Gender Mainstreaming: A Strategy for Transformation

Transcription

1 Gender Mainstreaming: A Strategy for Transformation Rebecca Reichmann Tavares Representative/ Regional Programme Director UN Women Brazil & Southern Cone The establishment of UN Women reflects the desire of the United Nations system to renew its commitment to coherent and comprehensive operational activity to delivery on results for gender equality, and a determination to reinvigorate the gender mainstreaming agenda. A specific new responsibility was added to the UN Women mandate: that of coordinating and promoting the accountability of the United Nations system, so that system-wide commitments on gender equality, women s empowerment and gender mainstreaming translate into concrete actions and definite results at all levels within the United Nations system itself, and in partner countries. The addition of coordination and accountability functions for UN Women at both corporate policy and development programme levels provides the United Nations system with a designated champion for the full implementation of gender mainstreaming policy commitments. The founding resolution is explicit that the establishment of UN Women does not exonerate other entities from their own responsibility to mainstream gender equality considerations in the context of their own mandates. In addition to its work within the UN System, UN Women also continue to support member states in their efforts to mainstream a gender perspective in polices and mainstream institutions at national, regional and global levels. UN Women in the UN System: In line with its mandate to promote coordination and strengthen accountability, UN Women leading on the development of accountability tools and monitoring the progress of UN support to gender equality, including through the application of a gender mainstreaming strategy. Below is an overview of many of the tools, processes and analysis that are available or underway: Monitoring, Analysis, Tools and Coordination Mechanisms Supporting development and endorsement of the SWAP Development and roll out of Performance Indicators for UNCTs Monitoring Resident Coordinator Annual Reports since 2004 Guidance, support and advocacy for the application of Gender Markers to track financial resources for advancing gender equality Gender Audits UNDAF Review ( ) MDGF joint programmes analysis Conducting a Joint evaluation of Joint Programmes on Gender Equality (currently in progress).

2 LAC Gender Capacity Assessment of UNCTs Participation in and/or leadership of gender theme groups where it is present Participation in and/or leadership in joint programmes Joint advocacy, such as through the Secretary-General s UNiTE Campaign Supporting the development of the System-wide Action Plan (SWAP) for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The SWAP is being rolled out in 2012 with first reporting in 2013, and specifies the corporate processes and the institutional arrangements that must be in place for effective gender mainstreaming at the level of the organization. It provides a means to plan, monitor and report upon the establishment and use of gender mainstreaming processes across the United Nations system, in a consistent and comparable manner. Development, validation and revision of the UNCT Performance Indicators for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (also known as The UNCT Gender Mainstreaming Scorecard ) that were launched in The Scorecard defines clear performance standards for the processes and institutional arrangements that must be put in place by United Nations Country Teams when preparing CCA/UNDAFS and joint programmes. By defining good gender mainstreaming practice the Scorecard provides a clear and simple performance guideline, around which UNCTs can plan and organize their activity, as well as report upon results. However, to date only two Country Teams in Latin America have applied the Performance Indicators to their work. The results of early piloting of the SWAP and use of the Scorecard have been positive, suggesting that the Framework has potential to lead to significantly more systematic and productive levels of gender mainstreaming performance by the United Nations operational system for development. The selfanalysis required to complete the Scorecard has provided valuable opportunities for capacity development, especially instilling a more nuanced understanding of what gender mainstreaming means in every-day country office activity. A programme results and accountability mechanism is in discussion, to address the long-standing concerns about weaknesses in incorporating gender mainstreaming processes in programme results frameworks. Progress to date in Common Country Programming: Global Overview Since 2004, the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality has tracked UNCT reporting on gender issues. The results show an overall positive trend towards stronger UN country team support for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The increasing numbers of reported initiatives as well as the depth of reported initiatives, indicate a qualitative shift in the level of support that the UN system is providing. However, it is important to bear in mind that the monitoring exercise merely tracks what RCs are choosing to report, but does not attempt to validate this information. In the majority of cases reporting is at the level of activities. This is based on a total of 134 UNCTs, not all of which submitted reports each year. The areas of joint initiatives for gender equality that UN country teams report most frequently and that have been tracked since 2004 include: Ending violence against women (104 examples in 2010, compared to 28 in 2004). This nearly universal response can be linked to advocacy efforts of the Secretary-General s UNiTE to End Violence Campaign, as well as increased reporting on joint programming initiatives. NOTE: FOUR FOLD INCREASE Capacity development support for National Women s Machinery (76 examples in 2010, compared to 11 in 2004).NOTE SEVEN-FOLD INCREASE

