UN Women

UN women was born on July 2, 2010 but started its operations in January 2011.

The Organization of the United Nations, develops and implements programs, policies, and standards in order to defend the human rights of the people, UN women seeks to ensure the full development of women and girls.

UN women was established to accelerate the process and address the needs of women and girls around the world, it is a snap to comply with goal 5 of the SDGS (Sustainable Development Goals).

UN women has 4 divisions focused exclusively on gender equality and the empowerment of women:

1. Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)
2. International institute of Research and Training for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
3. Office of the Special Adviser on gender issues and advancement of women (OSAGI)
4. Development fund of the United Nations for Women (UNIFEM)

Gender inequality is a phenomenon that prevents the access of women to education, health care, political decisions, economic decisions and a decent job, making noticeable the difference in salaries.

There are 2 important agreements for the achievement of gender equality:

1. Declaration and Platform for Action Beijing.
2. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Gender equality is established in article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the equality is a fundamental right of all citizens.

The low percentage of women in the construction industry feel in an environment susceptible to harassment, discrimination, and exclusion. It is important to mention that the building is one of the most important industries in economically speaking at the global level.

The companies have implemented changes, and including them in decision-making positions, although these actions are important and they are a great step yet it is a long way to achieving security and gender equality in the construction industry.

A proof that even the road is long, these are the statistics:

• The statistics indicate that only 9.6% of the people who work in the construction Industry are women
• The Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry got together to 11,800 companies of which only 14.7% are represented by women.

The percentage is still very low, and it is that women do not see themselves linked to trades, own construction, but administrative tasks, or professionals such as Architects and Engineers.

There are three major barriers to women in the construction:

1. Culture: Judged by their appearance and not for their skills and experience in an industry dominated by men, makes complicated integration.
2. Education: Although in the universities, the percentage of women corresponds to the 50% of the students, only a much smaller percentage belongs to the construction careers.
3. Stereotypes: they Are considered weaker and less able only by the fact of being women.

UN women intends to finish these barriers to achieve gender equality, and opportunity for the development of women. Learn more HERE

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