The Secretary-General has received the following statement , which is being circulated in accordance with paragraphs 36 and 37 of Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31 . In the past five years , reaching the indicators for Millennium Development Goal 3 , promote gender equality and empower women , has been given greater priority with the launch of several significant efforts on behalf of donor countries and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women ( UN-Women ) to increase women 's political participation .