Commonwealth Secretariat
  1. Gender Home
  2. Vision & mandate
    1. Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015
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    3. 1995 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development
    4. Update 2000-2005
  3. What we do
    1. Poverty Eradication
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  5. Documents
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    4. Meeting documents, New York, 23-24 February, 2008
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    1. Gender Mainstreaming Series on Gender Issues
    2. Gender Management Systems Series
    3. Gender Mainstreaming Series on Development Issues
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Poverty Eradication

Gender, Poverty Eradication and Economic Empowerment...

The Commonwealth's impetus towards encouraging member countries to mainstream gender concerns into macroeconomic policy dates back to the report of the 1989 Commonwealth Expert Group, 'Engendering Adjustment for the 1990s' and the Ottawa Declaration on Women and Structural Adjustment, endorsed by Heads of Government in 1991. The 1995 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development and the 2000-2005 update , 'Advancing the Commonwealth Agenda into the New Millennium', calls for the monitoring and analysis of the impacts of macroeconomic and economic reform policies on women and men, and the development of strategies, mechanisms and corrective measures to address gender imbalances in key areas such as gender responsive budgeting.

The Commonwealth Secretariat is currently involved in two broad areas: gender and fiscal policy; and gender and globalisation: trade & employment issues.

Programme Areas 

The 1989 report of the Commonwealth Expert Group on Women and Structural Adjustment was a pioneering work from the perspective of an intergovernmental organisation advocating to governments the need to integrate a gender perspective into macroeconomic policies. The Ottawa Declaration endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government at there meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1991, included three general principles: an emphasis on social equity and economic growth as well as efficiency; full integration of women into the decision-making processes; and a supportive international environment. The Expert Group, chaired by Mary Chinery-Hesse, included among others Richard Jolly and Bina Agarwal.  

Limited copies of Engendering Adjustment for the 1990s ISBN 0 85092 340 9 Price £6.00 may be available by sending an email to gad@commonwealth.int 

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