Policy brief Gender Mainstreaming

On Track with Gender – Taking Stock Phase

Tags: Knowledge Platform
Additional tags: Gender mainstreaming , Gender

Almost 15 years ago, governments committed themselves to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995). This was to be
realised through gender mainstreaming. Fifteen years later, the results of gender mainstreaming seem to be disappointing. However, a comprehensive and systematic study on the possible causes of and
solutions for this limited success was lacking. This Policy Brief aims to shed light on the current gender mainstreaming policies and practices and provides recommendations for future interventions in this field.

The On Track with Gender Trajectory is an initiative of CIDIN, Hivos, Oxfam Novib and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Trajectory started in July 2008 and is supported by the Development Policy Review Network as one of the three-year processes aiming at intersectional cooperation and policy review. On Track with Gender covers two stages. The first stage was devoted to ‘Taking Stock’: a review of what has been done so far with regard to gender equality and gender mainstreaming at the Ministry, Dutch NGOs and universities. It sought to establish what policies and strategies are being pursued and what can be learnt. This Policy Brief is based on analyses of papers and discussions during the Taking Stock meetings. For more details about this trajectory and future activities, see www.ontrackwithgender.nl.