Bureau for Gender Equality (GENDER)
ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

ILO and UN system

  1. The System-wide Action Plan (UN-SWAP) is a means for furthering the goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment within the policies and programmes of the UN system.

ILO home > About the ILO > How the ILO works > Departments and offices > Bureau for Gender Equality (GENDER)

Bureau for Gender Equality (GENDER)

While all staff in the ILO are responsible for promoting gender equality in their work, the Bureau for Gender Equality supports and advises constituents and Office staff at headquarters and in the field on matters concerned with promoting and advocating for gender equality in the world of work. It also manages an extensive knowledge base on gender issues, conducts ILO Participatory Gender Audits, and has a Gender Helpdesk which responds to queries to help to strengthen the capacity of staff and constituents to address questions of equality in their work.

The Bureau for Gender Equality coordinates the global ILO Gender Network, which brings together gender specialists and gender focal points at headquarters and in the field offices.

Highlights

  1. Working paper

    International perspectives on women and work in hotel, catering and tourism
    7 April 2013

    This working paper highlights structural and cultural issues that often determine the roles that women play within the hotel, catering and tourism workforce and the strategies which can make a difference to their status and opportunities within the sector.

  2. News

    Text of the Agreed Conclusions of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women
    20 March 2013

    The advance unedited version of the Agreed Conclusions of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is now available, on the priority theme of the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.

  3. News

    Impact of domestic violence in the workplace: Joint Government of Australia/ILO side event at the 57th Session of the CSW
    ONE UN Millenium Hotel, New York

    On 6 March 2013, new studies and evidence on impact of domestic violence in the workplace from three countries were presented by a four-person panel during the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

  4. Working paper

    A policy mix for gender equality: Lessons from high-income countries
    8 March 2013

    Over the past 15 years, important gains have been made in gender equality. Gender gaps in educational attainment have shrunk substantially. In fact, in many high-income countries, young women’s educational attainment now exceeds that of young men. At the same time, most countries have seen a significant increase in female employment rates – a trend which slowed only with the recent financial crisis.

  5. ILO News

    The sex and race workplace double whammy
    31 January 2013

    Ethnic minority women face double discrimination in the workplace because of their race and their gender. Many fail at the application stage simply because of their names.

  6. Publication

    Domestic Workers Across the World: Global and regional statistics and the extent of legal protection
    9 January 2013

    The report attempts to capture the size of the domestic work sector, working conditions and the extent of legal protection enjoyed by domestic workers worldwide. It includes global and regional statistics, and is intended to support the efforts of governments, employers and workers to secure social justice and decent work for domestic workers across the world.

  7. Publication

    Global Employment Trends for Women 2012
    11 December 2012

    This report looks at gender gaps in unemployment, employment, labour force participation, vulnerability, and segregation in jobs and economic sectors.

Key resources

  1. ILO Action Plan for Gender Equality : Phase II (2012-13)

    This Action Plan reproduces the gender-related strategies and indicators of outcomes in the P&B 2012-13 and links them to the corresponding conclusions contained in the 2009 ILC Resolution concerning gender equality at the heart of decent work.

  2. ILO Participatory Gender Audits

    ILO uses participatory gender audits to promote individual and organizational learning on ways to mainstream gender in order to help achieve equality between women and men.

  3. ILO Gender Network Handbook

    This handbook is targeted to ILO Gender network members as well as all ILO staff and representatives of constituents – governments, and employers’ and workers’ organizations – as a support to effectively mainstream gender in all their work.

© 1996-2013 International Labour Organization (ILO) | Copyright and permissions | Privacy policy | Disclaimer