10 July 2018 15:30 – 16:30 BST | 10.30 – 11.30 EDT

Gender norms are the often implicit, informal rules by which people live that can lead to harmful attitudes, behaviours and actions such as violence and discrimination against women and girls. These are complex but critical concepts that need to be understood for better development policy and programming. While quality evidence on how to shift gender norms is growing, improved monitoring, evaluation and dissemination of evidence is vital for sustainable change.

ALIGN’s launch webinar introduces our platform and discusses some of the key debates and concepts shaping cutting-edge development work on addressing harmful gender norms. Drawing from ODI’s research on gender norms alongside the experiences of projects in Uganda and India, the panel discusses:

• What are the key concepts and evidence for understanding gender norm change?
• How can programmes better respond to emerging evidence and context-specific dimensions of gender norms?
• What challenges, opportunities and learnings can be drawn from projects in Uganda and India to inform policy and practice?

Chair

• Dr. Suzanne Petroni – Principal & Owner, Gender Equality Solutions

Speakers

• Dr. Caroline Harper – Head of Programme and Principal Research Fellow, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, ODI
• Dr. Ravi Verma – Regional Director, Asia Regional Office, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
• Lori Michau – Co-Director, Raising Voices

SAVE THE DATE

Join us for a webinar presenting SDG 5.1.1 on gender equality:

“Gender equality in legal frameworks:

Experience from the development of SDG indicator 5.1.1”

Tuesday 19 June 2018

4pm – 5pm Paris time

What The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises gender equality and women’s empowerment to be paramount for development, as reflected in Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5), the standalone goal on gender equality, and the gender-specific targets included across other SDGs. Providing robust data for these gender targets is critical for their achievement.

As co-custodian agencies, UN Women, the OECD Development Centre and the World Bank Group have partnered to develop SDG indicator 5.1.1: ‘Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex’. Drawing from the experience of the Social Institutions and Gender Index of the OECD Development Centre and the Women, Business and the Law project of the World Bank Group, this indicator aims to monitor progress toward Target 5.1 which calls on Member States1 to ‘End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.’

Why During this webinar, experts from the three organisations will present SDG indicator 5.1.1 and preliminary results. The discussion will also focus on how this work supports countries to achieve SDG 5 by 2030.

When The webinar will take place on Tuesday 19 June at 4pm (Paris time). It will run for one hour. Presentations will be followed by a questions and answers session. Please do not hesitate to send your questions ahead of the webinar to Lea.Fuiret@oecd.org.

Who

Janette Amer is the Human Rights Adviser at UN Women. She is a lawyer by training and joined the United Nations in 1992.  She worked for 9 years at the UN Office of Legal Affairs during which time she spent one year in Bosnia-Herzegovina as Legal Adviser for the UN peacekeeping mission.  She joined the Division for the Advancement of Women in 2001 where she spent a number of years working with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Caitlin Boyce is a Human Rights Policy Specialist with UN Women. She is a lawyer by training and has worked on women’s rights and access to justice issues with a number of UN agencies, including OHCHR, UNDP and the UN Mission in Liberia.

Gaëlle Ferrant is an economist and gender specialist at the OECD Development Centre. In this role, Gaëlle oversees the gender programme including research, policy dialogue and measurement of gender-based discriminatory social institutions notably through the Social Institutions and Gender Index and its country studies. Prior to this, Gaëlle held various positions at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, the University of Laval in Canada, the French Development Agency and several African-based NGOs.

Léa Fuiret is a junior policy analyst at the OECD Development Centre. In this position, she contributes to the production of data and evidence-based analysis on the root causes of gender inequalities across the world, notably through the Social Institutions and Gender Index and its country studies.

Christina Heliotis joined the Women, Business and the Law team in January 2017 and is working on labor law and SDG indicators. Previously, she worked as an intern at the Global Indicators of Regulatory Governance team. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Christina worked as a trainee lawyer at a Greek corporate law firm and in the Hellenic Parliament.

Tanya Primiani joined the World Bank Group in 2008 and started working with the Women, Business and the Law team as a Senior Investment Policy Officer in 2017. Prior to this, she coordinated other indicator projects including Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy and Investing Across Borders. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she worked for the United Nations in Italy, Siemens Management Consulting in New York and at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

Learn more see more details of the joint-work carried out by UN Women, the OECD Development Centre and the Women Business and the Law project of the World Bank Group on how countries move forward to the achievement of the SDG indicator 5.1.1 here

SAVE THE DATE

Join us at the CSW side event:

“Challenging discriminatory social norms for more gender-transformative policies: Insights from the Burkina Faso Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Country Study and Men Engage initiatives”

Tuesday 13 March 2018

1:15 pm – 2:30 pm

UN Headquarters Conference Room 12

Please join us at a side event to the 62^nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, jointly organised by the OECD Development Centre, the Ministry of Women, National Solidarity and Family of Burkina Faso, HOPEM and the Austrian Development Cooperation.

This side event will offer new evidence on the necessity to include social norms in policy approaches aimed at empowering women, eliminating gender inequalities at both local and national levels, and promoting men’s engagement.

With the support of the Austrian Development Cooperation and in partnership with the Ministry of Women, National Solidarity and Family of Burkina Faso (MFSNF) and the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD), the OECD Development Centre completed the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) country study of Burkina Faso in January 2018. The study offers policy makers, civil society and the development community with comprehensive data, analysis and recommendations on effective gender-responsive policies and interventions to challenge discriminatory social norms in Burkina Faso, in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The panel and Q&A discussion will focus on how discriminatory social norms prevent men and women to fully develop their potential in order to achieve gender equality. The panellists and participants will share their experience in applying the social norms lens to gender-sensitive policies and measures, and engaging men in this process. Finally, discussions will respond to key questions related to the implementation of the SDGs, notably benchmarking and tracking progress on SDG 5 targets, enhancing national technical capacities and recognising the role of national gender machineries.

 Please RSVP using the following e-mail address: jana.pressler@bmeia.gv.at

(RSVP is mandatory for non-UN grounds pass holders before 7 March)

For more information please email dev.gender@oecd.org

The Gender Summit is a series of interconnected, action-based events held across the globe. Its aim is to make gender equality the norm and to embed it as a primary dimension of quality in research and innovation.

Why the gender summit is important?

The Summit links individuals and communities in and across different regions and science sectors to engage in transformative actions on gender equity, pluralism, ethnicity, inclusion and diversity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The North American Summit will go beyond sex-based differences to focus on equity and diversity in the broadest sense, such as LGBTQ and Indigenous communities, and further the discussion beyond STEM to include the social sciences and health research.

Why you should participate?

1. Connect with hundreds of delegates active in research and initiatives related to gender from across the world: The Summit is based on the commitment to mobilizing and connecting expertise across disciplines, sectors, and international boundaries.
2. Keep up to date with the latest developments in gender-related policy: The Summit will address topics such as global safety, food security, health, big data, clean technologies and science culture.
3. Learn from researchers about advances on the front line of genderrelated research: The Summit will shed light on ways to translate into practice a large body of scientific evidence in the area of gender equity

About the Gender Summits and Gender Summit 11- North America

Since 2011, the Gender Summit has become the foremost forum to engage top-level stakeholders in STEM to address efficacy, quality and success in research and innovation. The North American Summit is co-hosted by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec and Portia Ltd, in collaboration with many other organizations providing their expertise, support and diverse point of view to the event.

Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Canada)
• Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexico)
• International Development Research Centre (Canada)
• National Science Foundation (United States) Social Sciences and Humanities
• Research Council (Canada)
• Status of Women Canada Tourisme Montréal (Canada)

Contact Us

Webiste: http://www.gender-summit.eu/

Email: gendersummit@nserc-crsng.gc.ca gendersummit@frq.gouv.qc.ca

Twitter @gendersummit

Web gender-summit.com/gs11-about

Hashtag #GS11NA

The New African Woman Forum

Where: Terroubi Dakar, Boulevard Martin Luther King, Dakar, Senegal

When:  Wed, 12 Apr 2017, 18:00 – Thu, 13 Apr 2017, 18:00

The New African Woman Forum believes that the key to Africa’s development is harnessing the energy and creativity of Africans. As one of the fastest growing developing regions in the world and host to six of the world’s fastest growing economies, Africa has great prospects in sectors such as agriculture, the extractive industries and a growing service sector.

