UNDP | Europe & CIS | Driving Towards Equality: Eastern Europe and the CIS are on the way toward empowering women, but problems still remain

Driving Towards Equality: Eastern Europe and the CIS are on the way toward empowering women, but problems still remain

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BRATISLAVA, 8 March 2005 - If people want to achieve development that is both sustainable and fair, they need to take more steps to empower women, according to Dono Abdurazakova, gender advisor in UNDP's Bratislava Regional Centre.

"The eradication of all forms of discrimination, be they economic, social, political and cultural, is indispensable for the protection of human rights”, said Abdurazakova, making her comments on 8 March, the International Day of Solidarity for Women. “It is a commitment that all governments have endorsed”.

All UN member states have endorsed the Millennium Development Goals, eight objectives for development to be achieved by 2015. Goal Three calls on states to promote gender equality and empower women.

Much remains to be done in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Among the elderly there are more poor women than men. This is especially an issue considering women are concentrated in low-income sectors of the economy and earn less than men throughout their economically active life.

Furthermore, the participation of women in decision-making at all levels remains low. There is growing evidence that trafficking in human beings, particularly in women and children, is expanding. There are also areas that are not covered by official statistics, for example, violence against women or women"s access to assets, which represents serious problems in the region.

“International Women’s Day should be an opportunity to review our work and take steps towards our goals,” said Abdurazakova.

In promoting gender equality in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS region throughout the last decade, UNDP has supported 26 country-level and regional projects that help countries to build their abilities to promote women’s political participation and mainstream gender issues into national budgets and debates on development.

In addition, with UNDP support, national statistical agencies have published gender disaggregated statistics, while universities have begun Gender Studies as part of their curriculum. UNDP has published a number of training tools, sub-regional bulletins and textbooks to help these processes in Eastern Europe and the CIS.