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Organisation of American States (OAS) -
Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
Gender Mainstreaming in the Programs and Policies of Labor Ministries
This is a working document presented to the XII Conference of Ministers of Labour.
Its recommendations covered the following priority areas:
- Integration of a gender perspective.
- Data collection disaggregated by sex and age.
- Equal pay for equal work and for work of equal value.
- Maternity protection for women at work.
- Safe and healthy working conditions.
- Social dialogue for women workers.
- Social protection to women working in the informal sector, self-employment,
micro-enterprise, home workers, domestic workers, and women whose labour is not
remunerated.
- Right to collective bargaining and labour unions.
- Gender equity and equality in human resources development.
Mainstreaming of a Gender Perspective into the Programs and Policies of Ministries
of Justice or Offices of Attorneys General
Entitled "Towards Justice with Gender" this document contains recommendations for
integrating a gender perspective into the programs and policies of the Ministries of
Justice or Ministries or Offices of Attorneys General of the Americas.
These covered a number of issues that included:
1994 Strategic Plan Of Action of the Inter-American Commission of Women
(Inter-American Commission of Women)
The Strategic Plan of Action of the Inter-American Commission of Women was
adopted at the Twenty-seventh Assembly of Delegates of the Inter-American
Commission of Women, and also presented to the Fourth World Conference on
Women in Beijing, China. The Plan of Action is structured around the following
areas:
- Participation of women in the structures of power and decision-making.
- Legal and institutional framework.
- Work.
- Education.
- Health.
- Elimination of violence.
- Eradication of poverty.
- National machinery responsible for the advancement of women.
- Regional cooperation.
- Migration and women in areas of conflict.
Priority was given to the following areas:
- the participation of women in the structures of power and decision-making
education;
- the elimination of violence, and the eradication of poverty;
- the identification, as operating objectives, of the strengthening of the national
governmental institutions and/or structures responsible for promoting, coordinating,
and executing programs and policies on women; and,
- the development of horizontal cooperation in the region.
1998 Plan of Action on Women's Participation in Power and Decision-Making
Structures
The XXIX Assembly of Delegates adopted the Plan of Action of the Inter-American
Commission of Women on Women's Participation in Power and Decision-Making
Structures in November 1998 (RES. 198 (XXIX-O-98).). The Plan of Action outlined
the situation in each subregion (the Caribbean, Andean region, Central America,
the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama, and the Southern Cone) as well as
the overall hemispheric region.
It identified areas for priority actions, which include:
- Cultural Change - these target the educational system and include
revision of school textbooks and a curriculum dealing with education for equal
opportunity and gender equity, as well as refresher courses and awareness training
for teachers. Also included were media and other public awareness campaigns as
well as studies to identify the hidden or informal barriers encountered by women
leaders;
- Training - this covers issues such as leadership training programs for both
women and girls in schools within a co-educational context (CIM is to identify
relevant funding);
- Modernisation of institutions - a total of 14 actions are set out covering issues
such as equal opportunity in the guidelines and procedures, leadership training for
women in government, family friendly policies such as day care, flexible work
schedules and shared workdays, support initiatives, modernization of existing laws,
proportional representation in offices awarded by popular vote, proportional quotas
for women, indicators for measuring women's participation, documentation centres
on women's issues and sex disaggregated national statistics;
- Building Alliances - includes the national, subregional, regional and
international levels as well as enhanced participation by women's organizations,
cooperation in the areas of research, financing, and publicity needed to reinforce
female leadership cooperation between the CIM and civil society organizations in
the member countries; and,
- Recommendations - these cover meetings, subregional training, coordination
and lobbying activities, identification of funding, appointment of women to
decision-making positions in the OAS General Secretariat and relevant studies and
activities to facilitate creation of an Inter-American Institute for Women's Leadership
Training.
Biennial Work Plan of the Inter-American Commission of Women 1998-2000
The Plan was adopted at the XXIX Assembly Of Delegates of Inter-American
Commission of Women, November 1998 and was based on mandates arising from
previous work plans. The identified common priorities are:
- Strengthening of the Inter-American Commission of Women
- Education including:
- -educational reform based on the principles of gender equity and non-
discrimination, which entail building relations of equality and solidarity
between men and women;
- -socio-cultural changes and eliminating stereotypes based on domestic
and work roles in education, to create an awareness that men and
women should share tasks in both the public and the private sphere;
- -training programs geared to educationally disadvantaged groups, such
as minorities, people living in rural areas, marginal urban sectors,
indigenous women, and ethnic groups.
