Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The UN Women Regional Office for Arab States in its 2022 – 2025 Strategic Note has emphasized the delivery of support to member states to increase women’s employment. UN Women’s Flagship “Surging Women’s Employment Initiative” (SWEI) aims to increase women's employment by 5% in the Arab States by 2030, focusing on the care, green and STEM economies. The Flagship Initiative (SWEI) consists of a number of areas/pillars that are addressed at the same time, of which Legal Frameworks is a key Pillar. In this regard, the Flagship Initiative (SWEI) optimizes existing opportunities in the Arab States region, for economic growth in the care, green, and STEM economies, including supporting national actors in implementing legal provisions that are designed to accelerate women employment. The Flagship also addresses systemic barriers such as through targeted legal reforms, capacity building, and strategic partnerships. Implemented by UN Women with key regional and national stakeholders, the Flagship Initiative (SWEI) emphasizes sustainable financing, knowledge sharing, and national ownership to advance gender equality and inclusive economic growth.

The program is recruiting a Legal and Policy Specialist – Labor and Economic Law to support legal and policy analysis for the implementation of the employment generation interventions of the Flagship initiative. The consultancy is anchored in the SWEI legal and policy pillar aiming to promote evidence-based policy reform, investment in care systems, and green economy transitions in implementing countries. . Building on existing draft legal analyses and national country chapters, the assignment will focus on developing practical, feasible, and sector-specific regulatory solutions capable of generating employment for women at scale.

Reporting to the Director for Women’s Employment in the Green, STEM, and Care Economy, the Specialist will provide legal and policy recommendations to strengthen the implementation of UN Women’s Flagship Initiatives. The role will focus on advising on the effective application of existing laws and proposing targeted legal and policy reforms as well as industry specific reforms needed at national level as well as in sector specific employment generation interventions designed to surge women employment in the Arab states by 5 percent by 2030, mainly in the in the green, STEM, and care sectors. Overall, the consultancy aims to reinforce the legal and policy foundations for women’s employment by refining existing analyses, expanding comparative country coverage, and translating national-level findings into actionable, sector-specific policy and regulatory recommendations that inform and strengthen implementation efforts.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

1. Development of a detailed workplan, methodology, timeline, and a draft annotated outline for the consolidated legal and policy report.
2. Conduct legal analysis to identify legal and regulatory enablers, accelerators, hindrances, gaps, and implementation constraints affecting women’s employment, with a particular focus on employment generation in the care, green, and STEM economies for Group 1 (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia) and Group 2 countries (Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq). In addition, update and strengthen the existing SWEI legal analysis to improve clarity, coherence, and legal rigor, ensuring alignment with international human rights and labour standards (CEDAW, ILO). 
3. Review and refine UN Women’s national country chapter solutions, assessing feasibility, scalability, and alignment with labour market conditions, institutional capacity, and SWEI objectives. Emphasis will be placed on identifying quick-win policy and regulatory measures to enable large-scale job creation for women in the care, green, and STEM economies.

4. Based on point 2 and 3, deliver a final consolidated comparative legal and policy report and a concise technical policy brief. The report will apply a structured comparative framework across Group 1 and Group 2 countries to assess labor, investment, care, and green economy regulatory regimes affecting women’s employment. It will analyze legal design, regulatory scope, implementation and enforceability constraints, and institutional capacity gaps; identify cross-country convergences and divergences; and synthesize findings into sector-specific, country-responsive legal and regulatory recommendations for the care, green, and STEM economies.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrated expertise in laws, regulations, and policy frameworks relevant to gender equality, women’s empowerment, and labour standards in the Arab region. 
• Strong knowledge of green, care, and STEM economy and the linkages to labour market outcomes 
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong analytical and writing skills
• Excellent time management and ability to produce deliverables within agreed deadlines.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Law, with a focus on economic and labor law or financial, fiscal and tax law and/or any related field is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in legal and policy analysis including data collection, qualitative data analysis, and report writing and/or any related experience is required;
• Experience leading research in international settings is desirable;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) an d spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required;
• Knowledge of French is required. 

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.