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Women and Sustainable Development 2000 - 2002
Recommendations in Agenda 21 and Related
Documents
and Suggestions for a Review of Implementation
Paper Prepared by the CSD NGO Women's Caucus
for Discussion at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
Intersessional Working Group, 22 February - 3 March
and Its 8th Session, 24 April - 5 May
February 2000
Preface
The CSD NGO Women's Caucus has produced the present paper in the light of commitments made in Agenda 21, Chapter 24, for which no review has been planned to date.
We hope this initial paper will inform the debate on women & sustainable development issues at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The paper offers an overview of relevant commitments in the outcomes of the cycle of UN Conferences and Summits in the 1990s and their respective review processes. It then makes suggestions on how to review implementation of these commitments, firstly focussing on women's full and equal participation in sustainable development and in public life (Chapter 24.2.c), and secondly for a full review for 2002.
The paper is aiming to give an overview of relevant review work being done in other processes and arguing to integrate them into the CSD process and into the preparations for 2002. Some gaps in the on-going work in other processes are pointed out and some priority issues are being identified. However, a strong emphasis is being put on the necessary participatory approach of a review, including agreeing issues and appropriate processes.
The draft of this paper was put out to consultation via the CSD NGO Women's Caucus list server (women-csd at www.egroups.com) with 145 members, and to some members via fax and post. We want to thank everybody who has contributed comments and input to the draft.
We also thank the UK Government Department for International Development / Environment Policy Department for supporting the production of this paper.
Chief Bisi Ogunleye & Minu Hemmati
Co-facilitators of the CSD NGO Women's Caucus
Chief (Mrs.) Bisi Ogunleye
Country Women Association of Nigeria
No. 7 Awosika Crescent Ijapo Est., Akure Ondo State, Nigeria
Tel: +234 34 231 945, Fax: +234 34 241-001
Email: cowan.b@akure.rcl.nig.com
Dr Minu Hemmati
United Nations Environment and Development - UK Committee
3 Whitehall Court, London SW 1A 2EL, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 171 839-1784, Fax: +44 171 930-5893, Email: minush@aol.com
Women's caucus web-site: Go to http://www.csdngo.org/csdngo and click on "Women"
Contents
A. Introduction
B. Major Aspects of Agreements on Women & Sustainable Development
C. Relevant International Agreements and On-Going Review Processes
D. Suggestions on a Review of Agenda 21, Chapter 24.2.c
E. Suggestions on How to Review Implementation of Agreements on Women & Sustainable Development for 2002 and Conduct Forward-Looking Discussions
F. Conclusions
Box: International Agreements Dealing with Land Management, incl. a Gender Perspective
Annex 1: UN Agencies and Intergovernmental Bodies Working on Issues Relevant for a Review on Women & Sustainable Development: by Institutions
Annex 2: UN Agencies and Intergovernmental Bodies Working on Issues Relevant for a Review on Women & Sustainable Development: by Issues
References
Footnotes
A. Introduction
In Agenda 21, Chapter 24, governments are urged
24.2. c) To consider developing and issuing by the year 2000 a strategy of changes necessary to eliminate constitutional, legal, administrative, cultural, behavioural, social and economic obstacles to women's full participation in sustainable development and in public life;" (Agenda 21, Chapter 24, Para 2.c)
The goal of this paper is to encourage better consideration and integration of women's / gender issues in the Commission on Sustainable Development and at Rio+10 / Earth Summit 2002. It aims to provide an overview of the relevant agreements in the area of women & sustainable development and make suggestions for a review. The purpose is to raise awareness of relevant discussions in other fora and to encourage further work in the CSD in light of priorities in Agenda 21 and the preparations for 2002.
In Rio, women were considered a "Major Group" (1) whose involvement is necessary to achieve sustainable development. Today, there is a growing emphasis on "gender mainstreaming" - integrally incorporating both men's and women's concerns and participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of all development and environmental management programmes (2).
Women and sustainable development issues are an essential component of Agenda 21 and other international agreements. Agenda 21 includes Chapter 24: "Global Action for Women Towards Sustainable and Equitable Development", outlining strategies to achieve the necessary full and equal participation of women in order to bring about sustainable development. In addition to the chapter itself, women's and gender issues are being addressed throughout Agenda 21, reflecting the "gender mainstraming" approach. There are over one hundred references and recommendations pertaining to women in the final agreement, recognizing the importance of women's full and equal participation, their rights and roles towards sustainable development in sectoral as well as cross-sectoral sections.
"Human development, if not engendered, is endangered" (Human Development Report 1995, 1). Neither of the three aspects of the goal of sustainable development nor their balance (2) can be achieved without solving the prevailing problems of gender inequality and inequity. Clearly, without gender-mainstreaming of all work towards sustainable development, we will not be able to achieve it. (3) Therefore, we need to assess how far we have come in achieving this important, cross-cutting goal.
The above mentioned recommendation in Agenda 21 Ch 24.2.c had been benchmarked for the year 2000. No review of implementation of this recommendation has been planned so far. The issue of women and sustainable development is not part of the work programme of CSD until 2002. The upcoming 10 year review and forward looking discussions in 2002 offer a unique opportunity to "re-engender" the debate on sustainable development. A review on women and sustainable development should be an integral part of preparations for 2002. Gender, as a cross-cutting issue, has been addressed at all UN Summit and Conferences in the 1990s and a review of implementation on women & sustainable development related agreements for 2002 should
| avoid duplicating work by drawing on other processes; |
| fill the gaps which these processes leave; |
| provide comprehensive and up-to-date material; |
| and be conducted through a process involving all stakeholders. |
B. Major Aspects of Agreements on Women & Sustainable Development
B.1 Goals
The goals set out in the above mentioned international agreements can be categorized in accordance with the overall principle of sustainable development and its 3 pillars:
A fourth category deals with the goal of
The understanding of the gender apsects and impacts of the issues contained in these goals has developed further throughout the cycle of UN Summits and Conferences in the 1990s. New developments, such as globalization and HIV/AIDS, have been taken into account and conferences following the Earth Summit have achieved more detailed looks at specific issues. In some cases, issues which were left out in Agenda 21 have been addressed, such as violence against women and armed conflict (Beijing PfA).
