APPENDIX
The Government welcomes the report of the International
Development Committee of its inquiry into "Women and Development",
and the keen interest the Committee has shown in this key and
challenging area of policy.
The Government's response is set out below, following
the order of the Committee's conclusions and recommendations.
1. In setting the DAC 2015 Targets, the international
community has defined what it considers to be the key indicators
of successful development. We welcome the recognition in these
targets of the importance of the elimination of women's poverty.
The DAC 2015 Targets will not be achieved without addressing the
disproportionate burden of poverty, lack of access to education
and health services and lack of productive opportunities borne
by women. In the shorter term, the achievement of the departmental
objectives of DFID for 2002 relies heavily upon progress being
made in addressing women's poverty and lack of access to resources
and services. Consideration of DFID's policy on women and development
is, therefore, central to our task of holding the Department to
account against its stated objectives (paragraph 5).
The Government agrees with the Committee's conclusion,
and welcomes its interest in this important area of policy.
2. The international community has confirmed the
status of women's rights as human rights in a series of meetings
at the United Nations over the past fifty years, from the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 to the Fourth World Conference
on Women in Beijing in 1995. It now has an obligation to put the
weight of its development policies and programmes behind those
commitments to ensure that access to those rights is extended
to the poorest people in the world (paragraph 6).
3. We welcome the Government's commitment to a
rights-based development policy agenda (paragraph 7).
The Government agrees with the Committee's observations
and conclusion. Our commitment to support the implementation of
these international agreements is set out in the 1997 White Paper
on International Development. Further details of how we intend
to implement these commitments is to be set out in a series of
strategy papers to be published during the course of the coming
year. The series of strategy papers will include specific papers
addressing women's equality, and human rights for poor people.
4. Our Report is published at the beginning of
a review of the impact of DFID's gender policy which is due to
be completed during 2000. We welcome this review and look forward
to examining the results (paragraph 8).
The commencement of a comprehensive evaluation of
DFID's support to greater gender equality and women's empowerment
has been slightly delayed, but the study will begin in the course
of 2000.
The evaluation will be in the form of a major study,
providing a comprehensive assessment of the evolution of the Government's
policies on gender equality and women's empowerment in the context
of international development; and the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness,
impact and sustainability of the relevant programmes and projects
funded by the Government in pursuit of these policy objectives.
The design of the evaluation study cannot be determined in detail
until a preliminary review has been carried out by the evaluation
team. Nevertheless, it appears likely that most of the key concerns
flagged up by the Committee in its report can be addressed. However,
given the wide ranging nature of the study, it is inevitable that
some topics will be addressed in more detail than others.
5. Poor men have as much to gain from gender equality
as poor women. Men, women, boys and girls must all be included
as important agents of social and cultural change in bringing
about such equality (paragraph 9).
The Government agrees with the Committee's views.
6. Poor women are, along with other excluded groups
such as people with disabilities, disproportionately represented
among the poorest people in the world. The focus of any credible
development policy must be the removal of the particular obstacles
which exist to women's escape from poverty: obstacles which are
often completely different from those faced by men (paragraph
11).
The Government agrees with the Committee's views.
7. We concentrate our discussion of women and
development largely on the examples of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan,
as case studies of the global problems of discrimination against
women and their resulting disproportionate representation among
the poorest people in the world (paragraph 14).
The Government welcomes the approach taken by the
Committee to this inquiry, and the fact that its views have been
informed by visits to projects and programmes supported by DFID
in developing countries.
8. We saw evidence in all three countries we visited
(Bangladesh, India and Pakistan) of continuing discrimination
and violence against poor women, and the resulting unequal exposure
of men and women to the effects of poverty and deprivation. We
were particularly concerned about the situation in Pakistan, where
poor women suffered from widespread and severe discrimination
and violence and continued to bear the overwhelming burden of
poverty (paragraph 15).
The Government shares the concerns expressed by the
Committee regarding discrimination against women, particularly
in Pakistan. We take every opportunity to ensure that the Pakistani
authorities are aware of our concerns. We also take account of
gender equality issues as a matter of course in the design and
implementation of all our bilateral development assistance to
Pakistan - which has focused upon reducing poverty and increasing
basic rights and access to essential services, especially for
women and girls. We are considering new initiatives, which can
be implemented through non-governmental channels, to address the
challenges that they face.
9. We trust that a political solution will be
found to the current crisis and that democracy will be restored
in Pakistan. We intend to inquire further into DFID's policy on
development cooperation with Pakistan during the period of military
rule, and its plans for the continuation of projects which are
currently suspended in the future (paragraph 17).
The International Development Secretary outlined
her position at a meeting with the IDC on 15 December 1999. She
explained that we had suspended our engagement with the Government
of Pakistan because there had been a coup; that we believed it
to be the right policy to get the military regime to commit to
a process of time-bound reform that included action on corruption,
better economic management, prioritising the poor and transition
to democracy; and that the Department had been carefully through
its programme, project by project, to look at impact and where
it was justifiable to either finish projects or to keep options
open to re-engage when the time was right.
10. We look forward to DFID's active and significant
participation in effective emergency relief and longer-term reconstruction
in Orissa (paragraph 18).
DFID is actively engaged in following up emergency
assistance with considerable support to reconstruction after the
cyclone in Orissa.
