Beijing +10

Femme globale: gender perspectives in the 21st century women contesting the information society: from Beijing to Geneva, Tunis and beyond

2007-07-16T09:57:00.000Z

The information society and African women

By: Wanyeki LM
Published by: African Women's Development & Communication Network, 2007
Via: Eldis

How successful were the strategies for improving the gender-responsiveness of the media with respect to the content of the media and representation within the media, outlined in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action? This paper examines why, ten years on, the coverage and representation of African women remains a concern. The author finds that the need for free, independent and pluralistic media at the service of development and social change and the need for self-regulation by the media, with women's full participation in the development of codes of conduct and self-regulatory mechanisms remain relevant objectives today.

(http://www.femnet.or.ke/documents/femme%20globale%20women.pdf)

Commission on the Status of Women

2007-05-14T00:46:00.000Z

Report on the fifty-first session

Published by: United Nations, Economic and Social Council
Via: UNPulse

The report of the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women is now available (E/2007/29-E/CN.6/2007/9)

(http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=E/2007/27%20(SUPP))

Holliday Season!

2006-12-15T07:13:00.000Z

Dear Readers

Yet another year has flown by. And it was a busy year indeed! I am going to take a well-deserved break, and will start posting again at breakneck speed in the New Year.

I hope that Gender Focus and its sister blogs have been of some help to you, and will continue to do so in the future. So look forward to a bumper crop of posts early in January 2007, as I will endeavor to bring you all up to speed with what has been happening over the holiday season.

Have a great time, and a Happy New Year!

Beijing plus 10

2006-11-30T13:45:00.000Z

An ambivalent record on gender justice

By: Molyneux M & Razavi S
Published by: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD),
Via: UNRISD

This paper, drawing on research undertaken for the UNRISD report, Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World, reflects on the ambivalent record of progress achieved by women over the last decades and considers how the policy environment has changed over the period since the high point of the global women’s movements.

Drawing on a number of commonly employed indicators of “women’s progress”, the paper argues that the record of achievement regarding gender equality is more ambivalent, and the causal influences more diverse and less unidirectional than is sometimes assumed. It also argues that development policies have an important role to play in securing outcomes, and that the first phase of the structural reforms (dating from the early 1980s) was in many respects negative for women. In the ten years since the Beijing Conference there have been some significant shifts in international development policy along with a growing appreciation of the need to develop gender aware policies. By the end of the 1980s, “market fundamentalism” and shock therapy had lost much of their appeal, opening up a space for new ideas and approaches in development policy and practice.

Improving women's lives

2006-10-02T13:39:00.000Z

The World Bank actions since Beijing

Published by: World Bank, 2005
Via: Siyanda

The World Bank is committed to helping member countries fulfil the Beijing Platform for Action and recognises that gender equality is critical to development and poverty reduction. The World Bank's emphasis on gender increased after the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women. This document discusses the Bank's contribution to implementing the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) - linking the BPfA with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Failure to achieve the Beijing objectives hinders achievement not only of the third MDG — on gender equality - but other MDGs too. The relationship between gender equality and economic growth means equality is essential for progress on MDG one - to eradicate poverty. Meeting MDG two on universal access to education requires addressing the conditions specific to girls or boys that prevent them from attending or completing primary school. In The Gambia, the World Bank supports government efforts to reduce gender inequalities in education. They aim to increase girls' school enrolment by increasing public expenditure on education. Funding is being provided to the 'Girl Friendly Schools Initiative,' which has improved the physical conditions in schools where girls' attendance was low, in return for community commitments to increase female enrolments, and to the 'Girls' Scholarship Trust Fund' in secondary schools, which subsidises girls' enrolment fees.

Did the Beijing Platform for Action accelerate progress?

2006-07-10T07:17:00.000Z

How has the Dutch government fared in implementing Beijing platform for Action?

