Denmark, 18 January 2022(TDI): A lack of gender equality has been an age-old issue that has marked this world for centuries. This is one of the reasons why there is great effort being made to enhance gender equality by nation-states and why it stands as being an important aim within the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.
On raising the importance of greater gender equality, the United Nations Office for Projected Services (UNOPS) posted a tweet yesterday highlighting the significance of gender equality in human rights.
Humanitarian aid & development projects need the best & brightest – of all genders | #UNOPSInsights https://t.co/YAdYd3YKdl
— UNOPS (@UNOPS) January 17, 2022
Specifically, Elyse Ruest – Archambault, the Diversity and Inclusion Specialist at UNOPS highlighted this connection. She emphasized there is a need for humanitarian teams to represent the areas they are giving assistance and aid to.
UNOPS as stated by these specialists has many projects all around the world, however, most of them lack the representation needed to assist these areas, specifically there was a lack of representation of women.
Her suggestion was the need to encourage qualified women to take part in these area-specific projects. She believes there can be greater opportunities for women if proper outreach can connect to them, specifically if various networking groups were connected to, there could be greater diversity within these projects.
She highlighted the already functioning network project with construction industries in Nepal, this connection is holding great importance as UNOPS places great importance on infrastructural projects.
However, to essentially and fully incorporate workers of all genders within the employment sector, the work-life balance situation must be catered to. One such example of this is the accommodations provided by UNOPS for their workers in Afghanistan, as there is a creche dedicated to children and in Kenya, there is nursing room for their workers.
Furthermore, UNOPS also accommodates its workers by giving them the freedom to request flexible hours when needed.
Moreover, efforts are also being made UNOPS have great gender equality within the senior position in the organization. For instance, if the number of female applicants falls below 20%, HR takes responsibility to reach out to more female applicants. In this case, the application period for the position is extended.
There are also checks and balances within the application form that ensures the form is gender-neutral. Additionally, there is a condition that the short-listed candidates must have 50% which are females. These efforts had come to bear fruits as UNOPS now has 39% of employees that are women.
The specialist highlighted that this was increasingly important as women relative to men, share their experiences and emotions with other women. This falls directly in line with the mission envisioned by UNOPS which has several projects in the Middle East aiming to reconstruct houses in vulnerable groups; establishing gender balance within those areas is all but essential to development.
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