Gender Mainstreaming
Gender Mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. Mainstreaming involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all activities.
Focal point for Women
The Focal Point was mandated to monitor the status of women in the United Nation's System, and report on progress to the Secretary General.
IANWGE
The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) is a network of gender focal points in UN entities. The Network is chaired by the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. IANWGE monitors and oversees the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the programmatic, normative and operational work of the UN system.
Women, peace and security
The adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security marked an important step toward increasing the participation of women and bringing gender perspectives to the centre of all United Nations peace-making, peacekeeping, peace-building and reconstruction efforts.
SG's campaign UNiTE
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.
Ms. Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
Ms. Rachel Mayanja, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women since November 2004, is a long-serving career international civil servant with vast experience in normative, policy and operational work of the United Nations including peace-building, peace-keeping and inter-agency collaboration.
Ms. Mayanja’s career with the UN started in the Women’s Division shortly after the first World Conference in Mexico in the midst of sensitization of the world to women’s right to equality, development and peace. As Secretary to the drafting committee of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, she was actively involved in the establishment of this landmark legal instrument.
Ms. Mayanja actively participated in peace-building and peacekeeping missions, first with the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia from 1989 to1990 and later in the United Nations Iraq/Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) from 1992 to1994. This first hand knowledge proved essential in her role as the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser, especially in the area of women, peace and security.
Immediately before assuming the position of Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Ms. Mayanja served as Director of Human Resources Management Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). She was instrumental in the introduction of Human Resources Management reforms at FAO. The challenges faced by FAO were shared by other agencies as well as the Secretariat. Ms. Mayanja’s leadership and management style, founded in consensus-building and teamwork, were critical to the smooth implementation of human resources management reforms not only in FAO but at the UN system-wide level.
Ms Mayanja, a national of Uganda, obtained law degree from Makarere University, as well as Master’s Degree in Law from the Harvard University Law School. She has three children.