The field-specific guidelines focus on six thematic areas:
- Professional and personal life integration;
“In any region I have worked in, it’s more work than life.”
Supporting professional and personal life integration in the field through policies and initiatives that recognize diverse family configurations and go beyond care responsibilities is an effective way to recruit and retain the best talent. Such policies and initiatives include tailored flexible working arrangements, parental leave, support for spousal employment, and appropriate facilities for lactation and childcare.
- Standards of conduct;
“Don’t call women ‘fresh meat’. Let’s always have a professional relationship.”
All UN entities and personnel are expected to adhere
to standards of conduct, which include principles to eliminate sexual exploitation and abuse, misconduct, abuse of power, discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment. All personnel, in particular leadership, have the responsibility to contribute to the creation
and maintenance of respectful and healthy workplace culture, ensuring equality and non-discrimination and practicing zero-tolerance and a victim/survivor-centred approach.
- Security and safety;
“You want to know that when you work here, you are going to be looked after.”
Gender-based security and safety risks should
be acknowledged and mitigated in all locations. Organizations should comply with existing United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS) gender-responsive security and safety policies. While entity leadership, as well as security and safety personnel, have a responsibility to implement security and safety planning and responses, it is incumbent on all personnel to practice UN values to create a safe, accessible, and secure working environment for all.
- Occupational safety, health, and wellbeing;
“A collective investment in health is needed.”
A healthy workforce is key for the UN to be able to deliver on its mandate. Availability, accessibility, effectiveness and awareness are key components to provide a healthy and safe working environment that promotes greater accountability, efficiency and commitment of its workforce. It is important to provide gender-responsive Occupational Safety and Health, well-being support and services that reflect the diversity of personnel within the organization and cater for the realities of field work.
- Recruitment, talent management, and retention; and
“New positions come, but every time you see a new man, a new man...”
Gender-sensitive recruitment and talent management maximize the organization’s ability to acquire and retain the best workforce reflecting the organization’s principles of diversity and equality. A comprehensive talent management strategy and opportunities to grow are critical to retain the best talent in the UN system. Regular monitoring and reporting remain crucial for assessing and reaching recruitment targets.
- Leadership, accountability, and implementation.
“On paper, the plans are there; implementation is often the main challenge.”
Leadership has a special responsibility to set the right tone and put UN values into action by being responsive
to gender parity commitments and promoting diversity and inclusion. The head of entity’s responsibility to achieve gender parity includes implementing robust accountability measures and appointing and collaborating with Gender Focal Points. Some interviewees proposed that these Guidelines be obligatory for all senior leaders and management.
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Interview with Minna Nurminen, Gender Parity Analyst at UN Women
Minna Nurminen is a Gender Analyst at UN Women and co-author of the Field-Specific Enabling Environments. Minna's passion to contribute to the development of more equitable societies and evidence-based policymaking has taken her from her home village in Finland to Oxford, Brussels, and most recently, to New York. We reached out to Minna to learn more about this release.
Hi Minna, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Tell us, how will these guidelines be implemented?
We heard in the interviews that “on paper, the plans are there; implementation is often the main challenge.” That is why we dedicated an entire chapter to leadership, accountability and implementation. The chapter provides concrete examples and ideas for UN leaders ranging from creating a Gender Parity Plans at UNCT level to incorporating gender and enabling environment considerations into performance indicators and having a standing item at town hall meetings on the creation of an enabling working environment.
Although leadership has a special responsibility, everyone has a role to play in making parity a reality. The attainment of gender parity requires collective action. That is why the Guidelines provide recommendations at different levels, from low-hanging fruits to more structural policy changes.
The UN-system wide network of Gender Focal Points is also essential in the implementation process, providing advice and support. A practical way to enhance implementation of the Guidelines is in fact to strengthen the role of Gender Focal Points.
Based on its mandate, UN Women remains ready to support efforts to implement the Guidelines, to reach gender parity and create enabling working environments. Currently, the Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN system is conducting capacity-building on implementation methods and tailored webinars as requested by missions and field offices.
Who do you hope will read these Guidelines?
The recommendations and good practices in these Guidelines are applicable to all UN personnel and we encourage everyone to take a look! For a quick reading, we created summaries of recommendations for three different levels: 1) the organization, 2) managers and 3) all personnel.
What would you say are the main challenges for reaching gender parity in a field context?
It is evident that there is not one significantly disproportional problem that hinders progress to gender parity in the field but rather multiple and interacting issues of importance that need attention. As stated in the Secretary-General’s system-wide Strategy, inclusivity and equality will not be attainable without a working environment that prizes diversity and flexibility, provides equal opportunities, recognizes that staff are also family and community members, and ensures a safe environment in which to work. The Field-specific Guidelines explored these through the six thematic areas, all of which need to be addressed at different levels.
What is/are the key take-out(s) that you would like the reader to make?
The Guidelines provide a range of ideas and good examples on how to create enabling working environments in the field. Regardless of the reader’s role – whether Head of Mission, Resident Coordinator, Manager, Gender Focal Point, Mid-career or Junior Professional, UN Volunteer or Intern – everyone can make a difference. Every action matters and together we can create an inclusive, diverse and respectful working environment, in every team, office, department and mission. Let’s start today!
I can also see a value for non-UN organizations operating in the field working to reach gender parity. Could you think of recommendation(s) in the guideline that would be applicable for any type field-based impact organization?
Many recommendations in the Guidelines can indeed be applied in organizations outside the UN too. UN Women would be glad to hear feedback and experiences in implementing the Guidelines also in those organizations.
Feel free to reach out to: focalpoint.forwomen@unwomen.org.
The guidelines were developed amid the COVID-19 crisis, which created and exacerbated challenges, as well as offered opportunities for organizational culture change and innovative working methods. The guidelines were produced by UN Women through a consultative, inclusive, and collaborative approach with nearly 200 colleagues from more than 50 countries where the United Nations operates, including with the UN System-wide Gender Focal Point Network.