Gender equality constitutes a fundamental human right and a common value of the European Union (EU). The EU recognises that gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential for sustainable development and crucial to meeting international agreed goals such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action, the Cairo Programme for Action and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The EU considers women’s economic and political empowerment as a driving force for the achievement not only of gender equality but of overall economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. In the European Consensus on Development1, gender equality and women’s empowerment is identified as a critical cross-cutting issue and essential principle of development cooperation. The European Commission’s Communication on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development Cooperation (2007)2 and the subsequent Council Conclusions promote equal political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights for men and women, highlighting the need to sustain equal access to and control of resources and equal opportunities to exercise political and economic influence.
The gender commitments of EU development policy are further spelled out in the EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2010-2015)3, which aims to reinforce EU coordination on gender equality policies in development cooperation and improve our work on this matter. This Plan of Action contains a series of activities on different issues ranging from including gender in the political and policy dialogue, improving mainstreaming, and better tracking the aid devoted to ensuring equality between women and men.
The operational framework of the EU Plan of Action calls for specific support for action on women’s economic empowerment and identifies ‘Investing in People’ as an appropriate instrument. This call for proposals is intended to strengthen the capacity of actors and structures, including public and private entities and civil society organisations, to support women’s equal access to and control of economic resources and to improve availability of and access to services enabling women to participate equally in economic growth.
The EU considers women’s economic and political empowerment as a driving force for the achievement not only of gender equality but of overall economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. In the European Consensus on Development1, gender equality and women’s empowerment is identified as a critical cross-cutting issue and essential principle of development cooperation. The European Commission’s Communication on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development Cooperation (2007)2 and the subsequent Council Conclusions promote equal political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights for men and women, highlighting the need to sustain equal access to and control of resources and equal opportunities to exercise political and economic influence.
The gender commitments of EU development policy are further spelled out in the EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2010-2015)3, which aims to reinforce EU coordination on gender equality policies in development cooperation and improve our work on this matter. This Plan of Action contains a series of activities on different issues ranging from including gender in the political and policy dialogue, improving mainstreaming, and better tracking the aid devoted to ensuring equality between women and men.
The operational framework of the EU Plan of Action calls for specific support for action on women’s economic empowerment and identifies ‘Investing in People’ as an appropriate instrument. This call for proposals is intended to strengthen the capacity of actors and structures, including public and private entities and civil society organisations, to support women’s equal access to and control of economic resources and to improve availability of and access to services enabling women to participate equally in economic growth.
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