Resources on INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS
Section h
"A national machinery for the advancement of women is the central policy-coordinating unit inside government. Its main task is to support government-wide mainstreaming of a gender-equality perspective in all policy areas....The necessary conditions for an effective functioning of such national machineries include being located at the highest level in the government, sufficient resources and opportunity to influence development of all government policies."
Beijing Platform for Action.
Websites and Electronic Resources
http://www.awid.org
AWID -Association for Women in Development, is an international membership organization that connects, informs and mobilizes people and organizations committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and human rights for everyone. AWID works across disciplines, regions and sectors to cause policy, institutional and individual change that will improve the lives of women and girls around the world.
http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge/index.html
BRIDGE is a gender development organisation that supports gender mainstreaming efforts by bridging the gaps between theory, policy and practice with accessible gender information. Based out of the United Kingdom, this website provides online gender and economic reports, free paper copies of bulletins, subscription information, glossaries, internet materials, and reviews with information about the Beijing Plus Five process.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equ_opp/news/gender_equ_en.htm
This European Union’s website falls under the Employment and Social Affairs of the European Union. This specific website deals with key issues, new developments, and the European Union’s publication: Gender Equality: a Joint Approach for a New Programme (2001-2005). This magazine, available online, addresses the objectives and strategies set by the European Union to achieve gender equality.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/X2785e/X2785e00.htm
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was founded in 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living by improving agricultural productivity and the condition of rural populations. This website provides information on development assistance, information and support services, advice to governments, a forum for international cooperation, in addition to gender-sensitive statistics for agricultural development.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/gender/overview/ilo.htm
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) gender website provides updated information on gender equality. It also includes information on ILO’s work for equality, policy and structure, actions, resources, and a list of links dealing with gender equality. Available in English, French, and Spanish
http://www.interaction.pair.com/caw
InterAction is a coalition of over 170 non-profit, US based organization working worldwide for sustainable development, refugee and disaster assistance, and humanitarian aid. InterAction’s Commission on the Advancement of Women (CAW) promotes gender equity in the policy and practice of InterAction members, national, and international development and humanitarian assistance organizations. This website provides information on gender and organizational change, gender integration in field programs, Beijing Plus Five, CEDAW, publications, and links to other gender-related websites.
http://www.kit.nl/cmo/html/body_gender.htm
Since the 1980s, the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) based in The Netherlands, has been active in the field of gender and development. KIT has adopted a strategy to incorporate gender perspectives into development programmes. This website, Woman, Gender & Development Programmes, provides information on KIT’s training courses that draw participants from a wide range of countries, as well as initiatives, advice, and institutional collaboration on promoting gender equity.
http://www.worldbank.org/gender
The World Bank Group, with a mission to fight poverty for lasting results, was established in 1944. This website focuses on gender statistics, Bank publications on gender, policy research reports, activities, calendars, projects, programs, development partners, and related links which include a wide range of NGOs committed to gender development.
http://www.genderstats.worldbank.org/menu.asp
This website of the Gender and Development Group (PREM Gender) provides a database of gender statistics and a country-by-country summary of gender profiles, basic demographic data, population dynamics, labor force structure, education, and health, including maternal mortality rates. Tables from World Development Indicators provide comparisons for gender differences, gender and education, and reproductive health.
http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/divis/acw/index.htm
The African Centre for Women (ACW) is a division within the Economic Commission for Africa. It was established in 1975 as the regional Women in Development (WID) structure in the United Nations system. This website focuses on gender issues and priority areas such as: economic and social policy analysis; development management; food security and sustainable development; information for development; and regional cooperation and integration. It also provides numerous links to other gender-based websites.
http://www.eclac.org/English/research/women/indicators/genderind.htm
The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Women and Development Unitsite provides gender indicators for follow-up and evaluation of the Regional Programme of Action for the Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1995-2001, and the Beijing Platform for Action.
http://www.unescap.org/wid/index.htm
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Women in Development site deals with a broad range of women’s issues in the Asia/Pacific region. The site includes information on the Beijing Platform for Action, a directory on National Focal Points for the Advancement of Women in Asia/Pacific, resources such as directories, statistics, publications, and an invaluable set of links to UN gender sites, government focal points, and NGOs working for gender-related issues.
