Promoting
gender equality and women's economic empowerment on the road to sustainable
development: good practices from the UNECE region
Achieving
gender equality requires measures to compensate for existing disadvantages that
prevent equal opportunities from being presented to both men and women. UNECE
has identified several key areas where disadvantages for women currently exist
in the region, as well as policy and programmatic strategies implemented in
many of its member States to target them. These key areas include:
- The need for equal access to and equal treatment of women and men
when using economic and financial resources or information, in education
and training. Policies in this area focus on the elimination of barriers
that women face to accessing, for example, the rights to own their own
land in Kyrgyzstan, microcredit loans in Albania, and information
regarding financial management and the basics of market economics in
Uzbekistan.
- The central role that promoting equal pay, a gender-sensitive work
environment, and equitable opportunities for advancement play in
eliminating the gender pay gap. Strategies highlighted to reduce gender
inequalities in the workplace target the wage differentials that remain a
persistent challenge in the UNECE region. For example, countries such as
Denmark and Germany have offered positive incentives for private companies
to identify gender differences in their wage structures and take actions
to close the gender pay gap, whereas countries such as Portugal have
enacted new Labour Codes that enforce equal pay guidelines with monetary
fines.
- The way in which micro and small enterprises (many of which are run
by women) are supported is an important tool to create new opportunities
for women to generate income and new sustainable patterns of production of
goods and services. Programmatic responses to address ubiquitous issues in
the region such as the need for networking opportunities and support
systems for women entrepreneurs, as well as the need for specialized
knowledge and skills trainings are highlighted.
- The importance of increasing the proportion of women in top-down
administrative decision-making positions in the region as a key pathway to
women’s empowerment. Several gender quota schemes implemented in the
public (Poland, Norway) and private (Netherlands, Denmark) sector are
presented as well as an example of an international coalition to increase women’s
decision-making power at the community level in the area of climate
change.
- The need for facilitating a balance between work and family life as
a means to overcome women’s persistently disadvantaged position in the
labour market.