Indian-origin Anita Bhatia Appointed as UN-Women s Deputy Executive Director

Indian-origin Anita Bhatia has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women.

UN Women

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) is dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

UN Women to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. It:

  • Supports the UN Member States by setting global standards for achieving gender equality.
  • Works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide.
  • Works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals reality for women and girls and stands behind women s equal participation in all aspects of life.
  • Coordinates and promotes the UN system s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda.

The UN General Assembly through the resolution created UN women by merging the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW); the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW, established in 1976); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI, established in 1997), and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976). UN-Women became operational in 2011.