3 Assistance in implementing and/or reporting on the Beijing Platform of Action and/or CEDAW (54 examples in 2010, compared to 21 in 2004). Strengthening reproductive health and reducing maternal mortality (67 examples in 2010, compared to 37 in 2004). Supporting women s empowerment in HIV/AIDS programmes (52 examples in 2010, compared to 34 in 2004). The increased number of gender sensitive joint initiatives on HIV/AIDS may reflect the influence of the Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV. Strengthening collection of sex disaggregated data (36 examples in 2010, compared to 9 in 2004). In terms of UNCT processes, the following are the main trends, globally: The number of UNDAFs that contained references to gender equality and/or women s empowerment in at least one outcome statement increased to 49 in 2010, up from 41 in UN country teams reflected gender equality or women s empowerment as a key element in their work plans, compared to 49 in UN country teams reported on joint initiatives on gender equality, an increase from 43 in The number of reported Gender Theme Groups reached 106 in 2010, compared to 37 in Internal capacity-building initiatives for UN country teams numbered 58 in 2010, compared to 24 in UNDAFs and Joint Programmes In 2010 the UNDG examined all 51 CCA/UNDAFs prepared between 2006 and 2009 to assess the extent to which they address gender equality considerations. The findings of the report derived from a quantitative tracking matrix, developed by the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality, adapted with an expanded set of indicators, based on the UNCT Performance Indicators for Gender Equality. Overall, the review found improvement over earlier years. Similar studies in 2006 had found that while the quality of gender analysis in CCAs had improved considerably up to that time, the programme response articulated in the UNDAFs was very inadequate, and that there was weak performance accountability. It found that those UNDAFs specifying gender-equality outcomes were overall highest rated in terms of the potential to deliver results on national priorities for gender equality. Similarly, UN Women, as a manager of the Spanish MDG Fund s knowledge management programme on gender as a cross cutting issue analyzed the 128 Joint Programmes under the Fund, including the subset of 54 programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, also applying a modified framework based on the Performance Indicators. This is the most extensive review of gender-related UNCT programming activity currently available, providing information on gender analysis, results frameworks, implementation activities and beneficiaries, and the use of technical expertise in programme management. By distinguishing those in the Gender Equality window from the total of all programmes the report sought to identify any differential between targeted and integrated approaches to gender mainstreaming, and was able to demonstrate uniformly high scores in gender equality programming among the Gender Window projects, and very variable scores among remaining windows. Findings for LAC region are similar to the global trends identified. The report will be finalized by end 2102.

4 The review finds that the use of gender analysis as the basis for programming is uneven, partly constrained by limitations in the availability of data (this is especially marked in the area of genderbased violence). While about 45% of all programmes undertook a full gender analysis, fully one third make no use of sex-disaggregated data at all. The review indicates a positive relationship between the development of in-depth evidence-based gender analysis and the specification of gender equality outcomes, outputs and indicators in results frameworks. However, this relationship was not consistent: only 40 percent of those programmes with adequate gender analysis make reference to gender in their outcomes, 76 percent make such reference in their outputs, and only 20 percent make even token reference to gender equality or women s empowerment in their indicators. Frequently no genderrelated results or indicators are specified in programme documents. In some cases even where there was a reporting line for gender equality, it was not completed. A further problem generated by poor application of gender analysis is that very often the results logic fails to clarify why women are selected as the beneficiary group, and how far this will contribute to reduction in structural or causal aspects of gender inequality. By failing to explore and clarify these linkages there is risk both that the programme will miss opportunities for meaningful change contributing to the achievement of gender equality that can be sustained beyond the life of the programme, and also that inequalities may be inadvertently deepened by the programme intervention. In sum therefore, this review of gender mainstreaming in UNCT joint programmes found the most consistent performance among programmes funded through the gender window, with serious problems across programmes in other windows in linking programme design with the gender analysis. The most significant problems were found in the definition of results, and reporting on them. There is a correlation between the availability of gender expertise and improved programme management for gender equality and women s empowerment. Importantly, the review found that in spite of clear guidance and strong and positive messaging on the importance of gender equality issues for the achievement of results on the part of the Fund, that guidance was not matched by accountability mechanisms to ensure delivery on the stated commitments. It also recommended to strengthen support to dedicated joint programming for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Reviews and analysis currently underway Additional analysis focused on promising practices and innovation from the joint programmes under the MDGF is also underway, with a total of 20 case studies having been commissioned, ten of which are from the LAC region. A global compendium of these case studies is expected to be ready early next year. The Joint Evaluation of Joint Programmes will also be an extremely important study and should also be available sometime in early I also want to draw your attention to the upcoming Expert Group Meeting on Gender Mainstreaming organized by UN Women. The EGM will be held possibly mid-march 2013 in the UN Women Santo Domingo training centre. UN Country Offices should be engaged in the process and we will be providing more information on this as it becomes available. In the LAC region UN Women is currently undertaking a review of capacities for the promotion of gender equality in the context of 26 UNCTs. The review will consist of a regional survey, as well as country level studies. The review is intended to provide a benchmark for future monitoring of gender capacities in the region as well as to guide UN Women and the UN System in the region in regard to filling gaps and providing support to national partners.

