C H A P T E R   4
Partnership and Empowerment

Action for Women’s Empowerment
The years since the ICPD have seen broad agreement on basic strategies to advance women’s empowerment and participation, including the review of enabling conditions in law and social practice.

The principle of micro-credit loans for the poor, and especially for poor women, has been more widely recognized and supported by international donors and lenders (including international financial institutions), development assistance organizations, foundations and a growing number of nations.5 Micro-credit approaches have been built into a diverse range of project activities advancing such concerns as reproductive health, environmental protection and education.

Women’s social participation and activity in politics, through extension of the right to vote and through active candidacy, continues to increase in many settings. Some countries are reviewing their electoral laws, and some, such as Kuwait, have recently introduced the possibility of women as candidates in national and local elections. A growing number of countries, including India, the world’s largest parliamentary democracy, are mandating a minimum presence of women in local and national elected bodies.

Debate continues among women’s rights advocates about the strategies to be followed to advance women’s empowerment and fuller partnership with men in social decision- making. The relative importance of advancing the power and voice given to individual women compared to advancing women’s collective power through organizations and associations remains an issue.6

In Jordan, over 22 NGOs are involved in women’s issues. Most of these NGOs educate women from low socio-economic classes on their legal rights. In 1997 the Jordanian Women’s Union established a hotline to provide women with legal counselling. Also in 1997, the United Nations Inter-agency Gender Task Force held a one-day workshop on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in Amman, opening doors for feminist groups like the National Jordanian Committee of Women’s Rights to actively address inequities in the law. This committee is working closely with all women’s groups in dealing with constraints and difficulties women face because of the law.

The committee meets frequently with the government to amend laws. For example, a significant recent change allows women to obtain a passport without consent from their father/husband or legal guardian.7

 TABLE 1:
Measures Taken to Develop Partnerships with Civil Society

Reproductive Health and Rights Advocacy
In many countries, a strong community for reproductive health and rights advocacy existed before Cairo (for example, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Peru, the Philippines and South Africa). In some countries, it emerged or became stronger in

preparation for Cairo (Egypt, Mexico, Malaysia and Nigeria), while in others it evolved after Cairo. In some countries the family planning community is a prominent advocate (in the Caribbean, for example) while in other countries, such as India, advocacy involves a broad range of development organizations.8

Since the ICPD, NGOs, and particularly women’s organizations, have continued their strong advocacy for reproductive health and rights.9 NGOs in some countries have participated in the development of policy and legislative reforms. Many NGOs and civil society organizations have worked with their governments in advocacy campaigns to promote gender equality and equity, especially in female literacy and integrating males in reproductive health.10

In India, women’s NGOs were instrumental in encouraging the Government to move away from targets and financial incentives.

In India, a number of vocal women’s NGOs have influenced reproductive health policy. These groups were instrumental in raising issues of quality of care and client rights, and in encouraging the government to move away from method-specific targets and financial incentives.11

In South-east Asia, a women’s group has produced a framework on reproductive rights from an Islamic perspective.

In Pakistan, the Family Planning Association of Pakistan has taken the lead in adopting the reproductive health approach and shifting to a life-cycle approach. However, there is only one NGO working in the area of sexual health.12

In Ecuador, women’s NGOs have been very active in advocating for reproductive health and reproductive rights issues and in ensuring that the empowerment of women and improved women’s health, including reproductive health, would be included in the national social development agenda.13

Programmes in the Arab States region have undergone major changes in the post-ICPD period, particularly with UNFPA encouragement. There is now considerable involvement of NGOs in programme implementation on reproductive health and in related advocacy efforts on gender-based issues, including promotion of gender equality and equity, empowerment of women, male involvement concerns and adolescent reproductive health. The execution of country programme activities in the region by national NGOs has increased significantly since ICPD in Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt. NGOs have participated in the assessment of national priorities and development of country programme activities.14

In Mexico and Brazil, an increasing number of NGOs are working with national and local governments to formulate, implement and evaluate reproductive health programmes that incorporate gender perspectives.15

Combating Gender-based Violence
Recent years have seen greater attention and heightened policy discussion of gender-based violence. An increasing number of countries have revised their criminal codes and police procedures to give greater protection to women who are subjected to violence in the home. Long-standing habits protecting men from review of their treatment of family members are being challenged in more countries. Women’s self-help networks, at times with public assistance and support, are providing protection to victims of domestic abuse.

Increased attention has been given as well to exposing and advocating action on other acts of violence — including dowry murders, "honour" killings 16 and acid attacks.

In Pakistan, NGOs have recently established urban centres for victims of rape, incest and other forms of violence, and the Ministry of Women’s Development is acknowledging the need to expand these services to rural areas.17

Model projects addressing gender and violence issues, including sexual abuse and domestic violence are being executed in Colombia and Ecuador, Cambodia and the Philippines; these projects involve link-ups between government agencies and law enforcement bodies, NGOs, and specialized women’s groups, with funding and technical support provided by UNFPA.18

In Morocco, UNFPA is strengthening the collaboration between the NGO AMEP (Association maghrébine des études de population) and the Ministry of Justice through a project dealing with issues of marriage, divorce and violence against women. The project aims to strengthen the data collection system on marriage and divorce through training of judges and religious notaries, and to develop a monitoring mechanism for tracking violence against women.19

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For more information:
United Nations Population Fund
Information and External Relations Division
220 E. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A.
Tel. 212-297-5020; fax: 212-557-6416
E-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org. Web site: www.unfpa.org