To achieve its vision of growth and prosperity, Africa needs to make full use of the skills and talents of all its citizens-including its women – to transform its economies and societies. We know that women are more economically active in Africa – as farmers, workers and entrepreneurs – than anywhere else in the world. Yet across Africa women face an array of barriers to achieving their full potential, from restrictive access to capital, markets, business skills, training, technology and highly segmented labour markets. Eliminating gender inequality and empowering women could raise the productive potential of one billion Africans, delivering a huge boost to the continent’s development potential.

The first edition of the New African Woman Forum invited the women game-changers on the continent to tell their story – not only to raise awareness about the great work that they have been doing to uplift their communities, but also to inspire future generations to emulate innovative and exciting approaches to making a difference to society. The Forum focused on six critical sectors and concluded with strong recommendations/action plans to accelerate the progress on gender equality and the goals of Agenda 2063.

The second edition will be an exclusive event bringing together over 250 leaders from business, academia and civil society, as well as key decision makers from the public and private sector. Through interactive discussions, TED-style talks, expert insights and debates participants will hear about success stories and lessons learned, and will discuss how we can further accelerate the reforms and progress toward Agenda 2063.

NEW AFRICAN WOMAN AWARDS

The New African Woman Awards in its second year, has become a platform to recognise women’s leadership and excellence on the continent. Following a call for entries, the Awards Committee draws a shortlist of nominees for each category from the pool of submissions alongside readers’s votes. Our distinguished and independent judging panel of business, civil society and media leaders, with extensive expertise across the African regions, then selects the winners based on a number of set criteria. The winners are announced at the Awards ceremony. The New African Woman Awards 2017 Call for Entries will open on 14th November 2016.

MAIN THEMES OF THE FORUM:

• Gender matters: The Power of Parity
• Succeeding in a man’s world
• More women in boardroom: More Profit
• Media debate: Challenging the status quo
• Women and health: Key to sustainable development
• Educating a girl: The multiplier effect
• Women in agriculture: Higher productivity
• Innovative thinking: Smarter generations

OBJECTIVES OF THE FORUM :

• Join the pan-African conversation to shape the future of African women
• Share challenges, experiences and success stories
• Build a niche network of contacts to exchange ideas and skills and to improve our performances
• Grow stronger together to enhance ourselves, our children and our continent
• Develop a plan of action to turn Agenda 2063 into reality.

Programme

• Click here to download a PDF version of the programme
• Concept note 

Registration:

Please click here to register

Twitter: #changingthegame

Contact

• For further information, please contact us:
• Sponsorship: Leila Ben Hassen l.benhassen@icpublications.com
• Programme: Hassna Benseddik h.benseddik@icpublications.com
• Media & Marketing: Sarah Absmeier s.absmeier@icpublications.com
• Telephone number: +44 (0) 20 7841 3210

Gender, equality and diversity  at the International Training Centre of the ILO, Turin – Italy
2017 WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS

ITCILO is a leading international training provider on gender equality and non-discrimination in the world of work.  Our courses help gender, diversity and non-discrimination champions refine their skills to act for gender equality and non-discrimination in the world of work.  We are pleased to present our programme of open courses for 2017.

Partial fellowships will be available for eligible candidates presenting complete dossiers within the established deadlines.

Enrollment is already open for all courses. Please enroll as early as possible: places are limited and visa procedures take long.

Do you want to help us better meet your needs? Fill in the short survey (max 7 minutes) at the end of this page.
For comments or questions contact: ilsgen@itcilo.org

One week workshops

• Gender and Organizational Change 
  24/04/2017 – 28/04/2017 – ENGLISH
  Learn the theory and practice of how to include gender analysis as a strategic tool to in successful organizational change management.

• Empowering UN System Gender Focal Points (Blended)
  24/04/2017-19/05/2017 (in Turin: 15/05/2017-19/05/2017) –  ENGLISH
  Examine gender mainstreaming tools (such as gender markers and the UN system-wide policy on gender equality) and their concrete application and build a community of practice within the UN to foster discussion and sharing of good practices.

•  Including Diversity and Preventing Discrimination
  22/05/2017 – 26/05/2017 – ENGLISH
  Increase your knowledge and critical thinking skills related to diversity and equality in the world of work.

•  ILO Participatory Gender Audit Facilitator Certification (Blended)
  29/05/2016 – 07/07/2017 (in Turin: 28/06/2017 – 07/07/2017) – ENGLISH
  Master the participatory methodology chosen by leading international and national institutions to self-assess their gender capacities.

Two weeks learning and sharing on gender and the world of work

• The ITCILO Gender Academy 2017
  13/11/2017 – 24/11/2017 (ENGLISH – FRENCH- SPANISH)
  The only global event to learn and share tools, experiences and good practice on Gender Equality in the World of Work, particularly in a development context.  Enjoy a unique, engaging experience, and the opportunity to work for two weeks hand in hand with ILO experts, academics and practitioners from all over the world.

For info:  genderacademy@itcilo.org

Do you want to help us understand your learning needs and preferences?

Fill in this short survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ITCILO_GED_SURVEY

Presentation

Venue: Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Campus Cartago

Event dates: 5th and 6th April 2017

Free Registration period: from 15th February to 31th March 2017

Submit Final communication: 31th March 2017

What is G-NET Summit

G-NET Summit 2017 is the final conference of G-NET project, a network of European and Latin American universities that develop teaching on European Integration and Gender. It addresses the gender equality principle and the gender policies as cross-cutting concepts in the integration processes, either the European integration process or the processes that take place in Latin America.

The aim of the Summit

The conference aims to discuss the need of including gender equality policies in the economic development processes that take place in several countries in order to lay the foundations for the political and economic development as they must be gender inclusive.

Thus, the Summit has a programme with matters that cover the political and the academic field.Gender experts will bring their knowledge on the gender mainstreaming in the public policymaking and the Higher Education Institutions Structure.

Furthermore, the results and outputs of the Network will be presented.

To whom is directed

The G-NET Summit is directed to:

• Researchers, teachers and students of universities, involved in the academic activity and administration in equality policies
• Research Performing Organisations with research lines on gender equality
• Authorities and government professionals that boost and reinforce gender equality policies
• Authorities and leaders of  Higher Education Institutions

If you are unable to attend in person, G-NET Summit offers the option to make a virtual presentation. The accepted communications will be published in “Quaderns de la Igualtat”, publication of University Rovira I Virgili.

Tracks of the Summit

G-NET invites for submission of proposals about the following tracks:

• Regional integration and tools for the development of gender equality policies
• Sectoral policies with gender mainstreaming: employment, gender-based violence, women entrepreneurship, education, science and technology, personal and family rights, inclusive citizenship and balanced representation

Links

• Presentation: http://www.gendertraining.eu/events/final-summit/
• Programme: http://www.gendertraining.eu/events/final-summit/programme/
• Call for papers: http://www.gendertraining.eu/call-for-papers/
• Venue: http://www.gendertraining.eu/events/final-summit/venue/

OECD Development Cluster Consultation

Policy Dialogue on Women’s Economic Empowerment

Recognising, reducing and redistributing Unpaid care and domestic work

When: Friday 17 March 2017: 10.00 am – 12.00 pm

Where: One UN Hote, 1 United Nations Plaza, New York

In partnership with the Government of Paraguay, the OECD Development Cluster is hosting a consultation with governments and development partners to set the groundwork for a new Policy Dialogue on Women’s Economic Empowerment, with a specific focus on the implementation of Target 5.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on unpaid care and domestic work. In recognition of the knowledge, policy and data gaps in this area, this Policy Dialogue will leverage expertise and learning from developing countries’ and partners’ experiences, working in an inclusive and participatory partnership to produce practical policy guidelines on “what works” to achieve women’s economic empowerment and well-being in low- and middle-income countries.

