2. Inclusive Governance
The UN Women promotes equal participation of women and girls in leadership and decision-making and that they benefit from gender-responsive governance in the region. This entails a “whole-of-society” approach to governance and meaningful institutional reforms. This requires consistent engagement among state actors, women leaders, women’s organizations, civil society organizations, marginalized groups such as Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, and the private sector.
UN Women will support women’s participation and leadership in inclusive governance, provide institutional support to promote gender-responsive and inclusive laws and policies and support justice institutions in employing gender-responsive and people-centred approaches, by working across the following focus areas:
- Gender-responsive and inclusive laws, including fiscal laws: Support Member States in reviewing laws and policies and provide technical capacities to advance gender-responsive budgeting and gender-sensitive laws and policies that eliminate discrimination against women and girls, in line with international human rights norms and obligations.
- Women’s meaningful participation and leadership in governance: Promote women’s leadership, including political participation, provide policy support to election stakeholders, and support women’s coalitions and movements to advocate for gender equality in public functions. Equip candidates and young women leaders with the necessary skills to advocate and engage in political and governance processes.
- Gender-responsive, people-centred access to justice: Contribute to the reduction of the justice gap for women by preventing women’s justice problems by addressing root causes, understanding women’s justice needs and their lived experiences; increasing women’s access to justice by decentralizing institutions, ensuring human rights standards and enabling a greater diversity of partners to support women’s justice journeys, and; supporting gender-inclusive justice sectors and developing approaches that can deliver justice at scale for women.
- Data and evidence: Generate and disseminate data and evidence to inform policies, programming and advocacy, including gender-responsive budgeting, women’s political participation, transparency and integrity.
For more information, please see the Brief on Advancing Inclusive Governance in Asia and the Pacific Region (2022-2027).
Related: