Historic election result for Rwandan women

Progress for Women Is Progress for All

UNIFEM asks 'Who Answers to Women?'

'Who Answers to Women?' is the 2008/2009 report from UNIFEM in the series entitled 'Progress of the World's Women'. It provides a framework for understanding accountability from a gender perspective and looks at the key elements required to make accountability systems work for women. Lead author Anne Marie Goetz was recently invited to present the report to a seminar in London at the UK Department for International Development.

Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability is another major report from UNIFEM in its flagship series Progress of the World's Women. UNIFEM has acknowledged the generous support received from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Canadian International Development Agency which funded additional research and dissemination of the report that would not otherwise have been possible. Anne Marie Goetz, lead author and Chief Advisor, Gender, Governance and Security, was invited to present the report to a seminar at DFID in July. She was accompanied by Jan Grasty, President of the UK National Committee for UNIFEM, and they had the opportunity to talk to DFID officials about future plans.

The main purpose of the seminar was to discuss the central themes in the report, focusing on obstacles to achieving gender equality as well as progress made in recent years. The report looks at five key areas where a lack of accountability for action is directly affecting the realisation of gender equality and frustrating progress towards Millennium Development Goals. These areas are politics, public services, markets, justice systems, and aid and security.

The report concludes that for many women progress has been far too slow and that gender- sensitive accountability systems are required to ensure power holders match commitments with resources and action. It argues that two elements are essential if accountability systems are to work for women. Firstly, women must be full participants in public debates and power delegation processes and secondly, power holders must be required to answer for their performance in advancing women's rights.

You can see the full report online at: www.unifem.org/progress/2008

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