Government representatives and partner organizations will be invited to learn more about the Policy Dialogue over a 2 hour interactive exchange. The Consultation will be an opportunity for an inclusive exchange with government representatives and development partners, to ensure an inclusive and participatory process and to collectively discuss on how the Policy Dialogue can best respond to key challenges to women’s economic empowerment in developing countries.

The event will be co-chaired by Ana Maria Baiardi, Minister for Women, Government of Paraguay.

Speakers include:

• Luiza Carvalho, Regional Director, UN Women Latin America and the Caribbean;
•  Anne Lammila, Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues and Gender Equality, Government of Finland; and
• Sonomi Tanaka, Technical Advisor on Gender Equity, Asian Development Bank

The event will be moderated by Elizabeth Ford, Deputy Editor of the Guardian’s Global Development pages.

Registration:

For more information and to register, please contact Ciara Keeshan at ciara.keeshan@oecd.org

When: 8 March 2017 10am – 11.30am

Where: OECD Conference Centre, Auditorium, 2 rue André Pascal 75016 Paris 10am

Description

Women’s economic empowerment is widely recognised as one of the most effective means of catalysing positive social transformation in favour of gender equality with wide-ranging positive impacts for women and their communities as well as national economies. Recent studies corroborated by OECD research all come to the same conclusion: economies are more resilient, productive and inclusive when they reduce gender inequalities and actively support women’s equal participation in all spheres of life.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Ms Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee and H.E. Mr Pierre Duquesne, Chair of the OECD Development Centre’s Governing Board, Ambassador of France to the OECD, in coordination with the GENDERNET, warmly invite you to the OECD Development Cluster’s first High-Level Event on gender equality, focusing on women’s economic empowerment, and to announce a new initiative aimed at supporting countries with new policy solutions and tools. Ms Gabriela Ramos, Sherpa to the G20 and Chief of Staff of the OECD will deliver a keynote introduction on challenges and options for women’s economic empowerment. High-level panellists will present their country’s policy engagement in this area:

• H. E. Ms Michelle d’ Auray, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the OECD
• H.E. Mr Jorge Faurie, Ambassador of Argentina to France
• H. E. Ms Annika Markovic, Ambassador Permanent Representative of Sweden to the OECD
• Ms Nthabiseng Malefane, Minister Plenipotentiary of South Africa to France.

The event will be moderated by Mr Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, Senior Communications Manager for the Development Cluster.

Registration

This event is open to the public. To register, please contact Ciara Keeshan (ciara.keeshan@oecd.org) by 6 March 2017 OECD

The first UN World Data Forum will be hosted by Statistics South Africa from 15 to 18 January 2017, with support from the Statistics Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, under the guidance of the United Nations Statistical Commission and the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It will be an opportunity for data and statistics experts from around the world to:

• JOIN together in this unique event with governments, businesses, civil society and the scientific and academic communities.
• EXPLORE innovative ways to apply data and statistics to measure global progress and inform evidence-based policy decisions on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• CONTRIBUTE to important discussions, data labs and interactive platforms aimed at improving the use of data for sustainable development.
• LAUNCH new initiatives and solutions that will deliver better data for all.

Learn More

Follow on Social media

• Twitter Handle: @UNDataForum
• Twitter Hashtag: #UNDataForum
• How can we achieve better data for all? Join the Twitter Chat on 11 January 2017, 10am EST
  

The 2016 Global Indigenous Women’s Conference is scheduled on September 12-14, 2016 at Stamford Grand Hotel Glenelg Adelaide South Australia. The conference is hosted by The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance and Indigenous Conference Services (Australia). It aims to provide a platform for Indigenous Women to celebrate their achievements in life within their home, family, community and workplace.

More information

What

In no country in the world are men doing as much childcare or domestic work as women are. Globally, women are spending more than twice as much time as men on unpaid care work. These unequal care responsibilities are a barrier to gender equality, to economic opportunities and development, and to the full realization of women’s rights. Yet men’s involvement in caregiving has too often been missing from the international development agenda, public policies aimed at gender equality, and other efforts to promote women’s empowerment.

MenCare is pleased to host a webinar featuring Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed, research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, and Nikki van der Gaag, independent gender consultant, author, and Promundo Senior Fellow. The speakers will discuss key global issues in unpaid care and strategies to increase men’s caregiving. Their presentation will include an overview of MenCare’s Parental Leave Platform and an advance preview of its Unpaid Care Platform. MenCare partners around the world will also share how these advocacy platforms can be taken on at the national level.

Who

About the Speakers:

Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and a human geographer with extensive experience in gender, urbanization, and international development, mainly around the informal economy in Nigerian cities, and specifically on paid domestic workers in Lagos. Zahrah has an MSc in Urbanization and Development from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a PhD in Human Geography and Urban Studies, also from the LSE. Zahrah has undertaken research on a range of issues related to the economic empowerment of women and girls’, including making unpaid care work visible in public policy, balancing paid work and unpaid care work, exploring the impact of social protection on rural women’s economic empowerment and the shifting roles of men in addressing sexual and gender-based violence. Zahrah has expertise on qualitative research methodologies, issues of intersectionality, internal labour migration and everyday resistance.

Nikki van der Gaag is an independent consultant who works on gender in development, with a particular focus on girls and on men and gender equality, and a Senior Fellow at Promundo. She co-authored the first ever State of the World’s Fathers report in 2015. Her latest book is Feminism and Men (Zed Press, 2014). Nikki has also authored The No-Nonsense Guide to Women’s Rights (New Internationalist/Verso, 2008), and six State of the World’s Girls reports for Plan International, including one on boys and gender equality. She is a member of the International Advisory Board for Young Lives, an Oxford University study on child poverty; director of Just Change UK; and an advisory trustee of the Great Men Initiative and New Internationalist magazine.

When

Thursday, June 30, 2016

9am EDT (Washington, DC) / 2pm BST (London) / 4pm EAT (Kampala)

Where

Online – join the webinar here.

How to attend

Confirm your attendance by RSVPing here, and join the webinar on June 30 here.

  In 2015 the United Nations adopted 19 June as the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. The day aims to “raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes”. To read the official text of the 2015 resolution which created the international day click here. A first annual commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict will take place on Monday 21 June 2016 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM in the ECOSOC Chamber, at the United Nations Headquarters (New York). If you have a UN pass and would like to attend, please RSVP here. To learn more about sexual violence in times of conflict and means to end it, please visit the website of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict.  

June 16 is the annual Day of the African Child (DAC). The theme of this year’s celebration is “ Conflict and Crisis in Africa: Protecting all Children’s Rights” .  In line with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) Continental Study on the impact of armed conflict on children is Africa, it is part of the efforts to elevate child protection agenda in conflict situation in Africa as well as a guarantee the protection and preservation of life and well-being of the African children. Every year, the Committee provides recommendations to Member States on the Commemoration of the DAC. The Concept Note for this year edition sets out the situational context of conflict and crisis in Africa and the impact on children. It further highlights the challenges hindering the elimination of conflicts and crises in Africa, to finally recommend examples of best practice in the elimination of conflicts.

Read more in the concept note.

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) invites you to participate in an online discussion on how to tackle and address gender statistics gaps within the framework of EU policies. The event takes place on EuroGender, the 15 June, 10.00 am – 16.00 CEST.

