Foteini Papagioti’s latest on the UN’s gender architecture review: “It fails to address persistent challenges, stops short of holding leaders accountable, worsens divisions, undermines the work of gender advocates and offers vague or politically naive recommendations that seek to recreate past efforts without scrutiny.”
Foteini Papagioti / PassBlue
A new review of the United Nations’ gender architecture appears ready to weaken the organization’s ability to achieve gender equality, particularly at the country level. Conversations with former UN staff, UN Women personnel and gender equality advocates have informed our analysis of this review process.
The Feminist UN Campaign is composed of leading feminist thinkers in civil society, philanthropy, academia and former UN staff focusing on promoting women’s rights and gender equality at the institution. The campaign has been evaluating these efforts in the UN since António Guterres was appointed secretary-general in 2017 and declared himself a proud feminist. Although the campaign commended Guterres’s commitment to review the UN’s gender architecture in his “Our Common Agenda” report, it is regrettable that the independent review he commissioned, by Dalberg Global Development Advisers, missed an opportunity for an inclusive, feminist assessment of the system’s ability to deliver on gender equality.
Much like the system it aims to reform, the review falls short of its transformative potential. It fails to address persistent challenges, stops short of holding leaders accountable, worsens divisions, undermines the work of gender advocates and offers vague or politically naive recommendations that seek to recreate past efforts without scrutiny. The proposed repositioning of UN Women’s role, intending to curtail its operational footprint, has become a particularly contentious issue.
Equally disappointing is the lack of a competitive selection process and limited chances for engagement and input by the people and groups most affected by the proposed changes. The informal release of the report last month has fueled speculation about its motives, perpetuating a pattern of limited transparency and openness with civil society. Guterres should officially publish the report and promptly initiate a dialogue with feminist groups and networks, especially those from the global South, to discuss the findings and recommendations.
While the review acknowledges commendable progress made over the past 15 years, it also reveals a bleak, if familiar, reality: ineffective gender mainstreaming efforts by a small number of marginalized and overstretched gender equality advocates; competition over dwindling resources that cannot be reliably assessed across the system; inconsistent leadership and accountability; unclear authority and mandates; a patriarchal organizational culture; and strained relationships among member states. However, analytical gaps, contradictions and a lack of clarity on key concepts, such as capacity and transformation, cast doubts on the validity and feasibility of the recommendations and the goals of the review itself.