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The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, french: Fonds de développement des Nations unies pour la femme, ) was established in December 1976 originally as the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women in the
International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. His ...
. Its first director was Margaret C. Snyder. UNIFEM provided financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promoted
women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
, political participation and economic security. Since 1976 it supported women's
empowerment Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...
and
gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
through its programme offices and links with women's organizations in the major regions of the world. Its work on gender responsive budgets began in 1996 in
Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
and expanded to include
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historica ...
,
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
,
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
,
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
and the Andean region. It worked to increase awareness throughout the UN system of gender responsive budgets as a tool to strengthen economic governance in all countries. In 2011, UNIFEM merged with some other smaller entities to become
UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and foc ...
.


About

UNIFEM was an autonomous organization working closely with the
UN Development Program The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human deve ...
(UNDP), although the resolution also specified that the fund's resources should supplement, not substitute for, the responsibilities of other
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
development cooperation agencies. UNIFEM helped fund projects that aided women and their families. UNIFEM developed a strategy of aiding women to become their "own agents for change rather than recipients of charity." UNIFEM also helped to ensure that UN programs followed guidelines developed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). UNIFEM was also involved in recognizing women's rights as human rights. It advocated
gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
around the world. UNIFEM also saw women's rights as an issue of peace and security. UNIFEM operated on a budget of voluntary contributions to the organization. The organization was based in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Different countries and regions had their own committees within UNIFEM. UNIFEM was one of the smaller agencies at the UN and was situated lower in the UN hierarchy, according to
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
politician
Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of those years as lea ...
.


History

The
First World Conference on Women World Conference on Women, 1975 was held between 19 June and 2 July 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico. It was the first international conference held by the United Nations to focus solely on women's issues and marked a turning point in policy directives ...
in 1975 influenced the creation of UNIFEM. World governments saw the need to put resources into dealing with women's issues after the First Conference. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for the Decade for Women (UNVFDW) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in December of 1976 right after the conference. Margaret Snyder started working as the leader of the organization in 1978.


1980s

The UNVFDW was given an expanded mandate by the General Assembly in February 1985, when it became the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Under resolution 39/125, the new fund was called on to support and advocate for innovative and catalytic activities that would give voice and visibility to the women of the developing world. Funding for UNIFEM projects doubled in size between 1985 and 1988.


1990s

In the 1990s, UNIFEM became involved in broadening its scope. The organization began a campaign to define "women's rights as human rights" and how
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often c ...
was also an economic development issue. UNIFEM hired researchers such as Roxanna Carrillo to demonstrate how violence against women was linked to a lack of women's access to economic opportunity. The campaign for "women's rights as human rights" was especially effective. UNIFEM began working on projects to reduce gender based violence and also to raise awareness of the problem. Also in the 1990s, African Women in Crisis (AFWIC) was created by UNIFEM to focus on issues facing people in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. AFWIC helped women who were displaced due to violence or emergencies in their own countries. AFWIC expanded on work begun by Laketch Dirasse in
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historica ...
. The work of UNIFEM helped shape the issues addressed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Women at the conference decided that it was important that they "claim formal power to directly shape public policy." UNIFEM created a trust fund to help support twenty-three projects to combat gender-based violence and war crimes against women. The fund began funding projects in 1997.


2000s

UNIFEM was granted "executing agency status" by
UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
in 2000. This allowed the organization to complete and work on projects for UNDP that related to women's rights and gender equality. UNIFEM released a new biennial report, ''Progress of the World's Women'' in 2001. The report outlined what UNIFEM had achieved in previous decades. Also in 2001, in conjunction with International Alert, UNIFEM launched the Millennium Peace Prize for Women. Noeleen Heyzer, head of UNIFEM asked for the creation of an international commission on violence against women. On January 26, 2006, UNIFEM nominated
Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
as its goodwill ambassador. The last executive director of UNIFEM was
Inés Alberdi Inés Alberdi (born 11 February 1948) was the Executive Director of UNIFEM and has been a noted academic, policy advisor and policy maker on family and women’s issues.


2010s

In January 2011, UNIFEM was merged into
UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and foc ...
, a composite entity of the UN, with
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW ) was a subsidiary of the United Nations General Assembly. It was established upon recommendation of the World Conference on the International Women's Year 1 ...
(INSTRAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI), and
Division for the Advancement of Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and fo ...
(DAW).


Executive directors

Executive directors of the organization have been:


See also

* United Nations Decade for Women *
UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and foc ...


References


Sources

* * * * *


External links


UNIFEM website
now redirects to UN Women website. {{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Development Fund For Women United Nations General Assembly subsidiary organs United Nations Development Group Organizations established in 1976 International women's organizations