Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Te mana wahine hei ara whakatupu Recognition of women s mana is the pathway to development TABLE OF CONTENTS THE POLICY AT A GLANCE 3 INTRODUCTION 4 PART 1: GENDER EQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT 5 Gender equality and poverty elimination are linked 5 Gender equality is an international development goal 7 Gender equality and human rights 10 Gender equality and the Pacific 11 PART 2: THE POLICY 13 Frame work 13 Goal 14 Outcomes 15 Focus Areas 15 Approach 17 Operating Principles 19 Partnerships 20 GLOSSARY 23 We gratefully acknowledge the photographers and the copyright holders

THE POLICY AT A GLANCE Goal Women and men, girls and boys equally empow ered to realise their rights and improve their lives and the w ellbeing of their families, communities and societies. Outcomes Enhanced capacity of the poor, particularly women and girls, to realise their capabilities and fulfil their potential. Reduction of gender disparities in access to, control of and benefit from resources, opportunities and services - economic, social, cultural, and political. Reduction of violence and conflict and protection of human rights, so that all people, particularly women and girls, can live free of fear and with dignity. Focus areas Capabilities: Eliminate gender disparities at all levels of education; strengthen post-primary education and training opportunities for women and girls; increase access to primary health care including sexual reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care for women, girls and youth. Resources, opportunities and services: Enhance leadership, participation and representation of women at all levels of decision-making; and enable poor women and girls to achieve secure, sustainable livelihoods. Human security: Reduce all forms of gender based violence, particularly against women and girls; and address the differential impact on and particular needs of women and girls in conflict and post conflict settings. Approach NZAID will pursue a dual strategy combining gender mainstreaming and specific support for women s empow erment to ensure gender equality is made explicit and visible in all development programmes, activities, and outcomes, while addressing pervasive, systemic and entrenched gender inequalities and biases. Operating principles NZAID s support for gender equality and women s empow erment embodies the principles of universal human rights, equity, sustainability, participation, partnership and accountability. Partnerships All our partner engagement will focus on enlarging the capabilities, freedoms and choices of women and men, girls and boys; promoting policy coherence; alignment with partner country priorities; and harmonised donor processes for advancing gender equality. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 3

INTRODUCTION The mission of the Ne w Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) is eliminating poverty in developing countries through development partnerships. NZAID aims to ensure that women and men, girls and boys, are able to contribute fully to their own social and economic development and that development benefits are fairly shared. The principal policy statement Towards a Safe and Just World Free of Poverty sets out how NZAID will work to reduce and eliminate extreme poverty, poverty of opportunity and vulnerability to poverty. This policy outlines NZAID s approach for achieving gender equality, equity, and women s empow erment all central to NZAID s mission. Together with the other mainstreamed, cross cutting, thematic and sectoral policies, this policy will guide NZAID s strategies, programmes, activities, policy dialogue, and partner engagement. Ne w Zealand has undertaken to promote universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In fulfilling this obligation, Ne w Zealand has long been committed to the promotion of women s rights and the full implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). NZAID promotes and integrates human rights civil, political, economic, social and cultural in its work. The Agency aims to ensure that these international obligations, together with the commitments made in Beijing, Cairo 1, the UN Millennium Declaration and Development Goals (M DGs) 2, and the 2005 World Summit remain at the heart of international development work. Ne w Zealand seeks to influence not only gender policy development, but, more importantly, action at the global, regional, national, community, and individual levels. This policy document is in two parts. Part 1 sets out NZAID s analysis of the links betw een gender equality and development. Part 2 details Ne w Zealand s priorities for achieving gender equality and women s empow erment. Sixty years have passed since the founders of the United Nations inscribed, on the first page of our charter, the equal rights of men and women. Since then, study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empow erment of women. No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality. No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health including the prevention of HIV/AIDS. No other policy is as pow erful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation. And I also venture that no policy is more important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has ended. But whatever the very real benefit of investing in women, the most important fact remains: women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and from fear. - Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, Commission on the Status of Women, Beijing +10 Review, 2005. 4 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

