Another element to consider is the sectoral distribution of the gender equality-focused aid. As shown in Chapter 6, this category of aid is still concentrated in social sectors, while allocations of gender-marked aid on economic infrastructure and private sector development are relatively small.

Although a great deal of international attention is being paid to aid effectiveness, the importance of addressing gender inequality through aid and governance has not been adequately recognized in the largely technical agenda of the Paris Declaration. To date, no consistent tracking system of investment on gender equality aid exists in multilateral institutions; an exception is the OECD gender marker, but less than half of the funds eligible for 'screening' use this marker. One step toward improving accountability in this area would be for international aid and security institutions – including multilateral agencies – to agree to a coherent monitoring system for marking aid flows by gender, building on the OECD Gender Equality Marker (GEM). Another step would be to intensify support for collection of sex-disaggregated data, at least across all of the MDGs and also in key 'missing' MDG areas such as violence against women. Finally, alliances between gender equality champions within and outside of international institutions must focus their efforts to identify and call for greater accountability of these institutions to unswervingly implement the gender equality commitments embodied in their own policies and strategies.