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Fact Sheet No. 8
"Institutional Mechanisms for the
Advancement of Women"
The creation and strengthening of national institutional
mechanisms for the advancement of women have substantially enhanced
the ability of states to implement the objectives of the Platform
for Action, adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing
in 1995. Since then, nearly three-quarters of all states have established
some form of national machinery for the advancement of women.
The main task of these national machineries is to support government-wide
mainstreaming of a gender-equality perspective into all policy areas,
including legislation, programmes and projects. Gender mainstreaming,
in this sense, is a strategy for making women’s and men’s concerns
equally integral to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
of all policies and programmes.
The Beijing Platform for Action identified the creation and strengthening
of national machineries as one of 12 critical areas of concern, requiring
action by governments.
During its forty-third session in 1999, the United Nations Commission
on the Status of Women recommended further action to be taken to create
new or strengthened national machineries for the advancement of women
and gender equality. Among the agreed conclusions of the session were
measures to ensure a continued strong political commitment to the
strengthening of national machineries and to placing them at the highest
possible level of government, with the authority needed to fulfil
their mandated roles and responsibilities.
Strengthening National Machineries
Reaching the goal of equality between women and men ultimately depends
upon profound transformation in attitudes and behaviours at every
level of society, starting at the grassroots and continuing through
the highest levels of government. National machineries can play an
instrumental role in stimulating and nurturing these transformations
at every level. In this effort, governments have sought to strengthen
existing machineries in various ways, since the Beijing Conference.
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In Ghana, the government has enhanced the status
of the national machinery by placing it at the highest possible
level within the government, under the Office of the President,
with direct linkages to ministries, departments and agencies.
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Italy, Namibia, Panama, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
among others, have either created new ministries to house the national
machinery, upgraded the national machinery to the status of commission
under the leadership of a cabinet minister, or designated a new
minister to head the national machinery.
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Albania has elevated the national machinery to the
Council of Ministers level, with the chairperson reporting directly
to the Vice Prime Minister.
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Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria,
Senegal and Zambia are among the countries that have established
agencies or units for women’s issues at various governmental levels.
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In Viet Nam, the government assigned the Ministry
of Planning to prepare the national action plan for the advancement
of women, the Ministry of Finance to balance the plan’s budget,
and the national machinery to monitor the plan’s implementation.
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In Mongolia, after the national machinery developed
a national action plan for the advancement of women, each province
designed its own sub-programme to ensure the active involvement
of a broad cross-section of women.
Gender Concerns in Planning and Budget
In many states, national machineries have been instrumental in shaping
national development policies. Of particular note are advances that
have been made in integrating a gender perspective into budgeting,
accountability and auditing functions. Tying gender concerns to budgeting
and auditing can prove to be an effective tool for holding governments
accountable and to raising awareness of the different impact that
seemingly neutral budgetary decisions can have on women and men.
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In Kenya, the Maldives and Tunisia, among others,
the national machineries helped to ensure that the government’s
commitment to gender mainstreaming was incorporated into its national
development plans.
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In Swaziland, a Gender Sector Committee was one
of eight sector-based committees established to prepare input for
the National Development Strategy.
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The Philippines and South Africa are among the states
that have drawn from Australia’s model of a "gender budget", which
entails that all government agencies and departments prepare a budget
document disaggregating outlays in terms of impact on both women
and men.
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In Iran, the head of the national machinery is a
member of the Cabinet, facilitating the inclusion of women’s issues
in budgetary matters. In addition, the national machinery reviews
national budget items.
Gender Perspectives in Legislation, Policy and Programmes
National machineries have undertaken a variety of activities to support
the revision of, and compliance with, legislation to ensure gender
equality as well the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all
government policies and programmes.
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India has drafted a National Policy on Empowerment
of Women, which outlines legal, institutional and programmatic responses
to gender discrimination. It has also designated the National Commission
for Women as Ombudsperson for Women.
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In the Russian Federation, the State Duma and the
Federal Assembly have adopted a strategy and guidelines for the
development of legislation to prevent gender discrimination.
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In Portugal, a parliamentary commission has been
created to review all legislation from an equality perspective.
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In Belize, an Equity and Equality Strategic Plan
has been developed with a goal of integrating a gender-sensitive
approach into government and civil policies and programmes.
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In Colombia, a Standing Advisory Team in the field
of gender equality was created within the National Planning Department,
with a broad mandate to ensure gender mainstreaming within national
policies.
Mechanisms for Monitoring and Accountability
National machineries have a crucial role to play in monitoring the
implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and in instituting
mechanisms for accountability. They have the difficult task of analyzing
how government actions result in tangible changes in women’s lives.
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In Belarus, progress reports on the implementation
of the national action plan for gender equality are submitted to
the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Council of Ministers. A biannual
report is also submitted to the President of the Republic.
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In Finland, the national machinery has coordinated
an internal follow-up system that operates within each Ministry.
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In the United States, through the national machinery,
government agencies produce annual progress reports on the implementation
of the Beijing Platform for Action.
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In Rwanda, a committee composed of members of the
national machinery, United Nations agencies, bilateral agencies
and non-governmental organizations monitors implementation of the
Platform for Action.
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In Jordan, where the national machinery is composed
of high-level government officials and representatives of civil
society, each participating government and civil society body is
required to submit regular progress reports.
Collaboration with Non-governmental Organizations
Partnerships with civil society are critical to the sustainability
and legitimacy of national machineries, and can lead to social transformations
in the status of women. The Beijing Conference itself led to a proliferation
of new non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with women’s issues central
to their mission.
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The Women’s Council of Brunei Darussalam, an umbrella
organization of women’s organizations with over 2,000 members, has
collaborated with the national machinery and other government bodies
in the establishment of an HIV/AIDS foundation and a committee on
social issues.
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In Turkey, the national machinery established NGO
commissions on health, education, employment and law to assist in
the follow-up to the Platform for Action.
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In Niger, an umbrella association of women’s NGOs
with over 3,000 members has recently been formed, and has begun
to collaborate with the national machinery.
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In Eritrea, the national machinery is an NGO with
a network of over 200,000 members. The members of its central committee
are also members of Parliament or in high-ranking government posts,
helping to consolidate the role of the national machinery within
the government.
This fact sheet is based on "Review
and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action:
Report of the Secretary-General" (E/CN.6/2000/PC/2).
Published by the United Nations Department
of Public Information
DPI/2035/HÑMay 2000
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