Gender Equality in Rights and Access

1
Gender Equality in Rights and Access

• Presentation by
• By
• Waafas Ofosu-Amaah,
• Gender and Development Group, the World Bank
• Post-Johannesburg New Strategies for Sustainable
  Livelihoods
• A Conference on the Integration of Environmental,
  Legal and Business Strategies for Sustainable
  Development
• September 27-28, 2002

2
Making the Case for Gender Equality in Rights and
Access

• Persistent gender inequalities impede access to
  rights, resources and services
• Laws legal systems influence womens and mens
  rights to
• productive resources
• economic opportunities and
• relative power
• Gender equality in rights is therefore an
  important sustainable development goal

3
Gender Equality is Affirmed in Intl Legal
Documents, Declarations

• Major international conventions on gender
  equality, e.g. CEDAW
• Global declarations, e.g., Beijing Platform for
  Action
• Millennium Development Goals MDG 3 Promote
  Gender Equality and Empower Women
• Johannesburg Declaration, Plan of Implementation
• Need for national laws and their enforcement

4
Laws Can Provide Enabling Environment or
Impediments for Gender Equality

• Laws and legal systems provide basis for the
  recognition of gender equality in rights
• They provide basis for the enforcement of rights
• Multiple reasons for the gap between recognition
  and enforcement
• Institutional strengthening capacity building
  remain a challenge

5
Need to Move Beyond International Policies to
National Action

• The key elements of this shift include
• Emphasis on equitable and sustainable development
• Emphasis on access to productive resources
• Access to justice and legal services for poor
  women and men
• Supportive but proactive role of international
  development organizations for country-led reform
  and institution building

6
Emphasis on Equitable and Sustainable Development

• Breaking down rigidly defined gender division of
  labor that limit womens income earning potential
• Promising approach in renewable energy services
  in Bangladesh
• Decentralized /community-driven initiative
• Early and meaningful consultations with female
  and male stakeholders
• Involvement of women as project designers and
  beneficiaries
• Private sector-NGO-government partnership
• Tapped opportunities for rural women to generate
  non-farm income for their families
• Utilized capacity of rural women in micro credit
  management

7
Emphasis on Access to Productive Assets

• Land is the most important asset in most
  societies
• Legal access to land goes beyond legislation
  includes justiciable rights
• Promising approach on womens land use rights in
  Vietnam
• Gender neutral laws can result in gender
  discriminatory effects
• Gender-responsive, low cost decentralized
  method of land titling
• Reduced inherent gender biases in land titling
  system
• Improved knowledge of Nat'l law in isolated rural
  communes
• Enhanced local govt capacity to implement land
  reform

8
Access to Justice and Legal Services

• It is about justice, not fairness
• Access to legal information about rights
• Access to legal aid services
• Education for all policy makers, the legal
  profession, local institutions about gender
  equality issues

9
What Role Can the World Bank Play?

• Gender equality contributes to sustainable
  poverty reduction
• 2001 Environment Strategy
• 2001 Gender Strategy
• Country Gender Assessments
• Supportive but proactive role

10
Challenge Aligning Laws, Policies and Strategies
with Action

• Country specific and country-led processes
• Strategic linkages with emerging (and converging)
  agendas empowerment, sustainable development
• Fostering partnerships with institutions working
  on rights issues civil society, the legal
  profession and business community, etc.
• Implications for the research action agendas

11
Three Old Questions to Guide New Strategies
for Sustainable Development

• This conference is a timely and useful start to
  defining strategies for these agendas
• What do we know about the roles, needs and
  responsibilities of men and women?
• What do we know about the gender aspects of
  sustainability and sustainable livelihoods?
• How well do we understand and address the needs
  of all stakeholders in local sustainable
  development issues?