| Message
from the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of
Women to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Ms Angela E.V. King
to the
Gender Mainstreaming Conference
organized by Islington Enterprise Agency in London, UK
Friday 29 June 2001
I am honoured to have the opportunity to send this message of
support to the important conference on gender mainstreaming
in the European context organized by the Islington Enterprise
Agency.
Intergovernmental mandates on gender mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming was established as a globally
recognized strategy for the promotion of gender equality at
the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing
in 1995. Since then the importance of gender mainstreaming has
been reinforced in many intergovernmental contexts. A particularly
important endorsement was given in the agreed conclusions of
the Economic and Social Council in 1997 (1997/2) which provided
a clear definition of the strategy and outlined what gender
mainstreaming entails in practical terms. More recently the
Commission on the Status of Women adopted a resolution on mainstreaming
a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the
United Nations system (45/2). The mandate for gender mainstreaming
is thus very clear and very strong.
In addition to these more generic mandates for
gender mainstreaming, there are also very specific recommendations
for all areas of the work of the United Nations, including the
areas which this conference will be focusing on - poverty, power
and decision-making and enterprise development. For example,
in the chapter on Women in power and decision-making in the
Platform for Action from the Beijing conference, paragraph 189
specifically addresses mainstreaming: "In addressing the
inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and
decision-making at all levels, Governments and other actors
should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming
a gender perspective in all policies and programmes so that
before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects
on women and men, respectively." In relation to poverty
reduction, the outcome document from the twenty-third special
session of the General Assembly to assess the implementation
of the Beijing Platform for Action calls on governments and
international organizations to: "Recognizing the mutually
reinforcing links between gender equality and poverty eradication,
elaborate and implement, where appropriate, in consultation
with civil society, comprehensive gender-sensitive poverty eradication
strategies addressing social, structural and macroeconomic issues"
(para 101(e)). Numerous recommendations have been made in many
different contexts on the need to give greater attention to
gender perspectives in relation to enterprise development, including
in relation to credit, savings and training. For example, the
outcome document of the twenty-third special session encourages
governments and international organizations to: "Encourage
the establishment, in partnership with private financial institutions,
where appropriate, of "lending windows" and other
accessible financial services, with simplified procedures that
are specifically designed to meet the savings, credit and insurance
needs of all women."(para 101(f)).
What is gender mainstreaming?
The strategy of mainstreaming is defined in
the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions, 1997/2, as "&the process
of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned
action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all
areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's
as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension
of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal
spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality
is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality."
The term mainstreaming came from the objective to bring attention
to gender equality into the mainstream of development activities.
An important element in the mainstreaming strategy is the ambition
to give attention to gender equality from the initial stages
of processes so that there is potential to influence goals,
strategies and resource allocations and thus bring about changes
in policies, programmes and other activities and make a real
difference to gender equality.
Mainstreaming involves taking up gender equality
perspectives as relevant in analysis, data collection, and other
activities, to ensure that all processes take into account the
contributions, priorities and needs of the entire stakeholder
group, women as well as men. Attention to the goal of gender
equality needs to be mainstreamed into research, analysis, policy
development as well as operational activities. The Platform
for Action (Beijing 1995) made it very clear that gender analysis
is the first essential step in the mainstreaming strategy. Before
any decisions are taken in any area of societal development
an analysis should be made of the current responsibilities and
contributions of both women and men and the potential impact
of planned processes and activities on women and men respectively.
The first step required is an assessment of
the linkages between gender equality and the issue or sector
being worked on, that is, to identify the gender implications
of working on, for example, poverty elimination, decision-making
and power, enterprise development, and all other areas. This
involves understanding why promotion of gender equality is important
from a human rights/social justice perspective as well as for
achievement of all other development goals. Secondly the opportunities
for introducing gender perspectives need to be identified in
the work-tasks undertaken. These opportunities or entry-points
can be found in research and analysis, policy development, use
of statistics, training events and workshops/conferences, as
well as in planning and implementing projects and programmes.
Thirdly an approach or methodology has to be identified for
successfully incorporating gender perspectives into these work-tasks
in a manner which facilitates influencing goals, strategies,
resource allocation and outcomes. This could include, for example,
giving attention to gender perspectives in terms or reference
and job descriptions. Institutional development, in terms of
developing guidelines, utilizing gender specialists, providing
competence development for all personnel, etc., is also required
to support gender mainstreaming.
It is important to emphasize that gender mainstreaming
does not replace the need for targeted, women-specific policies
and programmes. Mainstreaming and empowerment of women are complementary
strategies. The mainstreaming strategy should always be implemented
in a manner which facilitates empowerment of women.
Responsibility for gender mainstreaming
Overall responsibility for implementing the
mainstreaming strategy should rest at the highest levels within
Governments and other organizations. Management levels should
develop adequate accountability mechanisms for monitoring progress
with mainstreaming. One means of ensuring accountability is
to establish clear indicators of progress which can be monitored
over time by management.
The Platform for Action and all subsequent intergovernmental
mandates on gender mainstreaming have been very clear on the
important role of non-governmental organizations and civil society.
In the Political Declaration in the outcome document from the
twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (Beijing
+5), for example, it is clearly stated that Governments: "Recognize
the role and contribution of civil society, in particular non-governmental
organizations and women's organizations, in the implementation
of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and encourage
their participation in further implementation and assessment
processes;" (para 5). Non-governmental organizations and
civil society groups have a key role to play in advocating for
gender mainstreaming at national and local levels and in holding
their Governments accountable to international commitments.
The critical role of men, and the need for men
to take joint responsibility with women for the promotion of
gender equality, including through the gender mainstreaming
strategy, has been increasingly emphasized in recent years.
I congratulate you on the initiative to foster greater dialogue
on the gender mainstreaming strategy and wish you a very successful
conference.
Thank you.
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