Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation [SEC(2007) 332]
Date: 2007-03-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: cooperation policy, development aid, gender equality, position of women

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 8.3.2007 
COM(2007) 100 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation 

[SEC(2007) 332] 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

It  is  widely  acknowledged  that  Gender  Equality  is  not  only  crucial  in  itself  but  is  a 
fundamental  human  right  and  a  question  of  social  justice.  Furthermore,  Gender  Equality  is 
essential  for  growth  and  poverty  reduction,  and  it  is  key  to  reaching  the  Millennium 
Development Goals. Nevertheless, gender inequalities are still ingrained in the cultural, social 
and political systems of many countries.  

The EC and the EU Member States are key players in the effort to close the gender gap in the 
developing world. At international level they are signatories to International Agreements and 
Declarations  supporting  Gender  Equality  (1)  (for  all  endnotes  see  Annex  I.).  Accordingly, 
current  EU  development  policy  contains  a  strong  commitment  to  accelerate  progress  in  this 
important area. 

Thus,  the  European  Consensus  (2)  highlights  the  importance  of  Gender  Equality  in  the 
context  of  the  new  aid  modalities.  While  Gender  Equality  is  a  common  objective  and  a 
common  value  of  the  entire  EU,  the  Consensus  recognises  Gender  Equality  as  a  goal  in  its 
own  right.  Furthermore,  the  policy  document  identifies  Gender  Equality  as  one  of  the  five 
common principles (3) of EU development cooperation.  

In  addition,  the  EU  is  committed  to  the  equality  of  women  and  men,  girls  and  boys  in  its 
development  cooperation  Agreements  with  all  geographical  regions  (4).  Furthermore,  the 
‘Roadmap  for  Equality  between  Women  and  Men’(5) identifies the ‘promotion of women’s 
rights and empowerment outside the EU’ as one of six priority areas (6). 

To  progress  towards  greater  Gender  Equality  most  Member  States  and  the  European 
Commission have,  hitherto, adopted a twin-track strategy. This comprises, on the one hand, 
the mainstreaming of Gender Equality in all policies, strategies and actions and, on the other, 
the financing of measures which directly support women's empowerment (7).  

To  adapt  this  approach  to  the  new  aid  modalities  and  to  the  requirements  of  the  Paris 
Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the Commission, together with UNIFEM  (8), organised a 
major  Conference  in  November  2005  on  the  theme  “Owning  Development:  Promoting 
Gender  Equality  in  New  Aid  Modalities  and  Partnerships”.  This  Conference  reviewed  the 
progress made in eliminating gender inequality in the developing world, and re-assessed the 
role of the EU in accelerating Gender Equality in the context of changes in the architecture of 
EU development aid.  

The present Communication builds on the outcome of that Conference, the policy framework 
of  the  European  Consensus,  and  on  the  practical  experience  gained  so  far.  The 
Communication  also  responds  to  the  commitments  made  in  the  Roadmap  for  Equality 
between Women and Men by formulating an EU strategy to progress towards achieving: 

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•  equal  rights  (political,  civil,  economic,  employment,  social  and  cultural)  for  women  and 

men, girls and boys; 

•  equal access to, and control over, resources for women and men; 

•  equal opportunities to achieve political and economic influence for women and men. 

While  the  previous  'Programme  of  Action  for  the  mainstreaming  of  Gender  Equality  in 
Community Development Co-operation' valid between 2001 and 2006 provided the basis for 
capacity  building  within  the  European  Commission,  the  present  document  places  Gender 
Equality  and  Women's  Empowerment  firmly  in  an  EU  context  and  is  intended  to  send  the 
strongest  possible  signal  regarding  the  importance  of  Gender  Equality  in  all  future  EU 
development cooperation efforts. 

2. 

RATIONALE FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT 

Women are at the centre of sustainable social and economic development, poverty reduction 
and environmental protection. Despite this, gender inequality is part of the daily experience of 
a large proportion of the world’s women. In spite of the complex nature of such inequalities 
experience has shown that the following areas are particularly significant in understanding the 
relationship between the status of women and sustainable poverty reduction. 

The role of women in employment and economic activities is often underestimated because 
most  women  work  in  the  informal  sectors,  often  with  low  productivity  and  incomes,  poor 
working conditions, with little or no social protection. E.g. in Africa women constitute 52 % 
of the total population, contribute 75 % of the agricultural work and produce and market 60 to 
80 % of food. The female labour force in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005 was about 73 million, 
representing 34 per cent of those employed in the formal sector, earning only 10 per cent of 
the income while owning 1 per cent of the assets (9).  

Although trade liberalisation has had a positive impact on most economies in the long term, it 
may also result in short-term negative consequences for vulnerable groups with poor women 
being particularly affected (10). Different sectors of the economy can have a crucial impact on 
Gender Equality: e.g. poor infrastructure can undermine girls' schooling because of insecure 
transport or if the lack of nearby water sources 'forces' the parents to use girls for house work. 

Women’s empowerment is a key aspect of governance. In many countries women still tend 
to be marginalized as decision-makers. Legislation ensuring equal rights (11) for all women 
and men is critical and must also be accompanied by implementation in order to protect the 
fundamental  human  rights  of  women  and  also  to  enhance  the  reduction  of  poverty  and 
economic  growth.  In  conflict  situations  women  have  a  critical  role  and  should  be  fully 
incorporated  into  the  peace-building  efforts,  in  conformity  with  UN  Security  Council 
Resolution 1325 (12). 

Gender  inequalities  persist  as  regards  access  to  education  (13).  57%  of  the  school-age 
children not in school are girls (14), while almost two thirds of the world’s illiterate people 
are  women  (15).  The  ability  of  women  and  girls  to  empower  themselves  economically  and 
socially by going to school or by engaging in productive and civic activities outside the home 
is constrained by their responsibility for everyday tasks in the household division of labour. 

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In the field of health there are concerns over women’s limited access to basic health services. 
In  addition,  the  main  area  where  serious  Gender  Equality  concerns  exist  is  the  sphere  of 
sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Not only does an increased investment in 
SRH support a basic human right, but an increase in the health status of women has positive 
effects  on  the  overall  economy.  Many  of  the  modest  gains  in  women’s  health  realized  in 
recent  decades  are  now  threatened  by  the  HIV/AIDS  pandemic.  In  addition,  the  increasing 
rate of HIV infection among women and girls is a cause for deep concern (16). 

Gender-based violence both violates women’s human rights and is a serious obstacle to the 
achievement  of  equality,  development  and  peace.  Very  often  sexual  violence  is  associated 
with  the  spread  of  HIV/AIDS.  Trafficking  of  women  is  a  crime,  which  has  its  roots  in 
widespread  poverty,  inequality,  weak  governance,  armed  conflicts  and  lack  of  protection 
against discrimination. 

A more detailed analysis of gender inequality is set out in Annex II. 

3. 

PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES 

The European Union has taken important steps to support greater Gender Equality both within 
and  outside  the  Union.  Gender  Equality  is  becoming  a  recognised  part  of  the  dialogue  with 
more and more partner countries and is being incorporated into the EU’s consultations with 
civil  society.  This  process  has  raised  the  level  of  awareness  of  our  development  partners 
regarding the importance of Gender Equality and women’s empowerment and has sensitised 
them  in  particular  to  the  relation  between  greater  equality  and  poverty  reduction  (17).  This 
process  has  complemented  the  considerable  progress  at  country  level  in  accelerating  the 
achievement of Gender Equality through various projects and programmes supported by the 
European  Commission  and  the  EU  Member  States  (18).  Throughout  the  10th  EDF 
programming  exercise,  the  EC  has  placed  particular  emphasis  on  gender  sensitizing  the 
country strategies. There has been clear progress also in the area of capacity building both in 
Member States and the Commission. (19) 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  this  progress,  significant  challenges  remain.  First,  we  are  still  far 
from reaching the MDG targets. In particular, the first gender MDG deadline of eliminating 
gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 was missed. Secondary school 
enrolment of girls in relation to boys averaged 89% in the developing countries. Women still 
have a smaller share of decent jobs than men, and one in three women will suffer some form 
of  gender  based  violence  in  her  lifetime.  In  addition,  the  MDGs  focus  on  the  health  and 
education  aspects  of  Gender  Equality  and  fail  to  capture  other  multifaceted  dimensions  of 
Gender Equality (20).  

Second,  at  the  social  and  cultural  level  there  are  important  factors  which  serve  to  slow 
progress towards the achievement of Gender Equality. Thus, traditional social structures may 
offer only limited incentives for changing the existing distribution of power between men and 
women, especially to those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. This may go 
some way to explaining why specific gender-related actions are not always regarded as high 
priority and why, in most country strategies, gender is a subsidiary issue (21).  

Again,  despite  the  considerable  progress  that  has  been  made,  it  is  apparent  that  effective 
gender mainstreaming has not been fully integrated into country strategies or in the practice of 
EU  development  cooperation.  In  the  case  of  the  European  Commission  a  ‘Thematic 

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Evaluation  of  the  Integration  of  Gender  in  EC  Development  Co-operation  with  Third 
Countries’  (2003)  recognized  the  constructive  work  that  has  been  done  by  the  Commission 
but concluded that specific policy goals on Gender Equality and the integration of gender in 
EC  development  co-operation  have  been  weak.  Furthermore,  the  Report  concluded  that  the 
financial resources specifically allocated to support the integration of gender in development 
cooperation  have  been  negligible  compared  to  the  resources  allocated  to  other  horizontal 
issues. The indications are that many of the recommendations of this Evaluation remain valid 
–  both  for  the  Commission  and  for  some  EU  Member  States.  (See  the  9  main 
recommendations of the Report in Annex IV). (22) 

One  of  the  major  assets  the  EU  has  available  to  promote  Gender  Equality  in  its  external 
relations  is  the  experience  of  best  practices  from  inside  the  Union.  Gender  Equality  is 
recognised  by  the  EU  as  a  fundamental  human  right  and  as  a  necessary  condition  for  the 
achievement  of  the  EU  objectives  of  growth,  full  employment  and  social  cohesion. 
Accordingly, the EU has invested heavily in Gender Equality through legislation (23), gender 
mainstreaming, specific measures for the advancement of women, action programmes, social 
dialogue and dialogue with civil society.  

A genuine European approach should be built based on this longstanding experience, as well 
as on the unique nature of Europe as a multicultural and highly diverse group of countries that 
– despite significant differences in culture and traditions – are all united in devoting a great 
deal  of  attention  to  the  issue  of  equality  between  women  and  men.  As  a  fundamental 
European  objective,  the  EU  should  support  third  countries  in  adhering  to,  and  in  the 
implementation of, international commitments such as the Beijing Platform for Action. 

4. 

AN EU STRATEGY TO ACCELERATE THE ACHIEVEMENT OF GENDER EQUALITY 

The  European  Union  is  now  at  a  turning  point  regarding  Gender  Equality  in  Development 
Cooperation. The framework and policies are in place – the most important question is how to 
ensure the effective implementation of strategies and practices within the new aid modalities 
that genuinely deliver for women. It has to be clearly seen that measures to increase Gender 
Equality, in addition to increasing social cohesion and enhancing the protection of women’s 
human rights, have a strong impact on economic growth, employment and poverty reduction.  

4.1. 

Objectives 

The  new  EU  strategy  must  respond  to  two  objectives:  first,  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
gender  mainstreaming.  Second,  to  refocus  specific  actions  for  women's  empowerment  in 
our  partner  countries.  To  reach  these  objectives  cooperation  strategies  for  Gender  Equality 
and  women  empowerment  will  have  to  adapt  to  the  new  aid  architecture,  primarily  budget 
support. 

4.1.1.  Efficient mainstreaming 

For  Gender  Equality  mainstreaming  and  women's  empowerment  to  become  more  effective, 
changes will be needed in three areas: 

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(1) 

Political action: 

•  Gender Equality and women empowerment have to be brought to the table during 

the political dialogue with partner countries at the highest level (24); 

(2) 

Development cooperation:  

•  The key role of women in growth and development needs to be taken into account 
in  the  preparation  and  implementation  of cooperation strategies; e.g. agricultural 
and food security strategies must clearly address the differing constraints faced by 
rural women, since in certain developing countries they are responsible for up to 
80 % of basic food production (25); 

•  Effective  partnership,  dialogue  and  consultation  have  to  be  established  with 
relevant stakeholders (including governments, research centres, universities, civil 
society,  international  organisations)  in  the  preparation  of  country  strategies  and 
aid programmes;  

•  Mutual  accountability  mechanisms  have  to  be  put  in  place  that  include  Gender 
Equality  and  women  empowerment;  the  accountability  role  of  different  actors: 
government, regional economic communities, development agencies, international 
institutions, civil society, parliament and media, must be clarified; 

•  Gender sensitive performance indicators have to be developed and used; 

•  Budget support has to take into account Gender Equality concerns by linking the 
disbursement  of  incentive  tranches  to  gender  sensitive  indicators  and  by  going 
hand in hand with a high quality policy dialogue. 

(3) 

Institutional capacity building:  

•  Updated  practical 

tools  have 

to  be  developed 

in 

the  assessment  and 

implementation phases (26); 

•  Improved access to information and best practices, and gender training for partner 

countries and staff have to be provided. 

4.1.2. 

Specific actions to empower women 

Deriving from the analysis in Section 2 above, 41 gender specific actions have been identified 
in the following broad areas:  

•  Governance  (human  rights,  women's  political  empowerment,  development  of  indicators, 

role of women in conflict and post conflict situations); 

•  Employment  and  economic  activities  (economic  and  social  empowerment  of  women, 

employment, gender budget analysis, public finance management); 

•  Education  (abolishing  school  fees,  incentives  to  send  girls  to  school,  improving  school 

environment, adult literacy); 

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•  Health (social protection schemes, sexual and reproductive health and rights); 

•  Gender-based  violence  (legislation,  victim  protection,  awareness  raising  through  media, 

education and training). 

An indicative list of these possible supportive actions has been drawn up and is presented in 
Annex  III.  These  activities  are  examples  to  help  to  identify  the  proper  programme  mix  for 
each specific country or region. The proper mix of activities will be decided case by case after 
a thorough analysis of each individual situation. 

4.2. 

The Principle of Ownership and the New Aid Modalities 

Central to the Paris Declaration is the principle of ‘ownership’ of development co-operation 
initiatives by the recipient country. For actions that promote Gender Equality and Women’s 
Empowerment  it  has  been  shown  that  ‘ownership’  must  not  only  be  taken  by  partner 
governments,  but  also  by  the  women  beneficiaries  themselves.  In  practice  this  often  means 
ownership  through  the  involvement  of  CSOs  and  CBOs  (27).  Support  to  CSOs  advocating 
Gender Equality is especially important in cases where the number of women active in local 
or central government or in parliament is limited. The EU will, therefore, seek to support the 
emergence  of  such  CSOs  where  they  do  not  exist  and  to  ensure  a  significant  investment  in 
capacity-building for such organisations where they exist but are in need of strengthening for 
example in the areas of: lobbying skills, advocacy, gender analysis and economic literacy.  

The EU will seek to ensure the efficient channelling of development aid in support of country-
owned gender policies on the basis of an in-depth policy dialogue with partner governments 
and  key  non-government  stakeholders.  The  constraints  and  needs  in  each  specific  country 
context will be analyzed in order to enable genuine local ownership to be created both at the 
government and at the civil society levels as well as within the donor community.  

The  paradigm  shift  represented  by  the  Paris  Declaration  is  reflected  in  the  preferred  new 
mechanisms  for  aid delivery, i.e. budget support and sector wide approaches, as opposed to 
support  for  individual,  stand-alone  projects.  The  use  of  budget  support  is  dependent  on  the 
presence of certain conditions, in particular having a national or sectoral development strategy 
under  implementation,  having  a  macro-economic  reform  programme  in  place  supported  by 
major international donors (usually the IMF) and having a proven commitment to reform.  

Budget  support  can  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  Gender  Equality  by  linking  the 
disbursement  of  variable  tranches  to  improvements  in  gender  disaggregated  indicators;  by 
strengthening  public  finance  management  systems,  and  by  stimulating  a  wider  dialogue  on 
partner countries’ policy priorities. 

The European Commission and the Member States will support the development of indicators 
plus the collection of the relevant data that can track changes in Gender Equality and which 
can be linked to the disbursement of variable tranches. 

4.3. 

Gender in National Strategies 

The  preparation  of  a  Poverty  Reduction  Strategy  Paper,  a  National  Development  Plan  or  a 
Country Strategy Paper provides a unique opportunity to analyse the status of women relative 
to  men,  to  determine  gender-related  obstacles  to  development  and  growth  and  to  define 
country-wide gender sensitive policies. The gender situation of a country has to be analysed 

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across  sectors  with  an  eye  to  understanding  its  implications  for  growth  and  poverty.  In  this 
context, the EU’s on-going process of political dialogue with partner countries will be used to 
ensure  that  Gender  Equality  issues  are  included  in  the  analysis  of  poverty  variables.  This 
political dialogue will be complemented by EU assistance to reinforce the gender capacities of 
national authorities. Emphasis will be put on defining poverty not simply as a lack of income 
or financial resources, but as encompassing the notion of inequalities in access to, and control 
over,  the  material  and  non-material  benefits  in  society.  This  will  involve  the  inclusion  of  a 
number of issues on the political agenda such as: 

•  Securing acceptance for a broader multi-dimensional conception of poverty beyond income 
poverty including time poverty and measures of the differential impact of poverty on both 
women and men, as well as the promotion of technology that reduces time poverty; 

•  Securing agreement that civil society should contribute to policy dialogue, formulation and 
monitoring  of  PRSPs  all  from  a  gender  perspective  plus  agreement  for  appropriate 
capacity-building measures to be put in place;  

4.4. 

A Need for Gender Sensitive Indicators 

Indicators  are  necessary  to  measure  the  outcomes  of  gender  mainstreaming  and  gender 
specific actions (28). Most indicators currently used tend to reflect Gender Equality concerns 
in the social sectors. There are few reliable indicators available in most developing countries 
to  measure  changes  in  female  employment,  the  unpaid  care  economy,  civil  rights, 
incidence/prevalence  of  violence  against  women,  right  to  inheritance/property  and  land  use, 
women’s representation and participation in decision-making. 

The EU will therefore support the development and use of gender-sensitive indicators and the 
strengthening of the underlying basic statistics to enable progress across the entire spectrum 
of  equality  and  empowerment  issues  to  be  addressed  (29).  Annex  VII  contains  a  non-
exhaustive  list  of  possible  indicators,  taking  into  account  the  areas  of  education,  health, 
governance/empowerment of women, employment/economic activities, time use and violence 
against women.  

4.5. 

Strategies for Gender Responsive Budgets 

The increased use of budget support as a major instrument of aid delivery raises the question 
of how to promote Gender Equality within or through such a programme. To achieve this it is 
vitally  important  to  ensure  that  partner  countries’  budgets  are  gender  responsive.  This 
requires: 

•  Focus on gender awareness and gender mainstreaming in the budgeting process at national 

and local levels; 

•  Re-prioritisation  of  expenditure  and  re-orientation  of  programmes  within  sectors  to 

achieve both Gender Equality and human development. 

•  Monitoring  of  government  revenue  and  expenditure  to  ensure  that  the  inequality  gap 

between females and males is in fact decreasing; 

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4.6. 

Coordination and Harmonisation with Member States 

Coordination aimed at maximising complementarity between the programmes of EU Member 
States and the Commission is a key element in the effective promotion of Gender Equality in 
development  cooperation.  The  Commission  will  continue  the  practice  of  organising  regular 
meetings of Member State Gender Experts and, together with the Member States, will seek to 
increase not only EU-wide coordination but also harmonisation of activities on the promotion 
of Gender Equality in development cooperation. Priority will be given to reinforcing EC and 
Member State gender expertise through the identification and exchange of best practices. The 
preparation of Country Strategy Papers and Joint Assistance Strategies will continue to be a 
focus for enhanced coordination and harmonisation efforts. Furthermore, EC Delegations and 
EU  Member  State  Embassies  will  continue  to  use  existing  coordination  mechanisms  to 
address Gender Equality activities in the field. 

4.7. 

EU Action at International and Regional Levels 

Bilateral  cooperation  with  partner  countries  on  the  issue  of  Gender  Equality  will  be 
complemented  by  EU  action  at  the  international  level.  The  presence  of  a  unified  European 
voice  at  this  level  reinforces  the  role  of  the  EU  as  a  major  global  actor  in  development 
cooperation.  The  Commission  and  the  EU  Member  States  will  actively  seek  to  advance 
Gender  Equality  and  women’s  empowerment  in  relevant  international  fora.  Of  particular 
importance is the promotion of the extension of the scope of Gender Equality from health and 
education to other areas not captured by MDG3. 

Regional and inter-regional cooperation encourage information sharing between the members 
of  the  regional  organisations  on  gender  specific  tools,  data,  analytical  documentation  and 
training. The Commission and the Member States will therefore continue to promote regional 
cooperation in the field of Gender Equality as well as engaging with the existing international 
and regional networks in this area. 

5. 

SPECIFIC EC ACTIONS FOR THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY 

The role of the European Commission in implementing this strategy will involve actions on 
three fronts:  

5.1. 

Country Programming 

The  European  Commission  will  pay  particular  attention  to  ensure  that  Gender  Equality  and 
Women's  Empowerment  feature  in  all  future  country  and  regional  strategies  (30).  This  will 
involve the following actions: 

•  the further development of internal tools and programming guidelines; 

•  the  systematic  gender  assessment  of  country  and  regional  strategies,  including  the  mid-

term and final reviews of such strategies; 

•  the adjustment of country strategies according to the results of the above assessments; 

•  the  building  of  partnerships  with  relevant  international  organisations  who  have  a 

significant experience in mainstreaming gender into projects and programmes. (31) 

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5.2. 

Thematic Programmes and Other Financial Instruments 

Apart from national or regional programmes, additional resources are available through multi-
annual  thematic  programmes  tabled  by  the  Commission  under  the  financial  perspectives 
2007-2013.  The  Thematic  Programme  “Investing  in  People”  (32)  contains  a  financial 
envelope  for  funding  EC  actions  in  the  area  of  promoting  Gender  Equality  and  the 
empowerment  of  women.  Through  this  Thematic  Programme  EC  funding  will  be  made 
available to the following broad areas of interventions: 

•  policy and advocacy events promoting the implementation of international commitments; 

•  capacity  building  for  NGOs  and  associations  dedicated  to  the  advancement  of  Gender 

Equality and women’s rights; 

•  strengthening statistical capacity of governments. 

The funds available will be allocated through calls for proposals from eligible organisations 
and by direct agreements with selected partners. 

Gender Equality will also be supported through the implementation of the Environment (33) 
and Food Security (34) thematic programmes, as well as under the new European Instrument 
for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR II) (35) and the Instrument for Stability (36). 

5.3.  Monitoring and Follow-up 

The  practical  outcome  of  this  new  EU  Strategy  needs  to  be  monitored.  Accordingly,  to 
evaluate the progress made and to refine and adapt the Strategy to changes in the international 
context,  the  European  Commission  will  organise  in  2010  a  second  major  international 
Conference  on  Gender  Equality  with  the  participation  of  all  major  stakeholders  (37). 
Furthermore, a mid-term and a final evaluation of the implementation of this strategy will be 
executed  by  an  external  evaluator  in  2010  and  at  the  end  of  the  10th  EDF  cycle.  These 
evaluations  will  include  a  gender  budget  analysis  of  EC  funded  projects  and  programmes 
including general budget support in at least twelve selected pilot countries. 

EC Delegations, in close collaboration with Member State Embassies, will continue to include 
in their annual reporting an assessment of the promotion and achievement of Gender Equality 
in  the  partner  country.  Also,  the  Gender  Equality  section  of  the  ‘Annual  Report  on  the 
European  Community’s  development  policy  and  the  implementation  of  external  assistance’ 
will  continue  to  publish  aggregate  information  on  progress  made  towards  achieving  Gender 
Equality.  The  EC  and  the  Member  States  will  examine  the  possibility  of  a  joint  EU  annual 
reporting system that could include monitoring of gender mainstreaming in EU development 
cooperation. 

6. 

CONCLUSION 

The eradication of poverty demands that women and men be given equal opportunities in the 
economic  and  social  spheres  and  have  equal  access  to,  and  control  over,  the  resources  of 
society. However, if significant progress is to be made in the achievement of greater Gender 
Equality by the EU’s developing country partners, the EU needs to tackle systematically the 
constraints on the achievement of this goal that exist both on the side of developing countries 
themselves  and  inherent  in  some  of  the  EU’s  own  development  cooperation  mechanisms. 

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These  issues  can  be  addressed  only  in  the  context  of  an  enhanced  political  dialogue  which 
incorporates  Gender  as  an  explicit  theme  and  which  paves  the  way  for  the  EU  to  engage 
actively with those CSO’s and other organisations that make up the constituency for increased 
Gender Equality in the country concerned. 

Within such a framework the primary instrument to achieve greater Gender Equality, gender 
mainstreaming has to be used in a more effective and practical way if we are to make real 
progress  towards  the  goal  of  greater  Gender  Equality.  The  secondary  instrument,  specific, 
targeted  actions,  to  empower  women,  has  to  be  used  so  as  to  complement  mainstreaming 
activities and to address key strategic issues that impact on the well-being and opportunities 
of particular  vulnerable groups. For both instruments, their  application must be sensitive to, 
and  reflect,  the  unique  social  and  cultural  situation  of  each  of  the  EU’s  developing  partner 
countries.  To  support  such  an  approach,  the  focus  of  Gender  Equality  which,  hitherto,  has 
been mainly on health and education, must be broadened and extended to include other areas 
of cooperation.  

A  combination  of  advocacy,  support  for  women’s  groups  and  specific  actions  to  change 
cultural,  social  and  political  patterns  and  the  distribution  of  political  and  economic  power 
marks the way forward to promote Gender Equality. Clearly this will be a challenging task. 
But the EU is committed to supporting our partner countries to overcome all obstacles on this 
crucial path. 

EN 

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   EN