Supporting Gender Mainstreaming

The Platform for Action established gender mainstreaming as the major global strategy for ensuring the incorporation of gender perspectives in all areas of societal development and the promotion of gender equality. The ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2 established some important overall principles for gender mainstreaming and the letter of the Secretary General (13 October 1997) provided further concrete directives to heads of all United Nations entities. The recent General Assembly special session to follow-up implementation of the Platform for Action (June 2000) enhanced the mainstreaming mandate within the United Nations.

As part of follow-up to the Platform for Action and the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2, the Secretary-General has held periodical discussions on gender mainstreaming at senior management level (cabinet level). The Secretary-General has also chaired discussions of gender mainstreaming in the ACC (Administrative Committee on Coordination).

A strong, continued commitment to gender mainstreaming is one of the most effective means for the United Nations to support promotion of gender equality at all levels - in research, legislation, policy development and in activities on the ground, and to ensure that women as well as men can influence, participate in and benefit from development efforts. There is a continued need, however, to complement the gender mainstreaming strategy with targeted interventions to promote gender equality and women's empowerment, particularly where there are glaring instances of persistent discrimination of women and inequality between women and men.