A/RES/57/180 (c) To continue to monitor closely the progress made by departments and offices in meeting the goal of gender balance, to ensure that the appointment and promotion of suitably qualified women will not be less than 50 per cent of all appointments and promotions until the goal of 50/50 gender distribution is met; (d) To strongly encourage heads of departments and offices to continue selecting female candidates when their qualifications are the same as, or better than, those of male candidates, and to effectively encourage, monitor and assess the performance of managers in meeting targets for improving women’s representation; (e) To encourage consultation by heads of departments and offices with departmental focal points on women during the selection process and to ensure that the focal points are designated at a sufficiently high level and enjoy full and effective access to senior management; (f) To enable the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, as outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action, to effectively contribute to, monitor and facilitate the setting and implementation of gender targets in human resource action plans, including by ensuring access to the information required to carry out that work; (g) To intensify his efforts to create, within existing resources, a gendersensitive work environment supportive of the needs of his staff, both women and men, by, inter alia, actively pursuing appropriate work/life policies, such as flexible working time, flexible workplace arrangements, career development and childcare and elder-care needs, and by providing more comprehensive information to prospective candidates and new recruits on employment opportunities for spouses, providing support for the activities of women’s networks and organizations within the United Nations system and expanding gender-sensitivity training in all departments, offices and duty stations; (h) To continue to work to further strengthen the policy against harassment, including sexual harassment, by, inter alia, ensuring the full implementation of the guidelines for its application at Headquarters and in the field, including in peacekeeping operations, and further requests the early issuance of the directive on sexual harassment prepared by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the Secretariat for use in peacekeeping and other field missions, as well as user-friendly guidelines on sexual harassment to be prepared for the United Nations system by the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the inter-agency working group; (i) To undertake further analysis of the probable causes of the slow advance in the improvement of the status of women in the United Nations system, as outlined in paragraph 56 of his report, 7 to institute remedial measures and to report on progress made in this context to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session; 7. Strongly encourages the Secretary-General to renew his efforts to appoint more women as special representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf, especially in matters related to peacekeeping, peace-building, preventive diplomacy and economic and social development, as well as in operational activities, and to appoint more women as resident coordinators and to other highlevel positions; 8. Encourages the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the organizations of the United Nations system to continue to develop common approaches for retaining women, promoting inter-agency mobility and improving career development opportunities; 4