11. The declining sex ratio in India provides
a stark and shocking indication of the true extent and impact
of women's low status in society, their lack of access to basic
health and education services, and the discrimination and violence
which continues to threaten their chances of survival (paragraph
19).
The Government shares the Committee's concern and
agrees there are a number of complex contributing factors to the
low and declining female to male ratio in India. DFID's Country
Strategy Paper for India sets out how we will contribute to empowering
women and addressing unequal access to resources for poor women
throughout our work, aiming to tackle the causal factors of a
low female to male ratio.
The evidence of "missing women" in census
data is a cause of serious concern, but the Government would like
to correct some misinterpretations of the data from India in paragraphs
24 and 25 of the Committee's main report. The report suggests
that the data shown in Table 2 demonstrates adverse survival rates
in India for women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
compared to other Indian women. In fact, this is not so. The ratio
of women to men among Scheduled Castes is no worse than among
other groups, excluding Scheduled Tribes. Table 2 in fact demonstrates
the better survival rate of Scheduled Tribe women compared with
all other groups in India, including Scheduled Castes.
Specific mention is made in the report of the situation
in Lunglei District in Mizoram. Based on census data, the ratio
of women to men is said to be as low as 217 women per 1,000 men.
DFID India has checked with the authors of the Atlas of Women
and Men in India, who confirm that this is what the census data
shows. However, this ratio is so low as to call into question
the validity of the census data itself, or the possibility of
a transcription error in entering it. DFID will be passing on
the Committee's interpretation of these data to the authors of
the Atlas, along with the Committee's many positive comments.
12. We welcome DFID's emphasis in the White Paper
on the various aspects of women's poverty in addition to lack
of income, including women's lack of power to determine the course
of their own lives and to participate more broadly in the development
process; restricted access to productive resources and basic social
services; lack of access to justice; personal insecurity; and
gender-based discrimination and violence (paragraph 22).
13. There are general constraints which operate
against women's access to the benefits of development, but it
must also be recognised that women are not a homogenous group,
and that their generalised vulnerability to increased poverty
is mediated by many other factors including their age, marital
status (especially widowhood), caste, religion, ethnicity, class,
physical mobility, and geographical location. We note as an important
example the pervasive influence of the caste system in India on
the access of women and men to the benefits of economic development,
and we welcome the consideration of this issue contained in DFID's
country strategy paper on India (paragraph 30).
The Government welcomes the Committee's recognition
of the complex nature of poverty, and the particular ways in which
it bears on women. DFID's Country Strategy Paper on India, as
the Committee notes, explicitly includes consideration of Scheduled
Castes and will ensure their inclusion in UK supported programmes
and projects through participatory planning, and careful monitoring
and impact assessment work.
14. We welcome efforts to improve the collection
of information on progress towards the DAC 2015 Targets (paragraph
31).
The Government welcomes the Committee's support for
its efforts and those of the international community.
15. We recommend that in its work to support the
development of improved international mechanisms for the collection
of development statistics, DFID include an emphasis on the collection
of information on the ways in which poverty affects men and women
differently at various points during their lives, as well as how
its incidence and effects are mediated by other factors. The improved
availability of such information would help donors and developing
country partners to target development assistance more efficiently
and effectively towards those who need it most, making the achievement
of some of the DAC 2015 Targets much more likely (paragraph 32).
The Committee has rightly identified three important
parts of the overall picture, which all need to be addressed,
but which are of differing degrees of complexity. Gender disaggregation
of the data used to construct most of the indicators is relatively
straightforward, existing already to a degree for certain countries
and indicators but in other cases requiring amendments to reporting
forms and analytical programmes. The exception to this is the
$1 a day figure - to do a gender analysis of this means allocating
household income and expenditure amongst household members, which
is far from easy.
The impact of poverty on men and women at different
points in their lives is undeniably valuable to know, but to be
done properly would require some sort of longitudinal study of
livelihoods - these are normally complex, expensive, and therefore
infrequent. DFID has recently agreed to fund a pilot study of
such a nature, tracking children born in 2000. It would also be
interesting to see whether there are proxy indicators which are
linked to poverty at different ages of mankind.
The effect which other factors have on poverty has
been a major area of study for some years. Poverty surveys have
pointed to clear correlations between particular factors and poverty,
enabling us to say "broadly the poor have the following characteristics".
But not everyone with a particular characteristic is poor, and
at this point the debate requires detailed and qualitative analysis
of anti-poverty strategies at individual and community levels.
There is a balance to be drawn between the simplicity of the indicators
for broad targeting and the detailed knowledge which will be required
for successful anti-poverty interventions.
16. The "Atlas of Women and Men in
India", produced in collaboration between the
British Council and academics and NGOs in India, and funded by
DFID, is an impressive and very useful example of improved collection
of gender-disaggregated data on a national scale. We recommend
that DFID provide funds for the compilation of further gender
atlases of India based on statistics gathered in the future, and
that the exercise be replicated in other countries in the Sub-Continent
and elsewhere (paragraph 33).
DFID India will be actively considering support to
a second volume of the Atlas, following the completion of the
2001 census in India.