If you have an expertise in gender statistics and/or data collection on gender equality, you are invited to join this online discussion. Particular focus will be given to the following areas:

• Migration: Accurate, timely, sex disaggregated and internationally comparable statistics are needed to assist migrants effectively, and to counter common misperceptions that only serve to postpone urgently needed political and humanitarian responses.
• Intersecting inequalities: Statistics on intersecting inequalities aim to examine gender gaps in specific groups in comparison to the overall population. For example, intersectionality can help us to better understand when and where migrants are in the most vulnerable situations, in order to establish priorities on gender sensitive policies.
• Power: There are currently no suitable data on social power understood as an access to positions of power in the fields of science and technology, academia, media, religious organizations or civil society.
• Health: Although there is quite a bit of data on health behaviours available it is still a challenge to assess what health/risk behaviour related data would be most gender-sensitive, and display the situation for both women and men, possibly for different age groups as behaviours tend to change over a person’s life-cycle.

EIGE’s gender experts and statisticians will be facilitating the online discussion and will be answering further questions related to current data available within EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database.

Pease click here to register.

This event is organized by the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries, in collaboration with the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. The hearing aims at emphasising the importance of fisheries for women in third countries and the special role they can play in different socio-economic situations.

The first panel will explore the current situation and highlight future perspectives. The second panel will look into the role of fisheries’ external dimension in improving conditions of women in third countries.

The event is public and will take place on the 15th of June 2016 from 3:30 to 6:30pm, in Brussels (European Parliament – Room ASP 3E2). For more information, see the Draft programme of the event.

“Stereotypes and Opportunities: Women’s Economic Empowerment” 

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG) invite credentialed media to attend and cover the opening of a two-day global conference on women’s economic empowerment, bringing together 200 leading experts from more than 20 countries:

WHO:
Luis Alberto Moreno, Inter-American Development Bank President and Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President

WHEN:
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
8:30 –10:00 a.m.

WHERE:
Andres Bello Auditorium, Inter-American Development Bank
1300 New York Avenue, Washington DC

BROADCAST: Broadcast media must set up from 8:30 to 8:50 a.m. before the event begins.

REGISTER: Credentialed members of the media are invited to attend. To register, e-mail to Mildred Rivera at Mildredr@iadb.org or phone 1-202-623-2319.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Valeria Pacheco valeriap@iadb.org + 1-202-623-1997
Loreto Setién loretos@iadb.org +1 (202) 623-3862

WEBSITE: http://globalgendersummit.org/

Experts from around the world—representing the public and private sectors and all multilateral development banks—will gather in Washington June 7-8 to share new developments, lessons learned, emerging challenges, and best practices in advancing women’s economic empowerment globally.

Co-hosted by IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the conference will comprise participants from the African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank. Speakers will include Margarita Cedeño, Vice President of the Dominican Republic José Molinas, Technical Secretary of Planning, Paraguay; and Yokasta Guzman, Director of Public Procurement, Dominican Republic.

About us

The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source oflong-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean.The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.

Join a session to discuss SDG 8 which aims for
full and productive employment for youth and women by 2030.

Wednesday 18 May, 2016
13:30 ‐14:30
Room : B 31

Women Deliver Copenhagen: wd2016.org

Economically empowered young women are the catalysts of sustainable development and decent work and gender equality are firmly embedded in the newly adopted SDGs. Goal 8 sets forth an ambitious goal to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and youth, by 2030. However, access to decent work is a worldwide challenge affecting all youth and making the transition from unemployment to decent work – or from vulnerable employment to a decent job – is particularly challenging for adolescent girls and young women. Join in the session to hear what representatives from ILO, France MOFA, OECD, Plan International and a Youth Delegate from Sierra Leona discuss the challenges and what can be done to support adolescent girls and young women to transition into decent work.

Women Deliver’s 4th Global Conference, taking place 16-19 May 2016, will be the largest gathering on girls’ and women’s health and rights in the last decade and one of the first major global conferences following the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will gather 5-6,000 people and inspire global changemakers to focus on implementing the SDGs so they matter most for girls and women. To register, visit WD2016.org.

Other resources

Conference Website: wd2016.org
Main Women Deliver Website: WomenDeliver.org
Conference Video: bit.ly/joinWD2016
Women Deliver Newsletter:
WomenDeliver.org/take-action/sign-up-for-updates
Cinema Corner Submissions: bit.ly/WDcinema\

May 10, 2016 
9:30 am – 2:00 pm

Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington, DC

REGISTER HERE

Please join the PEPFAR Gender and Adolescent Girls Technical Working Group and AIDSFree as they share lessons from the three-year, $55 million Gender-based Violence Initiative (GBVI). The GBVI integrated gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response into existing HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs at health facility, community, and policy levels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

Representatives from PEPFAR and implementing partners from Washington, DC, and the three countries will share lessons from various models for integrating GBV prevention and response in HIV programs such as addressing GBV prevention and response simultaneously; taking a selected set of approaches or a multicomponent GBV program model across the PEPFAR platform of services; and building linkages between facility- and community-based GBV prevention and response interventions.

Please be sure to tweet during the event with #gbvilessons!

The 13th AWID forum, “Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice” will take place from the 5th to the 8th of May 2016 in Costa do Sauípe in the State of Bahia, Brazil.

More information and subscription

Gender and human rights (foundation course)

27 April-7 June 2016 (E05116) | Register for this course (page opens in new window)

Deadline for early registration discount: 15 March 2016 (extended)
Instructors: Corey Barr and Benjamin Stachursky

Gender equality has become a generally accepted refrain and gained secure positioning within international approaches to, and discourse on, development and human rights. However, it took decades of advocacy for gendered diversities to become effectively acknowledged as relevant to the international human rights system. In this process, the recognition that “women’s rights are human rights” played a central role.

In response, legal and normative instruments have been introduced to address the marginalisation of women and girls, such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). Increasingly, other issues relevant to gender equality are gaining attention, for instance those pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity and the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality. International policies and strategies such as gender mainstreaming have been developed to advance the achievement of gender equality in practice. Significant steps continue to be taken to build a human rights system that recognises the need for gender equality and diversity to be inherent to approaches for securing human rights for all.

This e-learning course provides a general introduction to the evolution of the concept of gender equality within the international human rights system. It provides a foundational understanding of the centrality of gender equality to human rights discourse generally and how this is addressed within the UN human rights system specifically. Participants will gain an overview of the various legal and normative frameworks that promote women’s rights, address gender identities, and advance practical approaches to securing gender equality. The course will also examine critical concepts such as intersectionality and cultural relativism as they relate to the enforcement of existing international approaches to advancing gender equality and human rights.

When?

20 April 2016

Where?

NH Brussels Carrefour de l’Europe, Brussels

About

Gender equality is a fundamental right recognised by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 as well as by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The promotion of gender equality is therefore not only essential from a human rights perspective, but also makes sense from an economic viewpoint. It means equal access to resources, as well as empowerment and visibility of both women and men in all spheres of public and private life.

This timely symposium provides an invaluable opportunity to discuss the latest developments in combating gender-based discrimination at European level. The symposium will explore how social, cultural and political obstacles can be overcome in order to implement innovative policies that will put an end to gender discrimination in the workplace and in society. Public Policy Exchange welcomes the participation of all key partners, responsible authorities and stakeholders. The Symposium will support the exchange of ideas and encourage delegates to engage in thought-provoking topical debate.

Delegates will:

• Share comparative knowledge on gender-based discrimination, violence and harassment by raising awareness of current challenges in Europe
• Explore innovative solutions to fight the causes of gender inequalities at work and beyond
• Promote measures to enhance the potential of women entrepreneurs

More information

Event Details  Website  Register to Attend

About the course

How can organizations become gender responsive and transformative? The presence of more women does not automatically mean greater equality. This course analyses success stories and barriers, and goes deeper by looking at gender as part of an organizational change management strategy rather than a stand-alone item on the agenda.

Please note that a few partial fellowships might be available, thanks to funds from the Government of Italy. Beneficiaries shall be nationals of aid-recipient countries. Geographical balance will be among the selection criteria for assigning available fellowships.

When?

18-22 April 2016

Where?

