female staff . 85

Total staff 2 461 Total female staff 901

Others Total staff 2 400 Total female staff 885

showing number of female staff . 83

a Number of female staff members.

101. The fact that more male than female staff are retiring presents greater replacement possibilities for filling of vacancies by female staff and increased female staff deployment towards the goal of gender equality.

level, showing number of female staff . 66

level, showing number of female staff . 78

VI. REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE STAFF . 29 34 17

No. of female staff USG ASG D 2

nationality and level, showing number of female staff . 77

Female staff in posts subject to geographical distribution as a percentage of total female staff, by region of origin, 30 June 1994 30 June 1998

Female staff are also poorly represented in the Director category (33.25 per cent of 382 staff).

Female staff constitute the majority (61.5 per cent of 6,778 staff) in the General Service category.

The gender distribution of Secretariat staff shows an almost evenly balanced female male staff distribution (51.5 48.5).

Indeed, female staff are entitled to special leave for family reasons.

(showing number of female staff in parentheses) Group Combined desirable ranges

nationality and type of appointment, showing number of female staff 79

Women are well represented on the UNIDIR staff two thirds of the staff is female, including the Director.

Office staff such employees represent 13 per cent of the female EAP.

fig. 14). Annual averages show 740 female staff recruits versus 1,120 male

16. As of 30 June 1998, the percentage of women on project posts was 26.6 per cent (195 female staff), as compared to 23.3 per cent (177 female staff) in June 1997.

32. The evolution of the proportion of female staff subject to geographical distribution between 30 June 1993 when it was 31.3 per cent and 30 June 1997 is shown in table D below. That table also shows female staff for each region as percentages of all staff (table D.1) and as percentages of female staff only (table D.2).

In the Professional category, the proportion of female staff is 41.3 per cent.

The staff gender distribution was 67 per cent male and 33 per cent female.

31. The efforts to meet the requests of the General Assembly concerning female staff continue. As of 30 June 1997, the number of female staff subject to geographical distribution was 901, or 36.6 per cent as shown in table 3A of annex I, which also shows the distribution of male and female staff by region and level.

The percentage of female staff in the Civil Service stood at 33.7 in June 2003.

Female staff in posts subject to geographical distribution as a percentage of all staff, by region of origin, 30 June 1994 30 June 1998

39. Between 1 July 1996 and 30 June 1997, 38 female staff were appointed to posts under the system of desirable ranges, representing 40.9 per cent of the appointments made during the reporting period. Female staff from developing countries accounted for 14 appointments, that is to say, 36.8 per cent of the appointments of female staff during the reporting period. PART TWO HUMAN RESOURCES DEMOGRAPHICS

51. Global numbers (population 11,337) show a balanced overall gender distribution, with 5,663 (49.5 per cent) female staff members versus 5,770 (50.5 per cent) male staff members. However, these overall numbers do not reflect the important differences and disparities in female staff representation by category and by department and office.

Reasons for dissatisfaction were facility too far 34 , staff not available 7 , charges too high 2 , no female staff 8 , irregular supply 6 and others 25 .

In general, United Nations agencies were not allowed to re employ their female Afghan staff in their offices.

Women's increasingly important and influential participation in the labour market has led to the appointment of three female ministers, two female ambassadors, and four female chiefs of staff, and several women now hold senior positions in ministerial offices and in technical departments.

Candidates from 40 countries have been promoted, and 61 per cent of the successful candidates are female staff members.

33. The number and percentage of female staff subject to geographical distribution and with special language requirements on 30 June 1987 and on 30 June 1997 are shown in table E below. The percentage of female staff subject to geographical distribution has risen from 25.7 per cent to 36.6 per cent over the period. The percentage of female staff in language posts has increased from 33.1 per cent to 36.1 per cent over the same period.

By the year 2002, 650,000 female employees are working in education and training, constituting 70 of the total number of staff.

It has been alleged that Afghan female staff were threatened with hanging if they resumed their work with one humanitarian organization.

Two specific groups continue to have very low female staffing the Trades and Craft category (2.9 per cent of 172 staff) and the Security category (12.1 per cent of 231 staff).

78. Women accounted for a total of 42 per cent of all staff recruited in the reference period, as shown by figure 13. The majority of female staff were recruited in the category of General Service and related staff (44 per cent). In the Director and Professional categories, female recruits represented 39 per cent of total recruitment during the reference year.

37. Five staff members (four female and one male) were retained against P 2 posts outside the context of national competitive examinations.

The majority of retirees will be male (703 or 57.5 per cent as opposed to 520 or 42.5 per cent female staff).

Ritual Female Genital Operation (Female Circumcision)

The ban on women s employment severely limits access to women, prevents full deployment of national female United Nations and non governmental organizations staff, and is resulting in loss of livelihoods, especially among women and female headed households.

A number of representatives of Taliban officials have refused to receive female staff of international organizations solely on the basis of their gender.

The rights of female staff must be reaffirmed and ensured and any interference by the authorities in the matter should not be accepted.