The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign celebrates the United Nations General Assembly resolution, agreed to on 30 June 2010 and to be formally adopted by the General Assembly on Friday, 2 July, to establish “UN Women”—the new gender equality entity at the UN.   This move has been sought by women’s organizations - including IFUW - and other civil society organizations around the world since the UN established a System-Wide Coherence Panel for UN Reform in 2006. Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University, a founding member of the GEAR Campaign, stated, “We have high expectations for this new agency to be a solid foundation for advancing the human rights of women as central to global policy efforts to reduce poverty and move toward greater realization of peace and democracy in the world.   The coalition of women’s groups and other social justice, human rights and development organizations that played a pivotal role in this effort will now turn its efforts toward ensuring that the new body has the human and financial resources necessary to succeed.”

Particularly notable in the resolution are the paragraphs regarding the importance of civil society participation in the new entity.  The body must have increased operational presence at the country level including engagement with women’s groups and other civil society organizations invested in gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The GEAR Campaign’s global, regional, and national networks will be contacting UN representatives at all levels to work with the transition process and the new Under Secretary-General, once appointed, to ensure they are connected with organizations on the ground ready to provide their expertise and support.

“We know that this is only the beginning,” stated Rachel Harris of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).  “We must continue to ensure that we are building a United Nations that really works for all women on the ground.  Implementation requires active engagement of all stakeholders to get the entity up and running successfully.”

For more information see the GEAR Campaign website - www.gearcampaign.org

2 July 2010 – The annual high-level meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council concluded today with Member States stressing the need for greater investment in women and girls and outlining concrete steps to advance gender equality and empower women.

In a ministerial declaration adopted at the end of its week-long meeting, the 54-member Council stressed the need to invest more in women and girls, which is essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the MDG's.

 The President of ECOSOC, Hamidon Ali,  welcomed the creation of UN Women, noting that gender equality and the empowerment of women remain at the very heart of the realization of the MDGs.

“In that context, UN Women will reinforce our UN development agenda and help us achieve the MDGs by 2015.”  In today’s declaration, the Council reaffirmed “the vital role of women as agents of development,” and stressed that achieving MDG 3 on promoting gender equality and empowering women is essential to the achievement of all the Goals.

Member States also emphasized, among other things, the need to strengthen the full integration of women into the formal economy, boost national and international efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, and improve access to health systems for women and girls.