The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN Women, is a United Nations organisation dedicated to gender equality and women's empowerment. On July 2, 2010, various pre-existing UN entities such as the ‘Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)’, the ‘International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women’ (INSTRAW), the ‘Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women’ (OSAGI), and the ‘United Nations Development Fund for Women’ (UNIFEM) merged to form this very committee.