Reported by Fiza Fatima Asar
WILPF has recently joined the network of NGOs campaigning for stronger Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR). Worldwide, women and girls are less likely to go to school, receive adequate health care, own property or participate in decision-making structures. The United Nations has a key role in working for women’s rights at global level and although it has several policies protecting the causes of women, they merely exist on paper and not in action. Furthermore, the UN bodies dealing with gender equality are under-resourced and fragmented.
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign calls for the creation of a strong new women's entity at the UN. It aims on achieving this by demanding:
- Universal field presence of women’s entity.
- A female Under-Secretary General to ensure the necessary representation and decision-making at higher levels of women.
- Substantial resources vital for the women’s entity to deliver its tasks – starting with $1 billion USD and rising over time.
- Accountability by way of including civil society, particularly NGOs, in its governance and programming
- Mandate to promote and hold the UN system accountable for gender mainstreaming throughout the UN and particularly in the UN Country Teams.
The UN General Assembly will make a decision on the structure of the new gender equality entity in September 2009. We must act now to influence governments to ensure that the new entity can really make a difference to women’s lives around the world! For further information or to join the campaign, please visit the website: http://www.un-gear.eu/takeaction.shtml
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