By: van der Tol W & Koekebakker W
Published by: Hivos , 2005
Via: Eldis

This paper critically looks at efforts by the Netherlands to implement the actions and objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). The paper examines both the Dutch national and international gender equality policies. The paper makes several conclusions including the following:

Regarding the Dutch national gender equity policy:

the Dutch government took steps to revitalise its gender equality policy in 2000, but its actions only partly conformed with the 12 critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action
the Dutch Multi-Year Plan for Gender equality, which was established with clear objectives and ambitious benchmarks failed to be implemented, when in 2002 a new government was installed
the government seldom takes into account the results of in-depth studies on gender issues, and also fails to revise its policy in accordance to recommendations made in these studies. The Netherlands does not implement its gender budget analysis
the current Dutch subsidy policy is endangering the secure infrastructure of women’s organisations supporting the gender equality process in the Netherlands
there is a lack of political commitment to actively implement the Beijing Platform for Action, with assistance from the women’s organisations, social partners and other experts
the process of bringing about gender equality in the Netherlands is not yet complete.

Regarding their international gender equity policy:

the Dutch International Gender Equality Policy does not conform with the five preconditions for gender mainstreaming
the Women and Development policy has not been put down in writing and therefore, is not institutionally anchored
there is no budgetary allocation for gender equality activities
some Dutch embassies and some departments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are implementing beneficial work for the support of women
after an initially promising start, attention for the implementation of the BPfA has progressively waned to the point where it has now become completely invisible.

Gender mainstreaming since Beijing

2006-05-17T12:19:00.000Z

A review of success and limitations in international institutions

By: Moser A & Moser C
Published by: Oxfam , 2005
Via: Eldis

This article assesses progress made by international development institutions in gender mainstreaming since the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. It categorises progress into three stages:

Adopting the terminology of gender equality and mainstreaming
Putting a gender mainstreaming policy into place
Implementing gender mainstreaming in practice.

It is at the level of implementation that significant challenges remain. Policy commitments to gender mainstreaming frequently evaporate in planning and implementation processes – due to lack of staff capacity, organisational culture and attitudes, and staff “simplification” of the gender issue. The impacts of gender mainstreaming in terms of gender equality also remain largely unknown due to a lack of effective monitoring and evaluation of gender mainstreaming outcomes.

The article concludes that there is a pressing need to link strategies with concrete outcomes through the development of more robust and systematic monitoring and evaluation of the effects of gender mainstreaming on people’s lives.

Gendered spaces in Party Politics in Southern Africa

2006-04-21T12:58:00.000Z

Progress and Regress since Beijing 1995

By: Onalenna Doo Selolwane
Published by: UNRISD, 2006
Via: UNRISD

This paper was written as a contribution to the review of progress toward gender equality since the 1995 Beijing Conference with specific reference to the southern African region. It recognizes that in the African context, a review of this nature is necessarily also an assessment of how far institutions and processes of accountable governance, reestablished in the 1990s in most African states, are taking sufficient root to enable the realization of declared commitments to enhance the quality of life for any segment of the citizenry. The stocktaking focuses on political parties both as possible instruments and as sites of negotiated power, against a historical background where they have also been instruments of coercion and exclusion. They have thus embodied tension, as on the one hand products of repression, and on the other, symbols of a breakthrough to a future promising the African citizenry liberties and democratic rights coupled with improvements in material well-being.

Gender mainstremaing since Beijing

2006-03-07T07:05:00.000Z

A review of success and limitations in international institutions

By: Msoer A & Moser C
Published by: Oxfam, 2005
Via: Eldis

This article assesses progress made by international development institutions in gender mainstreaming since the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. It categorises progress into three stages:

Adopting the terminology of gender equality and mainstreaming
Putting a gender mainstreaming policy into place
Implementing gender mainstreaming in practice.

Beijing betrayed

2006-02-08T06:42:00.000Z

Assessing the progress of the Beijing Platform

Published by: Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) , 2005
Via: Eldis

This document assesses governments’ progress in implementing the commitments they made to the world’s women at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women that met in Beijing in 1995. It consists of reports from women in 150 countries representing every region of the world. Their realities often contrast sharply with the official reports of their governments.
The main critique of the document is that governments worldwide have adopted a piecemeal and incremental approach to implementation that cannot achieve the economic, social and political transformation underlying the promises and vision of Beijing. The document considers the main recommendations of the Beijing Platform and assesses progress made in the following areas:

human rights
power and decision-making
peace and security
natural resources and environmental security.

