Gender Equality and UNDP

Gender equality and womens empowerment are human rights that are critical to sustainable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite progress in recent years, women and girls account for six out of 10 of the worlds poorest and two thirds of the worlds illiterate people. Only 19 percent of the worlds parliamentarians are women and one third of all women are subjected to violence whether in times of armed conflict or behind closed doors at home. This is why UNDP integrates gender equality and womens empowerment into its four focus areas: poverty reduction, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, and environment and sustainable development.

MATTERS OF FACT
Despite the disproportionate impact of conflict on women, fewer than three percent of signatories to peace agreements are women. Women perform 66 percent of the worlds work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn only 10 percent of the income and own only one percent of the property. Only 19 percent of national parliamentarians are female.

Poverty reduction and the MDGs

When women and men have equal opportunities and rights, economic growth accelerates and poverty rates drop more rapidly for everyone. Reducing inequalities between women and men is critical to cutting in half the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015. UNDP works with national partners to: Design national development strategies, plans and budgets for both women and men; Promote womens and girls economic rights and opportunities; including investing in womens entrepreneurship; Address the gender dimensions of HIV and AIDS; and, Strengthen national capacities to collect, analyze and use gender disaggregated data.

knowledge of the environment to survive and adapt, know-how that should be harnessed to shape inclusive national environmental policies. With this in mind, UNDP supports governments to: Meaningfully include women in environmental planning, budgeting, and policy-making processes; Deliver energy and environment services like fuel, clean water and mechanized power to poor women; Leverage financing for women entrepreneurs and womens organizations working to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change; Harness womens local knowledge to protect, sustain and manage the environment and its resources.

Democratic governance
The participation of women in politics is a human right and a development goal. UNDP strives to ensure that women have a real voice in all governance institutions, from the judiciary to the civil service, as well as in the private sector and civil society, so they can participate equally with men in equally in public dialogue and decision-making and influence the decisions that will determine the future of their families and countries. UNDP works with partners to: Promote womens political participation in all governance institutions;

Environment and sustainable development

The worlds poorest and most vulnerable people are dependent on their natural environment to earn a living and feed their families. When natural resources are depleted, or the impacts of climate change hit, poor women use

Strengthen womens legal rights, including in the informal sector; Assist national partners to design public services that benefit poor women and men equitably; Enhance national capacities to reduce gender-based violence through partnerships across sectors.

Crisis prevention and recovery

Despite the devastation caused by crisis, post-crisis rebuilding periods offer opportunities to create more inclusive governance institutions and transform societies. For these reasons, UNDP has defined the following Eight Point Agenda to empower women and enhance gender equality in crisis prevention and recovery efforts: 1. Stop violence against women; 2. Provide justice and security for women; 3. Advance women as decision-makers; 4. Involve women in all peace processes; 5. Support women and men to build back better; 6. Promote women as leaders of recovery; 7. Include womens issues in the national agenda; 8. Work together to transform society.

Inside UNDP: Institutional transformation

To achieve gender equality and women's empowerment, UNDP believes it essential to bring about a cultural transformation in the way the organization conducts its own business. UNDP aims to initiate change from within by staffing equal numbers of women and men at all levels and by ensuring that the needs of women and men are addressed in the workplace and in programming. Stronger accountability frameworks are being put in place to track progress in advancing gender equality both in our programming work and across the organization. UNDP has adopted the Gender Marker, an accountability tool that enables the organization to better track gender investments. The Secretary-General has cited UNDPs Gender Marker experiences as a good practice and other UN agencies are following UNDPs example in this area.

UNDP is partnering with UNEP and 40 other organizations in the Global Gender and Climate Alliance, which has trained hundreds of government delegates and civil society. This is contributing to more gender-responsive climate change policies, from national adaptation programs to the international negotiations. In partnership with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNDP is working in Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal to roll out 600 sustainable, rural agro-enterprises that are mechanizing laborious tasks like grinding grain and providing electricity for light. As a result, women in Burkina Faso are spending two to six hours less per day on domestic chores. The average literacy rate has also increased from 29 percent to 39 percent in 14 villages. UNDPs electoral support in Burundi has led to a new gender quota system for more equal representation in parliaments. Following the 2010 election, Burundi now has 46.3 percent of women in the senate, the highest percentage in the world of women in an upper house. In Darfur, UNDP is providing legal aid services to survivors of sexual violence. UNDP has helped establish a network of lawyers that has handled hundreds of cases since 2006. Rape cases constitute nearly 19 percent of the total criminal caseload, including some cases where the government lifted immunity of law enforcement and military personnel. In Colombia, UNDP supports a network of 385 local womens organizations from 97 municipalities to assist women survivors of conflict. As a result, policy proposals now include womens issues in truth and reconciliation efforts and psychosocial and socioeconomic activities.

For more information, visit: http://www.undp.org/women United Nations Development Programme 304 East 45th Street New York, NY 10017 USA July 2011

UNDP in action
A UNDP Gender Assessment Tool was used in national budgeting and planning processes in over 20 countries. In Kenya this led to energy subsidies for women and in Dominican Republic it guided increases in health and education budgets.

Empowered lives. Resilient nations.