The overall goal in terms of women and sustainable development is gender-mainstreaming of all policies - incorporating a gender perspective in all planning and decision-making processes. (2)
B.2 Issues
The international community has identified the following issues which provide an important framwork for achieving gender equality in sustainable development:
| women's human rights and control over their lives; |
| poverty eradication; |
| women's access to resources and services; |
| women's control and management of resources; |
| globalisation; |
| finance for development; |
| health, including environmental health. |
B.3 Strategies
Several main strategies have been suggested to achieve this goal:
| full and equal participation of women in the formulation of all policies and decision-making; |
| awareness-raising, capacity-building, education and training of women and men; and of all people in decision-making positions in all sectors and at all levels (incl. changing curricula; public campaigns; developing gender sensitivity trainings; guidelines for gender mainstreaming, etc); |
| institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; |
| making gender disaggregated information available and supporting relevant research ; |
| collecting and sharing good practices at local, national and international levels; including peer group review of (good) practice and promoting successful strategies. |
C. Relevant International Agreements and On-Going Review Processes
C.1. Relevant Agreements from the Earth Summit & Earth Summit II
Agenda 21, Chapter 24.2.c
The obstacles "to women's full participation in sustainable development and in public life" listed in the above quoted recommendations can be grouped into three categories which are of course inextricably linked:
Barriers of the first category require government action: developing legislation and setting up institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women and girls. Barriers of category two are even more complex; they can require enormous changes which can be initiated by governments - through legislation, educational curricula, public campaigns - but need the conserted efforts of all stakeholders to take effect. Economic barriers can be viewed as a result of barriers listed in category one and two. Again, a conserted effort of all stakeholders is as neccessary as government action; changes initiated by and in the private sector, however, are particularly important. Measures recommended in Chapter 24 include education and training for women (and men), appropriate child care facilities, access to credit, etc.
Agenda 21, Chapter 24
Women have considerable knowledge and experience in managing and conserving natural resources. However, the role of women in achieving sustainable development has been limited by barriers such as discrimination and lack of access to schooling, land and equal employment. Chapter 24 addresses many important areas of sustainable development, pointing out barriers towards women's full and equal participation in sustainable development and in public life and making recommendations on what governments should do to overcome these barriers.
Chapter 24 urges countries to increase the proportion of women decision-makers, planners, scientists, technical advisers, managers and extension workers in environment and development fields. It is important to eliminate female illiteracy, assure girls of universal access to primary and secondary education, and provide increased post-secondary training for women in sciences and technology.
Governments should:
| ensure a role for women in national and international ecosystem management and control of environmental degradation; |
| provide comprehensive health care, including prenatal care and the opportunity to breast-feed, and information on maternal and child health, family planing and responsible parenthood; |
| help to reduce the heavy workload on women and girls at home and outside, by working with employers and other organisations to set up affordable nurseries and kindergartens. National programmes are needed to encourage men to share household taks equally with women; |
| provide women with better access to all forms of credit, particularly in the informal sector; |
| ensure women's access to property rights, as well as agricultural inputs and implements; |
| take all necessary measures to eliminate violence against women, and work to eliminate persistent negative images, stereotypes and prejudices against women; |
| develop consumer awareness among women to reduce or eliminate unsustainable consumption, particularly in industrialized countries. This would encourage manufacturers to offer products that are more environmentally and socially friendly; |
| begin to count the value of unpaid work, including "domestic" work when measuring the state of the economy. |
Another important point is that in Agenda 21 Chapter 24, recommendations are calling mostly upon governments to take or initiate action. Other stakeholders are integrated in a less direct way and rather via governments actions having an impact on them than outlining their roles and responsibilities. Recent CSD decisions, however, have incorporated strong recognition of other stakeholders' necessary involvement and collaboration among stakeholders.
It is important to note that women's NGOs activities during the Rio Earth Summit process, particularly the World Women's Congress in Miami, Florida, in 1991, have had a very significant impact on the process and the agreed outcomes. Involvement of women's NGOs should be increased to ensure an effective review for 2002.
Earth Summit II, the United Nations General Assembly Special Session for the Purpose of an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of Agenda 21, 1997
For the first 5 year review of implementation of Agenda 21 in 1997, the following issues were identified as particularly important to women and sustainable development (UN DPI 1997): poverty; management of natural resources; water; commercialization of agriculture; environment and women's health; and environmental activism of women's NGOs.
In the Secretary General’s Report on Overall Progress Achieved since UNCED (January 1997), it was stated that "the implementation of specific objectives in the major groups chapters of Agenda 21 has not always achieved the level desired. For example, gender balance in decision-making has still not been achieved and national instruments to this effect are not being enforced" (Section II, para 97).
The Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, agreed in June 1997, however, does not make as many references and recommendations pertaining to women. Many of the references to women are reaffirming conclusions and recommendations stated in Agenda 21 and observing that the goals set out in 1992 have not yet been met. (3)
C.2. Relevant Agreements from other UN Conferences and Summits and Their Reviews
At the UN Conferences and Summit following the Earth Summit in 1992, the international community looked at some of the issues addressed in Agenda 21 in more detail and depth. All of them are engaged in follow-up processes, most in 5 year reviews. Every time, attempts were work with a gender perspective, incorporating women's issues and concerns into commitments and recommendations. This section aims at pointing out the areas which bear particular importance regarding women and sustainable development issues.
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo 1994
ICPD built on and broadened the consensus achieved at previous conferences on population (Bucharest 1974, Mexico City, 1984). The major success of ICPD was shifting from focus on population as family planning to women's reproductive rights and reproductive health. ICPD also reflected the widespread recognition that population is inextricably linked to the full range of human development concerns - including poverty alleviation, women's empowerment and environmental protection. ICPD emphasized two themes:
The overall aim was to identify actions that will make national policies and programmes more effective in meeting individual needs, especially those of women, and in bringing population into balance with available resources. Among the issues addressed and the goals and strategies agreed at ICPD were:
| availability of family planning as part of a broader package of reproductive health services; |
| reduction infant, child and maternal mortality; |
| access to education, particularly for girls; |
| female-headed households being the poorest of the poor, partly because women have less access than men to training, credit, property, natural resources and better-paid jobs; |
| urban populations; |
| youthful populations in many countries and growing numbers of elderly persons. |
The review document, 'Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the ICPD' reaffirms the international consensus agreed at ICPD and builds in many parts on its language, targets and benchmarks. The document sets out a series of recommendations on population and development issues including gender equality, equity and empowerment of women, reproductive rights and reproductive health, resource mobilization, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and HIV/ AIDS. It also addresses issues of male involvement; human rights; and partnerships with civil society in implementation. Specific benchmarks are delineated in the text including the reduction of illiteracy of women and girls, maternal mortality, young people's vulnerability to HIV/ AIDS and provision of safe and effective family planning and contraceptive methods. These benchmarks are seen as an important and effective way of guiding individual countries in reaching the goals of the Cairo Programme of Action.
The Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995
The Beijing Platform for Action (PfA) is dealing with 12 critical areas of concern:
A. Women and poverty
B. Education and training for women
C. Women and health
D. Violence against women
E. Women and armed conflict
F. Women and the economy
G. Women in power and decision-making
H. Institutional Mechanisms for the advancement of women
I. Human rights of women
J. Women and the media
K. Women and the environment
L. The girl-child
Sections A, B, C, F, G, H, and K are particularly relevant to women and sustainable development issues. Among these, Section K. might be most directly relevant to the concerns of the CSD: Based on a comprehensive analysis of the inter-relationships of crucial factors such as gender equity, poverty, unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, the destruction of ecosystems, the pollution of rural and urban environments and the depletion of resources, it is stated that „women have essential roles to play in the development of sustainable and ecologically sound consumption and production patterns and approaches to natural resource management". Section K recommends actions by governments, Local Authorities, international organisations, private sector institutions and NGOs to
| involve women actively in environmental decision-making at all levels; |
| integrate gender concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes for sustainable development; |
| strengthen or establish mechanisms at the national, regional and international levels to assess the impact of development and environmental policies on women; |
Recommendations are focussing on participation of women as environmental experts, managers and educators; poverty elimination; information provision and capacity-building for women; addressing research gaps; and the eradication of environmental hazards which particularly affect women. It is clearly pointed out, that co-ordination between institutions working on gender issues, on the one hand, and those working on environmental issues, on the other hand, at all levels is necessary in order to appropriately address the pressing issues.
Beijing +5
UN General Assembly Special Session, June 2000: "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development And Peace for the 21st Century"
Review Process: The Beijing process is clearly the most important one regarding women & sustainable development issues. The implementation of agreements of all 12 sections of the Beijing PfA is under review. Governments have submitted reports on the basis of a questionnaire sent out by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), providing information about progress at the national level. In addition, women's NGOs have been producing "Alternative Reports" at national, regional and international level. It is unclear as of yet how many countries will be covered. UN DAW has been aiming to take women's NGOs contributions into account throughout the process, for example by looking at NGO alternative reports and by conducting a "Global Forum", ie scheduled online discussion groups addressing each of the PfA sections and open for all stakeholders to participate. These online discussions have been archived on the WomenWatch web-site (http://www.un.org/womenwatch) and contributions are publicly accessible. However, it is not clear how exactly these are incoporated in the review and preparatory process and what weight intput in being given vis-a-vis governments reports and contributions from intergovernmental bodies.
Reviewing Section K. does not seem to have been a major priority in the run-up to Beijing+5. Some Regional peparatory meetings have not even addressed women and environment issues at all. The online discussion on Section K has not been very active, in terms of numbers of active participants as well as messages or interactive discussions.
More importantly, the current proposed outcome document on further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (E/CN.6/2000/PC/L..., 21 January 2000) suffers significant shortcomings and leaves important issues unaddressed: Dealing with Section K in the review part of the document, the paragraphs on 'achievements' and 'obstacles' are not consistent with regard to gender mainstreaming of environmental policies and programmes and assessment of women's participation in environmental policy- and decision-making: They state significant achievements and refer to the lack of achievements as major obstacles. Persistant problems of access to and control of natural resources and inputs, such as land, agricultural inputs, credit, etc. are omitted. Problems of environmental health and their gender specific impacts, eg regarding the impact of persistant organic pollutants on women's reproductive health, are not being addressed. Section II of the document ('challenges') only mentions one challenge in the area of environment, ie natural disaster mitigation and recovery strategies. Apart from rather arbitrary mentioning of necessary integration of women's traditional knowledge, capacity building on environmental protection and integration of CBD into national legislation, there is no systematic approach to environmental issues. An extensive section on peace issues does not mention questions of environmental security such as transboundary conflicts relating to freshwater which is an important issue for women (see also CSD-6 decision, 1998). Overall, it seems that the proposed outcome document for Beijing+5 falls back behind what has (at least sometimes) been achieved at the CSD in terms of gender mainstreaming of decisions on environmental issues.
Beyond Beijing+5:
Parallel to the review process, identifying emerging issues for future work is underway. Five thematic areas with a forward thinking focus are being identified in the on-going process:
The World Summit on Social Development (WSDD), Copenhagen 1995
The Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action on Social Development deal with 10 Commitments:
Commitment 5 is obviously relevant to women and sustainable development issues. However, Commitments 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 are important for us as well. All of them address issues which affect women and men differently in most cases, and all of them incorporate some kind of a gender perspective.
Copenhagen +5
UN General Assembly Special Session, June 2000: "Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalizing World"
Review Process: The implemenation of all 10 commitments is under review. Of particular importance to reviewing implementation of women & sustainable development goals will be the data collected on Commitments 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 and, above all, Commitment 5.
Beyond Copenhagen+5: Parallel to the review process, identifying emerging issues for future work is underway. Currently, the list of issues being discussed is rather extensive:
| Globalization: guidelines on the social responsibilities of business; refocusing macroeconomic policies; guidelines for policies aiming to collect sufficient revenue to pay for national social services, social protection and other social policies in the context of globalization; effective forms of international cooperation and coordination of taxation policy between countries so as to contain tax competition; |
| Social security (financial security, their health, and personal safety): principles of socio-economic policy for responding to financial crises; management of national social protection systems; |
| Mandating several global action plans is being discussed, such as on: full employment in an integrating world; achieving access to education for all by 2015; achieving access to basic health services for all by 2015; |
| Furthermore, discussions focus on a global target for poverty eradication; procedures and institutions for social dialogue; gender mainstreaming and promoting gender equality nationally and internationally; support for activities to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS; debt relief for the heavily indebted low-income countries; reversing the current decline in ODA; standardization of development indicators. |
Reviewing the commitments coming out of Copenhagen+5 regarding their success in incorporating a gender perspective, will be an important contribution to the preparations for 2002 in the light of women and sustainable development issues.
