ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by tracing the early bold beginnings when member states and organizations of the UN system established conventions and policy frameworks about women, most notably with the adoption of the Convention of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and its related accountability for reporting. It continues with the catalyzing effect of the four global UN conferences on women to reflect breakthroughs in standards and approaches as well as forums for women’s movements to exchange ideas and organize around specific issues. The chapter then describes the institutional contributions of various parts of the UN and the UN development system. It examines the 2010 creation of UN Women, in response to continuing pressure from women’s movements, which improved the UN’s work across the pillars of its work and contributed to framing the Sustainable Development Goals. It then analyzes UN responses in the face of the rise of political and religious fundamentalism and the consequent backlash against gender equality. The chapter concludes with the need for the UN to be bolder, to work organically across human rights, development, and sustaining peace, and above all to address such structural issues of gender inequality as the care contribution to social reproduction, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and multidimensional discrimination.
