed its centrality to human rights and sustainable development. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, for example, unanimously adopted by 189 countries in 1995 and still the strongest global consensus for advancing and protecting girls’ and women’s equality and justice, recognizes that persistent inequalities pose “serious consequences for the well-being of all people.”
Yet, despite the promise of equality, progress towards it has been slow, fragile, incremental, and reversible. In fact, in every region of the world, girls and women are still more likely to be poor, illiterate, hungry, unhealthy, underrepresented in leadership positions, legally constrained, politically marginalized, and endangered by violence.
We won’t stop until girls and women are equal everywhere. Join UN Foundation, partners, and people around the world in the push for faster, lasting progress on gender equality.
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The Girls & Women Strategy team at the UN Foundation engages with the UN and civil society to ensure that gender equality remains a top priority of the UN agenda.
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In 2021, the UN Foundation and the Spotlight Initiative launched the WithHer Fund, a funding vehicle to provide resources directly to grassroots women’s organizations around the world working to end gender-based violence in their local communities.
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The UN Foundation is working with partners, like the World Bank, to improve knowledge about discriminatory laws that impede progress for girls and women and advocate for laws that protect the rights of girls and women in every aspect of their lives.
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We convene a group of high-level corporate leaders to gather in common cause and share their approaches to gender equity and equality at work, discuss best practices and lessons learned, and promote five key policy asks to achieve gender equality in the workplace.
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The UN Foundation is dedicated to achieving equality everywhere. With our broad set of programs, we defend the rights and inclusion of girls and women by improving the quality, availability, and use of gender data; advocating for the use of family planning to strengthen global health, support gender equality, and foster thriving countries; bringing clean cooking to the billions without it – improving health and empowering women; mobilizing resources to advance global sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice; uniting girls to change the world; and promoting good governance and democracy through connected women heads of state and government.
By harnessing the power of our comprehensive portfolio, our diverse and committed partners, and our founding commitment to work with and for the UN, we’re pushing for accelerated progress toward SDG 5 and all the SDGs, to realize a world that is better and fairer for all people.