The World Summit on Human Settlements, Habitat II, Istanbul 1996
The main themes of the Habitat II Conference were
Section III.D. of the Habitat Agenda deals specifically with "Gender Equality". However, the primary role of women in human settlements is strongly recognised throughout the document and several clauses on gender and women were included in the Habitat Agenda. Clauses in Section D.III. and elsewhere address the following issues: women's full and equal participation in urban planning and management; women's equal access to resources, services and opportunities to employment, inheritance, ownership, credit, personal development, and decsion-making; women's equal access to safe drinking water and sanitation; women's empowerment and poverty eradication; combating social exclusion and discrimination; reviewing structural adjustment in the light of gender specific impacts;practical methods to integrate gender perspectives in human settlements development; gender disaggregated data; building partnerships between people and government; education and training for women; shelter policies benefiting vulnerable groups.
Istanbul +5
The review process on implementation of the Habitat II Agenda begins with the first PrepComm in May 2000, leading to a UN GA Special Session in 2001.
All commitments and recommendations of the Habitat Agenda will be under review. Of particular importance to reviewing Agenda 21, Chapter 7 (Promoting Sustainable Human Settlement Development) and Chapter 10 (Integrated Approach to the Planning and Management of Land Resources), in the light of women and sustainable development issues will be efforts to review clauses of the Habitat Agenda on with women and gender issues. The review of Section III.D. of the Habitat Agenda (Gender Equality) will summarise some of the relevant data and can be used to inform a review on women and sustainable development towards 2002.
The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) / Habitat has embarked on two global campaigns: Global Campaign on Secure Tenure, and Global Campaign for Good Urban Governance. The Istanbul +5 preparatory process is being used to gain consensus on the global norms for the two campaigns. Two relevant areas are women and secure tenure and women and good governance.
The global theme for World Habitat Day - 2 October 2000 is 'Women in Urban Governance'. For this, UNCHS will do an information kit which will provide valuable material. In addition, the Women and Habitat Programme will be encuraging all network partners to report on this issue from their respective countries and to input this into the Istanbul +5 review process at the national level.
The World Food Summit (WFS), Rome 1996
The Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Food Summit constitute the most comprehensive international commitments and agreements on
| global food security |
| enhancing and empowering women's key role in household food security; and, in developing countries, throughout the food chain (production, harvesting, storage, processing/preservation, transport, marketing), and in the conservation of bio-diversity and management of land, forest and water resources. |
The agreements also instituted a monitoring and review process at regional and global levels towards the benchmaks being set.
WFS Follow-Up
The follow-up process to WFS reaches a major mile-stone in September 2000 with a meeting of the FAO Committee on World Food Security. The FAO Committee on World Food Security (18-21 September, 2000 Rome) will review WFS follow-up reports and action proposals from regional Ministerial conferences (1999-2000), on WFS Commitments 1, 2, 5, 7 and decide on further action. Subsequent reviews will take place biannually, leading up to the mid-term review of 2006. The commitments under review for September 2000 are dealing with the following issues:
1. An enabling environment designed to create the best conditions for the eradication of poverty and for durable peace, based on full and equal participation of women and men, which is most conducive to achieving sustainable food security for all.
2. Implementing policies aimed at eradicating poverty and inequality and improving physical and economic access by all, at all times, to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe food and its effective utilization.
5. Preventing and being prepared for natural disasters and man-made emergencies and to meet transitory and emergency food requirements in ways that encourage recovery, rehabilitation, development and a capacity to satisfy future needs.
7. Implementing, monitoring, and following up the WFS Plan of Action at all levels in cooperation with the international community.
The reviews of follow-up reports on Commitments 1 and 2 will be particularly relevant to take into account when reviewing achievements and failures in the area of women and sustainable development.
Conventions
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): Regular national reporting to the CEDAW Committee by governments (often complemented by reports from women's NGOs) provides information on progress towards eliminating all forms of discrimination against women. The issues covered in national reports overlap with what would be required to review Agenda 21, Chapter 24.2.c; the obstacles mentioned therein constitute elements of discrimination against women. Reports to the CEDAW Committee and parallel NGO reports provide, for example, important information about legal measures and institutional mechanisms and therefore should be taken into account when reviewing the implementation of 24.2.c.
Progress on the Conventions which came out of Rio should equally be brought into the process of reviewing and looking forward. Particularly important in terms of women and sustainable development are the Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa (CCD), with its emphasis on participation (of women), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with its emphasis of women's role in preservation of biological diversity. Work on the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) has only just begun to look at social and cultural aspects, including gender issues.
Monitoring Institutions
Many decisions relevant to women & sustainable development issues have been taken by the institutions monitoring the implementation of these agreements at UN Conferences and Summits. For the sake of shortening this paper, reports from the sessions of the respective Functional Commissions on Sustainable Development (CSD), on the Status of Women (CSW), on Population and Development (CPD), on Social Development (CSocD), the Standing Committee assisting the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on Human Settlements (CHS), and the FAO Committee on World Food Security are not included in the present analysis of relevant agreements.
D. Suggestions on a Review of Agenda 21, Chapter 24.2.c
There are several ways in which one can approach the question of how to review the recommendations made in 24.2.c. Rather conservatively, one could argue that reviewing if governments have issued such strategies to eliminate the obstacles listed in 24.2.c would be sufficient. However, this would not tell us much about women's actual "participation in sustainable development and in public life". One could argue that reviewing progress made in eliminating the identified obstacles would be the appropriate way to deal with 24.2.c in 2000 and beyond. This would mean to look at the actual success of strategies or, more clearly, at progress made in terms of women's participation. Given the broad scope of 24.2.c, this would entail a review of women's participation regarding all aspects of sustainable development.
