Gender-Inclusive Governance in Asia-Pacific

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Through the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) in Bangkok and a number of country and multi-country offices as well as programme presences across the region, UN Women builds on a long history of support to governments, civil society and other actors to promote gender equality and empower all women and girls. We stand behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: addressing gender perspectives in intergovernmental processes; women’s political participation and leadership; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; ending violence against women and girls; and promoting women’s participation in peace and security and humanitarian action.

The assignment sits within UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and supports the implementation of the Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies (2023–2027), with a focus Inclusive Governance.

Building on global and regional commitments to women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in decision-making and public life, countries across Asia and the Pacific have taken important steps forward. However, many still face persistently low levels of women’s representation and leadership, as highlighted during the Asia-Pacific Regional Review of the 30th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (November 2024), and the review of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on gender equality at the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (February 2025).

Within this context, the assignment supports efforts to close the gender-inclusive governance gap through technical support, capacity building, coalition building, and evidence generation.

The UNV will contribute to advancing gender- inclusive governance by undertaking the following key tasks :

Policy and Technical Support :
- Provide technical guidance on reviewing and reforming laws and policies to promote gender equality in public life, in line with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and associated CEDAW General Recommendations.

Women’s Leadership and Participation :
- Support the design and delivery of initiatives that promote women’s leadership and participation in governance.
- Facilitate the localisation of CEDAW General Recommendation No. 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems.

Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination :
- Collaborate with stakeholders, including young women and gender equality advocates, to ensure participatory approaches to addressing barriers to women’s participation in public life.

Knowledge Generation and Evidence-Based Programming :
- Support the generation, analysis, and dissemination of data and evidence related to gender-inclusive governance.
- Identify and document good practices and innovative approaches for scaling across the region.