PART 1: GENDER EQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT NZAID is committed to a safe and just world free of poverty. Strengthening and expanding the capabilities, resources, opportunities, voice, and rights of poor women and men, girls and boys will increase human w ellbeing, accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty and enhance development effectiveness. Gender equality benefits all and the responsibility for achieving equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities is shared by men and women, girls and boys. Gender equality and poverty elimination are linked Poverty and gender inequality are among the most persistent and pervasive global problems and challenges of the 21 st century. The Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit recognized that these issues are inextricably linked and noted the centrality of gender equality and women s empow erment to the elimination of poverty and hunger, and the achievement of truly sustainable development. How ever in 2005, more than 1 billion people continued to struggle to survive on less than $1 a day 3, more than half of whom w ere women. Despite the fact that there w ere 250 million less people living in poverty worldwide in 2001 than in 1990, significant regional, national and gender disparities still persist 4. There is global recognition that women are now the most pow erful engine of global growth, 5 yet they continue to be denied access to economic resources and services, like credit, land, and markets. Their labour is often unrecognised and goes under-re warded; and their mobility is regularly constrained. The gendered impacts on families and societies of remittances and labour mobility including the risk of exploitation, particularly for female workers, are often overlooked. Advancing gender equality and empow ering women is essential for sustainable economic growth and to free those caught in the vicious cycle of poverty, hunger and inequality. We live in a world of extraordinary inequalities in opportunity, both within and across countries. For many, if not most, people, equity is intrinsically important as a development goal in its own right. - World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development, Paul D. Wolfowitz, President, The World Bank. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 5

Poverty affects women and men, girls and boys, but the impacts are different based on other variables which include their age, race, ethnicity, literacy, education, skills and disabilities. While disparities vary country to country, region to region, no country or region is free of gender inequality. Disparities betw een or amongst women and men, boys and girls tend to be low-income countries, and among the poor, especially in capabilities, access to resources and opportunities. Gender inequality intersects with other economic, social, cultural and political variables often to produce more intensified forms of poverty for women and girls than for men and boys. Just as gender inequality exacerbates poverty, poverty contributes to increased gender disparity. Gender equality is not only a women s issue, but should concern and fully engage men and boys who can and do contribute to advancing gender equality, as individuals, within the family, community and in all spheres of society. M en and boys also face discriminatory barriers and practices themselves which may need to be addressed. NZAID s understanding of poverty goes beyond the purely economic to encompass: the inability to meet basic needs (extreme poverty); seriously limited opportunities to participate in economic, social, civil and political life (poverty of opportunity); and circumstances that damage the individuals, communities or countries to secure sustainable livelihoods, meet basic needs, and participate (vulnerability to poverty). Poverty and gender inequality are denials of human rights because they infringe on human freedom, destroy human dignity and involve discrimination and injustice. Policies and strategies to eliminate both, must address, above all else, the structural and systemic factors that have caused poverty and gender inequality to arise. Also key, is taking a human rights approach and engaging women and men, girls and boys and their communities to develop their own strategies to address poverty. Without a strong commitment to and investment in addressing the gender dimensions of poverty and women s economic and political empow erment, the goal of poverty elimination will remain elusive. 6 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Gender equality is an international development goal We also resolve to promote gender equality and the empow erment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable the United Nations Millennium Declaration, September 2000 MDG Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Target 4: Indicator 9: Indicator 10: Indicator 11: Indicator 12: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015 Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education Ratio of literate women to men, 15-24 years old Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament The Millennium Development Goals (M DGs) are the international roadmap for the concerted and concrete global action to eliminate poverty by 2015. Goal 3 is to promote gender equality and empow er women. While only this goal explicitly addresses gender equality and the empow erment of women, it is now widely recognised that achieving gender equality and women s empow erment is central to fulfilling all the M DGs. In 2005, the Millennium Project Gender Equality Task Force identified seven strategic priorities as critical to the achievement of Goal 3. Three specific groups of women w ere also identified, for whom action on these seven interdependent priorities is particularly critical, including poor women, adolescent women, and women and girls living in conflict and post conflict settings. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 7