Turin, Italy

More information and to register

More about ITC-ILO courses

The ITC-ILO will be offering a course on Introduction to participatory gender audit for facilitators, which will take place in Turin from 6 to 10 June 2016.

The ILO Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) Methodology is a particularly proactive method, based on a participatory and learning approach at the individual, work unit and organizational level.

This course draws on the extensive experience the ILO has developed in-house in a series of groundbreaking gender audits involving staff and constituents from virtually every region in the world.
The ILO Participatory Gender Audit Manual shall be used as reference material for the course.

The course will be offered in English. The deadline to apply is 19 April, 2016.

Application form available by clicking here

Course flyer available by clicking here

Institutions enrolling more than two participants in the course might be eligible for a 50% discount on the tuition fee from the third participant onwards. For further information on price and fellowships please click here.

We are glad to inform you that  partial fellowships covering up to Euro 1,000 on the tuition fees  to participate in the course are available, thanks to funds from the Government of Italy. Beneficiaries shall be nationals of aid-recipient countries. Geographical balance will be among the selection criteria for assigning available fellowships.

This side event to the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is jointly organised by the OECD Development Centre, the Ministry for Gender, Labour and Social Development of Uganda, the Austrian Development Cooperation, and UN Women.

When?

Tuesday 15 March 2016, 11:30 am – 12:45 pm

Where?

UN Headquarters Conference Room 11

About

The side event will offer new evidence on how to catalyse social norm change in favour of gender equality at the national level, and lessons learned for SDG monitoring and implementation. The panel and Q&A discussion will focus on key questions related to the implementation of the SDGs at the national level, notably benchmarking and tracking progress on SDG 5 targets, national technical capacities and the role of national gender machineries.

• Read the Uganda SIGI country report

For more information  please email dev.gender@oecd.org

The sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 14 to 24 March 2016.

• Priority theme: “Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development”
• Review theme: “The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls” (agreed conclusions from the fifty-seventh session)
• Emerging issue: To be determined

More information

About

In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) UN member states have agreed to a new development agenda, but how does it stand up as a tool for progress on gender equality and women’s rights? At this side event panel discussion, experts from the UN, academia and NGOs come together to review what has been agreed in the SDGs, the role that activists can continue to play, and how Agenda 2030 can contribute to furthering gender equality. The speakers are contributors to a special issue of the open access Oxfam journal Gender & Development devoted to gender and the SDGs, launched at this event. The side event is co-organized with Gender & Development, Oxfam and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

When?

14 March 2016. 16.45-18.00

Where?

Ex-Press Bar

GA Building

United Nations Headquarters

New York

More information

The OECD Development Centre is organising a high-level event to commemorate International Women’s Day and the 60th anniversary of the UN Commission of the Status of Women (CSW).  The event will be on “2030 Agenda: Gender Equality, Social Norms and Inclusive Growth” and will be moderated by Daniel Yohannes, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United States to the OECD.

High-level panellists include:

• Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO;
• Pierre Duquesne, Chair of the Development Centre Governing Board, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France to the OECD;
• Maria del Carmen Squeff, Argentine Ambassador to France; and
• Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20

The panel will focus on the SDGs and the CSW theme of sustainable development and empowerment of women.  The speakers will discuss their vision of gender equality for 2030 and offer their Organisation’s and countries roadmaps to achieving the ambitious targets of 2030 Agenda, in particular the economic empowerment of women.  There will be a question and answer session with the audience.

The event will take place on 9 March 2016, from 3 to 5pm at the OECD Conference Centre Auditorium in Paris.

Please register on EMS or by emailing Ms. Rico de la Viesca (virginia.ricodelaviesca@oecd.org)

More information on the OECD website

When?

Tuesday, 8 March 2016, 4 p.m. to 6.15 p.m.

Where?

Conference room C-4 (7th floor) Vienna International Centre (VIC) Vienna, Austria

About

The 2016 theme for International Women’s Day is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”. In line with this theme and UNIDO’s mission, the panel discussion will feature female sustainable development experts and businesswomen discussing their approaches to creating and leading sustainable enterprises. Considering the leading role of women entrepreneurs in managing environmentally sustainable businesses, the discussion will focus on how we can best apply their example to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how to provide businesswomen with the assets, resources and incentives they need to further support gender equality and sustainability across the industrial sector.

Programme

Welcome remarks: UNIDO Director General, LI Yong Moderator: H.E. Ambassador Pilar Saborío de Rocafort, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations The discussion will bring together a dynamic panel of women entrepreneurial leaders:

• Ayo Elizabeth Olaogun, Creative director of the fashion label Ayo van Elmar, Nigeria
• Janne Vangen Solheim, UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador and Chief Executive Officer, Janusfabrikken AS, Norway
• Marilyn Mehlmann, General Secretary of Global Action Plan (GAP) International
• Sarah Toumi, Founder, Acacias For All, Tunisia

Concluding remarks by H.E.  Ambassador Olga Algayerová Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations and Chair of Women Ambassadors in Wien network. The target audience will be representatives from Permanent Missions, the Women Ambassadors in Wien (WAW) network and staff of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and other Vienna-based UN organizations.

About

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, states committed again to realize the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and related rights to social protection and gender equality. Action is urgently needed: 2.4 billion people worldwide lack access to sanitation, resulting in 700,000 children under five dying each year. Women and girls risk sexual violence due to lack of private toilet facilities. UN and academic panelists at this side event at the 31st Session of the Human Rights Council discuss how to provide equal and non-discriminatory access to water and sanitation through a rights-based approach to ensure an adequate standard of living for all. The side event is co-organized with Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council, and the governments of Finland, Germany and Spain.

When?

7 March 2016, 14.00 – 16.00

Where?

Room XXII, Palais des Nations

1211 Geneva 10

Switzerland

More information

© flashfilm/Riser/Getty Inmagine

11 February was declared  by the UN as “International Day of Women and Girls in Science”.

The 2016 theme was on “Transforming the World: Parity in Science”.

More information

Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Selection of media articles:

Women in STEM: On UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, meet five scientists making strides (ABC 11.02.2016)

‘The world needs science and science needs women,’ says UN on new International Day (UN News Centre 11.02.2016)

It’s the First-Ever Women in Science Day (Inverse 11.02.2016)

It’s Time to Abolish Science’s Boys Club (The Daily Beast 10.02.2016)

Wikigender articles:

Women in Science Data Tool

Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WiTEC)

Social roles vs ability: women in maths and science professions

Women in Science International League

Women in Science

About

Wikigender is a global online collaborative platform launched by the OECD Development Centre in 2008 to exchange data and knowledge on gender equality and development issues. Since its creation, the platform has become a centralised hub of information on gender equality, with 40,000 monthly visitors. The platform links policymakers and experts from both developed and developing countries to find solutions to advance gender equality. It also engages with a broader audience, including civil society, through regular online discussions.

Launch event

A launch event was organised by the OECD Development Centre on 16 December 2015 to present the release of the new Wikigender platform, which for the first time is available in French and includes a new user-friendly interface.

The event, entitled “Advancing gender equality through online engagement: launch of the new Wikigender platform” included  presentation by some of the key partners of the new Wikigender, followed by a presentation of the new platform and a questions and answers session.

Click on the image below to see a slideshow of the launch:

Copyright photos: Genre en Action 2015

Objectives of the new platform

The new French platform will ensure that the Francophone communities can participate, engage and access new data and research on gender and development. Wikigender will also place the spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular on SDG 5, looking at key issues such as the role of social norms in development, gender statistics, and tracking progress on SDG gender targets.

Speeches

• Lancement de Wikigender: intervention de Mme Andriamboavonjy (OIF)

• Lancement de Wikigender: intervention de Mme Otokoré (AFD)

Estelle Loiseau from the OECD Development Centre attended the International Development Cooperation Meeting on Gender and Media on 7 December, to take part in the discussions on gender and media and present a preview of the new Wikigender platform.