The need for improved gender disaggregated data is
recognised in the Government of Bangladesh's National Action Plan
for the Advancement of Women. DFID Bangladesh will investigate
whether and how additional support to improvements may be appropriate,
after our updated country gender strategy is agreed in early 2000.
17. Increasing women and girls access to basic
education in order that they may read and interpret religious
texts for themselves may be a key to dispelling discriminatory
customs and practices which are inaccurately associated with them
(paragraph 39).
We support any effort dedicated to improving the
literacy skills of women and girls. However, while an improved
ability to read the written text of any given religion would no
doubt enable women to have an influence on its interpretation,
religion is only one part of the broader social fabric. Efforts
to address women's unequal position will necessarily take a wide
view of society and the myriad of variables which impact upon
their status.
18. We recommend that DFID's gender review include
consideration of the impact of education programmes not only on
indicators such as literacy and numeracy, but also on the incidence
of discrimination and violence against women (paragraph 41).
Research evidence strongly demonstrates that the
impact of education for women will go beyond providing them with
literacy and numeracy skills, to enabling them to gain further
control and influence over their lives. Policy research and reviews
which attempt to capture the additional positive benefits of education
for females can only have a positive influence in increasing understanding
of the complexity of the relationship and of the broader social
value of improved educational opportunities for girls.
DFID's gender evaluation study will address not only
gender aspects of DFID's work in education, literacy and numeracy
but also discrimination and violence against women. The linkages
between education, discrimination and violence are complex and
difficult to understand and are a very appropriate topic for policy
research. However, it will be difficult to trace such linkages
in an evaluation study unless they are a feature in the design
and monitoring of project and programme interventions.
19. On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the
Convention of the Rights of the Child, and almost ten years since
the World Conference on Education for All, very little progress
has been made in redressing the gender imbalances in adult literacy
and access to basic education (paragraph 44).
20. Oxfam painted a dismal picture of progress
towards the Jomtien target of education for all by 2000: Around
28 million children in South Asia alone will still be out of school
in 2000. The rate of progress in reducing gender disparities in
education in South Asia in the five years following Jomtien was
only one twentieth of that required to reach the targets set,
and, on current projections, South Asia will not achieve gender
equity in literacy until 2097 (paragraph 45).
The Government recognises that the task ahead is
significant and that the changes achieved to date have been slower
than is desirable. However, recent reviews in preparation for
the tenth anniversary of the World Conference on Education For
All indicate that we have made progress in diminishing the gender
gap in South Asia and the Arab States. In the time since Jomtien,
we have achieved a much greater understanding of the nature of
the challenge and, in particular, of the need to improve education
opportunities for girls. As a result of this improved understanding,
the approach to tackling the challenge is changing, with donors
working together with governments to create sustainable frameworks
for supporting the provision of Universal Primary Education for
all. Within this approach there is a very strong emphasis on improved
provision of quality education for girls.
21. The introduction of user fees by developing
countries engaged in economic reform exacerbates already existing
difficulties in poor families being able to send all their children
to school. When payment for basic education is introduced, it
is girls who lose out most. There are obviously tensions between
the need for resources to fund education programmes and the related
policy of introducing user fees, and the effects of such user
fees on the access of poor people, particularly girls, to education.
Further research is needed on the role of user fees in the provision
of sustainable basic education and health services in states which
are unable to provide sufficient funds from the public purse (paragraph
56).
It is often true that when user fees are introduced,
girls suffer disproportionately. This is an area that merits further
focused research. DFID supports the view that no child should
be denied access to educational opportunities because of user
fees. In cases where user fees have been introduced, mechanisms
for relieving the burden on girls and the most disadvantaged should
be introduced to ensure that all children are able to attend school.
22. We recommend that DFID conduct an assessment
of the impact of radio gender training projects such as those
run by Trish Williams, and provide an analysis of the value of
the radio as a mechanism for distributing information to women
and men about, for example, education and health (paragraph 63).
DFID's Social Development Department has recently
strengthened its professional capacity in relation to media and
development. New work will begin shortly on developing improved
approaches to assessing the impact of radio programmes and other
media work, including the benefits for women as well as men.
23. Measures to improve women's sexual and reproductive
health must, as was recognised at the five-year review of Cairo,
include a particular focus on access to services for young women,
who account for 25 per cent of deaths in pregnancy or childbirth
each year, and for whom pregnancy-related complications are the
leading cause of death (paragraph 72).
DFID shares fully the concerns that young women suffer
a disproportionate share of the ill-health and death that result
from pregnancy related causes, and agrees that special effort
is needed to ensure that young women can access the information,
services and care to help avoid too early or unwanted pregnancy.
As important are efforts to help young women and men avoid sexually
transmitted infection, including HIV/AIDS.