Seven Strategic Priorities the minimum necessary to achieve MDG 3 1. Strengthen opportunities for post primary education for girls while simultaneously meeting commitments to universal primary education. 2. Guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights. 3. Invest in infrastructure to reduce women s and girls time burdens. 4. Guarantee women s and girls inheritance and property rights. 5. Eliminate gender inequality in employment by decreasing women s reliance on informal employment, closing gender gaps in earnings and reducing occupational segregation. 6. Increase women s share of seats in national parliaments and local governmental bodies. 7. Combat violence against girls and women. - Taking Action: achieving gender equality and empowering women, Millennium Project Task Force 2005. Ultimately success will depend on addressing not only these seven priorities, but also ensuring that all M DGs are addressed in a way that promotes gender equality and empow ers women. Recognising this, NZAID will address these seven strategic priorities and three specific groups of women when implementing this policy. Despite all the recent high level and concerted commitments by national governments, regional organisations and the international community, gender discrimination continues to persist. The Millennium Development Goal 3 target of gender parity in elementary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, has already been missed. Two thirds of the 800 million people in the world who lack basic literacy skills are female. 6 8 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Women s participation in decision-making at all levels of governance structures is inadequate. The Beijing Platform for Action target of 30 percent share of parliamentary seats for women has only been met by 19 countries to date. Globally, women hold 16 percent of national parliamentary seats and in the Pacific (excluding the French Territories) an average of 4 percent. 7 Women s nutritional needs and health care, particularly access to reproductive health services are not given priority. Violence against women and girls has reached extreme proportions in many parts of the world, affecting betw een 13 and 61 percent of women, depending on the location. 8 Also the low status of women and girls limits their ability to negotiate safe sex, fuelling the spread of HIV/AIDS. A ne w global agenda and change in international development cooperation architecture is emerging through the UN Millennium Declaration, the 2005 World Summit, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005, and the UN reform process. 9 The broad aid effectiveness agenda poses particular challenges for advancing gender equality where for example, women s voices are marginalised in national decision-making, country development priorities do not incorporate gender analysis and ne w delivery modalities fail to adequately consider gender dimensions. If poverty is to be reduced and eliminated worldwide, gender equality and women s empow erment must be at the core of this reform and the ne w, aligned, harmonised international development cooperation processes. Conscious effort needs to be made by donors and development partners to ensure that aid effectiveness is operationalised in a way that advances gender equality at national and international levels. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 9