On the basis of the structure provided in 24.2.c, an effort to review implementation needs to be conducted to measure progress using data and indicators covering the following aspects:
| Data available through the Beijing+5 process, providing information about women's education and training (Section B); participation in the economy (Sec F); in power and decision-making (Sec G) and on the impact of institutional mechanisms (Sec H). |
| Women's participation in environmental planning, decision-making and management. (Some information through the Beijing+5 process. National goverments, UNEP, women's NGOs, environment NGOs would also be relevant sources of information.) |
| The Human Development Report's (HDR) two gender-related indices, the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure, provide useful and up-to-date data. The GDI is based on the The Human Development Index (HDI) which measures the average achievements in a country in the basis of three dimensions, namely longevity; knowledge; and real GDP per capita. The GDI takes account of inequality in HDI achievement between the sexes. The GEM aims to evaluate whether women are able to actively participate in key areas, namely the economic, social and political. GDI focuses on capabilities and conditions, while GEM is rather concerned with their for full and equal participation. (4) |
| Gender specific impacts of environmental degradation. (HDR also provides measurement of environmental degradation but not analysed regarding its gender specific impacts.) |
| Progress regarding mainstreaming gender into development should be measured, particularly where attempts were made to integrate environmental aspects into development work. (Relevant sources regarding attempts made and their impact would be national governments; donor agencies, and women's NGOs.) |
| Women's involvement in Local Agenda 21 processes is another important aspect. (National governments; local authorities associations such as ICLEI and IULA; and grassroots women's networks would be relevant sources of information.) |
| Women's access and use of information enabling timely and efficient participation, particularly information and communication technologies. Being put forward as an emerging issues in the Beijing+5 process and gender gaps having partly been assessed in the HDR 1999, this issue needs to be included when addressing (obstacles to) participation. |
Some of the aspects listed can be reviewed by using data and analyis which are vailable; some of them would need to be addressed through the CSD process itself.
"Information for decision-making and participation and international cooperation for an enabling environment": This is the cross-sectoral theme on the agenda for the Commission on Sustainable Development 9th Session in 2001. A review on Chapter 24.2.c would certainly inform the debate of the issues of "information for decision-making", also in relation to the scheduled discussions on the sectoral themes of atmosphere and energy.
One option of a possible review process in the area of women and sustainable development would therefore be to aim at a review of 24.2.c for CSD-9 in 2001, focussing on participation and drawing on the sources outlined above, and a full review of women and sustainable development issues for 2002.
E. Suggestions on How to Review Implementation of Agreements on Women & Sustainable Development for 2002 and Conduct Forward-Looking Discussions
Focussing on reviewing 24.2.c, ie participation of women, alone, would be leaving considerable gaps in the picture for 2002 and also refer discussions on emerging issues in the area of women & sustainable development to discussions of sectoral and cross-sectoral issues.
As outlined above, the international agreements from the cycle of UN Summits and Conferences in the 1990s, have set important goals, identified priority issues and provided concrete recommendations in the area of women and sustainable development. (Box 1 provides an example of an issue which is being dealt with, incl. a gender perspective, in various agreements and legal instruments.)
A review on women and sustainable development needs to be an integral part of the preparations for Earth Summit 2002. In 2002, we should be able to evaluate the progress made and the effectiveness of recommended strategies. Women represent (roughly) half of the world's population. The mainstreaming of gender in any sustainable development policies and strategies is such an important prerequisite of sustainable development that no reviews or forward looking discussions can sensibly be undertaken without a strong emphasis on reviewing progress in the area of women and sustainable development, identifying obstacles towards implementation and identifying feasible strategies to overcome them. (5)
Identifying priority issues
The first step should be to identify priority issues for a review on women and sustainable development, based on what has been addressed elsewhere, what the gaps are and what the emerging issues are. The following points are but initial list as we are arguing for an inclusive consultation process to identify priority issues:
Gaps and emerging issues:
| integrating gender and environment concerns into development; |
| gender-mainstreaming of environmental policies and programmes, including addressing gender specific impact of environmental degradation and conservation; |
| women's participation in environmental decision- and policy-making |
| gender specific aspects of globalisation and trade: these issues have been brought into many discussions, including in the Beijing+5 and WSSD+5 processes and have been mentioned as a high priority in most discussions on 2002 to date. They needs to be addressed with a view to women's / gender issues, starting with an assessment of impacts on women and leading to identifying strategies to minimise negative impact on women and avoiding to widen power and resource gaps between women and men; |
| women's environmental health, including in relation to chemicals and biotechnology. |
| gender specific aspects of environmental security issues, eg potential conflicts related to transboundary water courses and women's significant role in freshwater supply in many countries; |
| environmental refugees today constitute the majority of refugees and the majority of them are women with their children. |
General priorities for a review:
| One focus must be to closely look at the reasons why implementation is lacking behind, despite the numerous and strong commitments made on women and sustainable development issues. Obstacles need to be identified, and we need to get a clear picture of success factors. Therefore, reviewing should be carried out with a view to develop guidelines for the future. |
| Similar to the approaches taken in the ongoing review processes, a review should also focus on agreeing benchmarks for the future. Concrete targets and agreements on their monitoring can help to create the necessary (peer group) pressure to bring about change. |
| Women's organisations and NGOs in general feel that governments need to strongly reaffirm their commitments, including making available the necessary resources. This applies particularly to the goals set to ensure equal and full participation of half of the world's population. |
An inclusive process
A review process on women and sustainable development for 2002 should be conducted as an inclusive, transparent and consultative process with women's NGOs and grassroots women's groups in a leading role. The CSD NGO Women's Caucus would be the appropriate body to consult. Other stakeholders, particularly their respective women's / gender institutions, also need to be involved.
Such a participatory process would need to identify priority issues; review what data are available, including material submitted to other UN agencies; and what information needs to be developed through the CSD process.
Identifying priority issues on women and sustainable development for 2002 needs to be closely linked with the general process of identifying priority issues for 2002 (as begun in the NGO Non Paper). For example, the responses to the recent Earth Summit 2002 questionnaire to NGOs (UNED-UK; 2000) have indicated high priority of gender issues in general for 2002 (No. 8 out of 21) and a specific issue put forward has been "empowerment of women and eradication of poverty which will lead to global peaceful coexistence" (COWAN, Nigeria), pointing out the necessity of looking at the links between women's empowerment, poverty and peace.
