UN WOMEN COMMITTEE
UN Women -or United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women- was created in July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly through the merge of four distinct UN bodies which were focusing on women’s empowerment. Its main purpose is divided in five prioritized areas which are: support women’s leadership participation, combat violence against women, ensure the participation of women in all peace and security processes, empower women economically, and make sure the inclusion of gender equality to national agendas. Generally, it functions in a parallel manner with other UN bodies and tries to ameliorate their actions in terms of gender equality. More specifically, UN Women assists inter-governmental bodies with their work, provides Member States with technical and financial support when they request it, and -lastly- give guidance to other UN bodies in order to sustain their accountability towards gender sensitive issues. It consists of 41 Member States which are elected for a three-year term and the latter is distributed geographically. Current executive director is Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka from South Africa.
