"INTRODUCTION: Member States of the United Nations endorsed gender mainstreaming as the global strategy for gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995 and called for its implementation in all areas of development. In the 25-plus years since the Beijing Conference (Beijing +25), Member States of the United Nations have consistently reaffirmed the importance of the strategy and have noted the need for accelerated implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy. Most notably, the transformative potential of gender mainstreaming was reaffirmed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its call for accelerated implementation. This was complemented by an explicit acknowledgement by Member States that sustainable development cannot be achieved in any area without gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment. There were great expectations for the potential of gender mainstreaming to achieve the goals of gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment when the strategy was globally endorsed at the Beijing Conference. This new strategy was perceived as a way to move beyond the earlier, fragmented “women in development” project-based approach towards a deeper and more sustained impact on development policy and practice. Since Beijing, assessments of the status of implementation indicate that some progress has indeed been made. There have been significant efforts to implement gender mainstreaming in many sectors and policy areas by Member States and organizations at national, regional, and global levels. And there have been notable improvements in promoting and protecting the rights of women and girls, in facilitating their empowerment and attaining substantive equality between women and men. This Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming for Gender Equality Results has been developed with the aim to encourage and support more systematic and effective mainstreaming implementation for the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout the United Nations system and within all sectors. It is intended for use by practitioners, policymakers, gender focal points and technical managers with varying levels of awareness and knowledge of gender mainstreaming. It is also a resource for gender specialists and advisors, who play a critical role in guiding and mainstreaming for gender equality results. By consolidating knowledge on gender mainstreaming and by identifying promising practices and positive trends to strengthen its implementation, this publication can provide a powerful incentive to build on the gains that have been made in the Beijing+25 period..."