http://www.unifem.undp.org/gov_ppp.htm
The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) works with governments to strengthen their capacity to develop the policies, programmes and tools necessary for gender-responsive development planning. This website provides information on engendering governance, policy, planning and programming, legislation and constitutional reform, leadership in decision-making peace building and conflict resolution, as well as tools for action and publications.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/resources/goodpractices
This good practices database in gender mainstreaming and implementing the Beijing Platform for Action is a project of the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality (IACWGE). The collection of good practices in this website has been created as a resource for organizations that are committed to implementing programmes to support gender equality. Good practices fall into two broad categories: the twelve critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action; and gender mainstreaming and UN system institutional processes. These include training and capacity building institutional and policy commitments, and resource allocations.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch
WomenWatch is the UN internet gateway on the advancement and empowerment of women. The website -a collaborative effort of three UN departments, UNIFEM, UN Division for the Advancement of Women and INSTRAW, includes sections on: the UN Working for Women, UN Global Conferences on Women, Follow-up to Beijing, Women of the World, News and Views, Beijing Plus five Global Forum, and Statistics and Indicators on women and development.
http://www.wld.org
Women, Law and Development International (WLDI) works with its global partners to identify legal, cultural and economic impediments to women's enjoyment of human rights, to propose targeted approaches, to develop activist strategies, and to train women's groups to advocate before UN and governmental bodies for policies that recognize women's rights. The site includes online programme and manual descriptions.
http://www.undp.org/gender
The UNDP Gender in Development Programme (GIDP) advises and facilitates UNDP’s gender mainstreaming in their work and policies. You will be able to find on their site a host of useful reports, links, and programme information on good practices, policies, capacity building, data and statistics, and NGO news. GIDP’s focus areas include the environment, governance, health, poverty, microcredit, information and communication technologies, and statistics and indicators.
Selected Books
Many of these publications can be ordered online at http://ww.womenink.org
The World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics.
United Nations
This revealing book published by the United Nations Statistics Division attempts to meet the challenge of the increasing demand for data on gender equity and the advancement of women. This authoritative and comprehensive reference takes a look at the status of women using statistical data and analysis and presents some of the more prominent statistical findings since 1995, while also drawing on recent changes and long-term trends. The World's Women 2000 focuses on six areas of concern: population; women and men in families; health; education and communications; work; and politics and human rights, reflecting the priorities and calls for action by the global conferences on women.
2000. 220 pages. WE525. ISBN: 9211614287. US$16.95
Handbook for Producing National Statistical Reports on Women and Men
United Nations
This handbook provides a framework for developing and disseminating, in the form of a publication, a minimum set of statistics and indicators on women’s and men’s position in society. It explains how to prepare and use available data and generate indicators on the basis of critical gender issues and concerns identified through user-producer consultations.
1997. 315 pages. ISBN 92-1-161394-9. WE425X. US$24.95
Engendering Statistics: A Tool for Change
Birgitta Hedman, Francesca Perucci and Pehr Sundstrm
Presenting the fundamentals of Gender Statistics, this book reviews gender issues, especially as they pertain to development and policies; discusses relevant statistics and how to identify and work with them; reviews data availability and quality; and discusses its analysis and presentation. Includes a 5-day training workshop on the production and dissemination of gender statistics.
1996. 144 pages. ISBN 91-618-0859-8. WE331Z. US$33.00
WISTAT-CD: Women’s Indicators and Statistics Database CD-Rom, Version 4
The United Nations Women's Indicators and Statistics Database, Wistat, is a comprehensive and authoritative compilation of currently available international statistics on gender, population and social development for 206 countries and areas of the world. Version 4 presents 76 tables, mainly covering the period 1970-1997, on different subject areas, some of which include population, education, economics, households and violence. Wistat-CD provides user-friendly software for versatile table layout and data search, selection and export, as well as the complete set of data organized in 161 spreadsheet files.
2000. Version 4, CD-ROM. ISBN: 9211614198. US$149.00
Many of these publications can be ordered online at http://ww.womenink.org