ADVOCACY PLAN AND LETTER

ADVOCACY PLAN AND LETTER

Advocacy Plan

Women and Pay Equity

Introduction

Despite multiple pronouncements, declarations, and resolutions espousing the importance of gender balance and gender mainstreaming, the United Nations has not yet achieved these goals. The most progress has been made in recognition: whether it is human rights protection, humanitarian assistance, sustainable development, or armed conflict, the United Nations, governments around the world. In addition, international, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly recognize that women play a pivotal role in maintaining peace and security, protecting the rule of law, establishing providential governance, and reducing poverty.

The United Nations still lacks the necessary resources, will, and processes to ensure that these goals are institutionalized in every area, department, and office. There are cultural and organizational impediments within the United Nations that continue to slow the progress of women assuming leadership roles (Leslie, 2000). As a result, the United Nations is not retaining and grooming future female leaders, and women remain severely underrepresented at the senior levels of the organization.

Discussion

There are several layers and distinctions within the issue of women's leadership and gender in the United Nations. First, it is important to understand the terminology related to gender and women. These terms are commonly poorly understood or falsely conflated, which can hinder the effective implementation of gender equality policies. Gender equality refers to the equal enjoyment by men and women of all rights, opportunities, and resources. Historically, attention to gender equality focused on remedying women's relative deprivation in society and aimed to achieve gender balance, meaning the participation of equal numbers of men and women in all spheres. In recent years, the international community has begun to realize that men and boys must be included to address the power imbalances that cause inequality. As a result, the United Nations has adopted a gender mainstreaming as its strategy for achieving gender equality.

In 1997 gender mainstreaming was defined by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as the process of assessing the implications for men and women of any planned policies and programs at all levels. Gender mainstreaming goes a step beyond gender balance by using gender analysis to analyze the power structures and relationships between different groups in society, which can keep women and men from enjoying equal opportunities. Projects aimed specifically at women's empowerment may be a part of the gender mainstreaming strategy, when evidence suggests that targeted programs are necessary to help women claim their human rights. For example, the United Nations has established women's focal points throughout the organization to examine concerns and obstacles that are particular to women. However, the overall goal of gender mainstreaming is to make the experiences of both men and women a central focus in the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programs in all areas.

Second, women and gender are areas of concern for the United Nations both internally and externally. The United Nations has 20 peacekeeping operations employing 110,000 personnel around the world, as well as 12 political and peace building missions totaling over 3,000 in ...