Gender Team: What are some of the changes and progress you have seen in terms of promoting gender equality since the adoption of the first UNOV/UNODC Gender Mainstreaming Strategy? Are there any moments and achievements that stand out?
Gender Team: What do you think are the next big steps towards closing the gender gap in the work that your division does and where would you like to be in 2026 in terms of gender equality?
Jean-Luc Lemahieu: While we have made progress in achieving equal representation of men and women at all staff levels, we still need to work on the empowerment of women from underrepresented states at the UN. This is something that I see as the next big step towards closing the gender gap in our work – to create and facilitate pathways to bring more women who originate outside of WEOG into the UN system.
Beyond that, we also have to think about ways to better monitor the integration of gender related aspects into all of our projects. We are on the right path, through our programme management system IPMR and results-based management we have the tools and methodology to achieve this. In the future we will analyse IPMR entries to gather further information on this and will hopefully be able to define additional pathways to include gender issues in our project implementation.
What sets the scene for our work in the next four years, is the placement of women and girls at the centre of the UN’s work during the Decade of Action, as it was highlighted by the Secretary General in “Our Common Agenda” report. This means, for instance, that we will need to double our efforts to eradicate violence against women and girls. DPA will make sure to mainstream this line of work across all of our activities. Another example is the scientific gap about the various ways different risks and protective factors affect girls and boys when initiating drug use. We also need to assess the effectiveness of drug prevention programmes with a gender lens and advocate for the continuous investment in effective and quality treatment, care and rehabilitation services for women who use drugs and women with drug use disorders. This is where we would like to be in 5 years. In a global context where the number of people with drug use disorders in treatment is on the increase, we aim to close the ‘double gap’: i.e. the gender gap within the treatment gap for women with drug use disorders, is an objective set out.
Gender Team: How do you view the role of leadership in successfully promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in UNOV/UNODC’s work and its working environment?
Jean-Luc Lemahieu: I believe, especially when it comes to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, that senior management needs to lead by example. We need to provide the full support to achieve this goal and to have strong representation of women in mid and senior management positions.
In order to effectively advance gender equality we also need to be critical of what we have achieved thus far.; while efforts are made to ensure gender balance at the entry point of UNODC, more is to be done in promoting empowerment, equity and benefits for already employed UNODC women staff. I do know about the frustration many, across the genders, about remaining frozen in the same grade for over a decade despite their work contributing to tangibly increasing the size of the programme they are responsible for. Human Resources perhaps joined with the Women Focal Point should carry out an assessment about gaps in promotion and compensation policy, analysing internal cases and taking into account obstacles that prevent promotion among female staff compared to their male colleagues, even when they have been suggested by supervisors with solid recommendations. Eventually, a comparison of what is being done in other international organizations would be helpful.
