Gender equality
Equal opportunities for men and women does not imply that men and women should become identical, but that they should enjoy equal opp .Despite the various commitments undertaken at the global, national and regional levels in recent years, there is no denying that inequalities between men and women remain very much a fact of life in all regions and all countries of the world.
According to the UNDP, women are most affected by poverty, accounting for over 70% of the world's poor. As a group, women have more limited access than men to education, productive resources and economic and social opportunities. They suffer more from rigidity and imbalance in the distribution of tasks and roles assigned to men and women, and are less involved in decision-making than men. These inequalities between men and women are an obstacle to development.
ortunities and rights throughout their lives. For equal opportunities to become reality, changes therefore need to be made to the institutional practices and social relations which reinforce or maintain inequalities.
To this end, the Belgian cooperation places the restoration of equilibrium between the rights and opportunities of men and women as one of the overarching themes and encourages equal opportunities between women and men, using a strategy which aims to support the efforts made by its partners.
How?
Firstly, by placing the emphasis on gender mainstreaming, i.e. by integrating the gender perspective in all policies, programmes and projects pertaining to Belgian cooperation work, regardless of the sector concerned, and at all stages in the project cycle. This approach requires a series of very simple questions to be asked during the various phases of cooperation work:
• What are the women doing? What are the men doing?
• Where are the women? Where are the men?
• How are the women's and the men's time organised?
And, as a corollary:
• What resources - skills, training and income, but also liberties - are available to women and men?
• Who (women and/or men) will benefit directly from the development action or project?
• What effects will the development action or project have on women, on men, and on the group concerned?
At the local, regional and national levels, this approach prompts those involved in development work to take a fresh look at women's and men's types of activity, needs and resources, and to examine the ways in which the two genders participate in projects and other actions. It prompts them to look at numerous negative consequences in a given region or country for all its inhabitants - when we deprive ourselves of the viewpoint and the contribution of one of humanity's two constituent groups. It goes beyond "not forgetting about the women" - it is a matter of asking ourselves what the whole of humanity stands to lose if we neglect to take one of its two halves into account!
And secondly, by helping women directly - in the partner countries - by means of positive action. Such action deliberately targets women or particular categories of women, practising positive discrimination on their behalf, promoting their access to all development opportunities and upholding their rights and opportunities