Gender equality and human rights discrimination against women violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity. - UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1979 (CEDAW) The International Bill of Rights 10 established that rights and freedoms shall not be limited by a person s sex. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Freedom from discrimination on any basis is intrinsic to human w ellbeing. Equality, equity, empow erment, inclusion and participation are principles fundamental to both human rights and development and are reflected in NZAID s Human Rights Policy Statement. 11 The keystone for the promotion of women s rights and the advancement of women is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Together with the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women Platform for Action and the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, these international agreements provide the global foundation blueprint for the promotion of women s rights. At the 2004/2005 ten year revie ws of these watershed conferences, the full and effective implementation of both the Cairo and Beijing action plans and CEDAW was recognized as essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals and ultimately gender equality and the empow erment of women. Human rights, women s rights among them, are fundamental to poverty reduction and development. - The Promise of Equality Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals, UNFPA State of World Population 2005 Vie wing development through a human rights lens ensures that gender equality is seen as intrinsic to human w ellbeing and a fundamental development goal. NZAID mainstreams human rights principles in all our work and partner engagement. Human rights and equitable, sustainable development are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Gender equality and women s empow erment, essential for poverty elimination and sustainable development, first and foremost, are a matter of basic human rights. International human rights law mandates states to take steps to the maximum of available resources, both domestic and development assistance, to progressively realise economic, social, cultural and political rights. NZAID prioritises support for the realisation of rights, in particular those of women and girls, who often suffer more rights violations and denials than other groups. 10 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Gender equality and the Pacific While commitment to progressing gender equality and women s empow erment applies across all our programmes, Ne w Zealand s special relationship with the Pacific underpins a core focus on advancing gender equality and women s empow erment in the region. Like poverty, gender inequality varies across the region, among Pacific island countries and within countries. Women play a central role in food production, particularly in M elanesia where they are responsible for most of the agriculture and food production. With the move to cash economies, women are increasingly becoming important contributors of household income, often from activity in the informal sector. In some parts of the Pacific, women s increased economic activity and income earning pow er has challenged gender relations in the family and threatened the traditional perception of men as primary breadwinners; and contributed to increased vulnerability for women and higher levels of domestic, family and sexual violence. While some countries in the Pacific region have made good progress towards gender equality since the 1995 Beijing Conference, overall, the region s progress and commitment remains mixed. Across the region, women remain severely underrepresented in parliaments and decision-making bodies. Maternal mortality rates remain high; and HIV and tuberculosis infection rates continue to rise. Women s access to general and reproductive health services, education, literacy, and numeracy training continues to be limited in a number of countries. Domestic, family and sexual violence against women and girls has increased significantly. Despite some increases in women s share of the non-agricultural labour market, women continue to be disadvantaged in the economic sector in terms of employment, wages, and working conditions. Other critical emerging issues, all of which have the potential to significantly impact on the lives of Pacific people, and women in particular include: HIV/ AIDS, globalisation, trade liberalisation, labour migration, poverty, 12 security, trafficking and sexual exploitation, media and ICTs. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 11

Progress towards achieving the M DGs Goal 3, promoting gender equality and empow ering women, is uneven across the Pacific. Several countries, notably those in Polynesia and Micronesia have already achieved universal primary education or eliminated gender disparities in education. How ever, the countries of M elanesia are lagging behind in achieving many of the social development targets and gender inequalities are marked. Net primary school enrolment rates for girls remain below 80 percent; and there is a general decline in female enrolment after the first fe w years of primary school. In 2004, Pacific Ministers of Women s Affairs 13 called for Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) to accelerate their efforts in addressing gender inequalities. Strategic priorities for action 2005 to 2015 identified in the Revised Pacific Platform for Action (PPA) 14 include: women s economic empow erment, access to services, legal and human rights, and mechanisms to promote the advancement of women. In addition, the Pacific Plan 15, endorsed by all Pacific Island Forum leaders in 2005, commits to improving gender equality in all Forum member countries. Key challenges remain and it is unclear whether efforts to advance gender equality and women s empow erment in the Pacific region will be sufficient to effectively address the emerging and growing gender inequalities. NZAID is committed to working with its Pacific partner countries to support implementation of the Pacific Plan including Strategic Objective 8 - Improved Gender Equality and the Revised Pacific Platform for Action. 12 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

PART 2: THE POLICY NZAID aims to ensure that those in poverty are empow ered to improve their lives; governance addresses poverty; and vulnerability to poverty is reduced. Women s political, economic and social empow erment; the realisation of women and girls human rights and the elimination of pervasive gender inequalities are fundamental to attaining these three strategic outcomes and the development impact NZAID seeks poverty elimination and equitable, sustainable development in our partner countries. FRAMEWORK Poverty inhibits people from realising their rights, securing sustainable livelihoods and fulfilling their potential. Poverty is sometimes seen as capability deprivation. 16 NZAID vie ws development, not as a state or endpoint, but rather as a process the goal of which is the expansion of human capabilities, freedoms and choices. NZAID will pursue achieving gender equality and women s empow erment, which are at the core of its aim to promote and create conditions for poverty elimination and sustainable development in our partner countries. Nothing, arguably is as important today in the political economy of development as an adequate recognition of political, economic and social participation and leadership of women. This is indeed a crucial aspect of development as freedom Development As Freedom, Amartya Sen, 1999 Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 13

