Financing for Gender Equality

All national and international economic and development policies affect women in ways that advance or hinder gender equality. At the same time, sustainable economic growth and human development rest on women’s equal participation in the economy. Effective policy choices and development financing must therefore be tailored to the needs of both women and men.

Financing for gender equality is more than just securing resources and funding for institutions such as national women’s machineries, women’s organizations and gender equality projects. To accomplish sustainable and deep-rooted changes, financing for gender equality must recognize women as active economic agents that are central to a vibrant economy. It must also entail the design and implementation of economic policies that give women and men access to decent work, food security, social insurance and protection.

UNIFEM (now UN Women) has promoted the financing for gender equality agenda in the review and follow-up processes of two important international agreements:

• The Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development
• The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

These processes offer key opportunities to move forward with an agenda that underscores the integral links between gender equality and development financing and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).