The UNESCAP region has seen a major shift in the role and status of women in the past two decades. Considerable progress has been made in gaining recognition of the twelve critical areas of concern contained in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. It is now widely acknowledged that gender equality and girl's education are vital for reducing poverty. Progress has been made in promoting employment and income-generating activities for women, and micro-credit and other financial instruments have yielded a notable success in extending economic opportunities for women, particularly in rural areas. Efforts have been intensified to bridge the gender digital divide. Women's participation in decision-making has been recognized as a critical aspect of good governance. There is an increased commitment to combating violence against women, including domestic violence and trafficking, as a violation to women's human rights and fundamental freedoms. There is also increasing acceptance of the need to focus on the feminization of poverty, migration and ageing as the region's emerging social issues. National machineries for women's advancement and gender equality have been strengthened and institutionalized as the focal point for gender mainstreaming. "Gender mainstreaming" is the strategy of the United Nations to promote gender equality. It aims for the increased involvement of women in decision-making process and agenda-setting regarding development directions, social values and resource allocations.

Taking guidance from the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the role of the Gender and Development Section (GAD) at UNESCAP is to be a dynamic and multi-faceted partner to those working towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in the region. GAD operates as a facilitator and builds linkages between governments, civil society and other partners in order to encourage and strengthen channels for dialogue, interaction and involvement in national, subregional, regional and global policy development and implementation. The aim of GAD is to support inclusive and effective mechanisms for greater women’s empowerment as means to achieve gender equality and ultimately, reduce poverty.

Recognizing the existence of persistent and emerging challenges that hinder women’s full and equal participation in societies throughout the region, such as the impact of globalization and the evolving information society, the rise of HIV/AIDS infection among women, the feminization of ageing, trafficking and other forms of gender violence, as well as systemic institutional inequalities, GAD priority areas include:

• Economic, social and political empowerment of women
• Addressing violence against women
• Women’s rights as human rights
• Gender equality and gender mainstreaming

GAD provides capacity-building and training, facilitates policy formulation, and awareness-raising and outreach throughout the region and globally. GAD welcomes opportunities to engage in new partnerships and strengthen long-standing networks in an effort to promote cross-cutting and multidimensional approaches to progressive change for women and girls throughout the region.