Although development aspirations are as diverse as the human beings who hold them, several basic needs are universal: food and water, shelter, secure livelihoods, health care including sexual and reproductive health, quality education, and security. Key dimensions essential for development to be truly sustainable include: Empow erment embodied as choices, freedoms, participation in decisions, dignity, respect, cooperation, and the sense of belonging to a wider community. Equity or equal opportunity to access natural, social, political, and economic resources and opportunities and to pursue a life of one s own choosing and be spared from extreme deprivation in outcomes. 17 Sustainability seen as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 18 Security or freedom from violence, discrimination, unemployment and disease. Self determination of individuals, communities and nations. GOAL NZAID s gender equality goal is: Women and men, girls and boys equally empowered to realise their rights and improve their lives and the wellbeing of their families, communities and societies. 14 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

OUTCOMES NZAID aims to increase overall human w ellbeing by promoting gender equality and the empow erment of women through pursuing three strategic outcomes: Enhanced capacity of the poor, particularly women and girls, to realise their capabilities and fulfil their potential. Reduction of gender disparities in access to, control of and benefit from resources, opportunities and services - economic, social, cultural and political. Reduction of violence and conflict and protection of human rights, so that all people, particularly women and girls, can live free of fear and with dignity. FOCUS AREAS NZAID will place priority on three groups: poor women, young women, and women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings. Key focus areas will be identified through policy dialogue with partner countries, other donors, regional organisations, international agencies, and NZAID s regional and country programme strategies. While remaining responsive to partner needs, NZAID will focus on three areas: (i) Capabilities Education: eliminate gender disparities in access to education at all levels; broaden and strengthen the opportunities of women and girls for post primary education and training including literacy and numeracy skills. Health: increase access to primary health care including sexual and reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care for women, girls and youth. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 15

(ii) Resources, opportunities, and services Leadership: increase adolescent and adult women s participation and representation at all levels of decision-making, within political, economic and social processes. Livelihoods: enable poor women and girls to secure sustainable livelihoods by increasing and improving their access to, control of, and benefits from economic and natural resources, opportunities and services including housing, employment, land, credit, markets, trade, and information communication technologies (ICTs). (iii) Human security Gender based violence: reduce all forms of violence, particularly against women and girls including domestic, family, sexual, and workplace violence and harassment, as w ell as trafficking, and sexual exploitation. Conflict and post conflict: address the differential impact on and the particular needs of women and girls; and support the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. 16 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

APPROACH Gender equality and the empow erment of women require fundamental transformation in the distribution of pow er, opportunities, and outcomes for both men and women. Genuine equality means more than parity in numbers. It means justice, greater opportunity, and better quality of life so that equality is achieved at high levels of w ellbeing. - Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women (2005): Millennium Project Task Force Report to the UN Secretary The September 2001 Cabinet Minute (01) 28/8 that created NZAID directed the Agency to mainstream human rights issues along with gender and environment, throughout its operations. NZAID understands gender mainstreaming to be the means by which both women s and men s needs, priorities and experiences are explicitly taken into account and addressed in all development planning, policies, and programming, from appraisal to evaluation. Mainstreaming is about making the invisible visible in such a way that it challenges pow er relations. Fundamentally, it is intended to be transformative. 19 Gender analysis, based on sex-disaggregated data provides a pow erful insight into the gender roles and relations in a given context at a specific time and place. Programmes and activities that reflect the different needs, priorities, and experiences of women and men, girls and boys generally have a greater degree of success and positive development impact. NZAID will actively pursue a dual strategy combining gender mainstreaming and women s empow erment; ensuring gender equality is made explicit and visible in all development programmes; and supporting activities that specifically address gender disparities and empow er women, economically, socially and politically. Some preliminary analysis of mainstreamed and other cross cutting issues including gender is required for all programmes and activities that NZAID is considering supporting. The depth of analysis required and/or appropriate is determined by the size, scope, modality, timeframe and defined outcomes. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 17