- Eradication of Poverty. Action areas include:
- -the revision of laws and social and labour policies that will bring about
social reform with a gender perspective;
- -access to land, financial services, and/or credit programs;
- -activities aimed at female owners of micro enterprises to be launched
and to promote their access to technology and information; and,
- -health care for women in all stages of life, and priority will be given to
food security, especially during pregnancy and lactation.
- Elimination of Violence.
- Participation of Women in Power and Decision-making Structures. Actions to
be in accordance with the 1998 Plan of Action on Women's Participation in Power
and Decision-Making Structures (CIM/doc.39/98).
Biennial Work Program of the Inter-American Commission of Women - Work
Program Guidelines 2000-2002
The guidelines set out general criteria for the actions to be taken under the
Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) work program under various policy
documents.
CIM's actions are to focus both within the region as well as on its relations with other
agencies of the Inter-American system, organs and organisations of the OAS and
civil society organisations. Inter-American Commission of Women officials are also
reminded of the importance of evaluating proposals in light of the financial and
external resources available. The Permanent Secretariat is to continue to provide
technical support from headquarters to the Principle Delegates to advance the
activities within member states, as well as to continue the distribution of the Seed
Fund which is to give preference to the projects fulfilling objectives established in
the Inter-American Program.
The priorities for the biennium were identified as:
- Under the Inter-American Program for the Promotion of Women's Human Rights
and Gender Equity and Equality:
- -development of activities in the member states of regional scope
having multiplier effects, so as to promote the incorporation of the
gender perspective in their programs and activities;
- -to work at integrating a gender perspective in all organs, organisations
and entities of the inter-American system in collaboration with the
General Secretariat in raising awareness of the need to incorporate a
gender perspective in all of its activities and/or programs,
- -recommending that the governments strengthen the Inter-American
Commission of Women as the principle hemispheric policy-generating
forum for advancement of women's rights and gender equality;
- -integrate civil society organisations into CIS activities and encourage
their accreditation by the OAS, including an NGO database.
- Under Summit of the Americas: Canada 2001:
- -present recommendations of the Summit Implementation Review
Group (SIRG) on the incorporation of a gender perspective in the draft
Declaration of Principle and Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the
Americas; and,
- - focus on the Summit follow-up and provide support to the coordinating
country and coordinators on women's issues accordingly, as well as
collaborate with other international organisations on developing
gender indicators.
- Under the Strategic Plan of Action of the Inter-American Commission of Women:
- -Education (to induce social and cultural changes, eliminate
stereotypes regarding domestic and work roles, and create an
awareness that men and women should share the tasks of public and
private life); and,
- -Focus on women's education throughout their life cycles, with special
attention to training programs for educationally disadvantaged groups.
- Eradication of poverty and discrimination:
- -women micro entrepreneurs, and women's access to technology and
information;
- -identification of discriminatory laws in the member states (especially
women's access to land, financial services, and credit programs).
Highest priority to be given to the needs of rural and indigenous
women.
- Human Rights and Violence against Women.
- Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation in the Americas.
- Women's participation in power and decision-making structures. See the
Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women's Human Rights and Gender
Equality and Equity.
- • Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women's Human Rights and
Gender Equity and Equality of 2000
The entire Part IV is relevant to employment opportunities, but only paragraphs
directly related to work and employment are referred below.
"1. To Recommend that the Governments of the Member States take the
Following Actions:
16. Ensure women's equal access to employment and productive resources,
such as credit and land.
17. Promote policies designed to ensure equal pay for equal work by women
and men, as well as equal pay for work of equal value.
18. Encourage recognition of the economic value of un-remunerated labour,
including work done in the home by women.
2. Inter-American Organizations
1. ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN BY THE OAS GENERAL SECRETARIAT
6. Implement measures to ensure full and equal access by men and
women to all categories of posts in the OAS system, particularly
in decision-making positions"
The following has been adapted from the OAS website .
I. Background
The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), established in 1928 through a
resolution of the Sixth International Conference of American States, was the first
intergovernmental agency in the world created specifically to fight for the civil and
political rights of women in the Americas. From its inception, one of its basic
purposes has been to protect women's rights in the Hemisphere so that women and
men may participate in all spheres of society on an equal footing, in order to fully
and equitably enjoy the benefits of development.
