E nhanced participation of
women in development:
an enabling environment
for achieving gender equality
and the advancement of
women, taking into account,
inter alia, the fields of
education, health and work
gender equality and the empowerment of women
was of fundamental importance in sustainable
development, achieving sustained economic growth,
eradicating poverty and hunger and combating
diseases, and that investing in the development of
women and girls had a multiplier effect, in particular
on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic
growth, in all sectors of the economy, especially in
key areas such as agriculture, industry and services.
3. The Commission recalled that the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women stressed that the full and complete development of a country, the welfare of the world and the
cause of peace required the maximum participation
of women on equal terms with men in all fields.
1. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirmed
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the
outcome documents of the twenty-third special
session of the General Assembly entitled “Women
2000: gender equality, development and peace
for the twenty-first century”, the United Nations
Millennium Declaration of 2000, the Declaration
adopted by the Commission on the Status of
Women on the occasion of the tenth anniversary
of the Fourth World Conference on Women, the
2005 World Summit, as well as all relevant General
Assembly resolutions and outcomes of United
Nations conferences; reiterated that women’s
empowerment and their full participation on the
basis of equality in all spheres of society, including
participation in the decision-making process and
access to power, were fundamental for the achievement of equality, development, peace and security;
and emphasized the need to ensure the full integration and full participation of women as both agents
and beneficiaries in the development process and
its commitment to strengthening and safeguarding
a national and international enabling environment,
inter alia, through promoting and protecting all
human rights and fundamental freedoms, mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and
programmes, and promoting the full participation
and empowerment of women and enhanced international cooperation.
4. The Commission recognized that all forms of violence
against women and girls violated the enjoyment of
their human rights and constituted a major impediment to the ability of women and girls to make use
of their capabilities, limiting their participation and
agency in development, including in the achievement
of the internationally agreed development goals,
including the Millennium Development Goals.
5. The Commission recognized also that the creation of
an enabling environment at all levels was necessary
to enhance women’s participation in and benefit
from development processes, and that challenges to
the creation of an enabling environment included:
(a) Insufficient coherence and coordination between
development policies and gender equality policies
and strategies;
(b) Insufficient time-bound targets for implementation
of gender equality policies and strategies;
(c) Underrepresentation of women in decision-making;
(d) Insufficient promotion and protection of the full
enjoyment by women of all human rights;
2. The Commission reaffirmed also that the full and
(e) Persistent violence and multiple forms of discrimi-
effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action was an essential contribution to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the
Millennium Declaration, and that the promotion of
natory practices and attitudes against women;
(f) Insufficient recognition of the contributions of
women to the economy and to all areas of public life;
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