Gender equality and women’s empowerment are universally agreed objectives, deriving from the Charter of the United Nations, which unequivocally reaffirms the equal rights of men and women. Its prominence is reflected in the 2030 Agenda through SDG 5, as well as encompassing all SDGs. It will only be achieved when women and men, boys and girls have the same opportunities, rights and responsibilities in all areas of life.
UNOV/UNODC recognises that gender equality commitments will not be met without the active engagement of men and boys. Therefore, the UNOV/UNODC Gender Strategy (2022-2026) identifies as one of its priority areas the objective that “Men and boys act as champions and agents of change who actively contribute to advancing gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment”.
The Strategy sees men as a specific target group which have, to date, been underrepresented in enhancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. By understanding the challenges for men to engage in promoting gender equality and identifying actions to increase men's engagement and allyship, their potential as changemakers shall be activated and promoted.
For this reason, UNODC launched an initiative targeted at increasing men’s engagement and activating their potential to contribute to UNODC’s institutional efforts in advancing gender equality.
As all societal inequities, gender inequality is deeply rooted in unequal social structures and cultural norms, it permeates all areas of life and affects women and men in a variety of ways. Thus, the multifaceted and broad scope of the initiative derives from the need to address the diverse expressions of gender inequality. Therefore, after having listened to men to understand the different challenges that hinder them from proactively engaging for gender equality, the initiative aimed to design and implement strategies and activities tailored to address these various challenges.
Engaging Men for Gender Equality at UNOV/UNODC
Engaging men to understand the challenges that hinder them from proactively participating in UNODC efforts towards gender equality and design strategies to promote their engagement.
Interview with Matthew Harris-Williams
To highlight regional perspectives in UNODC´s work on gender equality and shed further light on the importance of men´s engagement, the Gender Team met with Matthew Harris-Williams, Regional Liaison Officer at the UNODC-KOSTAT Centre of Excellence for Statistics on Crime and Criminal Justice in Asia and the Pacific (CoE) in South Korea.
Heads of Vienna-based UN organizations call on men to actively promote gender equality
On the occasion of International Women's Day 2019, Heads of the Vienna-based United Nations organizations and International Gender Champions met to discuss how men can play an active role in promoting gender equality.