Session 1: Global partnership and the impact of achieving gender equality in and through media in connection with the sustainable development

In Plenary Session 1, Estelle Loiseau’s intervention focused on the importance of partnerships to achieve the post-2015 agenda to achieve gender equality. Using her experience with the Wikigender platform, she talked about Wikigender’s role as a platform that acts as a bridge between developed and developing countries, and between policymakers, gender experts and civil society – and in this context, how Wikigender partnerships have been essential to create a coalition of knowledge on gender equality issues. She gave some examples of Wikigender partners (e.g. UN Women, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, FAO) and explained how collaborative work helps to avoid duplication and draw on each organisation’s strengths. In particular, one clear example of partnerships that benefit Wikigender, its partners and the whole community are partnerships around online discussions. “Partnering with individuals and organisations working on common themes but from very different angles has allowed Wikigender to reach new audiences, enrich the debates and increase visibility”, Estelle Loiseau said. In addition, successful online discussions are those that bring a diverse pool of expertise tailored to the specific needs of a particular topic. For example:

• The online discussion on “Addressing discriminatory social norms in Uganda” involved local partners such as Makerere University and the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, who mentioned how a community mobilisation programme in Uganda helped decrease levels of violence against women through media and advocacy.
• The online discussion on “Advancing women’s rights through social media: which strategies?” included partnerships with UN Women’s EmpowerWomen but also with NGOs (AWID, World Pulse) and the media (the Guardian). It was interesting to learn about EmpowerWomen’s perspective on how women’s online voices can inspire action offline – but also how the Guardian is working to bring women’s voices to the forefront.

In her concluding remarks, Estelle Loiseau stressed the importance of using the opportunities provided by new technologies, including online collaborative platforms to enable cost-effective partnerships and coordination at all levels of the development process, especially in a post-2015 agenda. In particular, online platforms such as Wikigender provide opportunities to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing across a multitude of sectors.

Strategic Side Event: Advancing gender equality through online engagement: Prelaunch of the new Wikigender

In the afternoon, Estelle Loiseau organised a Side Event where she presented a preview of the new Wikigender platform, in advance of its official launch on 16 December in Paris. She first gave some background on the history and purpose of the platform, and then explained the main reasons for launching a new platform – which for the first time also includes a French version. These include:

• A redesign to provide a more user-friendly website
• The launch of a French version
• A strengthened focus on gender statistics, social norms and the SDGs

She also presented the main features of the new platform and explained how users can get actively involved in Wikigender. There was a strong interest for other language versions of the platform in the future (Spanish and Arabic) and interest in collaborating with the Wikigender University Programme.

External Links

• Official website of the event
• Concept note 
• Agenda 
• Geneva Framework on Gender and Media International Development Cooperation (PDF)

On 3 December 2015, the OECD-DAC Network on Gender Equality (GENDERNET) and the governments of Switzerland, France, Morocco and Peru co-organised a successful high-level side-event on gender and climate change at the COP21.

The event brought together inspiring actors who are driving gender-responsive climate action from the local to the global level to identify priorities for accelerating the effective integration of gender equality across the whole range of climate actions.

Concept note

Key messages

The Academy is for specialists and practitioners who already have some familiarity with gender concepts. Its flexible format makes it a special occasion for updating professional knowledge through exposure to high-level international expertise.

To read more about programme, logistics and fees visit the Gender Academy website: http://gender-campus.itcilo.org/academy

Fellowships to cover tuition fees are available, please consult the website for details.

Please note that:

• Special arrangements apply to organisations enrolling more than two participants.
• International Civil Servants and nationals from OECD countries are not eligible for ITCILO fellowships.
• Deadline to apply for partial fellowships: August 15, 2015
• Final deadline for registration: September 14, 2015

Social Media Week took place in a number of cities from 17-21 February 2014, with the theme of “The future of now: Always on, always connected”. In this context, the conference organised by OECD and IABC France focused on the power of social media for international organisations, businesses and government agencies. The emphasis was placed on the best practices of social media strategies, technologies and channels. The event was free and open to the public.

• Click here to see the agenda

Estelle Loiseau, Wikigender Community Manager, gave a presentation on “Why Wikis?” (at 2 hours 10 min and 41 sec) – using the example of Wikigender. See the video below.

With a diverse range of talks and debates, music and performance, parties, a marketplace, networking and much more, the festival brings together women and men to speak about how they are making the world a fairer place and why it matters.

Join us as we present the very best of recognised and emerging female talent and explore everything from body image to peace-making, haircuts, sport, the arts, sex, race, food and love. Expect joy, laughter, passion, insight and a chance to share your own stories.

It’s the Women of the World festival’s fifth birthday! The events will take place at Southbank Centre in London from 1-8 March.

• More information

• More information on the flyer: click here
• Application form available by clicking here (deadline to apply: 16 January 2015)
• A few partial fellowships are available for nationals of developing countries according to the OECD list
• For information on all of our activities: http://gender.itcilo.org/cms/

On the occasion of 2014 International Women's Day , this article presents the work that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is doing in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The OECD Gender data portal

The OECD Gender Data Portal includes selected indicators shedding light on gender inequalities in education, employment and entrepreneurship.

While much progress has been accomplished in recent years, there are still relevant dimensions of gender inequalities that are poorly monitored and measured. The Portal is thus a work in progress, that aims at progressively filling these gaps through new indicators. The data cover OECD member countries, as well as the Russian Federation , Brazil , China , India , Indonesia , and Gender Equality in South Women and African Economic Development.

What’s at the root of women’s absence in STEM occupations?

Despite genuine and enormous progress in education and the labour force over the past few decades, women are still under-represented in the fields of technology, mathematics and science and in high-wage occupations. Why? Click here, to read the blog post or see in the ProgBlog.

• What’s at the root of women’s absence in STEM occupations?
• See more education blogs by the OECD

Boys, girls and mathematics: disparities in performance and in students’ beliefs

Boys continue to outperform girls in mathematics by the equivalent of around three months of school, that is an average of 11 score points in the PISA assessment. Yet boys and girls can both perform at very high levels. The average girl in Shanghai-China scores 610 points in mathematics, well above boys’ average performance in every other school system that participated in PISA. Worringly, the gender gap in mathematics has remained stable in most countries since 2003: the gap in favour of boys narrowed only in Finland , Greece , Sweden , Macao-China and the Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the Russian Federationn Federation.

PISA 2012 results also reveal that many students, particularly girls, feel anxious about mathematics and have low levels of confidence in their own abilities. Even among girls and boys who perform equally well, girls are more likely to feel anxious towards mathematics, and have less confidence in their own mathematical skills and in their ability to solve mathematics problems than boys. Gender gaps in motivation and self-beliefs are particularly troubling because these factors are essential if students are to achieve at the highest levels and because they have long-lasting consequences on students’ educational and career decisions. In 2011, an average of only 14% of women entering university-level education enrolled in science-related fields (which include science and engineering) or in manufacturing and construction, compared to 39% of men who entered this level of education in these fields.
PISA

Read more:

• Are boys and girls equally prepared for life? (OECD, 2014)
• PISA 2012 Results: Ready to Learn. Students’ engagement, drive and self-beliefs, Volume III (OECD, 2013)

Gender in public employment: bridging public sector divide?

In many OECD countries, women’s representation is much higher in public sector than in private sector employment. In 2010, women accounted for less than 45% of workers in the total labour force but for 57% of public sector employees in OECD countries.

Yet, general government is characterized by many of the gender gaps found elsewhere in the labour market. Women make up a disproportionate share of part-time employment in central government, where they represented at least two thirds of part-time workers in 2010 in the 16 OECD member countries for which data was available. Women are also under-represented in leadership positions: in 2010 women held more than 50% of secretarial positions (even around 90% in Slovenia and Austria ) but only 40% of middle management and 29% of top management positions.