24. Dr John Havard emphasised that when we look
at the whole of the situation of women's health in developing
countries, nearly all of it is avoidable in the wider sense of
the term ... we tend to look at it from the point of view of curative
clinical medicine, but curative medicine does not really matter
in developing countries. The main problems in developing countries
are poverty, malnutrition, discrimination and functional illiteracy
in women. Sir John Vereker pointed out to us that the maternal
mortality figures are the most stubborn ones in the pantheon of
development indicators ... In a way it is an expression of the
difficulty of the entire development process. It brings in the
capacity for running health systems, physical infrastructure,
road access, education of women, telecommunications, all of these
things will play a part in it. Patricia Hindmarsh agreed with
this: it is the single most poignant indicator of the status of
women in the world (paragraph 74)
DFID agrees that maternal mortality indeed illustrates
most starkly the health divide between rich and poor, and our
Health Target Strategy Paper recognises the importance of the
range of factors that contribute to determining women's health
and pregnancy outcomes. The effectiveness of the health system
and the quality of care it provides are key factors. Much more
needs to be done to ensure that women are attended by skilled
health personnel during delivery and have better access to the
obstetric care needed to deal with complications. The UK played
a lead role in ensuring that these actions were reflected in agreements
reached at the June 1999 ICPD+5 Special Session of the UN General
Assembly.
25. We recommend that DFID encourage the Governments
of developing countries to establish and implement laws to prohibit
early marriage. Furthermore, where such marriages have already
taken place, penalties for illegal marriages should on no account
fall on young women or their children (paragraph 80).
International agreement on the need to outlaw early
and forced marriages is reflected in the Global Platform for Action
agreed at the 4th World Conference on Women at Beijing
in 1995. The UK is a signatory to these agreements, and provides
broad-based support to their implementation.
26. Each year in Bangladesh some 4,500 pregnant
women are subjected to such severe and horrific or frequent violence
that it leads to their death during pregnancy or the birth of
their child (paragraph 81).
The report's focus on emergency obstetric care (EOC)
is welcome. DFID Bangladesh will be promoting improved provision
of EOC on a national scale through the Health & Population
Sector Programme, which started in 1998.
27. We recommend that DFID, in its review of the
impact of its policies on women, include an examination of the
key factors which reduce or increase the impact of programmes
to train traditional birth attendants on maternal mortality rates
(paragraph 82).
The impact of traditional birth attendant (TBA) training
programmes on maternal mortality was reviewed at the 1997 Inter-Agency
Group (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, IPPF, Population Council
and Family Care International) Technical Consultation on Safe
Motherhood in which DFID participated. Evidence presented showed
that the benefits of TBA training are "modest at best",
leading to consensus that "there is no documented case of
a society relying heavily on TBAs - trained or untrained - to
attend deliveries that has succeeded in lowering its maternal
mortality". DFID believes that the maternal health needs
of women should be met through action of the kind outlined in
the response above to paragraph 24 of the summary of conclusions
and recommendations.
28. The UK Committee for UNICEF told us in evidence
that access to reliable methods of family planning could halve
the number of maternal deaths and reduce by 30 per cent the under-five
mortality rate. Provision of access to and ability to use safe
and reliable family planning methods must be a priority of sexual
and reproductive health programmes. But simply providing condoms
to women and men is not enough to ensure that they are able to
use them. Equally important are women's access to the necessary
information to enable them to use contraceptives safely and effectively,
and their ability to negotiate and make decisions about the use
of contraceptives with their partners without fear of coercion
(paragraph 84).
The Government fully agrees with the views expressed
in this paragraph. Ensuring and improving women's access to information
and the fullest choice of contraceptive methods, including barrier
methods to prevent infection, is a key priority for DFID. DFID
has been instrumental in making new female controlled methods
of contraception, such as the Female Condom, more widely available,
and is supporting research aimed at further increasing the range
of contraceptive methods from which women, and men, will be able
to choose.
29. It is important for women workers to have
access to health services. But it is not for DFID to provide basic
health services in factories involved in production for multilateral
companies. We are sure that such companies would find it in their
own best interests to pay for such services themselves, and we
urge them to do so. DFID should provide such services only in
the short term and as a last resort (paragraph 85).
The Government remains convinced that short to medium
term subsidies for reproductive health care services for women
in garment factories in Bangladesh are justified. In addition
to the need to prevent the spread of HIV amongst this sexually
active and vulnerable group (mainly young women), such initiatives
demonstrate to factory management the benefits of improved quality
services for, and health amongst workers more generally. The project
referred to (Marie Stopes Clinic Society) is seeking sustainability
through payments by factory management as well as user charges
over the medium term.
DFID agrees that in many circumstances employers
could do more to protect and improve the health of their workers.
But short term support of the sort provided in Bangladesh can
play an important role in "kick-starting" long term
corporate involvement in the provision of employee health services,
as well as making a direct and significant contribution to the
health of a vulnerable group of women.
30. In India, 42 girls per 1,000 surviving beyond
age one die before reaching age 5, compared to 29 per 1,000 boys.
In Bangladesh, the rates are 47 per 1,000 girls compared to 37
per 1,000 boys, and in Pakistan, 37 per 1,000 girls compared to
22 per 1,000 boys. This contradicts biological advantages of girls
which, in most other developing countries, mean that girls are
more likely to survive than boys. In Bangladesh, this trend persists
into adulthood, where, in direct contrast to almost all other
developing countries, significantly more women than men (as a
proportion of the population) die each year (paragraph 86).
The Government agrees with the Committee that these
data are cause for considerable concern.
31. We welcome the commitment contained in DFID's
country strategy paper on Bangladesh to emphasise the importance
of nutrition, especially for women and girls. We recommend that
the gender review include consideration of strategies to achieve
this aim throughout DFID's development programme (paragraph 89).
