Policy commitments must be delivered in practice if the 1995 Plan is to change the reality of women's lives in the Commonwealth. It therefore recommends monitoring and evaluation at the highest level to turn the vision into reality. The system should be such that gender issues are considered as integral parts in formulating, implementing and monitoring policy and programmes. This system is called a Gender Management System.
Positive action means taking specific temporary measures to achieve equality.
For example governments may undertake an awareness campaign to promote the idea of women continuing in education and may advertise for women to apply for places. Affirmative action includes all that is positive action but goes a step further, giving special privileges to compensate for a long history of discrimination and inequality. For example, points may be added to examination results for girls to enable them to get into university. The thinking behind this is that girls often have less time to spend on school work than boys due to domestic chores. The affirmative action taken recognises that exam results can be affected by gender inequalities.