Figure 1.8 Women in top management positions compared to their share in central government, 2010
OECD

OECD Global Forum on Women’s Leadership in Public Life

The OECD Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development organised a Global Forum on “Women’s Leadership in Public Life: Fostering Diversity for Inclusive Growth” from 2-4 April 2014 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris.

The Forum provided a unique opportunity to engage with leading actors from government, parliaments, justice institutions, civil society and business worldwide, to explore concrete actions on the following challenges:

• Closing gender gaps in public life;
• Strengthening women’s voice;
• Increasing the inclusiveness of policy making and programme delivery.

Women’s participation in economic and public life, including having a say in decisions that affect their lives, plays a key role in economic growth, equitable governance and public trust from the community level to policy making circles.

In the context of the OECD Gender Initiative, launched by the OECD Ministers, the OECD also prepared a report on “Women in Government and Public Policies: Closing Gender Divides“, which was released at the 2014 OECD Global Forum. This publication provides comparative data and policy benchmarks on women’s access to public leadership and inclusive gender-responsive policy-making across OECD countries.

Further information on the OECD Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development’s work on Gender equality and Women’s Leadership in the public sector may be found here

Gender equality and the post-2015 framework

Unfinished business – women and girls front and centre beyond 2015
The OECD is working to strengthen partnerships to influence global processes including the post-2015 development agenda. MDG3 – gender equality and women’s empowerment – was a powerful stimulus for action by governments and donors alike but progress has been uneven and much “unfinished business” remains. The DAC Network on Gender Equality’s recent Unfinished business – Women and girls front and centre beyond 2015 (May 2013) paper supports countries’ efforts to ensure that women are “front and centre” in the post-2015 framework through a strong standalone goal on gender equality and gender-specific targets and indicators in all other goals. The paper argue that a comprehensive approach is needed to address gender inequalities through:

1. girls’ completion of a quality education
2. women’s economic empowerment
3. universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights
4. ending violence against women and girls
5. strengthening women’s voice, leadership and influence
6. women’s participation in peace and security
7. women’s contributions to environmental sustainability.

Financing the unfinished business of gender equality and women’s rights: priorities for the post-2015 framework
New analysis by the DAC Network on Gender Equality and the DAC Working Party on Development Finance Statistics shows that MDG 3 has proved catalytic in galvanising new resources for gender equality and women’s rights. DAC members’ aid flows in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment have tripled since the Millennium Development Goalss from USD 8 billion in 2002 to USD 24 billion in 2012. Retaining a strong standalone goal on gender equality in the post-2015 framework alongside gender-specific targets and indicators across all goals will be critical for mobilising the political will and investment needed to address the “unfinished business” of the MDGs.

Despite the upward trend in aid focused on gender equality since the MDGs, significant funding gaps remain in priority areas for the post-2015 framework – women’s economic empowerment, family planning, women, peace and security, and women’s participation and leadership. It is time to close these gaps.

Read more:

• Financing the unfinished business of gender equality and women’s rights: priorities for the post-2015 framework (March 2014)
• Technical Brief (March 2014)

Including social norms in the post-2015 framework to address gender inequality

During the Event:58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (United Nations Commission on the Status of Women), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Centre is co-organising with Department for International Development (DfID) and gender equality and ODI - Overseas Development Institute a side event on “Tackling discriminatory social norms to empower girls and women: Lessons for a post-2015 framework”. The event highlights the importance of including social norms in the analysis of achievements and shortcomings of the MDGs for gender equality in order to capitalise on lessons learned for the post 2015 agenda. Follow #girlspost2015, #socialnorms and #CSW58 on Twitter!
Womens Papers presented at our event at CSW:

• Measuring women’s empowerment and social transformation in the Post 2015 Agenda (Joint OECD/ODI paper for CSW)
• Technical note on time use, social norms and post 2015
• Synthesis report from Wikigender online discussion “Data Gaps on Gender Equality”

Find out more on our work on social norms
The OECD Development Centre’s 2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index 2012 (SIGI )is an innovative measure of underlying discrimination against women for over 100 countries. While other indices measure gender inequalities in outcomes such as education and employment, the SIGI helps policy-makers and researchers understand what drives these outcomes. The SIGI captures and quantifies discriminatory social institutions – these include among others, early marriage, discriminatory inheritance practices, violence against women, son bias, restrictions on access to public space and restricted access to productive resources.

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Centre Issues Paper on adolescent girls
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Centre Issues Paper on violence against women

Find out more about gender work at the OECD Development Centre!

The MENA-OECD Partnership to support women’s economic empowerment

The OECD-MENA Investment programme was created in 2005 at the request of 18 MENA governments. In 2007, MENA ministers endorsed the Declaration on Fostering Women’s Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region, and in 2009 they signed an Action Plan on Fostering Women’s Entrepreneurship and Employment in the MENA region.

Since 2009, the MENA-OECD Investment programme has been leading two initiatives to mainstream women’s empowerment into the wider political debate and unlock women’s economic opportunity in the region:

• The OECD-MENA Women’s Business Forum (WBF) was launched in 2009. It has since grown into a network of over 500 representatives from MENA and OECD governments, business and civil society who meet regularly. It missions are to identify the existing support to women entrepreneurs in the region and where the gaps lie, to improve women’s access to finance and business development services, and to connect women entrepreneurs, provide role models and improve access to information. A first publication entitled Women in Business came out in 2012 and analysed existing practices regarding the promotion of women in business. It was then complemented by the publication of a report on Nurturing Entrepreneurship: Improving Women’s Access to Services and Finance. A second publication on Women in Business will come out in 2014 and will focus on access to finance and business services.
• The OECD project on Supporting Women as Economic Actors during the Transition period was launched in 2013. It aims at identifying and raising awareness of the legal, social and cultural factors braking women’s economic integration in Algeria , Egypt , Jordan , Morocco and Tunisia . A report on Supporting Women as Economic Actors During the Transition will be published in 2015, along with the creation of an online platform.

The MENA-OECD Women in Government Platform: building capacities for gender policies

Ensuring that women have a voice in shaping public policy is crucial for fostering social cohesion, ensuring effective and accountable governance and building inclusive growth in MENA economies. Despite significant gains in educational equality over the past decade, MENA women remain under-represented in the economic and political spheres. Women have played a key role in recent uprisings in the region, which could both accelerate or jeopardise progress made in enhancing women’s participation in the economic, political and social spheres. Recent political events can provide an excellent opportunity for women to play a greater part in the political process.

The upcoming 2014 OECD-CAWTAR Report on Gender, Law and Public Policy: Trends in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report will:

• identify the main areas of persisting gender discriminations in national legislation across selected MENA countries and gaps in complying with international commitments;
• advise countries on possible amendments to laws, using best practice examples from MENA and OECD countries as a benchmark;
• provide internationally comparative data and analysis on institutions and practices for enabling gender equality and the equal participation of women and men in economic and public life; and
• make change happen by supporting policy implementation with tailored capacity-building, based on the findings of the report.

The report will be launched on 28 – 29 May 2014 in Amman, Jordan.

OECD Gender Initiative

In 2010, the OECD launched its OECD Gender Initiative to examine existing barriers to gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship (the “three Es”).
See the video below explaining how breaking down barriers to gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship would create new sources of economic growth.

“Let me first underline that, besides the tremendous progress we could observe in the last 50 years, there is still a long way to go to achieve real gender equality. Gender is maybe the most underexploited resource for the economy and the society nowadays. This is true for many countries – also at different stages of development. We have not achieved equality, the gap is still wide. Opportunities for women are not equal in education, neither in the labour market, nor in entrepreneurship, or politics. This is a waste for the individuals, but is also an obstacle to realize the full potential of our economies. We need to change this. This is a major an economic imperative. There is an economic and a business case for it. To face the daunting economic challenges of today, we need to tap all sources of growth. We can not waste women’s economic contributions. This is why the OECD has embarked in developing a gender initiative that covers education, employment and entrepreneurship.”

Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General (Chicago, 8 March 2012)See International Women’s Day OECD page: http://www.oecd.org/gender/theoecdgenderbrowserabenchmarkforgenderequality.htm

OECD events in March

• Well-being and Professional Life, Tuesday 4 March, 19:00-21:30
• Film evening: Women’s Share, Thursday 6 March, 18:15, Auditorium (organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Centre an the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation-wide Network on Gender and Diversity (OWN))
• Women’s Economic Empowerment in the MENA Region, Wednesday 19 March, 12:00-14:00, Auditorium
• Gender Diversity @ OECD: how are we doing? Thursday 27 March, 12:00-14:00, Auditorium

References

See also

• Event:International Women%27s Day
• Women and Men in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries
• Launch of the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index “SIGI”
• Gender Equality and Women's Leadership in the Public sector

External Links

• OECD’s work on gender equality

About

The UN has celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March since 1975. The Day is traditionally marked with a message from the Secretary-General. The official United Nations theme for International Women’s Day 2012 is “Empower Rural Women — End Hunger and Poverty.” Access the summary of UN system observances and related links for IWD 2012UN System Observances for International Women’s Day 2012.

UN Institutions Observances

United Nations

United Nations Main Page, International Women’s Day 2012

See UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s 2012 message

Related feature: The United Nations System: Working Together to Empower Rural Women

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

See a video message UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres.

UN Women

See also

• Rural Women and Development
• United Nations Womenwatch
• Women and Agriculture

References

External links

International Women’s Day website

On 16 February 2011 a blog of the Spanish journal El Pais published that the only woman in the ECB executive board, the Austrian Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, will leave the institution in May 2011, substituted by the Belgian Peter Praet.

A quick revision of the high-level staffs in the main Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Latin American central banks confirms that this unbalance composition in gender terms is the rule, not the exception. Only in Argentina , Peru or Sweden the female ratio is around one third, reaching the parity in the US Fed. By contrast, according to their webs, in some other well respected ones such as the Bank of England or the Central Bank of Gender Equality in Chile women are not represented at all in their highest board.

This naïve observation opens again the debate on female representation in high-level positions, now focused among those in charge of monetary policy.

• Is it just a cohort effect and gender representation will be balanced by market forces, or not? If it were the case, how long should we expect to wait?
• If markets are not ruling, is it just the effect of a self-selection mechanism (men may enjoy setting interest rates more than women, for instance), or a reflection of gender discrimination?
• And, which is the effect on the effectiveness of the central bank and on inflation?
• Finally, if we agree that there is a case for public policy action, which one should be pursued, Quotas?

The debate is open.

Reply to this post here

InesInProgress: Before making a judgment, it is very important to go back to the origins of this lack of female representaion in bank boards or high level financial positions. If the reason is pure gender discrimination, then a quota system becomes crucial. Unfortunately, while similar systems are in a way or another based on discrimination themselves, they are an important tool of inclusion of vulnerable groups, women here. A quota system is also a very important empowerment tool economically, socially and even psychologically speaking. Yes, women need to be includded and to be a key economic contributor on a higher level. Yes, a society needs to reflect gender equality (being a very important sign of development). And, yes, giving women high level positions is very important for their self-confidence, self-esteem and their overcoming of the “vulnerable group” status.

See also

Community Portal:

• Community Portal

Related articles:

• Access to bank loans
• Asian Development Bank
• World Bank
• Grameen Bank

External Links

• European Central Bank
• More Women in Senior Positions: Key to Economic Stability and Growth – EC 2010 report
• The women of the G20

Wikigender, your information sharing platform on gender equality, was officially launched on 7 March 2008 on the occasion of International Women's Day . The site is now open and freely accessible to the public. Wikigender invites everybody to actively use and participate in this new online resource. To learn more about this initiative, read wikigender.org:About .

Summary

The launch of Wikigender took place in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development headquarters in Paris in the presence of Chile’s Ambassador to France, Mrs. Pilar Armanet, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the OECD, Mrs. Gabriela Ramos. Both speakers highlighted the importance of this new platform as a tool to improve knowledge on gender equality, an objective which is still far from being achieved. Wikigender will help remind people that the battle for women’s rights is a continuous one and needs to be fought anew by each generation. It is therefore good to have an online platform which will particularly address young people and women.

Gender equality – as important as always

Ambassador Armanet emphasized that women are still underrepresented in many areas. Her home country Chile, for example, is only one of 23 countries in the world (or 12% of the total) with a female head of state or government. Although Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet has some powerful colleagues such as Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, it is not acceptable that so few women are in important political positions. In national parliaments, for example, women are outnumbered by men in every country of the world.

What is Wikigender?

The wikigender.org:About of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Centre then explained the objectives and features of the new website. Johannes Jütting, Head of “Policy Coherence for Development and Human Security” at the OECD Development Centre, illustrated the evolution of the Development Centre’s gender work from the creation of the Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base to the launch of Wikigender. Denis Drechsler, Policy Analyst at the Development Centre, highlighted the conceptual cornerstones of Wikigender. The site will have an open access policy, effective mechanisms of quality control and an active community that regularly uses and updates the pages. Olivier Puech, the Development Centre’s webmaster, explained the functioning of the website in a live presentation of Wikigender. Finding information, creating an account and contributing a new article only require a couple of clicks.

Wikigender and the views of other stakeholders

The usefulness of Wikigender was then debated from various angles.

• Danièle Rousseau, founder and director of the French network of business women “Diregeantes”, argued that Wikigender could provide a useful platform to inform women on how to start their own business and learn from the experience of other business women.
• Angela Me of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (United NationsECE) presented the view of an international organisation that is actively involved in the collection of gender data. She reminded the audience that official data from National Statistical Offices often do not include essential gender statistics (e.g. the number of female ambassadors or the prevalence of violence against women). Wikigender could thus offer an alternative mechanism to identify data and statistics.
• Claudy Vouhé of “Genre en Action” welcomed the launch of Wikigender from the perspective of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). Wikigender could provide a forum to highlight the important work that is being done on gender by NGOs and other civil society organisations.

Wikigender and the OECD

The Chief Statistician of the OECD, Mr. Enrico Giovannini, emphasised the importance of Wikigender as a tool to reach out to new communities. New technologies of the Web 2.0 allow people to interact on various issues; and past experience has shown that Internet users are willing and eager to share and discuss their knowledge with online communities.

Wikigender will be closely linked to the OECD Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies which will actively involve citizens in the definition of the right statistics to capture wellfare and happiness in a society. Mr. Giovannini reminded the audience that a “wiki” is never a final product, but the beginning of a process and assured the full support of the Statistics Division of the OECD to make this project a success.

The 2009 OECD Gender & Diversity Awards

1. Production of new statistics and analysis on the role of women in economic growth and other OECD areas of study

2. Discussions and development of policy recommendations on enhancing attention to gender variables in various fields, including the visibility and impacts of these efforts

3. Significant contributions to leveraging OECD work on gender in the international arena

Wikigender, launched in 2008, significantly contributed to this success.

Access the application submitted for the award by clicking here.

See also

• wikigender.org:About
• wikigender.org:Wikigender in the Press
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development Centre
• Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies

Wikigender 2.0 was presented on 20 November 2008 in Stockholm during the international workshop “Measuring, Managing and Evaluating Gender Equality“. The improved website is now available at http://new.wikigender.org.

Wikigender 2.0

More on the Workshop

Close to 60 participants from international organisations, national governments and non-governmental organisations agreed that Wikigender will greatly contribute to improving knowledge on gender equality and inform and sensitise people about the importance of women’s empowerment. While high quality statistics were key to designing effective policies, an essential element of achieving sustainable change required an improved understanding and active involvement of people. Wikigender can contribute to both of these objectives, providing a platform for the dissemination of information and a forum to discuss critical and controversial issues. Policies could thus be adapted to the specific needs of a society and be more effective due to the increased understanding of the necessity of reforms.

Further Information

• Seminar agenda
• www.wikigender.org