A proposed blueprint for a radical restructuring of the United Nations as envisaged by outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan has fallen short of its target in one specific area: gender empowerment. As the 191 member states get ready to discuss the political nuances and economic implications of Annan's recently-released landmark report on UN reform, there is an increasingly vociferous demand to rectify the gender shortcoming by creating a separate UN agency to deal with women's issues.