Gender Equality - why the role of women is crucial to ending poverty
8 March 2007
Today is International Women's Day
Most of the poorest people in the world are women and part of what makes them
poor is the discrimination they face purely because of their gender.
Hilary Benn, International Development Secretary, is today calling on the international development community to rise to the challenge of fully meeting women's rights and ending violence against women. Hilary Benn is taking part in an ActionAid and One World Action panel discussion on "Women's rights in the age of insecurity" at 6-9pm today at The Library, Central Hall Westminster.
Gender Equality - at the heart of development
Today sees the launch of a new DFID publication
Gender Equality - at the heart of
development
(1.47
mb) that sets out what DFID is doing to tackle discrimination and promote free,
fair and equal treatment for women and girls in the developing world.
"This publication is about making a difference. It's unacceptable that women and girls continue to face discrimination in their everyday lives; discrimination limits the choices they have, the freedoms they enjoy, and the contribution that they can make." Hilary Benn.
Gender Equality Action Plan 2007-2009
Today also sees the launch of the
Gender Equality Action Plan 2007-2009(275
kb) which
explains what action we now need to take to make our work on gender equality and
women's rights more of a priority - as we committed to do in the White Paper.
It sets out how DFID can better use its partnerships, its money, and the way we manage our staff to make a lasting difference to gender equality and women's empowerment.
Some examples of DFID's work on gender equality:
DFID Vietnam is helping the government make land titles for women possible, to
develop and pass laws on violence against women and to promote women into senior
decision-making positions.
In Nigeria, DFID's £26 million support for a three-year Girls' Education project has increased enrolment by up to a quarter in six states.
Africa Division is providing advice to the African Union's Gender Commission to help African countries measure improvements made in the lives of women and girls.
Policy and Research Division is funding two five year research programmes to better understand what women's empowerment means and how to achieve it. One of these is focusing on women in Muslim countries.
International
Women's Day 2007