Nutritional status is a key indicator of poverty,
and one which DFID takes account of in the development of its
country strategies and in monitoring progress towards poverty
elimination.
32. As in education, health interventions must
focus on removing the barriers to women's access to and use of
existing services and resources. Key factors highlighted by witnesses
were quality, availability of rural transport, and gender-sensitivity
of staff. We recommend that DFID's gender review include an analysis
of the effectiveness of its strategies to increase women's access
to, and ability and willingness to use, existing basic health
services (paragraph 93).
DFID's gender evaluation will address gender aspects
of health programmes, including women's access to health services
and their ability and willingness to use services.
33. We welcome DFID's contribution to the International
AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which is working to develop an AIDS vaccine,
and recommend that DFID encourage other donors to contribute to
the Initiative. We accept that investment in research efforts
to develop an AIDS vaccine is a long-term approach, but in the
event of a vaccine being discovered it could make a massive (and
highly cost-effective) impact on the human development prospects
of millions of people in the world. Development is a long-term
process, and the "meantime" of which Sir John Vereker
spoke will only be made longer if donors are not prepared to invest
significant resources now in research for the development of an
AIDS vaccine (paragraph 99).
Research aimed at developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine
requires significant resources from all donors and will encourage
other donors to contribute to efforts to produce an effective
vaccine. DFID will also continue to give priority to immediate
efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, through ensuring people's
access to information, education, essential commodities such as
condoms, and treatment for sexually transmitted disease.
34. The Sub-Continent appears still to be in the
fortunate position of having a relatively low incidence of HIV/AIDS
compared to developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. But there
are already more people infected with HIV in India alone than
in Uganda and Nigeria together. The Sub-Continent could be on
the brink of a disaster, and no-one appears to be prepared to
break the taboo on public discussion of sex and begin to make
serious efforts to prevent an epidemic. During our visit to Bangladesh,
India and Pakistan, we saw little evidence that there was sufficient
commitment of financial resources and political will to prevent
a catastrophe in the next decade as HIV and AIDS begin to spread
outside high risk groups in the population. The AIDS epidemic
in Sub-Saharan Africa and its devastating effects on human development
are well-publicised. The international community must act immediately
to mobilise the political will and resources to prevent a similar
situation unfolding in the Sub-Continent (paragraph 105).
The Government agrees with the Committee's concerns
about the lack of sufficient political and resource commitments
to prevent the spread of HIV. DFID Bangladesh are actively engaged
with the Government and other development partners to increase
commitment, and will be investigating further proposals to raise
HIV/AIDS awareness more widely.
Although the current incidence of HIV/AIDS in South
Asia is low we cannot afford to be complacent. There are already
signs that in some countries, eg India, the disease is spreading
into the mainstream population and given the population in South
Asia, the disease could spread to very large numbers of people
with disastrous consequences. DFID is accordingly urgently working
on the preparation of an action plan for re-inforced attention
to the issue of HIV/AIDS in Asia which will focus on the key issue
of increasing political commitment and the mobilisation of adequate
resources.
35. The positive effects of microcredit schemes,
whilst obviously valuable at a local level, are not inevitable
and, if they remain localised and are not accompanied by larger-scale
measures to remove discrimination against women, will have limited
impact on the removal of the structural and cultural barriers
which operate to prevent the achievement of women's equal participation
in economic development on a larger scale (paragraph 108).
The Government broadly agrees with the Committee's
conclusion, but would note that this holds for almost all development
interventions, and not just those related to microcredit.
36. We recommend that DFID include in its gender
review an analysis of how many of the microfinance projects which
it supports include a strategy to enable women to become involved
in the management of the projects, and of the value of such strategies
in achieving the broader aims of improving the status of women
on a local level (paragraph 109).
DFID's gender evaluation will consider gender aspects
of microfinance projects and programmes, and will seek to assess
the range and volume of support in this area. The evaluation is
also likely to assess the character and effectiveness of arrangements
made for enabling women to manage projects and programmes such
as microfinance projects. It is likely that this will be done
through review of specific cases, allowing deeper analysis than
would be possible through a broad statistical analysis.
37. Women have a broad variety of development
rights and needs which cannot be met through the provision of
credit alone. We welcome the movement towards "microcredit
plus" projects, which include basic health and education
services, rights education, literacy programmes and broader strategies
to remove structural barriers to women's development alongside
the provision of small loans and savings incentives (paragraph
111).
The Government agrees with the Committee that broad-based,
multi-sectoral approaches will often bring more lasting benefits.
It would be a mistake, however, to conclude from this that credit
providers should themselves be responsible for broader-based work.
While this might be desirable in some cases, it is certainly not
the norm. Some microcredit programmes might legitimately argue
that they lack the capacity or expertise to provide additional
services directly.
38. We welcome DFID's recognition in the White
Paper of the various demands on women's time, and the need to
take those fully into account in development programmes. We would
welcome the inclusion in DFID's gender review of an assessment
of the extent to which microcredit programmes supported by DFID
have successfully tackled this issue, and how this has been achieved.
Microcredit schemes must be designed so as not to increase the
demands on women's time and energy to an unsustainable degree
(paragraph 112).
The Government broadly agrees with the Committee's
conclusion, but would note that this holds for almost all development
interventions, and not just those related to microcredit.