NZAID will take a flexible, responsive approach to fit the specific development needs and priorities of women and men, girls and boys in our partner countries and will act with sustained effort and long-term commitment. This policy and the subsequent implementation plan aim to effectively w eave gender equality and women s empow erment into NZAID s programming, policies, partner engagement and into the organisation itself. This approach is underpinned by NZAID s overarching operating principles. Monitoring and evaluation NZAID s core evaluation criteria are: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. Gender sensitive evaluation requires analysis of the differential impact of development on women and men, boys and girls and on gender relations. This policy and the implementation plan to follow are intended to enhance NZAID s capacity to undertake gender analysis to identify specific gender equality outcomes and indicators for all NZAID programmes and activities. Gender analysis programme tools and training will be provided to all staff. 18 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

OPERATING PRINCIPLES NZAID is guided by clear operating principles as set out in the overarching policy statement Towards a Safe and Just World Free of Poverty. NZAID s support for gender equality and women s empow erment will reflect these core principles. Equity and human rights NZAID is committed to promoting human rights and equitable development benefits for women and men, girls and boys. NZAID s approach acknowledges that gender inequalities exist within countries, amongst different groups of women and girls, men and boys and are often compounded by other factors including age, race, class, ethnicity, and disabilities. Sustainability NZAID takes a long-term perspective in its development work and partner engagement, recognising that gender equality and women s empow erment are prerequisites for sustainable, equitable, people centred development. Participation NZAID promotes the rights of women and men, girls and boys to participate in decision-making and all other processes that affect their lives and the w ellbeing of their families, communities and societies. Partnership NZAID believes effective development must be partner country driven, based on mutually agreed goals and targets and achieved through the full participation of all stakeholders. Accountability NZAID is committed to achieving results equitable outcomes for women and men, girls and boys. The agency will actively mainstream gender equality and women s empow erment at all levels of its work and in all partner engagement. NZAID will promote mutual accountability in all our programming and partner dialogue. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 19

PARTNERSHIPS Partnership, participation and maintaining effective relationships with stakeholders are at the heart of NZAID s values and development approach. NZAID is committed to the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness 20 and proactively engages and promotes alignment with partner country priorities and harmonisation among donors to increase aid effectiveness. The Paris Declaration principles apply to global efforts to reduce both poverty and gender inequality. CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, the Cairo Programme of Action, the M DGs, and the Paris Declaration together provide a strong frame work for governments and donors to monitor progress towards gender equality and women s empow erment. These core international commitments also provide a sound basis for NZAID s policy dialogue with developing country partners, NG Os, civil society organisations, other international development agencies/institutions, and in regional and multilateral fora. Multilateral engagement NZAID s Multilateral Engagement Strategy 2005 2010 identifies gender equality and women s empow erment as one of its priority themes. NZAID will continue to support the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFE M) and call for gender mainstreaming in the operations of multilateral organisations including other UN agencies and the International Financial Institutions. Ne w Zealand supports the UN reform process focussed on an effective One UN at the country level. Ne w Zealand also supports the High Level Panel on System Wide Coherence Report s recommendation to strengthen the UN s gender architecture by replacing several current structures with one dynamic UN entity focused on gender equality and women s empow erment. 20 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Regional engagement While NZAID works primarily in the Pacific and Asia, it also works with partners in Africa and Latin America. Priorities for assistance are identified in regional and country programme strategies, based on country led development strategies and international, regional and national development priorities. In the Pacific, NZAID will support partners to achieve positive gender equality and women s empow erment outcomes in key areas identified in national and regional processes and plans including: the Pacific Plan Strategic Objective 8 to improve gender equality; the Revised Pacific Platform of Action (PPA) and the Pacific Islands Regional M DG Report 2004. NZAID will consider supporting regional women s organisations that are providing effective support to national level organisations and/or input into regional policy-making that address gender equality and women s empow erment. Bilateral engagement NZAID will continue to support core bilateral partner countries in addressing gender equality and women s empow erment through technical assistance, support to indigenous NG Os, training, policy dialogue around priority setting and resource allocation, and encouragement and support to and for national planning and budgeting processes. Ne w Zealand will continue to promote the meeting of international commitments and goals including CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, the ICPD Programme of Action, and the M DGs. NZAID will consider providing support for programmes and activities that address this policy s priority focus on capabilities, resources, opportunities, services, and human security, particularly involving the poor. Gender equality will be mainstreamed in all programmes and activities, which NZAID supports, including sector-wide approaches (SWAps) and other forms of budgetary support. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 21