It is important to emphasize the work done by the CIM to establish systematic
standards on behalf of women's rights, such as the Convention on the Nationality of
Women (Uruguay, 1933), the Inter-American Convention on Granting of Political
Rights to Women (Colombia, 1948), the Inter-American Convention on the Granting
of Civil Rights to Women (Colombia, 1948), and the Inter-American Convention on
the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women,
"Convention of Belém do Pará" (Brazil, 1994).
In 1994, the Assembly of Delegates of the CIM adopted its Strategic Plan of Action
for 1995-2000, which established strategies for securing and strengthening the role
of women through the year 2000. That same year, the First Summit of the Americas
was held in Miami. The Plan of Action adopted at the Summit referred explicitly to
the need to strengthen policies and programs to improve and expand the
participation of women in all spheres of society (Item 18, "Strengthening the Role of
Women in Society") and to strengthen the CIM.
Following up on efforts to implement the Plan of Action of the First Summit of the
Americas (Miami, 1994), the Second Summit of the Americas (Santiago, 1998)
entrusted the Organization of American States (OAS) with specific mandates
regarding its lines of action. Pursuant to those initiatives, the OAS General
Assembly, at its twenty-eighth regular session, adopted resolution AG/RES. 1592
(XXVIII-O/98), inviting the CIM to conduct various activities, including the
preparation of an inter-American program on the promotion of women's rights and
gender equity.
In November 1998, the Twenty-ninth Assembly of Delegates of the CIM adopted the
Declaration of Santo Domingo [CIM/RES.195(XXIX-O/98)], which recognizes
the rights of women throughout their entire life cycle as an inalienable, integral, and
indivisible part of universal human rights. It also reaffirms the importance of
protecting women's human rights and eliminating all forms of discrimination against
women, drawing on strategies aimed at strengthening the CIM and its relations with
other institutions in the inter-American system.
The Twenty-ninth Assembly of Delegates of the CIM later adopted resolution
CIM/Res. 209 (XXIX-O/98), "Strengthening and Modernization of the Inter-American
Commission of Women." On the basis of that resolution, the OAS General
Assembly, at its twenty-ninth regular session, adopted resolution AG/RES. 1625
(XXIX-O/99), "Status of Women in the Americas and Strengthening and
Modernization of the Inter-American Commission of Women," in which it calls a
meeting of ministers or of the highest-ranking authorities responsible for the
advancement of women in the member states. It further requests that the CIM,
acting as coordinator for the aforementioned meeting, prepare a draft agenda that
will include, among other topics, the approval of a draft inter-American program on
the promotion of women's rights and gender equity and consideration of the
commitments adopted at the Summits of the Americas.
II. Conceptual Framework
In the mid -1970s, the gender perspective began to emerge in response to
theoretical and methodological issues arising from an awareness of clear
gender-based imbalances and inequalities between men and women.
Gender can be defined as a cultural, social, and historical construct which, on the
biological basis of sex, determines the values that society attaches to being
masculine and feminine as well as the nature of collective subjective identities.
Gender also shapes the difference in social value assigned to men and to women
and the balance of power between them.
Gender relations also cut across other social relationships: production, ethnicity,
nationality, religion, and generational relationships. Gender relations, rather than
existing in isolation, are linked to other systems of social relations.
Gender equality means that women and men enjoy the same status and have equal
opportunities to realize their full human rights and their potential to contribute to
political, economic, social, and cultural development and benefit from the results.
Gender equality is therefore the impartial valuing by society of both the similarities
and the differences between women and men and the varying roles that they play.
This means that, if gender equality is to be achieved, a series of gender equity
measures must be taken to offset the historical and social disadvantages that
prevent women's equal enjoyment of the benefits of development and equal
participation in public and private decision-making and in power structures. Gender
equity is, thus, a path that leads to gender equality. The Inter-American Program on
the Promotion of Women's Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality is
intended to further this process.
Incorporation of the gender perspective is "a strategy for making women's as well as
men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all
political, economic and societal sphere, so that women and men benefit equally and
inequality is not perpetuated."