39. Gender discrimination is the fundamental cause
of women's disproportionate representation among the poorest people
in the world. We therefore welcome the inclusion of "the
removal of gender discrimination" as a specific objective
in DFID's statement of purpose (paragraph 113).
The Government welcomes the Committee's support for
this objective.
40. Despite CEDAW having been agreed almost twenty
years ago, and now having been signed by 161 States Parties, legislative
discrimination against women continues to exist in many forms
all over the world and acts as a pervasive and persistent barrier
to successful development (paragraph 120).
The Government welcomes the Committee's observation
on DFID's statement of purpose, and agrees with its view of global
progress since the adoption of CEDAW.
41. We consider women's lack of equal access to
land inheritance rights to be one of the most important and persistent
barriers to equitable development. We urge DFID to press the case
for implementation and enforcement of legislation to allow women
equal rights to inherit land in all those countries which are
signatories to CEDAW but in which women are still unable to enjoy
equal inheritance rights. Without access to land, women in developing
countries are much more likely to remain vulnerable to poverty
and insecurity. A priority for the forthcoming review of DFID's
gender policy must be also a comparative examination of the effectiveness
of different measures to improve the implementation of existing
land inheritance laws (paragraph 121).
DFID's gender evaluation will include assessment
of DFID's assistance for women's empowerment and will review improvements
to key aspects of women's legal position such as inheritance rights.
DFID has been pressing for equal rights for women to inherit land
in a number of countries, including India where slum improvement
projects supported by the UK have secured legal rights for women
in land.
42. DFID could fulfil a valuable role in raising
awareness about the conditions of women workers, particularly
homeworkers and those working in the informal sector, and in encouraging
and supporting UK businesses to develop their codes to include
consideration of such women within codes of conduct (paragraph
123).
We accept this conclusion. The vast majority of women
work in the home and domestic industry. We will be continuing
to support organisations such as the Ethical Trading Initiative,
which helps UK businesses to address the labour standards of formal
and informal workers in the supply chains of export industries.
We will also look for ways in which we can support research and
country specific initiatives which will develop practical and
sustainable approaches to improved labour standards for informal
sector and home-based workers.
43. We welcome DFID support for the establishment
and development of alternative women's refuges in Pakistan and
would encourage similar funding, where appropriate, in other countries
(paragraph 137).
Prior to the present freeze on bilateral assistance
to the Pakistan Government, DFID was developing a project proposal
in Pakistan to address the issues of refuge reform and the protection
of women from violence. We will consider resumption of this work
if and when circumstances are right to resume development assistance
to the Pakistan Government. Support for women's refuges in other
countries is being provided as part of wider work to address violence
against women.
44. DFID, in its policy document "Breaking
the Barriers: Women and the Elimination of World Poverty",
mentions violence against women as a development issue only in
passing, and within the context of its humanitarian work in situations
of conflict. Violence against women often increases during armed
conflict, as we discuss below, but it is equally important to
address violence against women which takes place outside conflict
and emergency situations, in the normal daily lives of women and
girls. Perhaps the most fundamentally important and difficult
of all the types of violence which are perpetrated against women
is the pervasive preference for boys over girls which continues
to lead to sex-selective abortion, infanticide and neglect of
girls just because of their gender. Also important are domestic
violence and dowry-related violence, and forced prostitution and
trafficking of girls within and between countries in South Asia
(paragraph 139).
DFID accepts that violence against women is not treated
in great detail in Breaking the Barriers, but it is not true to
say that it is only mentioned in the context of conflict. On page
7 mention is made of gender violence as a key factor in urban
poverty in Jamaica. Mention is also made of female genital mutilation,
widely regarded as a form of gender violence, on page 12. Violence
against women is an issue which the Government takes extremely
seriously.
45. We welcome attention
given in DFID's country strategy paper on India to violence against
women and girls as an obstacle to their development. We
recommend that in future DFID consider the issue of violence against
women in formulating all of its country strategies, looking for
possible interventions which might diminish such injustices (paragraph
140).
We note and agree with the Committee's emphasis on
the need for more effective interventions to counter violence
against women. DFID India will take this forward within the broad
umbrella of its women's empowerment programme as opportunities
arise. This is likely to include support to organisations working
against violence against women. Similar work is being done elsewhere.
DFID Bangladesh, for example, is developing a strategy on accessible
justice, safety and security, and will ensure violence against
women is a key problem to be addressed.
46. We consider Germaine Greer's arguments on
female genital mutilation to be simplistic and offensive. They
take no account of the purposes of female genital mutilation,
nor of the lack of choice for those young girls on whom it is
inflicted. Equating the forcible clitoridectomy of an eight year
old girl with the voluntary body-piercing of an American teenager
is absurd. We agree with Joan French, who said in oral evidence
that cultures are sacrosanct insofar as they are consistent with
human rights. Culture can no longer be used as an excuse for inaction
on securing women's rights. We apply this argument in particular
to the practice of female genital mutilation, the eradication
of which DFID, along with the rest of the international community,
has a clear mandate to pursue (paragraph 147).
The Government agrees with the Committee that culture
can not be used as an excuse for the violation of human rights.
47. Female genital mutilation is not only a serious
health issue, but more broadly it is a question of the rights
of girls to live free from the threat of violence (paragraph 150).
