VOA News Examines Debate Over U.N. Women Funding Levels

VOA News examines advocates' concerns over funding levels for U.N. Women. "The mandate of U.N. Women is large, and some supporters are concerned that its starting budget of $500 million dollars is not enough to promote women and gender equality around the world, especially at the country level. Activists compare the funding with the nearly $3 billion dollars annually for UNICEF and $4 billion for the U.N. Development Program. Funding for U.N. Women is less than 1% of the nearly $5 billion U.N. budget." The World Bank has estimated $83 billion is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of gender equality by 2015. But some advocates are hopeful the agency can bring more women's voices to the decision-making process, VOA News reports (Eagle, 6/6).