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Gender in development

Video Debate - Women’s empowerment, development cooperation and culture
In conjuncture with the ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review and the 2010 International Year of the Rapprochement of Culture, United Nations Television hosted a debate entitled, “Women’s empowerment, development cooperation and culture.” Exploring the linkages between culture and women’s empowerment, panelists spoke about the fluidity of culture and the tensions within communities that bring forth change.  Panelists included Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the UNFPA, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Kavita N. Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Kwame Anthony Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor Of Philosophy and the Universtiy Center for Human Values, Princeton University.  Watch the full video online at  http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/tvdebate/index.shtml. [contributed by Sarah Wilson, UNDP Gender Team]

 

Human Rights and the MDGs – ECOSOC Side Event
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said that UNDP’s role on human rights is “neither a normative nor a monitoring one, but rather one of developing capacity.” Speaking at a side event on human rights and the MDGs, Clark highlighted UNDP’s role in support of national human rights institutions and providing technical support to development practitioners in the field on how to effectively incorporate human rights and governance issues in poverty reduction strategies. While Clark celebrated the last ten years of progress towards achieving the MDGs, she also cautioned that we have a long way to go. Last week, the UN MDG report was launched and detailed how women, rural inhabitants, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and other excluded groups often lag well behind national averages in progress on MDG targets – even when nations as a whole are progressing towards MDG achievement. Clark championed UNDP’s partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and pledged that both entities would follow through with their respective mandates in order to achieve the MDGs by 2015. Read the full speech by Helen Clark.  [contributed by Jennifer Domise, UNDP Gender Team]

 

Economic opportunities for the empowerment of women in Africa and LDCs

“African women have not enjoyed sufficiently meaningful gains from the sustained growth of their respective national economies in recent years,” said Patrick Hayford, Director of the Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (OSSA), co-chairing a ministerial roundtable discussion on the empowerment of women in Africa and LDCs.  Hayford highlighted the African women’s report prepared last year by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which detailed persisting gender imbalances  in access to economic opportunities and productive resources such as land, credit, technology and support services. Recognizing African women’s entrepreneurship as an unexploited source of economic growth, Hayford urged national governments to “move from commitment to real action.”  UNDP Administrator Helen Clark promoted equal rights in the workplace and cautioned that “if women are always restricted to the informal sector, they won’t enjoy access to decent work and the opportunities that go with it.” She said that while the majority of small farmers are women, less than 10 percent of credit goes to small farmers in general and only 1 percent of total credit in the agricultural sector goes to women.  Rwandan Minister of Finance Kamata Sayinzoga offered examples of successful gender mainstreaming initiatives in her country. Key achievements include legal reforms to the constitution that have legislated gender quotas. As a result, women make up 50 percent of parliament, 20 percent of the judiciary and over 30 percent of the police force.  In closing, co-chair Inés Alberdi, Executive Director of UNIFEM, celebrated the adoption of the new Gender Entity UN Women. “It is our expectation that a stronger gender entity will further position gender equality and women’s rights at the head of governmental and intergovernmental The roundtable was held by OSSA, the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) and UNIFEM.

 [contributed by Jennifer Domise, UNDP Gender Team]

Highly Recommended: Annual Ministerial Review National Voluntary Presentations - The National Voluntary Presentations are a critical component of ECOSOC’s Annual Ministerial Review and are well-worth reading as they contain valuable country-specific information on gender issues and are an excellent advocacy tool. The presentations are by 13 countries which provide each country’s experiences in implementing national development strategies to achieve the internationally agreed goals.
(Below are links to the available presentations thus far)
Brazil, Nilcéa Freire, Minister, Secretariat of Policies for Women (presentation)
Guatemala Karin Slowing Umaña, Secretary of State for Planning and Programming (presentation),
Moldova, Victor Bodiu, Minister of State (presentation)
The Netherlands, Herman Schaper, Permanent Representative of Netherlands to the United Nations (presentation)
Namibia,Doreen Sioka, Minister for Gender Equality and Child Welfare (presentation)
United States of America, Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Alonzo Fulgham, Chief Operating Officer, USAID
Australia, Hon Bob McMullan MP Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance (presentation)
France, Gérard Araud Ambassador Permanent Representative (presentation)
Mongolia, Enkhtsetseg Ochir Ambassador Permanent Representative (presentation)
Norway, Morten Wetland Ambassador Permanent Representative (presentation)
Republic of Congo, Raymond Serge Bale Ambassador Permanent Representative (presentation)
Republic of Korea, Park In-kook Ambassador Permanent Representative (presentation)
Portugal, José Filipe Moraes Cabral Ambassador Permanent Representative (presentation)