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UNIFEM Website Link: http://www.unifem.org/progress/2008/publication.html
Direct Link to Publication: http://www.unifem.org/progress/2008/media/POWW08_Report_Full_Text.pdf
PROGRESS OF THE WORLD'S WOMEN
2008/2009 - UNIFEM
English
Download by chapter:
Chapter
1: Who Answers to Women?
Chapter
2: Politics
Chapter
3: Services
Chapter
4: Markets
Chapter
5: Justice
Chapter
6: Aid & Security
Chapter
7: Conclusion
MDGs &
Gender
References
Annex 1:
UNIFEM Regional Groupings
Annex 2:
Selected Landmark Resolutions on Gender Equality
Annex 3:
Women in Politics and Reservations to CEDAW
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Stronger accountability needed to move from commitments to
results, including achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Women must
be included in all oversight processes; gender equality must become standard
against which public performance is assessed.
18
September 2008
United Nations, New York — Ahead
of a high-level meeting of world leaders on the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) next week, a new report, Progress of the World’s Women
2008/2009, Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability,
released by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), reveals
that much stronger accountability mechanisms for tracking progress on gender
equality are needed in order to meet national and international commitments to
women’s rights. Accountability to women begins with increasing the number of
women in decision-making positions, but it cannot stop there.
Implementation
still has a long way to go in translating commitments to women’s rights into
changes in women’s lives. To date, women are outnumbered 4 to 1 in legislatures
around the world; over 60 percent of all unpaid family workers globally are
women; women still earn on average 17 percent less than men, and about
one-third of women suffer gender-based violence during their lives. In some
parts of the world, 1 in 10 women dies from pregnancy-related causes, even
though the means for preventing maternal mortality are cost-effective and well
known.
Gender
gaps on this scale are symptomatic of an accountability crisis. Governments and
multilateral organizations have a responsibility to do a better job of
answering to women. Progress
2008/2009 points out that accountability mechanisms work for women
when they can ask for explanations and information from decision makers, and,
where necessary, initiate investigations or get compensation. Women must be
included in oversight processes, and advancing women’s rights must be a key
standard against which the performance of public officials is assessed and, if
necessary, sanctioned.
“If
any man asks why I support better accountability to women, here’s my response:
because a government that answers to women will answer to you too,” said UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“As
world leaders convene to discuss the Millennium Development Goals next week, Progress 2008/2009 shows
us that backing international commitments made to women with stronger
accountability measures would bring us a lot closer to achieving the MDGs,”
said UNIFEM Executive Director Inés Alberdi. “This report highlights the
challenges that remain for gender equality to be realized in practice, but it
also draws attention to the efforts of millions of women who expose
discrimination, demand redress and have changed the meaning of accountability.
It emphasizes the important role that multilateral organizations must play in
improving their own accountability and in tracking investments in gender
equality,” she added.
Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009
provides an assessment of each of the Millennium Development Goals from a
gender perspective and focuses on five key areas where urgent action is
required to strengthen accountability to women: politics and governance, access
to public services, economic opportunities, justice, and the distribution of
international assistance for development and security. In each of these areas
the report details means of building state capacity — or good governance — from
a women’s rights perspective.
“Good
governance needs women, and women need good governance,” said Anne Marie Goetz
lead author of the report. “Women have a different perspective on
accountability because they often experience accountability failures
differently from men. This report argues that good governance needs women’s
engagement — just as gender equality requires states that are accountable and
capable of delivering on promises of women’s rights.”
Key findings and recommendations are:
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