III. Objectives
The Inter-American Program has the following objectives:
GENERAL
- To systematically integrate a gender perspective in all organs, organizations,
and entities of the inter-American system.
- To encourage OAS member states to formulate public policies, strategies, and
proposals aimed at promoting women's human rights and gender equality in all
spheres of public and private life, considering their diversity and their life cycles.
- To make international cooperation and horizontal cooperation among the
member states one of the instruments for implementing this program.
- To strengthen relations and foster joint cooperation and coordination activities
with other regional and international bodies and civil society organizations active in
the Americas, with a view to guaranteeing policy effectiveness and optimal use of
resources.
- To promote the full and equal participation of women in all aspects of economic,
social, political, and cultural development.
SPECIFIC
To promote gender equity and equality and women's human rights by strengthening
and fostering:
- Women's real and formal legal equality.
- Women's full and equal access to the benefits of economic, social, political, and
cultural development.
- Full and equal access for women to employment and productive resources.
- Women's full and equal participation in political life in their countries and in
decision-making at all levels.
- Women's full and equal access to education at all levels and to the various
fields of study.
- Women's full access to health services during their entire life cycle, which, as
required, shall include physical, emotional, and mental health.
- Women's right to a life free of any form of abuse or violence, in both the public
and private spheres.
- The elimination of cultural patterns or stereotypes that denigrate the image of
women, particularly in educational materials and those disseminated in the media.
IV. Lines of Action
Responsibility for implementing this program will fall to the governments of member
states and to the OAS. Furthermore, implementation shall be coordinated with
national units in charge of women's policies and draw on the contributions of civil
society, depending on the different activities to be undertaken. The following lines of
action assist in fulfilling those arising from the mandates of the Summits of the
Americas, the Strategic Plan of Action of the CIM, the Biennial Work Program of the
CIM, the CIM Plan of Action on Women's Participation in Power and
Decision-making Structures, the mandates of the OAS General Assembly, the
Beijing Platform for Action, and the 1995-2001 Regional Program of Action for the
Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
TO RECOMMEND THAT THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES TAKE
THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS
- Formulate public policies and strategies, and take steps to promote women's
human rights and gender equality in all spheres of public and private life,
bearing in mind their diversity and their life cycles, by incorporating a gender
perspective.
- Promote the study and, if appropriate, the revision of national laws, to ensure
that they meet the obligations set out in the international conventions and
treaties on women's human rights adopted and ratified by the member states,
together with the adoption of measures to guarantee their effective enforcement.
The goal will be to achieve, through redoubled effort and by all possible means,
legal equality between men and women. To that end, efforts will be made to
eliminate laws still in force that discriminate against women and to achieve real and
effective application of laws already in force that establish equal rights for women.
Progress made in this area will be evaluated in 2002.
- Promote also the study and, if applicable, the revision of national law in order to
encourage full compliance with other international commitments adopted by regional
and global conferences in which the member states have participated, or which
have been approved by their legislatures, with the objective of ensuring equality and
gender equity.
- Create or, where appropriate, strengthen national institutions responsible for
women's development, provide them with sufficient human, financial, and
material resources, and invest them with authority at the highest levels of
administration, so as to ensure that a gender perspective and equality of
opportunity between men and women are integrated into public policies relating to
all spheres of society and government.
- Incorporate a gender perspective as an integral part of the programs, actions,
instruments, and agendas of national and international events, especially at the
ministerial-level meetings.
- Step up public awareness campaigns on the human rights of women, including
those enshrined in international conventions, so that women will have the
awareness they need to demand respect for those rights. The information will be
disseminated in appropriate language and formats, also adapted to the needs of
women with disabilities and tailored to the situation of women in each country of the
region: inter alia, women in urban and rural areas, indigenous women, women of
different ethnic groups and ages, and migrant women.
- Strengthen the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) as the principal
forum for generating hemispheric policy to advance women's rights and gender
equality, and provide it with technical, human, and financial resources, including
through voluntary contributions, with which to promote the initiatives required to
attain program objectives and follow up on this program.
- Implement the Plan of Action of the CIM on Women's Participation in Power and
Decision-making Structures.
- Encourage the adoption of affirmative action measures of a legislative,
administrative, or legal nature, as appropriate, to achieve equal opportunities for
women in all structures of society.
- Develop mechanisms to give women ready and timely access to justice, in
particular women with little or no income, by adopting measures to render judicial
proceedings more transparent, efficient, and effective.
