Posted Date: May 20, 2000
Expanded Federal Focus on Platform of Action Includes Rural Women, Global Economy
Expanded Federal Focus on Platform of Action Includes Rural Women, Global Economy
Two years after the Fourth World Conference on Women, U.S. government efforts to implement the Platform for Action continue to thrive and expand. In late October, the President's InterAgency Council on Women, which coordinates Conference follow-up, launched a new and unprecedented phase of action, the creation of eight InterAgency working groups on high priority, cross-cutting issues. The working groups complement the on-going work within federal agencies, in which task forces are promoting and monitoring agency-specific follow-up.
On October 22 and 29, representatives of the InterAgency Council held consultations with NGOs to discuss the working group agendas. According to Kathleen Hendrix, Associate Director of the InterAgency Council, there are three types of working groups: those that will focus on a specific event; those whose goal is to affect government policy; and those that initiate and promote dialogue.
The eight groups include Incarcerated Women in the U.S., Rural Women, The Globalizing Economy, NGO Outreach, Gender and Institutional Change, Gender Disaggregated Data, Mentoring Programs, and Trafficking in Women and Girls. Each group is headed by an official from a relevant government agency who, as chair, works to make sure that the group's goals are met. Each working group will be responsible for regularly briefing NGOs on their actions. Several InterAction members are already involved in the working groups and appreciate the access to U.S. agencies that the groups allow.
NGOs have expressed strong support and a high degree of optimism for the working group on The Globalizing Economy. Jill Merrick, Director of Communications at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), commented that this could be "the beginning of a possible dialogue with representatives from bodies such as the Treasury and the World Trade Organization." The working group will stress the importance of promoting gender awareness in economic institutions, but also aims to learn from the institutions what strategies would be the most effective.
Incarcerated Women in the U.S. aims to affect policy by addressing the issues that women in prisons, and asylum-seekers in detention, face on a daily basis. Led by the Justice Department, the group is examining issues such as an assessment of how the judicial system treats men and women differently, what happens to women prisoners who have children, and what can be done about the violence against women in prison. It is a timely development since the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence is expected to visit the United States in 1998 in order to investigate the U.S. prison system.
The Rural Women group is working together to plan the 1998 Women in Agriculture Conference which will be an international event held this summer in Washington, DC. The Department of Agriculture expects to have at least 40% of the participants come from outside the U.S. and has asked NGOs to help identify women farmers and agriculture experts from overseas. A representative from the Department of Agriculture also chairs Gender Disaggregated Data, which will develop better methods of compiling and reporting government statistics to reflect differing impacts on males and females. They plan to examine the statistical programs now being used by government agencies and suggest methods to integrate gender into the programs without adding an extra burden to the agency. Because government statistics greatly influence the services that are provided for women and children, this group plays an important role in institutional change.
USAID, an agency that has a very comprehensive gender action plan, leads Gender and Institutional Change. The AID plan includes a combination of elements designed to affect how the agency and individuals do their work: modification of AID's strategic framework, better data collection and analysis, gender integration requirements in grant and contracting mechanisms, personnel evaluation criteria related to addressing gender issues, and staff training. The group is examining the applicability of AID's experience to other agencies' policies and procedures and is also identifying other strategies for promoting organizational change.
InterAction is particularly interested in this initiative because it is parallel to the Commission on the Advancement of Women (CAW) which promotes gender equity in member organization's operations. The CAW, similar to USAID, provides resources and training for members to implement the gender equity amendments set forth in InterAction's PVO Standards.
The working groups are a promising mechanism for promoting gender equity in the U.S. government. Formed as a direct result of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women and the commitments that the U.S. government made at the conference, the President's InterAgency Council on Women has been an effective catalyst for action, as documented in the May 1997 report, America's Commitment: Federal Programs Benefiting Women and New Initiatives as Follow-up to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (please see the August16, 1997 edition of Monday Developments). The InterAgency Council's expansion into its new phase has the potential to become a mutually beneficial partnership for both the U.S. government and the NGO community.
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