Such an inclusive and transparent process requires strong political support and substantial resources. In the spirit of Agenda 21, stakeholders should be supported in developing their own views and engaging in preparations amongst themselves at national, regional and international levels, as well as in contributing to the official process. In all these efforts, it is particularly important to ensure participation of representatives from Developing Countries and from the grassroots level. Women's participation needs to be regionally balanced to make sense.
Support the Women's Caucus to
| consult to identify women's priorities for 2002 through consultation among the widest range of women's NGOs possible; identify gender-sensitive areas under the priority issues identified in the NGO Non Paper on 2002 and those to be identified by CSD and PrepComms; |
| outreach to networks of women's NGOs around the world, particularly working to ensure participation of Developing Countries NGOs and to include grassroots women's groups; women's networks around other UN processes; other NGO caucuses to ensure gender mainstreaming of their work and strengthen the network of the CSD NGO Steering Committee; other stakeholder groups, particularly women's associations within them, such as business & professional women's associations, trade unions women's groups, women's initiatives in local authorities associations, women's studies researchers, etc.; UN Agencies dealing with women's issues; UN Agencies likely to produce a significant share of the data avalaible for the preparations for Earth Summit 2002; |
| disseminate information about identified priorities and gender-sensitive areas to all stakeholders; |
| participate at all upcoming meetings and work to ensure that funding is available for women's NGOs from Developing Countries; participate in existing and future multi-stakeholder processes connected to the CSD process and in preparation for 2002. |
Building on work being done elsewhere
| CSD should call upon the UN Agencies dealing with the review processes listed above to provide relevant material and contribute to the preparatory process, such as: |
Beijing+5, where the largest contribution needs to come from. Governments reports and alternative NGO reports (at national, regional and global level) should be used to assess progress on issues addressed in Sections K, A, B, C, F, G, and H.
ICPD+5, on education, poverty, urban populations, HIV/AIDS
WSSD+5, on commitments 5, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8
Istanbul+5, on urban governance; secure tenure; social inclusion; and particularly Section III.D. of the Habitat Agenda
WFS, on commitments 1, 2
CEDAW Committee, available national reports
(Annex I and II list additional relevant programmes of UN Agencies and Intergovernmental Bodies which should be used, by institution and by issues.)
| UNDP should consider focussing the Human Development Report for 2001 on sustainable development, including a strong emphasis on gender issues and providing gender disaggregated data. |
| UNEP should, in its Global Environment Outlook Report 2002, include a section on women and the environment, reporting gender differentiated impacts of environmental degradation, as well as consider gender aspects of each environmental sector covered in the report. |
| The World Bank, in its World Development Report (WDR) for 2002 which will be covering the theme of sustainability, should also include a distinct section on women and sustainable development as well as cover all other sections without omitting the necessary gender perspective. The WDR 2002, on poverty, will also provide useful information. |
All three reports - HDR, GEO and WDR - should be developed with a strong participatory component and including gender specialists in the preparatory research teams.
Regional reporting on the state of the environment should also be included. For example, the European Environment Agency (EEA) is planning to report on the state of the environment in Europe before 2002. The report shall also include projections towards the future. EEA should be asked to include information about gender specific impacts of environmental degradation and conservation. Resources should be made available which would allow similar reporting and projections to be produced in other UN regions; these could be carried out by UNEP Regional Offices and closely linked with the work of the UNEP GEO Group.
Further elements of a review
The CSD should
| ask UN DSD to issue a questionnaire to governments on implementation of Agenda 21 and emerging issues; this should contain a detailed section on women and sustainable development issues, particularly addressing issues identified as gaps left by other on-going processes; |
| take women's NGOs and stakeholders' input - inclduing those submitted to other UN agencies - into account when producing Secretary General's reports on implementation and emerging issues; |
| urge governments to engage in multi-stakeholder processes to review implementation of Agenda 21 and look forward; |
| ensure participation of women's NGOs at regional and global PrepComs and other preparatory meetings towards Earth Summit 2002 (providing funds and urging donors to support, respectively); |
| ensure participation of women's NGOs in ongoing and future multi-stakeholder processes developed on the basis of CSD decisions (providing funds and urging donors to support, respectively); |
| in collaboration with other stakeholders, provide electronic discussion fora on emerging issues well in advance of Earth Summit 2002. This needs to be done with a particular emphasis of participation from Developing Countries (eg using UNDP country offices and UNEP regional offices) and taking into account the gender gap in terms of access to information, eg via new electronic media. However, fora like this only make sense when employing a transparent policy on how to use the information and exchange thus obtained and encouraged; |
| UN DSD should work with local authorities (and grass roots women’s groups) to ensure that reporting on LA21 includes an analysis of women’s participation in LA21 processes |
Formal, transparent links between participatory structures and governance structures are very important for the preparatory process. Women's NGOs need to have a clear idea of how their involvement will be supported and how their contributions will be used.
| CSD should to discuss modalities of such involvement and its transparency; it is an important political question what weight and role Major Groups' input will be given. |
| UN DSD should develop suggestions regarding strategies towards fruitful collaboration of unlikely partners in multi-stakeholder processes with a particular emphasis on women's full and equal participation. The suggestions should be discussed at CSD to set up appropriate structures and rules and agree recommendations to all stakeholders. |
Gender-disaggregated data and gender-sensitive indicators
With regard to many of the relevant aspects of a review, gender-sensitive indicators would need to be agreed. The sustainable development indicators developed by UN DSD so far have not included gender disaggregated information. However, outreach into the academic community could help here, as there are useful measurement instruments available. In many cases, gender disaggregated data are not readily available for all countries. This has been argued again and again. Precise information is an essential fundament of analysis and decision-making. A review of available data and gaps should be conducted and governments should be supported in collecting the relevant data, as appropriate.
Outreach into academic communities
In preparation for Earth Summit 2002, a major outreach into the academic community, as a Major group acknowledged in Agenda 21, should be undertaken, in order to draw in women’s studies specialists, social scientists and economists who have a solid understanding of the problems involved and access to the latest research findings available. Many academics would be eager to contribute their outstanding expertise to the process if they only knew how. To date, they mostly contribute upon demand, as experts being brought in by governments, UN bodies and other stakeholders. The academic communities need to contribute in their own right and at their own initiative. Given the ethical and political background of many researchers in the area of women's studies, gender issues could a pioneering example that and how an increased involvement can be achieved. Another option could be for UNESCO to set up a to fund to support women's NGOs' collaboration with researchers.
