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