5 UN Women support to gender mainstreaming with Member States As in its work with the UN System, through its programme and policy support provided to Member States, UN Women seeks to mainstream a gender perspective in policies, to build institutional capacities among institutions responsible for implementation, and to empower civil society and other stakeholders to monitor implementation. It does this in many ways, including brokering multi-stakeholder alliances for example in national and sectoral planning, humanitarian relief, peace processes - and the budgets that support these. It supports service delivery for survivors of violence and for access to economic development support. It also supports women s increased political participation and leadership from the national to local levels. It does this with the support of UN System partners. UN Women s mandate to collaborate with national mechanisms for gender equality and women s civil society organizations in the identification of issues and interventions tailored to local needs, as well as with the UNCT, is a major avenue to enhanced alignment and coherence of gender mainstreaming strategies. While UN Women has an important role to play in relation to gender mainstreaming in the UN System, this is 100 per cent in service of ensuring that this translates into tangible results at the country level either through its own efforts to support countries or through the support of others. As part of its support to member states, UN Women funds catalytic initiatives to support gender mainstreaming in innovative ways through its own programming at country level and its funding mechanisms: the Fund for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Fund for Gender Equality. This is particularly important as we examine and potentially redefine the guidance for the UN Development System through the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) which is currently taking place; and international frameworks including ICPD in 2014, MDGs in 2015, and the Beijing Platform itself in Promising practices in programming: Economic Empowerment: A good example on mainstreaming gender in economic policies and access to financial services is the MyDEL programme in Central America. This initiative has supported the achievement of results in public policy for financial sector, for example, with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE). In design and implementing its recent gender policy the bank has established the Central American Observatory on gender and Enterprises and is posed to influence the operations of more than 130 micro-financing agents throughout this region thus, creating access to financial services for tens of thousands of women in the region. The programme is also supporting women to influence policies and service delivery at the local level to make sustainable changes for their economic well-being. A key element of the success of the programme has been support to Service Center for Women Entrepreneurs (CSEM) that provide technical and financial services based on partnership between academia, government and enterprises, and that are linked to decision make mechanism at the local level in particular, Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDA). Last year more than 10,000 indigenous women in Guatemala had access to technical and financial services through the CSEM established at the local level in seven local communities. Service centers have also been inaugurated in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The approach represents an opportunity to leverage the existing commitments from important economic institutions, such as with the Central American Bank, as these institutions themselves set examples and become advocates to catalyze sustainable change among their counterparts throughout Latin America.

6 Gender Responsive Budgeting: A proven means to support implementation of national and international commitments towards gender equality is through the promotion of intentional measures to incorporate a gender perspective in planning and budgeting frameworks and concrete investment in addressing gender gaps. Genderresponsive budget analysis, not only increases accountability to women s rights, but also encourage greater public transparency that can shift economic policies, leading to gains across societies. A key strategy to implementing national commitments to gender equality, such as national plans for gender equality, is to mainstream these into larger multi-sectoral strategies. UN Women supports various methodologies to ensure the inclusion and monitoring of such commitments to gender equality in larger strategies. These include creating official forums for bringing women s voices to the table and the provision of knowledge and tools. In Bolivia, at the local level, women's organizations are making strategic use of gender reports that show municipal investments and expenditures on gender equality and women's rights. Due to this oversight and advocacy, a number of municipalities have begun to record increased budgetary commitments for gender equality issues. In addition, the categories and indicators for measuring the investments are now being utilized by women's organizations in an additional ten countries in Latin America. In Ecuador UN Women supported the Ministry of Finance to work with the Parliamentarian Group for Women s Rights, who actively participated in the drafting of the Organic Code for Planning and Public Finance. As a result, the Code guarantees the reduction of gender gaps as core goals of public planning and investment, and obligates the Ministry of Finance to annually draft a report on investments aimed at reducing inequities. Another result was the inclusion of an article in the Organic Law of the Legislative Branch of Government that provided that, for each law that will be adopted, the Legislative Technical Unit must submit a gender impact report on the proposed bill, as well as an estimate of the cost that its implementation would entail. Following many years of work on gender responsive budgeting in the country, in 2012 the government increased its national budget by US$1.3 billion in allocations related to gender equality. Political Participation: The initiative SUMA Spanish for sum of all parts, supported by UN Women and under leadership of the National Institute for Women in Mexico, has in less than a year already trained more than 500 women and provided direct mentorship to nearly 100. This is an unprecedented training programme in a country where political participation of women has been on the rise, but where traditional party structures continue to obstruct women s increased leadership, especially, at the local and rural (municipal) level. The initiative has made it possible to change internal party rules that become barriers to women s advancement within political parties and in some instances supporting legal actions leading to recounting of votes where electoral results have been questioned. Addressing key obstacles such as internal party selection processes has the potential of increasing women s numbers in key positions in a substantive way. Increasing the number of women in elected office is a way to mainstreaming gender issues into electoral systems and promoting that the issues that affect women are positioned in the political agenda. In El Salvador, a coalition of women s organizations from around the country made it possible for the country to have the Law of Equality, Fairness, and the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, a

