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The Security Sector and Gender in West Africa: A survey of police, defence, justice and penal services in ECOWAS states

This report, published in English and French, aims to systematically document the status of gender integration in the security sectors in 14 Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The report is designed to be a resource for people working in, or with, security sector institutions; for those interested in governance and development in West Africa; and for those involved in gender-related issues. It combines information gathered by in-country researchers, interviews, document analysis and desk research. Much of the data in this report has never before been published or compared across countries in the region.
The survey is guided by the following two questions: Are security sector institutions providing adequate response to the different security and justice needs of men, women, boys and girls? What steps have been taken to create internally equitable, representative and non-discriminatory institutions?
The report contains three main sections: an introduction, a summary and analysis of findings, and individual country profiles. The introduction provides background on the survey rationale, methodology and research challenges. The summary and analysis of findings offers a cross-country and cross-institution analysis of the survey findings, and includes a list of recommendations. The 14 extensive country profiles present easy-to-read yet detailed information structured by 101 indicators on national governance, police services, armed forces and gendarmerie, the justice system and penal services.

Making It magazine issue on the economic empowerment of women

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Fourth quarter of 2011 issue of UNIDO's Making It magazine is devoted to the issue of women's economic empowerment. Articles by Michelle Bachelet, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Zoe Elena Horn, Jan O'Sullivan, and many more.

‘Women hold up half the sky’ is a Chinese proverb affirming women’s equal contribution to the human experience but it is an aspirational, rather than a factual, claim. In developed and developing countries alike, gender gaps persist in education, health, work, wages and political participation. For this issue of Making It, the theme is gender equality and the economic empowerment of women.

As Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, pointed out, “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women”.

Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours but women earn only 10% of the world’s income, and women own less than 1% of the world’s property. Women lag far behind men in access to land, credit, and decent jobs, even though a growing body of research shows that enhancing women’s economic options boosts national economies.

Gender Equality Laws: Global Good Practice and A Review of Five Southeast Asian Countries

The publication of Gender Equality Laws: Global Good Practice and A Review of Five Southeast Asian Countries, in part a response to the call from States parties for a resource establishing good practice guiding principles, is therefore a timely and important resource to assist actors, public and private, government and non government, in both the development of new gender equality laws as well as the implementation of existing gender equality laws. This publication examines and analyses gender equality laws from around the world, identifying those provisions that represent good practice from a CEDAW informed perpective - practices that are recognised for having worked in their respective contexts but are not intended however to be held as prescriptive measures for other countries. Rather, they serve as guiding principles for similar initiatives. This publication also provides a detailed analysis of five draft and enacted GEL in Southeast Asia, a region where governments and civil society are working together to ensure that a State party's ratification of CEDAW leads to actual reform of law and policy in all the areas of women's lives where discrimination is experienced.

Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008 - 2011

The Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011 - first launched in March - embodies UNDP's strong corporate commitment to deepen further our efforts to promote gender equality and women's empowerment. It is designed to complement and reinforce UNDP's Strategic Plan 2008-2011, by defining in more detail how attention to gender equality and women's empowerment will strengthen action in all our areas of work.  

Do Our Laws Promote Gender Equality?

In the past three decades - since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) - the nations of the East and Southeast Asia region have enacted many laws establishing gender equality standards and guaranteeing gender equality and non-discrimination. Worldwide, UNIFEM has supported gender equality advocates in Governments and civil society organizations in conducting legal reviews of national laws for compliance with CEDAW and pursuing legal reforms that advance gender equality. Yet ample instances remain of laws that explicitly discriminate against women on the basis of their sex. Many Governments believe that gender-neutral laws benefit women and men equally, while in fact - due to deeply rooted structural, institutional, social, and cultural barriers for women - the opposite is often true. Therefore, advocates for gender equality must persist in their endeavour to identify legislation that is inconsistent with CEDAW, propose necessary corrections, and help create stronger legal frameworks for gender equality. To assist in this compound task, UNIFEM has developed a handbook - Do Our Laws Promote Gender Equality? - for CEDAW-based legal reviews, providing practical, step-by-step guidance regarding critical review of national laws, and incorporating a set of indicators developed and tested through actual legal reviews.

Making the MDGs Work Better for Women

Important commitments have been made by Governments in the past years and the pivotal role of gender equality for development and poverty reduction has been recognized at all levels. However, a major challenge today is turning these commitments into actions. Many national development plans still lack a gender perspective; governments and aid agencies still lack gender expertise; policies still lack appropriate gender sensitive targets and indicators; documents and studies still lack accurate data disaggregated by sex and gender statistics; and overall, commitments to gender equality lack provisions for financing and implementation.

Making the MDGs Work Better for Women draws on good practices to elaborate key strategies for accelerateing the pace for reaching the MDGs. Women's empowerment and progress towards gender equality drives all of the MDGs. Making the MDGs work better for women implies that they work better for all.

Here to Bring A Change

Here to Bring a Change: Reflection of the Experience of the 2004-2009 Women Members of Parliament

In Indonesia, the spirit to implement the affirmative action has been initiated when CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) was ratified through Law No.7/1984 on the Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Types of discriminatory against Women. The downside is that because there are no severe penalties in place, women's representation in politics remains very low. The CEDAW Commission supervising the implementation of CEDAW at UN headquarters in their concluding comment in 2007 even expresses its grief concern about the limited representation of women in the 2004 parliament. In their concluding comment, the Commission writes that the Commission is so dissapointed with the fact that thepolitical representation of women is very low in Indonesia and that affirmative action has failed to reach the 30% representation for Indonesian women in politics. This study reflects the experience of the 2004-2009 women members in dealing with gender issues and politics. It also depicts their efforts to achieve the minimum quota of women members in the parliament.

Asia-Pacific Human Development Report: POWER, VOICE and RIGHTS - A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific

UNDP's Asia Pacific Human Development Reports have been stimulating a lively dialogue within the region on a range of important issues. Prepared by experts from Asia and the Pacific, the Reports present an authentic account of human development progress, possibilities, and challenges in this vibrant and fast growing region. This year's Report focuses on the critical question of advancing gender equality, as seen through the prism of women's unequal power, voice, and rights. Despite the region's many economic gains, the Report chronicles how in many instances women across the region continue to be held back and disadvantaged. Even as many women have benefited from their countries' improved education, health, and prosperity, they continue to face barriers to the same opportunities available to men.

Democracy and the Challenge of Change: A Guide to Increasing Women's Political Participation

Democracy and the Challenge of Change: A Guide to Increasing Women’s Political Participation was created to be used by National Democratic Institute staff and other practitioners to develop, implement, monitor and eval­uate women’s political participation programs across a variety of technical areas. With separate chapters on Citizen Participation, Elections and Electoral Processes, Political Parties and Governance, the guide pro­vides a rationale for focusing on increasing women’s par­ticipation in each technical area, as well as program­matic frameworks, examples of best practices and case studies, and strategies to be used throughout the lifecy­cle of a program or project.

*The Guide will also be available in French and Spanish in the coming weeks.

E-Learning Course: Getting to the Gate

Equal Voices present 'Getting to the Gate', our online campaign school for women interested in getting into politics. This course is free of charge; however, all users must register to access the course. This online course aims to increase the number of elected women by providing practical tools for women of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life interested in running for public office.