The Government agrees with the Committee's conclusion.
48. We recommend that, in its review of the impact
of its programmes and projects on women, DFID include detailed
discussion of key elements in ensuring maximum impact of programmes
designed to eradicate female genital mutilation. The review will
be an important opportunity to review progress in what is a relatively
new area of concern in development programmes, and could make
a valuable contribution to international efforts to eliminate
the practice. More generally, we recommend that DFID include in
its review consideration of the value of including men in projects
designed to eradicate violence against women (paragraph 151).
As noted, the DFID gender review will be comprehensive
and broad-based. The Committee's recommendations on issues to
be considered will be considered in the design of the study.
49. We recommend that DFID press for the effective
prosecution, either in national courts or at the appropriate international
tribunals, of those accused of rape during conflicts (paragraph
153).
The UK was at the forefront of the Rome negotiations
which agreed the establishment of the International Criminal Court,
and supported the inclusion of rape as a war crime in the Statute
of Court. We note that the two ad hoc criminal tribunals for former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda take the crime of rape very seriously, and
are indicting and prosecuting those of committing, or of ordering
to be committed, rape or other forms of sexual violence.
50. We recommend that DFID's gender review include
consideration of the effectiveness of measures, both within DFID
and the relevant multilateral organisations, to protect women
from the threat of increased gender-based violence during conflict
and in refugee camps (paragraph 154).
The Committee's recommendations on issues to be considered
will be closely reviewed in the design of the study.
51. We recommend that, in its gender review, DFID
include full consideration of the effectiveness of strategies
to improve the implementation and enforcement of laws to protect
women from violence (paragraph 155).
Support for action to end violence against women
is an important part of DFID's work following Beijing and will
be an important area for assessment in DFID's gender evaluation.
52. There must be a recognition that the failure
in progress in ensuring equity in development between girls and
boys, men and women is due first and foremost to a fundamental
failure of political will (paragraph 156).
The Government agrees that political will is a fundamental
requirement. This needs to be accompanied, however, with effective
tools and methods and policy instruments to turn that will into
practice. The approach adopted by DFID aims both to help strengthen
political will and to provide technical support for the development
of effective policy and practice.
53. The DAC 2015 Targets were not the first set
of development targets to be heralded as a breakthrough by the
international community. In 1990, UN member states agreed a set
of targets for achievement by 2000, at the celebrated World Summit
for Children and the World Conference on Education for All. These
targets, for example the achievement of universal primary education
and access to water and sanitation, are not going to be achieved.
More than one out of five children in developing countries do
not complete the primary education cycle. Fifty-seven per cent
of people in developing countries are without access to basic
sanitation, and 28 per cent do not have access to safe drinking
water. In the least-developed countries these figures rise to
63 per cent and 41 per cent respectively. And, as we have outlined
in this Report, the failure to make progress weighs most heavily
on women and girls. We must not witness again the deferral of
targets as a result of the failures of the international community
(paragraph 157).
The Government is aware that previous targets have
not been met and is working to mobilise international political
will so that the International Development Targets will be met.
It has made this commitment clear in the White Paper on International
Development (published in November 1997) and by reversing the
20 year decline in UK aid spending.
We recognise that the International Development Targets
represent a significant challenge but major progress is clearly
possible. Progress towards the targets depends first and foremost
on the efforts of developing countries themselves, combined with
more concerted supportive action by the industrialised countries
and by the international institutions. This is why we are also
supporting work with civil society North and South to try to mobilise
public opinions to put pressure on worldwide government institutions
to meet the targets.
54. We welcome DFID's commitment to increase significantly
its expenditure on basic health and social services and projects
which promote gender equality (paragraph 158).
The Government welcomes the Committee's endorsement
of its approach.
55. According to Marie Stopes International, current
levels of global expenditure on sexual and reproductive health
"around $3.7 billion" amount to less than the amount
spent each year on confectionery in the UK, and in real terms
development assistance spent on sexual and reproductive health
projects has not increased for the past 20 years. Similarly, annual
global expenditure on education is $7 billion short of that needed
in order to achieve the goal of education for all. Without corresponding
financial support, the commitments made by the international community
to equitable development will not be achieved. The international
community must take the opportunity, presented by the fifth anniversary
of the Beijing World Conference on Women in 2000, to agree a global
plan of action to ensure the allocation of sufficient resources
for the achievement of targets relating to women's development
as well as the more general development targets (paragraph 161).
The Government is committed to moving towards higher
levels development assistance. However it is a mistake to believe
that aid flows are the determining factor in ensuring progress
towards the achievement of the international development targets.
Development cooperation is important, but only acts as a catalyst
for economic, human and social development. Resources are important,
but in many countries the reallocation of existing resources through
the implementation of pro-poor policies is more important than
the increases in overall funding levels.
56. We were impressed by the work of Transparency
International in Bangladesh, which had revealed that the institutions
perceived by people to be the most corrupt were the police and
judiciary. The full and effective implementation of legislative
protection of women against discrimination and violence will never
take place in the context of such a widespread lack of faith in
the integrity of the legal system (paragraph 163).
The Government welcomes the positive comments on
Transparency International Bangladesh; and subsequent to the IDC's
visit has been participating in a committee of donors to help
TIB expand their activities across the country.
