1. Create or strengthen national machineries and other governmental bodies.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:

Everyone is entitled to live in a society in which their human rights can be fully realized. UDHR 28

Countries must take steps to ensure that the rights recognised in international human rights conventions are enjoyed by everyone, without discrimination. They must adopt appropriate legislation and use all other appropriate means to ensure full enjoyment of human rights. (To ensure women's enjoyment of their human rights, the establishment of national policy and advocacy machineries for the advancement of women have proved to be an appropriate step.) ICCPR 2:1, 2:2; ICESCR 2:1, 2:2; CEDAW 2, 3; ICERD 2; CRC 4

Countries are encouraged to adopt affirmative action strategies as temporary measures to speed up the achievement of equality between women and men. CEDAW 4:1; CEDAW GR 5; CEDAW GR 23:15

Countries must ensure that women and girls are protected from discrimination by any person, organization or enterprise, not just governmental bodies. CEDAW 1, 2e; CRC 1, 3:1

Countries are encouraged to establish or strengthen national machinery, institutions and procedures at a high level of government with adequate resources, commitment and power to provide advice, monitor and formulate new policies for eliminating discrimination against women. CEDAW GR 6

ACTIONS:

• Ensure responsibility for the advancement of women at the highest possible level of government.
  
  
• Create national machinery where it does not exist and strengthen existing machinery.
  
  
• Provide staff training in designing and analysing data from a gender perspective.
  
  
• Report regularly to legislative bodies on the progress of efforts to mainstream gender concerns.
  
  
• Encourage and promote the active involvement of a broad range of public, private and voluntary organisations in working for equality between women and men.
  

2. Include a gender perspective in laws, public policies,
programmes and projects.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:

Countries have specifically undertaken to ensure that women and men equally enjoy all human rights. (Without including a gender perspective in all aspects of government activities, countries will lack the information and analysis that is required to achieve this undertaking.) ICCPR 3; ICESCR 3; CEDAW 2a, 2c

Countries are encouraged to develop national plans of action to ensure that women are protected from all forms of violence. DEVAW 4e

ACTIONS:

• Use more gender-sensitive data in the formulation of policy and implementation of programmes and projects.
  
  
• Include gender perspectives in all policies, programmes and projects and regularly review them to ensure that women are the direct beneficiaries of development, and that their full contribution to development is considered in economic policy and planning.
  
  
• Promote national strategies and aims on equality between women and men in order to eliminate obstacles to the exercise of women’s rights and eradicate all forms of discrimination against women.
  
  
• Give all ministries the mandate to review policies and programmes from a gender perspective and in the light of the Platform for Action.
  
  
• Undertake activities focusing on legal reform with regard to the family, conditions of employment, social security, income tax, equal opportunity in education, positive measures to promote the advancement of women.
  

3. Ensure that statistics are collected, compiled and presented by gender
for planning and evaluation purposes.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:

Countries are encouraged to promote research, collect data and compile statistics on the different forms of violence against women and the effectiveness of measures adopted to prevent such violence; and to make such research and data publicly available. DEVAW 4k

Countries should ensure that their national statistical services collect data, through national censuses and other social and economic surveys, in such a way that it can be disaggregated according to gender, and that this information is easily obtained. CEDAW GR 9

ACTIONS:

• Improve data collection on the full contribution of women and men to the economy; on access to health services and on the incidence of violence.
  
  
• Collect, compile and analyze statistics by sex and age to reflect problems, issues and questions related to women and men in society, and ensure that these are presented and interpreted in a form suitable for non-technical users.
  
  
• Improve measurements of women's underemployment, unremunerated work and participation in the informal sector.
  
  INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS: ACHIEVEMENTS
  
  
• National machineries have been set up or strengthened and recognized as the institutional base for promoting gender equality.
  
  
• In many countries, these machineries have achieved greater visibility, status, outreach and coordination of activities.
  
  
• Gender mainstreaming, the goal of which is to include a gender perspective in all laws, policies, programmes and projects, has become a widely accepted strategy.
  
  
• National machineries have made a significant contribution to the
  development of human resources in the field of gender studies and to
  the growing efforts to collect and disseminate data disaggregated by
  sex and age, gender-sensitive research and documentation.
  
  
• Within the UN system, progress has been made to mainsteam gender
  through the development of tools and the creation of gender focal points.
  INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS: OBSTACLES
  
  
• In some countries, national machineries have had inadequate financial and human resources combined with a lack of political will and commitment.
  
  
• Insufficient understanding of gender equality and gender mainstreaming among government structures, as well as continuing gender stereotyping and discrimination.
  
  
• Some national machineries have unclear mandates or are marginalized within the government. Their activities have been hindered by structural and communications problems within and among government agencies.
  
  
• Lack of data disagreggated by sex and age in many areas and of methods for assessing progress.
  
  
• Lack of authority and insufficient links to civil society.