Civil society engagement Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and NG Os play an effective role in community mobilisation and poverty elimination. Support will be provided through bilateral, regional and multilateral assistance frame works, and various locally managed funding mechanisms. Through the Partnerships for International Community Development (KO HA/PICD), NZAID will continue to support organisations within Ne w Zealand and partner countries to implement programmes and activities at the grass-roots level that address gender equality and women s empow erment. A core criterion for all KO HA/PICD programmes and activities funded is that they demonstrate an understanding and consideration of gender issues and promote gender equality and women s empow erment. NZAID will also work to promote policy coherence with Ne w Zealand agencies and with the diverse stakeholder groups in the gender and development community, including the business and consultancy sector, Pacific and indigenous organisations, the academic community and the general public. New Zealand government engagement NZAID policies define gender equality, equity, and women s empow erment in the context of international development. How ever, wider Ne w Zealand government and international policies in areas such as human rights, education, health, the economy, trade, and immigration have the potential to enhance or threaten development and gender equality gains. At the domestic, regional, and international levels, NZAID will pursue a whole of government approach with key government partners including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (M FAT), the Ministry of Women s Affairs (M WA), Ministry of Youth Affairs (MYA), and the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs (MPIA). Key international and regional fora for advancing gender equality and women s empow erment through policy dialogue, coordination and coherence include the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the Commonw ealth Women s Affairs Ministerial M eeting, the Pacific Island Forum Leaders M eeting, the Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, and the Pacific Women s Affairs Ministerial M eeting. 22 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

GLOSSARY 21 Gender Sex Gender Relations Gender Equality The social attributes, opportunities and roles associated with being female and male and the relationships betw een women and men and girls and boys, as w ell as the relations amongst women and amongst men. These attributes, opportunities and roles are socially constructed, context and time specific, and changeable. Gender determines what is expected, allow ed and valued in a woman, man, boy or girl in a given context, society or culture at a specific time and place. Gender is an overarching variable that cuts across all other factors including race, class, ethnicity, age and disability. The physiological, biological and hormonal characteristics that define and differentiate humans as either female or male. These markers or traits by and large are determined at birth, and are universal and unchanging. The economic, social and power relationships between males and females. Rather than seeing women and men, boys and girls in isolation, gender relations requires us to consider their pow er, benefits, opportunities, and rights relative to each other. The equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men, girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men, or girls and boys become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs, and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognising the diversity of different groups of women and men. Equality betw een women and men is a human right, a precondition for and indicator of sustainable people-centred development. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 23

Gender equity Gender mainstreaming Empowerment Capability approach Sustainable livelihoods Recognises that different approaches may be needed to produce equitable outcomes by taking account of and addressing the differences betw een and amongst the lives of women and men, girls and boys and the diversity of different groups of women/girls and men/boys. 22 A strategy to ensure that both women s and men s needs, priorities, and experiences are taken into account in all development planning, policies, and programming. 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 including design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. 23 Individuals acquiring the power to think and act freely, exercise choice, and to fulfil their potential as full and equal members of society. While empow erment often comes from within and individuals empow er themselves, cultures, societies, institutions and individuals can create conditions, which facilitate or undermine the possibilities for empow erment. The empow erment of women is an essential precondition for the elimination of poverty and hunger, the full realisation of human rights and the achievement of sustainable development. Proposes that social arrangements and development should aim to expand people s capabilities their freedom to promote or achieve valuable beings and doings. An essential test of progress, development, or poverty reduction, is whether people have greater freedoms. Other approaches suggest instead that development should maximize incomes and commodities. The capability approach focuses on freedom as a more accurate way to build what people really value. 24 The capabilities, assets, and activities required for a means of living that can cope with, and recover from, stresses and shocks, and maintain or enhance the capabilities and assets now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base. 25 24 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

