Session Overview
  • Introduction to UNFPA’s work in gender 
  • Gender and culture
  • Gender mainstreaming 
  • Gender-responsive budgeting
  • Examples of UNFPA’s work in gender equality 
    and women’s empowerment
  • Introduction to case study
  • Conclusions
             Introduction 
   • Gender equality and women’s empowerment are 
     vital aspects of UNFPA’s mandate, and gender 
     mainstreaming is a cross-cutting approach 
     relevant to all programming and policy areas 
     within UNFPA and within the UN in general.
   • UNFPA’s goal in this area is:
     – gender equality advanced and women and adolescent 
      girls empowered to exercise their human rights, 
      particularly their reproductive rights, and live free of 
      discrimination and violence.
                    Gender and Culture
      •  When focusing on gender equality and women’s 
         empowerment, it is also essential to take culture into 
         account. Cultural or religious attitudes and beliefs often 
         have an enormous impact on the lives and choices of 
         women and girls. Working from within a culture (for 
         example, by working with faith-based organizations, 
         religious leaders, cultural leaders, etc.) is therefore 
         essential to achieving gender equality and women’s 
         empowerment.
     Gender and Human Rights
  • Key to work in gender equality and women’s 
    empowerment programmes is CEDAW
  • UNFPA staff should familiarize themselves with 
    this Convention:
    – it provides a definition of ‘discrimination against 
     women’
    – use CEDAW articles as well as General Comments 
     and Concluding Observations to provide governments 
     with guidance when designing gender polices and 
     laws
            Addressing Gender Across 
                    UNFPA’s Operations
      •  Throughout UNFPA’s work the promotion of gender 
         equality and women’s empowerment is both:
          – a goal in itself
          – central to achieving all the other goals to which it is committed in 
             both the MDGs and UNFPA’s Strategic Plan
      •  UNFPA policies and UNFPA-supported programmes 
         emphasize the importance of addressing gender equality 
         across its operations
      •  Gender mainstreaming is thus an integral aspect of 
         national development programmes, poverty reduction 
         strategies and other types of development strategies