New United Nations Agency for Women and Gender Rights

The UN started a new agency called the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. This sector of the United Nations was created after four years of planning to make sure that women are being treated equally and supported. The agency will focus on 12 fields that include education, health, human rights, employment, and political participation. Ms Bachalet, the former Chilean President, will head this UN agency.

Ms. Bachalet understands how difficult her job is to help represent and support all the women, but she has great experience to work with from her presidency. She was the first Chilean President. Once in office, she filled the cabinet with 10 men and 10 women. She made alimony payments legal and kept the economy strong during the financial crisis. Ms. Bachalet set up her new UN agency well, with people representing many different areas in the world with many different backgrounds.

It is really great that the United Nations has realized the need for an agency that focuses on women. Gender issues are often forgotten, so it is nice to have a check up to make sure women are being represented. Ms. Bachalet commented that it will be difficult to make major changes quickly, as we have talked about, but it seems like the United Nations making a change for the better.