UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, marks its ten-year presence in Sri Lanka, reflecting on a decade dedicated to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Ramaaya Salgado, Head of Office at UN Women Sri Lanka, underscores the ongoing need to promote gender equality across the country.
UN Women commenced its operations in Sri Lanka on 1 September 2014, initially as a small team focused on advising the United Nations on gender equality issues.
This involves empowering women, who are often the most affected by inequality, and ensuring that they are active participants in decision-making processes that impact their lives.
Reflecting on the past decade, Salgado highlights several key moments, including the successful multi-party dialogues that brought together first-time elected officials from diverse backgrounds to discuss issues affecting their communities.
- How did the launch of UN Women come about?
UN Women was established globally in 2011, following a historic move when the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted in July 2010 to create a new entity to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. This was the result of years of advocacy by women’s movements and civil society.
The Sri Lanka chapter started in 2014 as a one-woman team, where I was providing policy advisory on gender equality to the UN in Sri Lanka. Since then, UN Women has expanded its areas of work, and over time, has grown to a decent-sized team (12-13 staff members on average).
- What are UN Women’s key areas of work?
UN Women works on four strategic priority areas. One is to ensure that women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems.
Second is to ensure that women have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy. Third is to ensure that Sri Lankan women and girls can live a life free from all forms of violence.
And lastly, to ensure that women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in peacebuilding efforts.
The very essence of UN Women’s work is centered around gender equality and ensuring that women are in spaces where they are making decisions about issues that impact their lives.