The report concludes that the rhetoric of governments at Beijing has failed to play out in the reality of women’s lives. Governments have displayed a lack of will in turning their commitments to women’s rights into decisive action, instead adopting a piecemeal and incremental approach that cannot achieve the economic, social and political transformation underlying the promises of Beijing

Beijing +10 meets WTO +10: assessing the impact of trade liberalization on women's human rights

2006-01-19T06:55:00.000Z

Regional analyses of gender and trade from 1995: Beijing plus ten meets WTO plus ten

Published by: IGTN Sectretariat / International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN) , 2005
Via: Eldis

This document focuses on the impact of trade liberalisation on women’s economic security and its contribution to the Beijing +10 review. The report argues that since 1995, there is evidence that economic and political forces have been responsible for measures and policies which run counter to the commitments made by governments for implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. This document presents a compilation of reports which reflect on what has happened and/or what is happening in the following regions in relation to the liberalisation process ten years after these two major events: Asia (focus on the Philippines), Central Asia Sub-region (focus on transition economy - Kyrgyzstan), the Caribbean, Latin America (available in Spanish and English), and the United States of America.

A new blog on Same-Sex Marriage

2006-01-09T14:02:00.000Z

Dear Readers

In the light of the recent developments regarding Same-Sex Marriage in South Africa, I have added another blog to my little family. It will deal with all matters relating to Same-Sex Marriage, especially regarding legislation.

A link to it has been added in the breadcrumb, and several links to informative websites have been added to the link menu.

News from the Librarian

2005-12-09T13:27:00.000Z

Dear Reader

Yet another year has flown by. And it was a busy year indeed! I am going to take a well-deserved break, and will start posting again at breakneck speed in the New Year.

I hope that Thread and Thrum and its sister blogs have been of some help to you, and will continue to do so in the future. So look forward to a bumper crop of posts early in January 2006, as I will endeavor to bring you all up to speed with what has been happening over the holiday season.

Have a great time, and a Happy New Year!

Regards
The Librarian

Update

2005-11-14T09:04:00.000Z

Dear Readers

I will unfortunately not be updating the Blogs until the 21 November, due to work pressure. I apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Regards
The Librarian

Progress of the World's Women 2005

2005-09-02T08:36:00.000Z

UNIFEM's latest report

Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Work & Poverty (full text), was released yesterday. The report marks the fifth anniversary of the UN Millennium Declaration and the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action and argues that governments and policymakers should pay more attention to employment and its links to poverty. UNIFEM, the women's fund at the United Nations, provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality.

Gender Equality

2005-08-31T06:46:00.000Z

Report of the Secretary-General on measures taken and progress achieved in follow-up to the implemetnation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly

This short Secretary-General's report reviews steps taken by the General Assembly and its Committees during its fifty-ninth session to promote the achievement of gender equality through the gender mainstreaming strategy (A/60/170). This report serves a good reference guide on this topic and how it relates to various issues on the UN agenda.

Agenda: focus on Beijing +10

2005-08-01T08:50:00.000Z

Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity. Issue 64.

This journal reports on the progress in the 10 years since the Beijing Conference in 1995. It reflects on the deliberations at the Beijing+10 Review held in March 2005 in the US, picking up on many of the issues outlined as critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action.

Articles include:

Women and the economy: how far have we come? Daniela Casale and Dorrit Posel
Beijing +10: women and the environment – how close are we to Earth Democracy?Lliane Loots and Harald Witt
Looking back, looking forward: analysing gender equality in South African education 10 years after Beijing Relebohile Moletsane
Feminism and globalisation: the promise of Beijing and neoliberal capitalism in Africa Vishanthie Sewpaul
Globalising the women’s movement agenda in South AfricaMaretha de Waal

Report of CSW, 2005

2005-07-18T07:40:00.000Z

Commission on the Status of Women, Report

The report on the 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held from the 28th of February and 11 and 22 march 2005, has just been published.

Accountability upside down: gender equality in a partnership for poverty eradication

2005-07-04T08:42:00.000Z

Examination of the relationship between reviews of the Beijing Platfrom for Action and the MDG's

By: M van Reisen
Produced by: Social Watch, 2005

This report argues that the ten-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) must be linked to the review process of the and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as it provides a major input into the that process. The report specifically makes the link with MDG 8 – advocating a global partnership to eradicate poverty - and highlights the need to bring the well-established connection between poverty eradication and gender equality to the centre of that partnership.

