Gender equality

Snapshot

A lady participating in decision making during the 2006 Tokelau Referendum.

Worldwide, 70% of those living in 'extreme poverty' are women and children. One third of all women and girls experience physical and sexual violence and girls are twice as likely as boys to die from malnutrition and preventable diseases. And regrettably there are plenty more statistics like this.

Empowering women is essential if those caught up in this cycle of poverty, violence, hunger and inequality are to be able to fulfil their role in society.

NZAID priorities

New Zealand has long been a committed campaigner for the promotion of women's rights and to achieving gender equality for all people, young and old. At the international level, New Zealand supports the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). At the programming level, NZAID's strategic approach is to ensure that women's empowerment and gender equality are actively pursued in all development activities.

Gender inequality exacerbates poverty, and poverty exacerbates gender inequality. New Zealand considers that gender equality is both an MDG in its own right and also a key means to achieving all the MDGs. Ensuring that women and men, girls and boys, are equally able to contribute fully to their own social and economic development, and that development benefits are fairly shared, are essential cornerstones to achieving NZAID’s vision of A Safe and Just World Free of Poverty.

Gender policy

The policy will aims to equally empower women and men, girls and boys to realise their rights and improve the wellbeing of their families, communities and societies.

Gender in the Pacific

While commitment to progressing gender equality and women's empowerment applies across all our programmes, New Zealand's special relationship with the Pacific underpins a core focus on advancing gender equality and women's empowerment in the region. As such, NZAID is committed to working with its Pacific partners to support full implementation of the Revised Pacific Platform for Action 2005-2015 and Pacific Plan Strategic Objective 8 on Improved Gender Equality

NZAID on the ground

Examples of NZAID's support for gender equality and women’s empowerment include:

Funding for the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in the Pacific region through the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Pacific in 2004/2005
Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Secretariat: NZAID provides core funding to the Secreatriat including the Women's Advisory Network which was established to support women police officers and address the gender inequality issues in Pacific police forces
The Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT): RRRT is a Pacific grown organisation that provides technical advice and training on human rights and the principles and practices to governments, regional agencies and civil society organisations throughout the Pacific. RRRT places a particular focus on enhancing the rights of women. NZAID has a strategic partnership arrangement with RRRT for core and programme funding.
The Centre for Women and Children, Tonga: provides counselling, advisory, training and other services for families. NZAID has provided core and programming costs since 2001. For 2006 and 2007 NZAID guaranteed funding of $140,000 a year.
Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency, Bougainville, PNG: works to strengthen families and communities to deal with domestic violence, rape, child abuse through a network of village counsellors throughout the province.
The Vanuatu Women's Centre's (VWC) Advocacy Training Programme for men - a training course aimed at challenging and changing men’s attitudes.
Sustainable Agricultural Livelihoods in Eastern Hazarajat (SALEH) – women’s empowerment through literacy training
Under the KOHA-PICD, NZAID co-funds New Zealand NGO initiatives targeting gender equity and equality issues. An example of this funding is the grant to Christian World Service to support the Tamil Nadu Women’s Resource Centre in South India – helping women and families in 300 communities change their lives .

Case study | Gender Mainstreaming in the Mekong Region

Four countries sit on the banks of the Lower Mekong River – Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is the international organisation that manages their shared water resources and the economic development potential of the river. Funded by NZAID, the MRC embarked on a gender mainstreaming project, recognising the significant role women play in development projects aimed at sustainable development of water resources.

The first phase of the project involved a study to understand the role of women and related resource development in the lower Mekong Basin. This study found that women play an integral role in the social, cultural and economic development and account for at least half of the economically active population. More importantly, the role of women is not adequately considered in development planning for water resources, agricultural production, management and marketing.

The next stage is to make changes - implementing strategies that integrate gender consideration as an integral dimension of all aspects of the work MRC does so that they benefit women and men equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. It’s an expression of MRC’s commitment to link social equity and empowerment to sustainable natural resources management.

You will find further case studies in the policy document Empowering Women Reduces Poverty

Page Last Reviewed: 13 March, 2008