F. Conclusions
Given the strong commintments the international community has made in Agenda 21, Chapter 24.2.c, throughout Agenda 21 and other international agreements, a review of progress in the area of women and sustainable development is a necessary element of a review process towards 2002.
Complexity of the issues as well as rapid development of the world's political, social, economic and environmental state have led to several parallel processes all of which address gender issues and women's participation. The necessary re-integration of work towards sustainable development could be "championed" by a comprehensive review process on women and sustainable development.
The challenge for UN CSD, governments and Intergovernmental Bodies will be to support women's NGOs to enable them to participate and deliver their share of expertise, experience, and enthusiasm. The challenge will also be to integrate what is being done elsewhere, and to identify the issues which are not covered on other processes. Governments will continue to have the main resposnibility for achieving progress on women's / gender issues, but they need to build stronger links with women's NGOs and civil society in general, and the private sector.
The challenge for the women's movement will be to re-engage women's networks in the Rio process, to build bridges with women's units and associations within other stakeholder groups and with UN Agencies; and to help making all relevant contributions to Beijing+5, WSSD+5, Istanbul+5 etc. available to preparations for a review in 2002.
The challenge for all stakeholders will be to engage in an effective process of consultation and collaboration; the history of stakeholder involvement at the CSD is good reason for very positive expectations.
2002, as an opportunity to review progress made, to look forward and include emerging issues in the discussions, should have a strong focus on people-centred development and on the challenge of integrating the three pillars of sustainability.
BOX 1: International Agreements Dealing with Land
Management.
(listed are only those which incorporate a gender perspective)
I. International Legal Instruments
UN Convention to Combat Desertification
Preamble, Art. 5(d), Art.10(2f), Art.19(1a), Art.19(3a)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
Articles 7, 12, 17, and 25
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966
Articles 2 and 11 (TO ADD ??)
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1991. General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing
--, 1997. General Comment No. 7: The Right to Adequate Housing: Forced Evictions
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966
Articles 2, 17, and 26
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979
Article 5
Sub-Commission on Prevention on Discrimination
and Protection of Minorities
Resolution 1997/19 Women and the Right to Adequate Housing and to Land and
Property
Resolution 1997/19 Women and the Right to Adequate Housing and to Land and Property
Resolution 1998/15 Women and the Right to Land, Property and Adequate Housing
II. Agreements from UN Summits and Conferences
Agenda 21, 1992
Chapter 10 Integrated Approach to the Planning and Management of Land Resources
Chapter 11 Deforestation + Women + Land Issues
Chapter 13 Sustainable Mountain Development + Women
Earth Summit II, 1997
Chapter 3B Para 62, 63, 64: Women + Land + Poverty
Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995
Section K, Women & the Environment
Section I, Human Rights of Women
HABITAT II, 1996
Chapter III.A (Para 40a, 40b, 40c, 40l) Adequate Shelter
Chapter III.B (Para 43a, 43w, 43cc) Sustainbale Human Settlements
Chapter III.D. (Para 46) Gender equality in Human Settlement Development
Chapter IV.B.3 Shelter Delivery Systems
Chapter IV.C.2 (Para 113e) Sustainable Land Use
Chapter IV.C.5 Sustainable Human Settlements
Chapter IV.D.5 (Para 185f,g,h) Metropolitan Planning and Management
III. Resolutions and Decisions of UN Commissions
UN Commission on the Status of Women
1994: Chapter IV. B Women + Urban Areas, Population, Health + Nutrition
1995: Chapter I.C Resolution 39/8 Integration of Displaced Rural Women
Resolution 39/9 Women + Agriculture + Rural Development
Chapter V Priority Themes (Displaced Rural Women + Agriculture)
UN Commission on Sustainable Development
1995: Chapter VI.D Land, Desertification, Forests + Biodiversity
UN Commission on Human Settlements
1995: Annexes I.A Resolution 15/3 Women + Participation in HS Development
Resolution 15/11 Sustainable HS + Land Policies
Annex 1
UN Agencies and Intergovernmental Bodies working on issues relevant for a review on women & sustainable development: by institutions
CCD: integrated community driven approaches (http://www.unccd.ch)
CEDAW Committee: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/committ.htm and -/archive.htm
FAO: gender & food security – rural economics, distribution of labour, etc.; women & land issues (http://www.fao.org/Gender/gender.htm); World Food Programme: commitment to women (http://www.wfp.org/info/themes/gender/index.html)
WFP (World Food Programme): "commitment to women"
ILO: more and better jobs for women; data on women & men in employment sectors, incl., for many countries, data on working hours and wages by gender (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/)
INSTRAW: finance / trade / investment (http://www.un.org/instraw); temporary labour migration of women (http://www.un.org/instraw/focus.htm#migratio); freshwater: proposed data base on water resource management at http://www.un.org/instraw/focus.htm#water;
UNAIDS: gender and HIV / AIDS
UNCCD: integrated community driven approaches to combat desertification and drought
UNCHS (Habitat): gender & habitat programme (list programme areas); gender unit; eg women’s rights & access to land: studies of african countries (to be expanded)
UN DAW: Govts reports; Alternative NGO reports on the 12 sections; expert group meetings reports; CSW decisions (eg 1997: Environment) (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/wecon.htm); education & training of women (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/weduc.htm); women & health diagnosis (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/health.htm)
UNDP: micro-finance (http://www.undp.org/gender/programmes/microstart.html,
http://www.undp.org/uncdf/sum/Microstart/contents.html);
poverty eradication http://www.undp.org/gender/programmes/poverty_programmes.html);
health / HIV and gender (http://www.undp.org/hiv/genderlist.htm);
technology & information technology (http://www.apgen.apdip.net/st/index.htm);
desertification and the role of women (http://www.undp.org/seed/unso/women/);
education & capacity building (http://www.undp.org/gender/capacity/whatiscb.html)
UNDP GIDP & UNDP: (http://www.undp.org/gender/)
UNESCO: education & capacity building / empowering women; training & educating women in the areas of science & technology (http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/women/index.html; http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/programmes/science/women/index.html)
