Gender equality is an overarching goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which further states that all goals and targets depend on gender equality and the empowerment of women. UNDP’s commitment to gender equality is integral to all efforts to expand people’s choices, realize a just and sustainable world, and achieve the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UNDP’s global Gender Equality Strategy 2022-2025 assists countries including Mongolia to move beyond gradual efforts towards a set of approaches that shift power structures and the economic, social, and political systems that perpetuate discrimination. The strategy is grounded in UNDP’s commitment for eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities and exclusion, and supporting the empowerment of women. It describes how UNDP, together with our partners, will pursue gender equality helping to make a difference in the lives of millions of people across the globe through our Six Signature solutions and three enablers including innovation, digital transformation, and financing SDGs. The strategy also addresses key points including ending gender-based violence, tackling the gender dimensions of poverty, expanding access to clean, affordable energy, public institutions reform, and helping to unlock additional public and private investment towards gender equality.

Furthermore, UNDP is committed to gender mainstreaming as a means of promoting gender equality at all levels-in research, legislation, and policy development ensuring both women and men can influence, participate in and benefit from development efforts. UNDP is applying gender analysis in all its new programmes to identify entry points and targeted interventions to promote gender equality and women's empowerment.

Overview of Gender Equality in Mongolia

Though Mongolia ranked as a country with high gender development, the country’s gender inequality index is below the regional and global average according to UNDP’s 2022 Human Development Report. Almost 2 in 3 women (57.9) per cent, have experienced physical, sexual, emotional, or economic violence and or controlling behaviors at least once from their intimate partners in their lifetime according to the UNFPA Mongolia's 2017 study. Statistics show that unemployment among young women is primarily attributed to childbirth and childcare, due to the limited availability of childcare services causing long gaps in their professional career.

Mongolia’s state policy on gender equality aims to create conditions for equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women, as well as for the prevention and elimination of gender discrimination. The Government of Mongolia is making efforts to addressing the challenges of women and girls face on gender quality. In 2011, the Law on Promotion of Gender Equality was approved and the National Programme on Gender Equality, a key document promoting comprehensive measures to eliminate gender-based stereotypes in public by ensuring gender equality in the political, economic, social, cultural, and family spheres.

The UNDP Gender Social norms Index revealed that approximately half the population perceives those men make better political leaders. Women hold only 24 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide. Whereas, in Mongolia women make up 51% of Mongolia’s electorate and actively participate in elections. However, the participation of women in political decision-making remains insufficient women have neither held any of top three political offices at the national level nor at the subnational level. As of 2020, 17.1 percent of the Mongolia’s Parliament, the highest legislative body, are female, which is well below the global average of 24.9 percent.

UNDP Mongolia's interventions and priorities for gender equality

When women lead and participate in equal terms countries thrive.

UNDP Mongolia mainstreams its gender equality and women’s empowerment across its program areas of Governance, Natural Resources Management and Climate Change with a focus on women in decision-making, women in civil service, combating gender-based violence (GBV), women and eco-tourism, women’s economic empowerment. This will mean that women as well as men can influence, participate in and benefit from development efforts.

The new Country Program Document (CPD) for Mongolia (2023-2027) has identified three key areas with greater emphasis on women’s leadership and participation at political decision-making level. In this regard, UNDP supports efforts to build capacities of institutions, strengthening the legal environment and mechanisms, raise awareness on gender equality and break down stereotypes. Further, these efforts will be achieved in collaboration with civil society organizations and the media to enhance role in addressing the country’s gender equality challenges.

UNDP Mongolia is working actively in partnership with all stakeholders to contribute to the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment in Mongolia. By advancing gender equality and empowering women as leaders and active actors in the development processes, we are providing support to Mongolia in building more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient future for every woman and man, girl and boy.

Institutional Transformation:

The UNDP country offices will continue advancing gender equality within the organization through the UNDPs Gender Equality Seal Certification by meaningfully integrating gender equality across UNDP work starting with the everyday decisions, actions, and behaviours of our team. The Gender Equality Seal certification program is a global initiative of UNDP, which promotes organizational culture of gender equality and incentivizes country offices to meet standards by integrating gender into all aspects of our development work. The seven interconnected building blocks of the gender seal helps country offices to scale up impact and achieve transformative results for gender equality: leadership, integration, learning and innovation, culture, funding, accountability, and communication.