Engendering policy coherence for development: gender issues for the global policy agenda in the year 2005

2005-06-14T08:37:00.000Z

Greater policy coherence is needed to facilitate implementation of UN development framework like Beijing Platform for Action

By: Floro M, Hoppe H
Produced by: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V. (FES) 2005

Using case studies, this paper explores the distributional consequences and gendered outcomes of the current international trade and financial policy regimes. The authors find that currently, coordination of macroeconomic policies, principally trade and financial policies, is dominated by the multilateral trade and financial institutions, namely the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank instead of the UN-led follow-up mechanisms. They argue that this concept of policy coherence is incongruent with internationally agreed commitments, particularly with the Beijing Platform for Action and the MDGs, and governments are being denied the autonomy to formulate and implement people-centred domestic policies and strategies.

Focus on Human Rights and gender justice

2005-04-22T10:41:00.000Z

Linking the MDG's with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing PFA

By: Neuhold B
Produced by: UN & NGLS, 2005

This paper aims at showing the interlinkages between the CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to emphasise that the MDGs must be developed further from the perspective of human rights, poverty eradication and the empowerment of women.

Gender Equality: Striving for justice in an unequal world

2005-04-20T10:11:00.000Z

Policy report on gender and development: 10 years after Beijing

Based on the findings of UNRISD ongoing gender research and over 60 specially commissioned studies, the report’s analysis is centred on the economic and political reforms of the 1990s. If most of these reforms did not directly address gender equality, they nevertheless received considerable scrutiny from a gender perspective. And whatever their intentions, they had significant and mixed implications for gender relations and women’s well-being.

Girls cant wait: Why girls education matters, and how to make it happen now

2005-04-12T07:06:00.000Z

Briefing paper for the UN Beijing +10 Reveiw and Appraisal

As a response to failure of achieving the MDG for gender parity in education in 2005, this paper proposes a new action plan to get every girl in school and learning.
The paper argues that the 2005 girls’ education target was neither unrealistic nor unaffordable, but rather it has not been met because both the international community and national governments have given insufficient political attention and inadequate money to meet it.

Beijing Betrayed

2005-03-16T15:47:00.000Z

Women worldwide report that governments have failed to turn the platform into action

Produced by: The Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) 2005

The fifth global monitoring report by WEDO assesses governments' progress in implementing the commitments they made at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) in Beijing, 1995. It brings together the diverse voices of women in over 150 countries in sub regions across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean and West Asia to influence the United Nations 10 Year Review of the BPfA

Promoting gender equality in and through the media: A Southern African case study

2005-03-08T10:24:00.000Z

Expert Paper by Collen Lowe Morna from South Africa

Deliverd at the Expert Group Meeting on "Participation and access of women to the media, and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women" Beirut, Lebanon 12- 15 2002

Report of the Expert Group Meeting

2005-03-07T10:34:00.000Z

Achievements, gaps and challenges in linking the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Developmeng Goals

Peace Agreements as a means for promoting gender equality and ensuring participation of women

2005-03-04T13:46:00.000Z

A framework of model provisions : The South African case study

Prepared by: Baleka Mbete. South Africa
Delivered at: Expert Group Meeting on Peace agreements as a means for promoting gender equality and ensuring participation of women - A framework of model provisions

ECE Outcome Document: US position

2005-03-01T10:20:00.000Z

US Explanation of Position on the Outcome Document

ESCAP Outcome Document: Reservations

2005-03-01T10:16:00.000Z

Reservations on the ESCAP Outcome Document

Explanation of position by the United States of America
Explanation of position by France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern ireland and new Zealand, and Observer States Canada and Sweden

ESCAP Outcome Document

2005-03-01T10:04:00.000Z

Oucome Document produced by the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting held in Bangkok from 7-10 September 2004

Final Report on the 48th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

2005-03-01T07:23:00.000Z

1-12 March 2004

ECLAC Outcome Document: Reservations

2005-02-28T14:23:00.000Z

Reservations on the ECLAC Outcome Document

Reservation of the Delegation of El Salvador
Explanation of position of the United States of America
Reservation of the Delegation of Nicaragua
Reply of the Delegation of Cuba

ECLAC Outcome Document

2005-02-28T14:17:00.000Z

Mexico City, 10-12 June 2004

9th Session of the Regional Conference on Wmoen in Latin America and the Caribbean

From Beijing to Addis Ababa

2005-02-28T14:12:00.000Z

What has progressed for African women?