NOTES 1 The UN Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995 and the UN International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994. 2 United Nations Millennium Declaration 2000 in which 189 countries committed to a global partnership for concerted and concrete action to eliminate poverty by 2015. 3 Progress of the World s Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty, UNIFEM 2005. 4 The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2005, United Nations, New York. 5 Women and the World Economy, April 12, 2006 The Economist; Gender Equality as Smart Economics: A World Bank Gender Action Plan,2006, The World Bank. 6 The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2005, United Nations, New York. 7 Millennium indicators: World and regional trends, UN Statistics Division, 12 September 2005; A Woman s Place is in the House-the House of Parliament, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, 2006. 8 Multi-country Study on Women, Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, World Health Organisation (WHO) 2006. 9 Delivering as One, UN Secretary General s High-Level Panel on System-wide Coherence Report, 2006. 10 Comprising the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 11 NZAID s Human Rights Policy Statement (2002) is part of an integrated set of mainstreamed and cross cutting Agency policies under the principal policy statement Towards a Safe and Just World Free of Poverty. 12 Pacific Islands Regional Millennium Development Goals Report, 2004, Secretariat of the Pacific Community; Revised Pacific Platform for Action 2005-2015 (PPA), 2004. 13 Nadi Declaration, 2nd Pacific Ministers of Women s Affairs Meeting, August 2004. 14 Revised Pacific Platform of Action on Advancement of Women and Gender Equality 2005 to 2015 (RPPA), adopted at the 9th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, 16-19 August 2004. Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment NZAID 25

15 The Pacific Plan For Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Integration, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, September 2005. 16 Amartya K. Sen, (1999) Development As Freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press; (1992) Inequality Re-examined, Oxford Clarendon Press; (1993). 17 World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development, The World Bank 2006 18 World Commission on Environment and Development, The Brundtland Commission, 1987. 19 Ministerial Revie w of Progress in Implementing 2001 Cabinet Recommendations Establishing NZAID, Dr. Marilyn Waring, July 2005. 20 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, High Level Forum, O ECD DAC, Paris, February 28 March 2, 2005. 21 Important Concepts Underlying Gender Mainstreaming, UN Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women 2001, w w w.un.org/womenwatch/osagi 22 Adapted from: The Full Picture Te Tirohanga Whanui Guidelines for Gender Analysis, Ne w Zealand Ministry of Women s Affairs, 1996. 23 UN ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997. 24 Capability and Functionings: Definition & Justification, Human Development and Capability Association, Briefings, (2006) at: w w w.capabilityapproach.com 25 Carney et al. 1999. 26 NZAID Achieving Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment

Useful websites NZAID w w w.nzaid.govt.nz Association for Women s Rights in Development (AWID) w w w.awid.org Australian Government s overseas aid programme (AusAID) w w w.ausaid.gov.au Briefings on Development and Gender (BRIDGE) w w w.bridge.ids.ac.uk Council for International Development (CID), Ne w Zealand w w w.cid.org.nz Dev-Zone (Development Resource Centre) w w w.dev-zone.org Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) w w w.forumsec.org Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Human Development Programme w w w.spc.int/hdp United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFE M) w w w.unifem.org United Nations Development Programme, Millenium Development Goals w w w.undp.org/mdgs United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UN DAW) w w w.un.org/womenwatch/daw United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANG W E) w w w.un.org/womenwatch United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women w w w.un.org/womenwatch/osagi

New Zealand s International Aid and Development Agency Nga Hoe Tuputupu-mai-tawhiti Wellington New Zealand May 2007