UN mandate and framework
Equality between men and women is among the “oldest” United
Nations mandates: the Commission of the Status of Women was one of the first
bodies established by the United Nations in 1947. Its relevance is well illustrated
by the fact that of the 160 signatories of the Charter of the United Nations,
only four were women.
Global United Nations conferences on women have played a catalytic role
in raising awareness, mobilizing political support and establishing policy
recommendations on how to move towards gender equality. UNECE and other regional
commissions are an important part of this process, providing a platform for
regional reviews of progress, the exchange of good practices, and recommendations
for further action. They work closely with national bodies working for gender
equality, but also with NGOs, which have been a major partner in taking initiative
and lobbying for change.
The Beijing Conference in 1995 in particular is considered a success of
the women’s movement. Its outcome document, the Platform for Action,
gave a strong political mandate, providing a policy framework and recommendations
for action in 12 areas, including poverty, education, health, economy, decision-making,
institutional mechanisms and human rights. Gender equality is also an integral
part of other United Nations global processes, such as the Millennium Development
Goals and Financing for Development.
Progress made
Beijing +5 and Beijing +10 reviews in the UNECE region have revealed that
since 1995 most member countries have made progress, but its speed and success
vary substantially among countries and subregions. There are also worrisome
trends in most countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia,
where women’s position in the economy has deteriorated during the transition
process, with job losses, an increase in low-paid jobs in both the formal
and informal sectors, and cuts in social protection. In these countries, women’s
access to health services has also deteriorated and there has been a substantial
rise in poverty. Traditional views about women’s roles are also resurging
in a number of countries.
On the positive side, in the most advanced economies women’s employability
has improved and new measures are helping both parents combine work with family
responsibilities. Legislation and institutional mechanisms promoting gender
equality have improved across the UNECE region, but legal gains still have
to be translated into de facto equality, especially in terms of economic opportunities.
Gender equality and economics: why equal opportunities matter
Gender equality, a traditional domain of sociologists and political scientists,
is increasingly addressed by economists. Equality is seen as an asset and
a smart choice for policies aimed at improving competitiveness and economic
performance. The reasons for this change are particularly relevant for European
societies in the context of current ageing and demographic trends.
In many countries, women are a major source of new labour (except migration)
necessary to ensure sustainability of the pension system and to cover for
growing expenses on pensions, health care and other services for the non-working
population. Women are also well educated (in some countries better than men
in terms of tertiary education).
Equal opportunities policies allow for the best allocation of human resources,
opening up on the ideas and talents of women and men as entrepreneurs, managers
and economic decision-makers to develop the new products and services necessary
to compete on global markets. The link between equal opportunities and competitiveness
is well reflected in the Lisbon Strategy for EU countries and in the policies
of Nordic countries, which are among both the most equal and competitive countries
in the region. Similar problems need to be addressed by other countries, especially
those with transition economies, to combine the process of industrial restructuring
with the reduction of poverty and inequalities in the transition to a market-
based system with many welfare provisions.
Policy implications
Both economic institutions and policies still draw on a male breadwinner
model in which women are secondary earners and depend on a man for social
benefits and pensions. Moving to a dual-earner model requires making connections
between paid and unpaid (caring) work and a more equal distribution of caring
work between women and men.
Change means adopting a gender perspective in employment and labour market
policy, including female entrepreneurship and welfare reforms. While progress
in mainstreaming gender in employment policy is encouraging in many countries,
gender equality has only been a marginal concern in welfare reforms. Women
have been largely forgotten as partners of these reforms, which would affect
a number of areas vital for women’s interests, such as family benefits
and pensions. Pension reforms have particularly weakened the position of low-income
women, making likely an even greater proportion of older women who will live
in poverty.
Adopting a gender perspective also requires changes in the ways that Governments
raise and spend money. Initiatives to promote Gender Responsive Budgeting
in the public sector have been undertaken in the region in the last few years,
including in the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, Canada and Switzerland.
These initiatives should be broadened and deepened as most are in the pilot
phase. A gender analysis of taxation, for example, could look into the content
of tax rules in relation to the treatment of women as autonomous, different
types of paid and unpaid work, and how the redistributive effect reduces the
gender gap in income.
Change, furthermore, means equal opportunities policies in the private sector,
which is now “discovering” that gender equality makes business
sense. Leading companies include gender equality criteria in initiatives for
corporate social responsibility and measures for more effective development
and management of human resources.
Progress in effective mainstreaming of gender equality issues in economic
decision- making across the region, in both Government and business, requires
more research and the creation of a regional network of men and women economists
to work on developing gender-sensitive economic policy, gender disaggregated
data, more dialogue with policy makers and the exchange of good practices.
Many of these are just emerging.
What UNECE does for equal opportunities?
UNECE does not have a special subprogramme on gender, as its activities
focus on economic areas and supporting countries in mainstreaming gender through
economic and sectoral policies. This process is coordinated by the Office
of the Executive Secretary (Gender Focal Point), which also initiates and
runs selected activities. These activities rely on guidance from Commission
sessions and sectoral committees as well as recommendations from regional
reviews under the Beijing process. The new geopolitical situation after EU
enlargement has increased the need for the exchange of experiences and the
dialogue among all countries, and to initiate convergence of equality standards
and various forms of cooperation in a pan- European perspective.
Ms. Aitkul Samakova
Adviser to the President and Chairperson of the National Commission on
Family Affairs and Gender Policy
SPECA – the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of
Central Asia – provides an excellent framework to help countries mainstream
gender into economic activities and policies. Women’s potential in our
countries still remains untapped, even though they are more educated than
men. The unemployment rate is higher among women. Although the future of Kazakhstan
is linked with its industrial development, few women study technical specializations
and they constitute only one third of industrial sector employees. Average
wages for women are lower than for men by one third. Progress in this area
is essential not only to ensure equal opportunities for women and men, but
also to effectively use the country’s economic potential for sustainable
development. Countries could thus benefit from raising awareness on women’s
economic contribution, exchanging good practices, and identifying tools for
mainstreaming gender into the labour market, budgetary, trade and ICT policies.
We will also be able to discuss how to eliminate gender-specific barriers
resulting in a wage gap, the difficulties of combining work with family responsibilities
as well as cultural and social stereotypes of women’s roles. Kazakhstan,
as well as other SPECA countries, already has good practices in some
of these areas, such as in developing micro-credit schemes. This initiative
was launched by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan at the International Conference
on Strengthening Subregional Economic Cooperation in Central Asia and
the Future Role of the UN SPECA (Astana, 2005), where SPECA member countries
agreed to consider establishing a new Working Group on Gender and Economy.
Its work will be supported by UNECE and UNESCAP in cooperation with partner
organizations. Kazakhstan will actively participate in the work of the
new Working Group.
The future
The UNECE reform in 2006 re-affirmed the need for particular attention to
be paid to the gender dimension of development as a priority cross-cutting
theme and for strengthening mainstreaming efforts, taking into account the
economic areas addressed by the regional Beijing +10 review.
In line with the reform, UNECE can continue to play its role as a regional
platform to review progress, exchange experience and discuss a new approach
to gender equality as a crucial factor for smart economics. One illustration
of this work direction is the proposal to organize a regional meeting to review
progress and identify good practices in the area of “women and the economy” in
the context of preparations for the Beijing+15 review.
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