Kafui Adjamagbo - Johnson, Pambazuka 176 Editorial, 30 September 2004

A thorough analysis highlighting: education, fundamental human rights for women, lack of political will, the influence of religious fundamentalism, the persistence of violence against women, women dying or facing the scourge of HIV/AIDS, armed conflict, and the fact that poverty has a woman's face.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security

2005-02-28T12:58:00.000Z

S/RES/1325

Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed unanimously on 31 October 2000. Resolution (S/RES/1325) is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.

Beirut Declaration

2005-02-28T12:34:00.000Z

Arab Women ten years after Beijing call for peace

Report of the NGO Working Session

2005-02-28T12:30:00.000Z

12-13 December 2004, Geneve

Organized in preparation for the ECE Regional Preparatory Meeting on the 2005 Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action

ECE Outcome Document

2005-02-28T12:19:00.000Z

Chairpersons Conclusion. Final Document 15 December 2004

European Women's Lobby: Review

2005-02-28T12:15:00.000Z

December 2004

Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action by the European Union (1995-2005)

ECOSOC

2005-02-28T10:25:00.000Z

ECOSOC Resolution on NGO/civil society participation in the 49th CSW

ECOSOC

2005-02-28T10:22:00.000Z

ECOSOC Resolution on preparations for the 49th CSW. 4 August 2004

Progress made within the European Union

2005-02-28T09:50:00.000Z

Beijing +10

Report from the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union

ECA/SADC Decade Review Meeting

2005-02-25T09:14:00.000Z

Decade Review Meeting on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing+10)
26-29 April, Lusaka, Zambia

The ECA’s African Centre for Gender and Development division (ACGD) in collaboration with the ECA-SA organized an expert meeting to review progress made during the past decade in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). This was followed by a Ministerial session to which reviewed and adopted the report.

Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa

2005-02-25T09:11:00.000Z

Declaration made at the meeting in the Third ordinary Sesison of the Assembly

in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6-8 July 2004

Recommendations of the 12 Thematic Group Sessions

2005-02-25T08:56:00.000Z

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

The ECA convened the 7th African Regional Conference on Women in Addis Ababa from 7–14 October 2004. The overall objective of the meeting was to assess progress that Africa had made in implementing the twelve critical areas of the Beijing Platform for Action and addressing emerging issues that affect African women, and also to identify challenges and the way forward.

Closing statement of the 7th African Regional Conference on Women

2005-02-25T08:47:00.000Z

By Honorable Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

Chairperson of the Conference and Namibia's Minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14 October 2004

Follow-up to the 4th World Conference on Women & Women 2000

2005-02-24T05:58:00.000Z

High-level round table discussion

High-level round table of the Commission on the status of women on gaps and challenges in meassuring progress in implementation, in the context of the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly

The World's Women 2000

2005-02-24T05:53:00.000Z

Trends and Statistics

The World's Women 2000 is a statistical source-book that provides a comprehensive analysis of how women fare in different parts of the world. It highlights, through statistical analysis, women's situation as compared to men's worldwide in a broad range of fields including families, health, education, work, human rights and politics.

Statement by Geraldine Fraser Moleketi

2005-02-22T10:33:00.000Z

Statement by the Honourable Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi at the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First century". 5 June 2000

Gender Partnership

2005-02-22T09:40:00.000Z

What the IPU is doing

Some information on the Gender Partnership created by the IPU

Speech by Dr Nkosazana Zuma

2005-02-22T09:25:00.000Z

The Speech by the leader of the South African delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women, Dr Nkosazana Zuma. In Beijing on 6 September 1995

Beijing Report

2005-02-22T08:31:00.000Z

South Africa's first progress report, December 1999

This report provides an account of South Africa's progress in fulfilling its commitments to the Beijing Platform of Action. Particularly it looks at South Africa's progress in establishing a Gender Machinery