Denmark’s Engagement with the UN Women

UN Women, also known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, works to protect the rights of women and girls, to further their health and economic empowerment, as well as to increase women’s and girls’ involvement i politics, civil society, and public life as such.

UN Women is a relatively small organization, compared to some of the other UN funds and programs. Denmark is one of the main contributors to UN Women.

The work of UN Women is based on a triple mandate: A normative mandate to support the formulation of global and regional standards and norms for gender equality; an operational mandate to support UN member states in implementing these standards; and finally a mandate to coordinate the UN system’s efforts to deliver on its gender equality commitment.

Denmark values a focus on the rights of women, and is committed to goal 5 of the 2030-agenda on achieving gender equality, in accordance with Denmark’s Strategy for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action: Strategy - The World We Share. However, gender equality is vital not only to goal 5, but to all the Sustainable Development Goals. Indeed, every goal is furthered by advancing women’s equal rights and participation in every part of society. Where natural or manmade disasters, conflict, poverty, and unsustainable practices persist, women and girls often suffer proportionally more. Therefore, women’s equality and empowerment is both a means to an end and a goal in itself.

Read more about Denmark’s engagement with UN Women, here.