Mission
statement
Grounded in the vision of equality of the United Nations
Charter, the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)
advocates the improvement of the status of women of the world
and the achievement of their equality with men. Aiming to
ensure the participation of women as equal partners with men
in all aspects of human endeavour, the Division promotes women
as equal participants and beneficiaries of sustainable
development, peace and security, governance and human rights.
As part of its mandate, it strives to stimulate the
mainstreaming of gender perspectives both within and outside
the United Nations system.
The Division:
- is a catalyst for advancing the global agenda on women's
issues and gender equality, and works closely with
Governments, its partners in the United Nations system and
civil society
- conducts research and develops policy options, fosters
interaction between Governments and civil society
- aims to strengthen communication between the
international and national policy-making processes by the
promotion of global standards and norms, awareness-raising,
and the sharing of best practices
- supports the implementation of the Beijing Platform for
Action (1995), the outcome of the 23rd special session of
the General Assembly (2000), relevant recommendations of
other global conferences and their reviews, and relevant
decisions taken by the General Assembly, Economic and Social
Council, the Commission on the Status of Women, and other
functional commissions of the ECOSOC
- provides substantive servicing to the Commission on the
Status of Women with the mandate to elaborate global
policies and norms
- provides substantive and technical servicing to the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) the expert treaty body which monitors the
implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional
Protocol
- promotes and supports the mainstreaming of gender
perspectives into the work of intergovernmental bodies, the
policies and programmes of departments and offices of the
United Nations, as well as at national, regional and
international levels
- provides advisory services and technical cooperation
programmes to developing countries in connection with its
work on policy formulation and implementation related to the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcome of
the 23rd special session of the General Assembly; as well
its work related to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional
Protocol.
Brief
History
The Division for the Advancement
of Women was established in 1946 as the Section on the Status
of Women, Human Rights Division, Department of Social Affairs.
In 1972 the section was upgraded to the Branch for the
Promotion of Equality for Men and Women under the newly
created Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs
of the United Nations Office in Vienna. The Centre was headed
by Helvi Sipila (Finland), the first woman to serve in the UN
as an Assistant Secretary-General. In 1978, the branch was
renamed the Branch for the Advancement of Women. In August 1993, the Division moved to New
York where it formed part of the Department of Policy
Coordination and Sustainable Development(DPCSD), which, as a
result of restructuring in 1996, is the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs(DESA) today.
DAW acted as the
substantive secretariat for the Fourth World Conference on
Women in Beijing(1995), the largest conference in the history
of the United Nations, and was responsible for the
preparations for the three previous World Conferences on
Women(Mexico 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985). Under
the guidance of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women, DAW carried out the preparatory work for
the 23rd special session of the General Assembly in
2000.
From its inception, DAW's leadership was as
follows:
2001-: Ms
Carolyn Hannan (Sweden), Director, DAW
1999-2001: Ms Yakin Ertόrk (Turkey),
Director, DAW
1996-1997: Ms Angela E.V. King (Jamaica),
Director, DAW
1993-1995: Ms Gertrude Mongella (United
Republic of Tanzania), Assistant Secretary-General and
Secretary-General for the Fourth World Conference on Women,
also supervised the work of the Division which had two deputy
directors at the time: Mr. John Mathiason (United States),
1987-1996; Ms Kristen Timothy (United States), 1993-1999
1988-1993: Ms Chafika Selami-Meslem
(Algeria), Director, Division for the Advancement of Women
1981-1987: Ms Chafika Selami-Meslem
(Algeria), Director, Branch for the Advancement of Women
1978-1981; Ms Manae Kubota (Japan), Chief,
Branch for the Advancement of Women
1974-1977: Ms Margaret Bruce (UK), Deputy
Director, Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian
Affairs and Chief, Branch for the Promotion of Equality
between Men and Women
1963-1973: Ms Margaret Bruce (UK), Chief,
Section on the Status of Women
1959-1962: Ms Sophie Grinberg-Vinaver
(France), Chief, Section on the Status of Women
1950-1958: Ms Mary Tennison-Woods
(Australia), Chief, Section on the Status of Women
1948-1949: Ms Amanda Labarca (Chile),
Chief, Section on the Status of Women
1947: Ms Leonie Mitchell (UK), Acting
Chief, Section on the Status of Women
1946: Ms Elsie Bowerman (UK), Acting
Chief, Section on the Status of Women
Contact
us:
2 UN Plaza,
DC2-12th Floor
New York, NY,
10017
USA
Fax: +1-212-963-3463
Email:
daw@un.org
Web: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw |
