Our challenges

There are many challenges in the struggle for gender equality and the end of discriminatory policies that prevent the advancement of women and their maximum contribution to development processes. Major social, economic and political changes, particularly in relation to conflict, globalisation, poverty and HIV/AIDS, have vital implications for, and pose serious challenges to, gender equality. These challenges cut across all four of our identified focus areas, and include, amongst others:

• the differential access to services and resources for women and men
• tackling the prevalence of discriminatory laws and harmful traditional practices
• addressing the lack of gender perspectives in trade negotiations
• the feminisation of poverty
• high maternal mortality
• denial of education for girls
• an increase in the number of conflicts and its impact on women and girls
• unequal representation and participation of women in decision-making and leadership levels.

Specific challenges that we address are:

Gender, democracy, peace and conflict:

• encouraging political parties to adopt the 30 per cent target for women candidates
• mainstreaming gender equality at all stages of the peace process
• demonstrating the impact of women’s contribution to democracy, peace and conflict in member countries

Gender, human rights and law:

• promoting accountability for international legal instruments that governments have ratified

• harmonising national legislation with international standards as a way of promoting equality
• promoting the awareness, and protection, of women’s rights, and redress women’s rights violations

Gender, Poverty eradication and economic empowerment:

• building the technical and institutional capacities of member countries to include gender perspectives in macro-economic processes and outcomes
• Promoting accountability for global, regional and national commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment through appropriate policies and sufficiently funded programmes and projects, encouraging Commonwealth ministries of Trade to build their capacity to mainstream gender in trade negotiations and policy formulation

Gender and HIVAIDS:

• Two-thirds of people living with HIV/AIDS are Commonwealth citizens and 60% of these are women. Widespread HIV/AIDS prevalence among women and girls and the impact it has on their rights to health and livelihoods poses policy and programme challenges

• Mainstreaming gender in HIV interventions is another major concern given the lack of resources for ‘gender’ in HIV/AIDS funding

Gender, Public Sector and Governance:

• Recognising that Good Governance and Gender Equality are mutually reinforcing and that the public sector plays a pivotal role in facilitating development in commonwealth countries, it was conceptualised that “Good Governance and Gender Equality in the Public Sector” be the central theme that will guide activities under this area. The ultimate aim is to contribute towards the transformation of public sector institutions in the Commonwealth to ensure gender-responsive policies, plans, programmes, service delivery for gender equitable governance and development outcomes.