UN Women

In response to UN General Assembly resolution 63/311, in January 2010 the Secretary-General presented report A/64/588, entitled Comprehensive Proposal for the Composite Agency for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. In his report, the Secretary-General resolved that, rather than relieving other parts of the United Nations system of their responsibility for contributing to the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment, the new agency should seek to sharpen the focus and impact of the gender equality activities of the entire United Nations system. Additionally, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon estimated that approximately $125 million per annum were needed for operating costs and "start-up" capacity at the country, regional, and headquarters levels. Moreover, an additional $375 million per annum were needed in the initial phase to respond to country-level requests for programmatic support.

After years of negotiations between UN member states, women's groups, and civil society, on 2 July 2010 the General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution 64/289, thus creating UN Women by merging the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW); the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW, established in 1976); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI, established in 1997), and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976). Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced at the founding of the movement that he was "grateful to Member States for having taken this major step forward for the world's women and girls. UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe."

On 14 September 2010, it was announced that former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet was appointed as head of UN Women. Various countries supported the creation of the body and welcomed Bachelet as chief. During General Debate at the opening of the 65th General Assembly, world leaders commended the creation of the body and its intention to "empower women", as well as welcoming Bachelet as the inaugural head. On 11 March 2011, John Hendra of Canada and Lakshmi Puri of India were appointed as first deputy executive directors at the level of UN Assistant Secretary-General.

The provisions set forth by resolution 63/311 on system-wide coherence, adopted by the General Assembly on 2 October 2010, constituted the blueprint for UN Women. Seeking to strengthen the UN's institutional arrangements for gender equality and women empowerment, resolution 63/311 supported the consolidation of four distinct parts of the UN system that focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment into a composite entity to be led by an Under-Secretary-General. Moreover, the resolution requested that the Secretary-General produce a proposal specifying the mission statement of the composite entity and its organizational arrangements, including an organizational chart, funding, and the executive board to oversee its operational activities.

Criticism

Hamas attacks on women

Following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, women's rights groups criticized UN Women for not issuing a timely and clear condemnation of Hamas's gender-based war crimes on Israeli women. Sarah Weiss Maudi, senior adviser to the president of the 77th Session of the U.N. General Assembly, said that UN Women refused to acknowledge that atrocities were committed against Israeli women and young girls despite many of the atrocities having been filmed by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists themselves.

On 13 October, an initial statement by UN Women condemned the attack on Israeli civilians but did not mention women. Subsequent posts and comments by the organization focused only on the impact of the conflict on Palestinian women. A month after the attack, the UN Women's website contained only one reference to women and girls stating the following, "devastating impact of the crisis in Gaza on women and girls". Michal Herzog, First Lady of Israel, criticized UN Women for having a "double standard" and has lobbied openly about the topic. Several women's rights groups criticized UN Women, as did Canadian Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust."

On 29 November, over 80 members of the U.S. House of Representatives accused UN Women of disregarding Hamas's gender based violence on Israeli females and minors in a bipartisan letter driven by Representatives Young Kim (R-California) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Florida). The 80 Representatives wrote to UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous stating, "The failure by UN Women to publicly stand up for Israeli women and condemn Hamas' systematic atrocities undermines UN Women and highlights its one-sided approach."

UN Women states that it was one of the first organisations to condemn the attacks by Hamas and their use of gender-based violence. In regards to a deleted post condemning the Hamas attacks, a representative for UN Women gave a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency saying, "In any social media team managing multiple campaigns and during a very busy time like the one we are now in with 16 Days of Activism, mistakes can occur."

Israel's ambassador to the UN criticized UN Women and UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the delay in calling an investigation into the sexual violence committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

A corresponding protest event took place at the UN on 4 December 2023.