UNFPA: migration & urbanization (http://www.unfpa.org/modules/popbkit97/migra.htm); education and capacity building / empowering women; reproductive health (http://www.unfpa.org/ICPD/round%26meetings/hague_forum/reports/forumrept-ch8.htm)
UNHCR: environmental impact of refugee operations (http://www.unhcr.ch/environ/enviro.htm)
UNIFEM: feminization of poverty; poverty eradication (http://www.undp.org/unifem/economic.htm; http://www.undp.org/unifem/ec_pov.htm); gender & telecommunications (http://www.undp.org/unifem/ec_tech.htm)
UNRISD: gender poverty and well-being, inegrating gender into development policy (http://www.unrisd.org)
WHO: health; environmental health (http://www.who.org/frh-whd/)
World Bank: feminization of poverty (http://www.worldbank.org/gender/); trade liberalization; gender & transport (http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/transport/pol_econ/tsr.htm)
World Tourism Organisation (WTO / OTM): sex tourism and child prostitution
Annex 2
UN Agencies and Intergovernmental Bodies working on issues relevant for a review on women & sustainable development: by issues
Finance, trade and investment
World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/gender/
UNIFEM: feminization of poverty, trade liberalization (http://www.undp.org/unifem/economic.htm)
UNDP: microcredit (http://www.undp.org/gender/programmes/microstart.html, http://www.undp.org/uncdf/sum/Microstart/contents.html),
UN DAW / CSW (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/wecon.htm)
Globalisation
UNHCR: minimise envirinmental impact of refugee operations (http://www.unhcr.ch/environ/enviro.htm),
INSTRAW: temporary labour migration of women (http://www.un.org/instraw/focus.htm#migratio)
UNFPA: migration and ubanization (http://www.unfpa.org/modules/popbkit97/migra.htm)
ILO: more jobs and better jobs for women (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/)
Education and Capacity Building
UN DAW / CSW: education and training of women (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/weduc.htm)
UNESCO: education for women (http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/women/index.html)
UNDP: education & capacity building (http://www.undp.org/gender/capacity/whatiscb.html)
Poverty Eradication
UNIFEM: http://www.undp.org/unifem/ec_pov.htm,
UNRISD: gender, poverty and well-being, integrating gender into development policy
UNDP: social development and poverty elimination division (http://www.undp.org/gender/, http://www.undp.org/gender/programmes/poverty_programmes.html)
Freshwater
INSTRAW: proposed database on water resource management (www.un.org/instraw/focus.htm#water)
Food
FAO: Gender & food security, rural economics, distribution of labour etc (http://www.fao.org/Gender/gender.htm)
WFP (World Food Programme): commitment to women (http://www.wfp.org/info/themes/gender/index.html)
Health http://www.who.org/frh-whd/
UNFPA: reproductive health (http://www.unfpa.org/ICPD/round%26meetings/hague_forum/reports/forumrept-ch8.htm)
UN DAW / CSW: women and health diagnosis (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/health.htm)
UNDP: HIV and gender (http://www.undp.org/hiv/genderlist.htm)
Science and Technology
UNIFEM: gender and telecommunications (http://www.undp.org/unifem/ec_tech.htm)
UNESCO: training and educating women (http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/programmes/science/women/index.html)
UNDP: technology and Information Technology (http://www.apgen.apdip.net/st/index.htm)
Tourism
World Tourism Organisation: child prostitution
Transport
World Bank: gender and transport seminar (http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/transport/pol_econ/tsr.htm)
Environmental Security
UNHCR (environmental impact of refugees - http://www.unhcr.ch/environ/enviro.htm)
CBD (http://www.biodiv.org)
UNEP (http://www.unep.org; http://www.unep.ch
Housing and Shelter
UNCHS (HABITAT): Gender Habitat Programme
Land
FAO: (http://www.fao.org/Gender/gender.htm),
UNDP: desertification and the role of women (http://www.undp.org/seed/unso/women/)
UNCHS: Campaign on Secure Tenure which will include a policy on women and land (http://www.unchs.org/tenure), in addition to on-going work of the Women & Habitat Programme
Conventions
CEDAW: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/committ.htm and -/archive.htm
UNCCD: Integrated community driven approaches (including women) (http:www.unccd.org)
UNCBD: www.biodiv.org
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Footnotes
(1) Major Groups are groups of stakeholders in society whose involvement is essential to sustainable development. Agenda 21 acknowledges 9 Major groups: women; children & youth; indigenous people; NGOs; local authorities; trade unions; business & industry; science & technology; farmers.
(2) "Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality." (E.1997.L.10.Para.4. Adopted by ECOSOC 17.7.97)
(3) It is stated that Major Groups "have demonstrated what can be achieved by taking committed action, sharing resources and building consensus, reflecting grass-roots concern and invovement" (Section B, para 12) and that women, along with youth, have "played a prominent role in galvanizing communities to recognize their responsibilities to future generations" (ibd.). It is recommended that "more opportunities should be created for women to participate effectively in economic, social and political development as equal partners in all sectors of the economy" (ibd.). The document specifies that "legislative, policy, administrative and customary barriers to women's equal access to productive resources and services" (Section C, para 27) need to be removed to achieve empowerment of women as "a critical factor for the eradication of poverty" (ibd.).
(4) There are more useful indeces recently developed: the Human Poverty Index (HPI), the Gender-Equity-Sensitive indicator (GESI) and Gender Segregation Index (GSI). HPI uses indicators of the most basic dimensions of deprivation: for instance, a short life (% people expected to die before age 40), lack of basic education (% adults who are illiterate) and lack of access to public and private resources (% people with access to health services and to safe water, and % malnourished children under five). The HPI follows the same structure that HDI uses. These data are not disaggregated. GESI has also been developed by UNDP and utilises the harmonic mean between the male and female indicators trying to harmonise the male and female indicators. This offers the advantage of taking into account both the value of the overall ratio as well as the disparity between males and females. Finally, GSI provides the percentage of persons who would need to change their fields of study to achieve a "balanced" distribution of the sexes. Therefore, when dealing with education, and especially in the area of tertiary enrolment rates, the full picture the differential tertiary enrolment rate should be assessed together with the GSI.
(5) It is important to note that many of the suggestions in this section do not only apply to women's / gender issues. They are also being offered regarding the general process towards 2002.
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