Mandate for Gender Mainstreaming and Related Institutional Arrangement National and International

Mandate for Gender Mainstreaming and Related Institutional Arrangement

National and International

Shanthi Daiuriam. Enhancement of GFP Programme . NIEW

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Mandate for mainstreaming is linked to the commitment to pursue equality between women and men

• The goal of mainstreaming is equality

• The Commitment and mandate to pursue equality as a critical goal through all endeavours such as development policies , laws and programmes exists at international and national levels.

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• Half of the apex decision-making bodies in Spain is composed of women, with key cabinet positions assigned to women. By allowing full participation and equitable representation in the decision making process we are taking a first step in the right direction. The Gender Equality Law and the Integrated Protection against Gender Based Violence Law approved by the Spanish Congress allow us to introduce gender equality in all the other spheres of public and private life, by fighting gender based discrimination and gender based violence, allowing positive action measures in collective bargaining, encouraging reconciliation of work and family life, promoting equality plans and fostering good practices. Only by promoting the right policies, will we able to answer this question.

• Who is accountable to women? EVERY ONE IN MY GOVERNMENT IS. Prime Minister of Spain

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An example of the impact when equality of women is not mainstreamed

Republic of Korea• Trillion dollar economy: 13th largest in the world• GDP per capita equal to many developed countries• Tech advanced. Highest rate of broad band use• Ranked among the top countries in intl assessment in

Maths and Science• Transformed itself after the war with an abundance

of cheap labour it focused on education and human capital development as a means of increasing productivity to catapult itself to developed nation status.

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Situation of women workers Poor labour conditions and concentration of

women in unregulated low wage sectors.CEDAW Review, 39th session 2007: Serious

disadvantgaes faced by women. High percentage in non regular work such as out sourcing, flexible forms of work, job insecurity significant wage gap and deficit of benefits.

Insufficient compliance with labour legislation, lack of monitoring mechanisms and complaints procedures for women to claim their rights.

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Why Equality

• Because of current inequality. Recognition of inequality in the 1995 Conference on Women:

• “ We, the Governments, participating in the Fourth World Conference on Women,

Recognize that the status of women has advanced in some important respects in the past decade but that progress has been uneven, inequalities between women and men have persisted and major obstacles remain, with serious consequences for the well-being of all people.” (paragraph 5 of the Declaration- BPFA 1995)7/27/2011


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• In paragragh 13, the Declaration as agreed by all participating governments, gives the rationale as to why the pursuit of equality is critical for peace and development. It states:

“Women's empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace;”

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• “The Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 4-15 September 1995) brought about a new international commitment to the goals of gender equality, development and peace for all women, and moved the global agenda for the advancement of women into the twenty-first century.”

Beijing plus 5 2000. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/followup/session/presskit/gasp.htm

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• "The commitments made by governments in Beijing reflect the understanding that women's equality must be a central component of any attempt to solve the world's social, economic and political problems. Thus, where once women fought to put gender equality on the international agenda, gender equality is now one of the primary factors shaping that agenda."

Kofi Annan. Sec Gen United Nations: New York, . Beijing Plus 5 Review. 5-9 June 2000

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Brief history of the concern for women at the United Nations

• Commission on the Status of Women set up in 1946 parallel to the Commission on Human Rights.

• Function:Evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

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• AccomplishmentsThe CSW drafted several conventions and declarations, including the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 1967 and The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). 1979. Monitor every year implementation of the BPFA and issue outcome documents thematically.

• We should note that Malaysia has been an elected member of the CSW for many terms.

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Legally binding mandate to pursue equality between women and men: Ratification of CEDAW

• Malaysia ratified CEDAW in July 1995.• .This is a human rights treaty that currently

has 187 ratifications.• Equality and non-discrimination are principles

of international customary law as most States have accepted these principles through ratification of this treaty.

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Obligations under CEDAW

• to incorporate the principle of equality of men and women and to adopt the definition of discrimination against women ,as given in the Convention, in their legal system,

• to abolish all discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women;

• to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination; and

• to ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises.

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Reporting obligations• Under this treaty governments have to report

every 4 years to an expert committee at the UN to show compliance. The Committee issues a report on the government concerned called the Concluding Observations .

• Since 1995, Malaysia has reported only once in 2006. There are recommendations from the Committee to Malaysia (Concluding Observations) which it is bound to implement. Its reports have been due for some time.

• Others: MDGs

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National mandate for equality

• Constitutional mandate: Amendment to article 8.2 Gender as prohibited grounds for discrimination. 2001

• National Policy on Women 1989

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Objectives of the National Policy on Women

• (a) To ensure an equitable sharing in the acquisition of resources, information, opportunities and benefits of development for men and women. The objectives of equality and justice must be made the essence of development policies which must be people oriented so the women, who

• constitute half the nations population, can contribute and realize their potentials to the optimum.

• (b) To integrate women in all sectors of development in accordance with their capabilities and needs, in order to enhance the quality of life, eradicate poverty, ignorance and illiteracy, and ensure a peaceful and prosperous nation.

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• A major principle and guideline of the Policy is:

• That this National Policy On Women shall be aligned and coordinated with the National Development Policy, the provisions of the Constitution pertaining to the basic rights of citizens, the right of protection under the law, and the ideals of national unity and independence.

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National Development Policy

• The Sixth Development Plan was the first to highlight the need to focus on women. But this was merely academic.

• Currently the Government Transformation Programme is reviewing strategies for the inclusion of women’s talent and to enhance their fullest potential, realizing that this is essential if Malaysia is to achieve its goal of high income status by 2020 according to the New Economic Model.

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• In 2004 the government adopted a policy to ensure 30% of women in decision making.

• Hence the commitment arising from the initiatives at the international level are reflected at the national level.

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Why mainstreaming

• Mainstreaming is a critical mechanism to achieve equality. The Beijing Platform for Action provided the first mandate for mainstreaming. In the Beijing Declaration it is stated that:

• “Gender mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for achieving gender equality and constitutes a critical strategy in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.”

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• Commitments were also made by governments at the 2005 World Summit (60th session of the UN General Assembly) to ,

“actively promote the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres and to further undertake to strengthen the capabilities of the United Nations system in the area of gender”. Beijing Plus 5 Review

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• Since 2001 The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) has been adopting resolutions annually since 2001 promoting the need for mainstreaming equality.

• ECOSCOC resolutions have also acknowledged that,

“ enhancing women’s opportunities, potential and activities requires a dual focus, namely, programmes aimed at meeting the basic and specific needs of women for capacity-building, organizational development and empowerment, together with gender mainstreaming in all programme formulation and implementation.”

• (Malaysia has been the chair of ECOSOC.)

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• In adopting the Beijing Platform for Action, all governments pledged to implement the BPFA and gave the following undertaking :

• “ We hereby adopt and commit ourselves as

Governments to implement the following Platform for Action, ensuring that a gender perspective is reflected in all our policies and programmes.”

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Institutional mechanisms

• The Ministry or Women, Community and Family Development (MWCFD) is the nodal agency for the achievement of gender equality. But this ministry can only play a catalytical role.

• The nature of these commitments which span every area of development endeavour, require that all government agencies undertake individually and collectively the fulfillment of the obligations to women’s equality under these commitments

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Hence the Mechanism of Gender Focal Points

• Established in 2004.• There is a need for a process - to create synergies between Malaysia’s national and international commitments to equality between women and men and its national development goals - to develop the competencies of the institution of

the GFPs. - to institutionalise these processes for sustaining the

efficiency of this institution within the government infrastructure.

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Documents

Mandate for Gender Mainstreaming and Related Institutional Arrangement National and International