Fact Sheet No.
8
Institutional
Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women
The creation and strengthening
of national institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women have
substantially enhanced the ability of states to implement the objectives
of the Platform for Action, adopted by the Fourth World Conference on
Women in Beijing in 1995. Since then, nearly three-quarters of
all states have established some form of national machinery for the
advancement of women.
The main task of these national
machineries is to support government-wide mainstreaming of a gender-equality
perspective into all policy areas, including legislation, programmes
and projects. Gender mainstreaming, in this sense, is a strategy
for making women's and men's concerns equally integral to the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all policies and programmes.
The Beijing Platform for
Action identified the creation and strengthening of national machineries
as one of 12 critical areas of concern, requiring action by governments.
During its forty-third session
in 1999, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women recommended
further action to be taken to create new or strengthened national machineries
for the advancement of women and gender equality. Among the agreed conclusions
of the session were measures to ensure a continued strong political
commitment to the strengthening of national machineries and to placing
them at the highest possible level of government, with the authority
needed to fulfil their mandated roles and responsibilities.
Strengthening
National Machineries
Reaching the goal of equality
between women and men ultimately depends upon profound transformation
in attitudes and behaviours at every level of society, starting at the
grassroots and continuing through the highest levels of government.
National machineries can play an instrumental role in stimulating and
nurturing these transformations at every level. In this effort, governments
have sought to strengthen existing machineries in various ways, since
the Beijing Conference.
- In Ghana, the government
has enhanced the status of the national machinery by placing it at
the highest possible level within the government, under the Office
of the President, with direct linkages to ministries, departments
and agencies.
- Italy, Namibia, Panama,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, among others, have either created
new ministries to house the national machinery, upgraded the national
machinery to the status of commission under the leadership of a cabinet
minister, or designated a new minister to head the national machinery.
- Albania has elevated the
national machinery to the Council of Ministers level, with the chairperson
reporting directly to the Vice Prime Minister.
- Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran,
Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia are among the countries
that have established agencies or units for women's issues at various
governmental levels.
- In Viet Nam, the government
assigned the Ministry of Planning to prepare the national action plan
for the advancement of women, the Ministry of Finance to balance the
plan's budget, and the national machinery to monitor the plan's implementation.
- In Mongolia, after the
national machinery developed a national action plan for the advancement
of women, each province designed its own sub-programme to ensure the
active involvement of a broad cross-section of women.
Gender
Concerns in Planning and Budget
In many states, national
machineries have been instrumental in shaping national development policies.
Of particular note are advances that have been made in integrating a
gender perspective into budgeting, accountability and auditing functions.
Tying gender concerns to budgeting and auditing can prove to be an effective
tool for holding governments accountable and to raising awareness of
the different impact that seemingly neutral budgetary decisions can
have on women and men.
- In Kenya, the Maldives
and Tunisia, among others, the national machineries helped to ensure
that the government's commitment to gender mainstreaming was incorporated
into its national development plans.
- In Swaziland, a Gender
Sector Committee was one of eight sector-based committees established
to prepare input for the National Development Strategy.
- The Philippines and South
Africa are among the states that have drawn from Australia's model
of a "gender budget", which entails that all government
agencies and departments prepare a budget document disaggregating
outlays in terms of impact on both women and men.
- In Iran, the head of the
national machinery is a member of the Cabinet, facilitating the inclusion
of women's issues in budgetary matters. In addition, the national
machinery reviews national budget items.
Gender Perspectives in Legislation, Policy and Programmes
National machineries have
undertaken a variety of activities to support the revision of, and compliance
with, legislation to ensure gender equality as well the mainstreaming
of a gender perspective into all government policies and programmes.
- India has drafted a National
Policy on Empowerment of Women, which outlines legal, institutional
and programmatic responses to gender discrimination. It has
also designated the National Commission for Women as Ombudsperson
for Women.
- In the Russian Federation,
the State Duma and the Federal Assembly have adopted a strategy and
guidelines for the development of legislation to prevent gender discrimination.
- In Portugal, a parliamentary
commission has been created to review all legislation from an equality
perspective.
- In Belize, an Equity and
Equality Strategic Plan has been developed with a goal of integrating
a gender-sensitive approach into government and civil policies and
programmes.
- In Colombia, a Standing
Advisory Team in the field of gender equality was created within the
National Planning Department, with a broad mandate to ensure gender
mainstreaming within national policies.
Mechanisms for Monitoring
and Accountability
National machineries have
a crucial role to play in monitoring the implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action and in instituting mechanisms for accountability. They
have the difficult task of analyzing how government actions result in
tangible changes in women's lives.
- In Belarus, progress reports
on the implementation of the national action plan for gender equality
are submitted to the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Council of
Ministers. A biannual report is also submitted to the President of
the Republic.
- In Finland, the national
machinery has coordinated an internal follow-up system that operates
within each Ministry.
- In the United States,
through the national machinery, government agencies produce annual
progress reports on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for
Action.
- In Rwanda, a committee
composed of members of the national machinery, United Nations agencies,
bilateral agencies and non-governmental organizations monitors implementation
of the Platform for Action.
- In Jordan, where the national
machinery is composed of high-level government officials and representatives
of civil society, each participating government and civil society
body is required to submit regular progress reports.
Collaboration with
Non-governmental Organizations
Partnerships with civil
society are critical to the sustainability and legitimacy of national
machineries, and can lead to social transformations in the status of
women. The Beijing Conference itself led to a proliferation of new non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) with women's issues central to their mission.
- The Women's Council of
Brunei Darussalam, an umbrella organization of women's organizations
with over 2,000 members, has collaborated with the national machinery
and other government bodies in the establishment of an HIV/AIDS foundation
and a committee on social issues.
- In Turkey, the national
machinery established NGO commissions on health, education, employment
and law to assist in the follow-up to the Platform for Action.
- In Niger, an umbrella
association of women's NGOs with over 3,000 members has recently been
formed, and has begun to collaborate with the national machinery.
- In Eritrea, the national
machinery is an NGO with a network of over 200,000 members.
The members of its central committee are also members of Parliament
or in high-ranking government posts, helping to consolidate the role
of the national machinery within the government.
This fact sheet
is based on "Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action: Report of the Secretary-General" (E/CN.6/2000/PC/2).
Published by the
United Nations Department of Public Information
DPI/2035/HCMay 2000
