At the beginning on the month the United Nations General Assembly voted unanimously to create a new entity to accelerate progress in meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide.  UN Women combines the resources of four previous branches of the UN that focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment and will be operational by January 2011. 

Taken from a statement by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon:

“UN Women is a recognition of a simple truth: Equality for women and girls is not only a basic human right, it is a social and economic imperative. Where women are educated and empowered, economies are more productive and strong. Where women are fully represented, societies are more peaceful and stable.”

What an incredible development!  It will be exciting to watch the impact that UN Women will make.  We look forward to tracking the inevitable accomplishments of this unity.