7 set of regulations that improve the judicial framework for the protection of women s rights. The law was approved by the General assembly unanimously on 17 March The law dictates, among other things, that women and men obtain the same salary for the same work and that the value of domestic labor, paid or unpaid be recognized. It also provides guarantees for rural women. For example, it regulates land titles. The coalition is now creating the mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the law. Promoting accountability in the implementation of laws is showing important results in terms of resource allocation and evidence-based policy setting. Closing the Science and Technology Gap: Proactively addressing labor market segregation by closing the science and technology gap for women and girls is part of the programme Gender and ICTs: Equality and Equity in Dominican Republic. Activities targeting girls include promoting science subjects amongst girls in public schools and math clubs. The initiative includes mentoring and career guidance campaigns to speed up the entry of more women into the Technological Institute of the Americas (ITLA) and technology careers. The initiative Gender and ICTs is part of the Plan for Equal Opportunities for Women in the Information Society, created by the National Commission for Information Society and Knowledge. This Plan is the first of its kind and will mainstream a gender perspective into the broader Dominican National Strategy for the Information Society (E-Dominican), and will contribute to reducing the gap between men and women in access to information and communication technologies. These are a few examples that remind us of the possibilities, but also of the challenges ahead. What is on the horizon for the future? Strategies for Transformation The prospect of genuine gender mainstreaming is both potentially revolutionary and extraordinarily demanding. It could transform the full range of public policies to promote gender equality but only if a wide range of actors change their behavior. 1 The creation of UN Women represents a major institutional change for the United Nations. And UN Women is taking steps to ensure that organizational change occurs across the System. We recognize also that this is a very widely shared responsibility: with the UN System, with governments, and with civil society. So far the presentation has focused on the more formal institutional processes and tools, because this has been the traditional and much needed approach to strengthen institutional accountability for the achievement of results for gender equality. Yet, while these are all important steps forward, we still have a long way to go before the potentially revolutionary strategy of gender mainstreaming bears full fruit. What follows draws upon some of the more recent analysis taking place outside of the UN System (for example in discussions on the theme of Beyond Gender Mainstreaming that will be published in the forthcoming dedicated edition of Gender and Development, and recent papers issued by IDS and ELDIS) but that has direct relevance for the UN System and the work that it supports. 1 Hafner-Burton and Pollack, 2009 Mainstreaming gender in the European Union Comparative European Politics Vol. 7, 1,

8 1) As we move forward, we must find ways to penetrate deep cultural structures the informal dimensions of institutional culture that perpetuate inequalities. These are the very basic and often unexamined gender based biases and stereotypes that are often at the heart of what prevents organizations from embracing and/or implementing measures to improve gender equality. A part of overcoming these biases requires recognizing that this also entails challenging the power of those who benefit from the status quo. Yet this is extremely difficult since most organizations have neither the inclination nor the capacity to challenge such institutional norms. This is less subject to clear indicators, processes or accountability mechanisms, yet they are at the heart of what s holding back progress. 2) We need to constantly clarify the aims of the strategy of gender mainstreaming in order to rid ourselves of the jargon and conceptual confusion that has riddled work on gender equality. This confusion has unnecessarily bifurcated and created contrived hierarchies between synergistic strategies such as direct support to women s organizing, quotas, and policy advocacy and that has absorbed valuable human and financial resources that could have gone to direct action on women s rights. This is particularly important in the context of up-coming reviews of normative frameworks, as well as within the context current debates over resources, value for money and what counts as a result. We mustn t get stuck in the old debates about which way is better we must insist on both and keep our eyes focused on the real goal: Gender Equality. We also have to continue to make the case, to firmly connect the practice of gender mainstreaming to proof of stronger overall results delivery in all areas of support from development, to peace and security/ humanitarian relief, to the realization of human rights. In other words, we need an incontrovertible evidence base so that gender mainstreaming is not only seen as the rhetorical right thing to do, but is truly embraced and acted upon a sine qua non in achieving the future that we want for all.