III. WOMEN
– A DRIVING FORCE FOR DEVELOPMENT

The Government will place increased focus on women in the development processes. In far too many developing countries, many women continue to experience marginalization, violence and oppression, which violate not only their rights but also deprive them of the opportunity to contribute actively to societal development.

The Government will devote concerted effort to converting women’s potential into a driving force for development. The Danish efforts must contribute to securing equal rights, equal access to resources and equal opportunities for political and economic influence for women and men. Without improved conditions for women and young girls, Africa will fail to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The Government will focus particularly on strengthening women’s rights and access to resources. Equal rights – e.g. property ownership and the right of inheritance – are crucial for enabling access to resources such as land and real estate. The link with economic growth and development is simple. If half of a country’s population does not have access to credit, technology, financial resources, education and the right to own land and property, the society’s human resources will not be used optimally and effectively, and its development potential will not be realised.

Great inequality between men and women contributes to keeping many developing countries locked in a vicious circle of poverty and weak economic growth. Greater economic independence offers women freedom and status – and thus also a greater opportunity and ability to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS as well as a greater ability to exercise their democratic right to participate in political life.

In 2007, the Government will promote girls’ resources through increased access to education via a contribution of DKK 25 million to the Education for All – Fast-track Initiative (FTI). The initiative is designed to help achieve the UN goal of universal primary education by 2015. When families in poor developing countries face the choice of which of their children will attend school, it is most often the girls who are sacrificed first. Consequently, there is a need for an extra effort in this area – and the Government will in its contribution place special emphasis on improving educational opportunities for girls.

The Government will also focus on the role of women in crisis and conflict situations. Women constitute an enormous pool of resources before, during and after a conflict. In this respect also, the protection and safeguarding of rights is crucial for enabling women to fully realise their potential. The resources of women are not fully exploited here either. Women are far too often too weakly involved in the process of rebuilding their communities after conflicts. Consequently, the Government will work to ensure that women’s resources are utilised more effectively in the resolution of conflicts.

The enhanced efforts will take a point of departure in the Government’s gender equality strategy within the development assistance sphere. The efforts will be implemented through the integration of gender equality considerations in the development assistance as well as through special initiatives implemented via bilateral and multilateral assistance.

In 2007, the Government will step up efforts to help women and allocate DKK 140 million to strengthening the position of women in Africa. The point of departure for the Danish efforts will be the Government’s five-point plan for gender equality, which was presented in connection with the Copenhagen Conference on Africa in May 2006.

In specific terms, the Government will allocate funds to the following four focus areas:

• DKK 40 million in the new programme country, Mali, to a special project aimed at facilitating women’s access to resources and promoting female entrepreneurs as part of a new business sector programme.
  
  
• DKK 40 million to a special project aimed at strengthening the efforts of African actors to promote gender equality. The objective is to embed the work on securing women’s rights, access to resources and influence in African regional and sub-regional organisations as well as in African think-tanks and networks. The African ownership is important for Africa’s women and for ensuring that their potential is not only exploited but also contributes to poverty reduction, economic growth and fulfilment of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
  
  
• DKK 40 million to a project carried out in collaboration with the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa focusing on HIV/AIDS as well as violence against women and children in South Africa and Southern Africa.
  
  
• DKK 20 million to strategic initiatives aimed at helping women in conflict and post-conflict situations. An exceptional effort is needed to protect and secure women’s rights in all phases linked to an armed conflict. The initiatives are to be implemented in cooperation with African organisations, Danish and international NGOs, and international organisations.

In addition, the Government will strengthen the focus on women’s resources and rights in the delivery of Danish development assistance by:

• Placing special focus on women’s opportunities for inclusion and influence in major bilateral assistance programmes launched in 2007.
  
  
• Establishing a special project group in Danida charged with the task of promoting gender equality in Danish development assistance.
  
  
• Introducing an obligatory gender equality analysis in all major Danish programme initiatives and new country strategies to examine how the activities specifically impact on and contribute to gender equality. On the basis of the results, relevant indicators will be identified in collaboration with the recipient countries and other donors in order to measure the results of the initiatives.

In parallel with providing the high level of assistance to women, the existing reporting mechanisms regarding this assistance will be refined with the aim of ensuring better documentation and visibility of Denmark’s efforts to improve the situation of women in developing countries.

At the international level, the Government will also make a concerted effort to strengthen focus on women in development, for example by pressing for preparation of gender-segregated statistics and the incorporation of gender equality perspectives in poverty reduction strategies.