Annex 1:

How policy-makers can include women

• Women’s issues and gendered interests must be treated as important citizenship rights and valued as such by policy-makers. Issues that are “left out” of citizenship rights – such as safety in the home, childcare and sexuality − need to be addressed and given public and/or institutional solutions.

• Including these issues in policy must not limit or stereotype women’s roles and ghettoise development assistance to women in sectors such as health and education. Women’s roles in all areas of life must be acknowledged in all policies. This will involve acknowledging non-typical and changing gender roles and questioning cultural norms regarding families and households.

• Gender mainstreaming can promote the rights of women in all areas of policy, even in those that are supposedly “gender neutral”. Gender mainstreaming requires resources, institutional commitment and cross-institutional training. Gender budgeting can provide the tools by which women’s concerns and a commitment to gender equality can be made concrete in all areas of policy.\

• In addition to mainstreaming, specific targeted interventions to address women’s empowerment and rights are needed. Women must be given access to earmarked policies and resources where they are disadvantaged, in order to redress situations of exclusion and discrimination.

• Affirmative action to increase numbers of women in formal political structures and other decision-making bodies is an effective way to kick-start processes of change towards gender equality.

Source: Bridge Citizenship cutting edge pack.