Gender Equality Progress Review

Delegates at the 8th Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting, Kampala, Uganda, 11-14 June 2007

To what extent has the Commonwealth achieved its target of 30% women in political and decision-making positions? Have all Commonwealth governments ratified international human rights instruments promoting gender equality? Are government budgets gender responsive?

What has been the real impact on the lives of women in the Commonwealth during these past five years?

To take stock of this and more, the Commonwealth has launched a Mid Term Review of its Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015.

What is the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015?

Gender equality is one of the fundamental principles of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth’s work towards advancing gender equality is guided by the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015

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The current plan updates previous agreements (1987, 1995, 2000) and builds on United Nations decisions on gender such as the Millennium Development Goals and Beijing + 10 Global Review (2005). It was negotiated and agreed during the 7th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting in Fiji in 2004 with input from over 200 civil society organisations.

The Plan addresses 4 priority areas:

• Gender, democracy, peace and conflict
• Gender, human rights and law
• Gender, poverty eradication and economic empowerment
• Gender and HIV/AIDS

Which are delivered through:

• Building partnerships
• Advocacy
• Research and knowledge creation
• Technical assistance
• Capacity building
• Monitoring

To take stock of the progress achieved over the last 5 years the Commonwealth is undertaking an extensive Mid Term Review (MTR) and the final report will be presented at the 9th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting taking place in Barbados in June 2010.