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PLATFORM FOR ACTION
H. Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
196. National machineries for the advancement of women have been es- tablished in almost every Member State to, inter alia, design, promote the implementation of, execute, monitor, evaluate, advocate and mobilize support for policies that promote the advancement of women. National machineries are diverse in form and uneven in their effectiveness, and in some cases have declined. Often marginalized in national government structures, these mechanisms are frequently hampered by unclear mandates, lack of adequate staff, training, data and sufficient resources, and insufficient support from national political leadership.
197. At the regional and international levels, mechanisms and institutions to promote the advancement of women as an integral part of mainstream political, economic, social and cultural development, and of initiatives on development and human rights, encounter similar problems emanating from a lack of commitment at the highest levels.
198. Successive international conferences have underscored the need to take gender factors into account in policy and programme planning. However, in many instances this has not been done.
199. Regional bodies concerned with the advancement of women have been strengthened, together with international machinery, such as the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. However, the limited resources available continue to impede full implementation of their mandates.
200. Methodologies for conducting gender-based analysis in policies and programmes and for dealing with the differential effects of policies on women and men have been developed in many organizations and are available for application but are often not being applied or are not being applied consistently.
201. A national machinery for the advancement of women is the central policy- coordinating unit inside government. Its main task is to support government- wide mainstreaming of a gender-equality perspective in all policy areas. The necessary conditions for an effective functioning of such national machineries include:
(a) Location at the highest possible level in the Government, falling
under the responsibility of a Cabinet minister;
(b) Institutional mechanisms or processes that facilitate, as
appropriate, decentralized planning, implementation and monitoring
with a view to involving non-governmental organizations and
community organizations from the grass-roots upwards;
(c) Sufficient resources in terms of budget and professional capacity;
(d) Opportunity to influence development of all government policies.
202. In addressing the issue of mechanisms for promoting the advancement of women, Governments and other actors should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes so that, before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects on women and men, respectively.
Strategic objective H.1. Create or strengthen national machineries and other governmental bodies
Actions to be taken
203. By Governments:
(a) Ensure that responsibility for the advancement of women is
vested in the highest possible level of government; in many cases, this
could be at the level of a Cabinet minister;
(b) Based on a strong political commitment, create a national
machinery, where it does not exist, and strengthen, as appropriate,
existing national machineries, for the advancement of women at the
highest possible level of government; it should have clearly defined
mandates and authority; critical elements would be adequate resources
and the ability and competence to influence policy and formulate and
review legislation; among other things, it should perform policy
analysis, undertake advocacy, communication, coordination and monitoring
of implementation;
(c) Provide staff training in designing and analysing data from a
gender perspective;
(d) Establish procedures to allow the machinery to gather
information on government-wide policy issues at an early stage and
continuously use it in the policy development and review process within
the Government;
(e) Report, on a regular basis, to legislative bodies on the
progress of efforts, as appropriate, to mainstream gender
concerns, taking into account the implementation of the
Platform for Action;
(f) Encourage and promote the active involvement of the broad and
diverse range of institutional actors in the public, private
and voluntary sectors to work for equality between women and
men.
Strategic objective H.2. Integrate gender perspectives in legislation, public policies, programmes and projects
Actions to be taken
204. By Governments:
(a) Seek to ensure that before policy decisions are taken, an
analysis of their impact on women and men, respectively, is carried
out;
(b) Regularly review national policies, programmes and projects, as
well as their implementation, evaluating the impact of employment and
income policies in order to guarantee that women are direct
beneficiaries of development and that their full contribution to
development, both remunerated and unremunerated, is considered in
economic policy and planning;
(c) Promote national strategies and aims on equality between women
and men in order to eliminate obstacles to the exercise of women's
rights and eradicate all forms of discrimination against women;
(d) Work with members of legislative bodies, as appropriate, to
promote a gender perspective in all legislation and policies;
(e) Give all ministries the mandate to review policies and
programmes from a gender perspective and in the light of the
Platform for Action; locate the responsibility for the
implementation of that mandate at the highest possible level;
establish and/or strengthen an inter-ministerial coordination
structure to carry out this mandate, to monitor progress and to
network with relevant machineries.
205. By national machinery:
(a) Facilitate the formulation and implementation of government
policies on equality between women and men, develop appropriate
strategies and methodologies, and promote coordination and
cooperation within the central Government in order to ensure
mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all policy-making processes;
(b) Promote and establish cooperative relationships with relevant
branches of government, centres for women's studies and research,
academic and educational institutions, the private sector, the
media, non-governmental organizations, especially women's
organizations, and all other actors of civil society;
(c) Undertake activities focusing on legal reform with regard,
inter alia, to the family, conditions of employment, social
security, income tax, equal opportunity in education, positive
measures to promote the advancement of women, and the percep- tion
of attitudes and a culture favourable to equality, as well as
promote a gender perspective in legal policy and programming
reforms;
(d) Promote the increased participation of women as both active agents
and beneficiaries of the development process, which would result
in an improvement in the quality of life for all;
(e) Establish direct links with national, regional and international
bodies dealing with the advancement of women;
(f) Provide training and advisory assistance to government agencies in
order to integrate a gender perspective in their policies and
programmes.