- Systematize and support the exchange of information on issues relating to
women's human rights and gender equality and facilitate the direct exchange of
experience among countries, institutions, and organizations working in these areas.
- Launch awareness campaigns and implement programs to promote gender
equality and equal opportunities at all levels in national education systems, both
formal and non-formal.
- Support the provision of continuing gender education and training for judiciary
and legislative staff and for law enforcement officers of both sexes, within the
objectives of this program.
- Develop strategic linkages with civil society organizations for the exchange of
information and sharing of best practices related to gender mainstreaming.
- Include, where necessary, the objectives and lines of action of this
inter-American program in the national programs or plans of the member states on
women.
- Ensure women's equal access to employment and productive resources, such
as credit and land.
- Promote policies designed to ensure equal pay for equal work by women and
men, as well as equal pay for work of equal value.
- Encourage recognition of the economic value of unremunerated labour,
including work done in the home by women.
- Promote a cultural change whereby all sectors of society will become involved
in the empowerment of women and in the pursuit of gender equality, in particular, by
engaging men as an active and integral part of this change.
INTER-AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS
1. ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN BY THE OAS GENERAL SECRETARIAT
- Disseminate this program among the member states so as to contribute to the
fulfillment of the mandates issued in resolution AG/RES. 1625 (XXIX-O/99), "Status
of Women in the Americas and Strengthening and Modernization of the
Inter-American Commission of Women," adopted by the General Assembly at its
twenty-ninth regular session.
- Ensure that a gender perspective is consistently mainstreamed into the
preparation and application of international instruments, mechanisms, and
procedures within the framework of the OAS, and particularly on the agendas of
ministerial-level meetings.
- Adopt, in coordination with the CIM, the measures needed to integrate the
gender perspective into the execution of programs and activities by all organs,
agencies, and entities of the OAS, and promote the incorporation of this perspective
into the work of the agencies of the inter-American system.
- Provide all organs, agencies, and entities of the OAS system with the necessary
training to incorporate the gender perspective into their work and to prepare suitable
tools for attaining this program's main objectives, tapping, where applicable, the
experience of other international organizations, cooperation agencies, and member
states.
- Strengthen the Executive Secretariat of the CIM by providing it with adequate
human and financial resources and supporting it in its efforts to raise funds from
private sources.
- Implement measures to ensure full and equal access by men and women to all
categories of posts in the OAS system, particularly in decision-making positions
[AG/RES. 1627 (XXIX/O-99)].
- Support the integration of the gender perspective into the overall programs of
the Organization and the inter-American system, including their budget
allocations.
ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN BY THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION OF WOMEN
- Play a pivotal role, as the principal forum for generating hemispheric policy to
advance women's human rights and gender equality in carrying out the
Inter-American Program, and to forge closer ties with other international forums and
civil society.
- Report to the OAS General Assembly and the CIM Assembly of Delegates on
progress made in executing the Inter-American Program.
- Invite all organs, agencies, and entities of the inter-American system that have
not yet done so to share with the CIM information on the progress made by each of
them in activities designed to incorporate a gender perspective, implement this
program, and promote gender equality.
- Invite all international bodies, organizations, and institutions to share
information, including lessons learned and best practices on promotion and
protection of women's human rights and the incorporation of the gender perspective
to achieve gender equality.
- Undertake actions with civil society organizations to:
- -Promote joint efforts with government agencies and civil society
organizations to establish effective means of implementing,
monitoring, and evaluating policies, programs, and projects designed
to promote women's human rights and gender equality.
- -Study and analyse the status of observance of women's human rights
in the various countries.
V. Human and Financial Resources
Request the General Secretariat of the OAS to:
- Take short-term measures to comply with item 2.1.5 of this program.
- Encourage its specialized organizations to examine their budgets to determine
if any existing allocations could be channelled toward the implementation of this
inter-American program.
VI. Program Monitoring Activities
It will be incumbent upon the CIM to monitor this inter-American program and to
coordinate and evaluate, in coordination with governmental mechanisms pertaining
to women, the actions taken to implement it, including support for the formulation of
policies to promote women's human rights and gender equality.
The Secretary General of the OAS shall report annually to the General Assembly of
the OAS on implementation of this program by the organs and agencies of the inter-American system.
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