The UN and UNDP in Brussels

Democratic Governance : Women's Empowerment

In addition to basic inequalities in access to education and resources, and an unequal share of the burdens of poverty, women continue to be under-represented in formal decision-making structures. Although women are increasingly active in community support systems, gender disparities persist in public positions at all levels: local, national, regional and global. In only 16 countries in the world is women's representation in national parliaments above 25 per cent. On average, they accounted for 11 per cent of parliamentarians worldwide in 1999, compared with 9 per cent in 1987. Despite the fact that the majority of the world's poor are women and girls, poverty reduction strategies insufficiently address the differential impact of poverty by gender and inadequately target gender equality as a core objective. Whereas women's contributions to the global economy are growing rapidly, women's labour remains undervalued and under-counted in national accounts; and data disaggregated by gender are still poorly developed.
Gender mainstreaming as an institutional and cultural transformation process should include eliminating gender biases in national and international development frameworks and paradigms; incorporating gender awareness into policies, programmes and institutional reforms; involving men to end gender inequality; and developing gender sensitive tools to monitor progress and ensure accountability.

Actions undertaken by UNDP with the European Commission

Building a culture of respect for human rights often requires a change in behavior both on the part of the rights-holders, who need the knowledge and support to assert their rights, and on the part of those who have duties to respect human rights. Sometimes a lack of respect for human rights results from deeply rooted cultural customs that need to be re-examined and addressed in the light of the human rights framework. This is particularly true in the context of gender discrimination which is manifested in many forms: violence against women, including female genital mutilation, employment discrimination, etc. In this context, gender considerations are included in all joint UN-Commission efforts. In 2007, special training to prevent and address sexual and gender based violence was provided in many refugee camps to police and camp officials and to refugees themselves. Moreover, working together with the Special Rapporteur on Torture on strengthening the protection of women addressed the gender dimension of torture, while in countries such as Guatemala and Mexico, elimination of violence against women was the focus of a campaign consisting of radio spots, distribution of brochures and copies of a study on domestic violence.

More specifically, the activities that have been financed include those that:

• support access to resources and services for women (e.g. in education, training, health, employment, infrastructure, and the participation of women in the political decision-making process);
• help define and analyze indicators that are gender-specific;
• raise awareness and advocate for women's empowerment; and
• strengthen the institutional and operational capacities of women in the development process.

Did you know?

Due to the EC-UNDP partnership in 2007 in Palestine a project was established for the Silwan Community to enhance its sustainable livelihood and self reliance through empowerment. The specific objective was to contribute to the economic and social well-being of some 55,000 people living in the Silwan community by increasing access to economic and social services, information, and environment awareness with particular focus on women and youth.