Strategic objective H.3. Generate and disseminate gender- disaggregated data and information for planning and evaluation
Actions to be taken
206. By national, regional and international statistical services and relevant governmental and United Nations agencies, in cooperation with research and documentation organizations, in their respective areas of responsibility:
(a) Ensure that statistics related to individuals are collected,
compiled, analysed and presented by sex and age and reflect
problems, issues and questions related to women and men in
society;
(b) Collect, compile, analyse and present on a regular basis data
disaggregated by age, sex, socio-economic and other relevant
indicators, including number of dependants, for utilization in
policy and programme planning and implementation;
(c) Involve centres for women's studies and research organizations in
developing and testing appropriate indicators and research
methodologies to strengthen gender analysis, as well as in
monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the goals of the
Platform for Action;
(d) Designate or appoint staff to strengthen gender-statistics
programmes and ensure coordination, monitoring and linkage to all
fields of statistical work, and prepare output that integrates
statistics from the various subject areas;
(e) Improve data collection on the full contribution of women and
men to the economy, including their participation in the informal
sector(s);
(f) Develop a more comprehensive knowledge of all forms of work and
employment by:
(i) Improving data collection on the unremunerated work which
is already included in the United Nations System of National Accounts,
such as in agriculture, particularly subsistence agriculture, and other
types of non-market production activities;
(ii) Improving measurements that at present underestimate
women's unemployment and underemployment in the labour market;
(iii) Developing methods, in the appropriate forums, for
assessing the value, in quantitative terms, of unremunerated work that
is outside national accounts, such as caring for dependants and
preparing food, for possible reflection in satellite or other official
accounts that may be produced separately from but are consistent with
core national accounts, with a view to recognizing the economic
contribution of women and making visible the unequal distribution of
remunerated and unremunerated work between women and men;
(g) Develop an international classification of activities for
time-use statistics that is sensitive to the differences between women
and men in remunerated and unremunerated work, and collect data
disaggregated by sex. At the national level, subject to national
constraints:
(i) Conduct regular time-use studies to measure, in
quantitative terms, unremunerated work, including recording those
activities that are performed simultaneously with remunerated or other
unremunerated activities;
(ii) Measure, in quantitative terms, unremunerated work that
is outside national accounts and work to improve methods to assess
and accurately reflect its value in satellite or other official
accounts that are separate from but consistent with core national
accounts;
(h) Improve concepts and methods of data collection on the
measurement of poverty among women and men, including their access to
resources;
(i) Strengthen vital statistical systems and incorporate gender
analysis into publications and research; give priority to
gender differences in research design and in data collection
and analysis in order to improve data on morbidity; and improve
data collection on access to health services, including access
to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services,
maternal care and family planning, with special priority for
adolescent mothers and for elder care;
(j) Develop improved gender-disaggregated and age-specific data on
the victims and perpetrators of all forms of violence against women,
such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, incest and sexual
abuse, and trafficking in women and girls, as well as on violence by
agents of the State;
(k) Improve concepts and methods of data collection on the par-
ticipation of women and men with disabilities, including their access to
resources.
207. By Governments:
(a) Ensure the regular production of a statistical publication on
gender that presents and interprets topical data on women and men in a
form suitable for a wide range of non-technical users;
(b) Ensure that producers and users of statistics in each country
regularly review the adequacy of the official statistical system and its
coverage of gender issues, and prepare a plan for needed improvements,
where necessary;
(c) Develop and encourage the development of quantitative and
qualitative studies by research organizations, trade unions,
employers, the private sector and non-governmental organizations on
the sharing of power and influence in society, including the number
of women and men in senior decision-making positions in both the
public and private sectors;
(d) Use more gender-sensitive data in the formulation of policy and
implementation of programmes and projects.
208. By the United Nations:
(a) Promote the development of methods to find better ways to
collect, collate and analyse data that may relate to the human
rights of women, including violence against women, for use by all
relevant United Nations bodies;
(b) Promote the further development of statistical methods to
improve data that relate to women in economic, social, cultural and
political development;
(c) Prepare a new issue of The World's Women at regular five-year
intervals and distribute it widely;
(d) Assist countries, upon request, in the development of gender
policies and programmes;
(e) Ensure that the relevant reports, data and publications of the
Statistical Division of the United Nations Secretariat and the
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement
of Women on progress at the national and international levels are
transmitted to the Commission on the Status of Women in a regular
and coordinated fashion.
209. By multilateral development institutions and bilateral donors:
Encourage and support the development of national capacity in developing countries and in countries with economies in transition by providing resources and technical assistance so that countries can fully measure the work done by women and men, including both remunerated and unremunerated work, and, where appropriate, use satellite or other official accounts for unremunerated work.
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