57. The statements of intent made at international
conferences, and the subsequent enactment of legislation against
gender-based discrimination and violence, to protect women from
discrimination at work, to bring an end to the dowry system, or
to implement equal inheritance rights are meaningless without
mechanisms to ensure their implementation. Donors must provide
weight to their political statements of commitment to women's
rights. A priority must be the introduction of effective mechanisms
to monitor, support, and where necessary enforce, the compliance
of all States Parties to the various UN conventions which set
out the development and rights agenda. On a national level, donors
must work with developing country partners to develop strategies
to eliminate corruption and ensure the full and effective implementation
and enforcement of legislation to protect women's rights (paragraph
166).
The UN has established a number of Treaty Monitoring
Bodies responsible for monitoring compliance with international
treaties and conventions. These publicly examine regular reports
from states on their implementation of the relevant conventions.
Some Treaty Monitoring Bodies can also receive complaints from
individuals who claim their rights have been violated, as well
as complaints between states. The Government fully supports the
Treaty Monitoring Bodies, and cooperates fully with them. We expect
other countries to do the same.
58. If donors have a genuine political commitment
to women's equality in development, they must demonstrate this
not only by directing more development towards women, but by introducing
a whole new agenda for development, based on those priorities,
throughout their entire programme and project portfolio. Given
DFID's welcome commitment to place women's needs at the heart
of all its programmes, we expect the forthcoming review of its
gender policy to include a full discussion of the impact on women
and girls of its programmes and projects (and those of the multilateral
organisations to which it contributes) in the fields of governance,
environment, economic reform, and private sector development,
as well as those directed specifically at women and girls (paragraph
168).
As noted, DFID will take full account of the Committee's
views in designing its gender evaluation study.
59. We recommend that, in a continuation of the
commitment of the whole Government, not just DFID, to the development
agenda set out in the White Paper, DFID's gender review include
comment from other Departments on the impact of, for example,
trade and agriculture policy, on the status of women and their
access to the benefits of development (paragraph 169).
The Government strongly endorses the IDC's recognition
that gender equality is an issue which cuts across all of DFID's
work and is not adequately addressed through interventions targeted
directly to women and girls. DFID's gender evaluation will include
a comprehensive review of DFID's evolving gender policy, supported
by more detailed analysis of the treatment of gender equality
within specific country programmes. Similarly, we welcome the
IDC's encouragement to consult other Departments on relevant issues
in the course of the gender evaluation.
60. We welcome the secondment by DFID of a social
development adviser to the International Monetary Fund (paragraph
173).
The Government welcomes the Committee's endorsement
of this secondment.
61. We recommend that in future publications relating
to DFID's policy on multilateral institutions to which it contributes,
discussion be included on the IMF as well as the World Bank, United
Nations and European Commission (paragraph 174).
Reference is made to the IMF in DFID's 1999 Departmental
Report, though not in the context of gender policy. Future departmental
reports will continue to include information on our work with
the IMF.
62. We welcome the inclusion of a requirement
to attend gender training in the promotion criteria in the Economics
section of DFID (paragraph 176).
It is not correct to say that gender training is
a mandatory requirement for promotion among DFID's economists,
though a large proportion of them have received such training.
Evidence to this effect was not given by DFID. DFID's view is
that compulsory training in this area would be self-defeating,
particularly as interest and demand within the organisation is
already high, and internal surveys have shown a very high degree
of commitment among staff to our policy objectives in relation
to women.
63. Increased representation of women in decision-making
processes is important at both local and national levels to ensure
that their interests are taken into account in all policies and
projects which have an impact on their lives (paragraph 177).
The Government agrees with the Committee's finding.
64. We welcome the commitment of DFID to work
in partnership with trade unions to achieve the DAC 2015 Targets.
The provision of support to trade unions representing workers
in the informal sectors, who tend mostly to be women, could play
a key role in enabling women to obtain their rights at work, which
in turn could have a significant impact on their ability to increase
their earnings, have access to basic health services at work,
and lift themselves and their families out of poverty (paragraph
178).
The Government welcomes and endorses the Committee's
finding and conclusion.
65. We welcome the introduction of a portion of
DFID's budget in India to be used to support non-governmental
organisations in projects independent of government. We look forward
to examining the objectives and criteria which will dictate the
allocation of funds to NGOs from that budget, and recommend that
a high priority be given to the support of women's organisations,
workers associations and trade unions (paragraph 179).
DFID India is giving support to civil society in
the poorest areas of India, following approval by the Secretary
of State in December 1999 to a new civil society programme there.
The management and funding arrangements are currently being developed
to enable civil society organisations to access resources to promote
local self-governance and social cohesion. Women's organisations,
workers' associations, and trade unions will be supported under
this initiative, as well as under the umbrella of the DFID India
women's empowerment programme.
66. Reliance upon values which are implicit in
DFID's approach is evidently not sufficient to ensure that women
are able to graduate from a position as project recipients into
the management of projects. We recommend that DFID introduce a
requirement that all projects, in particular microcredit projects,
include a clear strategy from the outset to provide women with
the skills necessary for them to participate fully in the management
of the project (paragraph 181).
This recommendation raises complex issues. The Government
agrees with the principle that women should have an equal voice
in decisions which affect them, and DFID seeks to uphold this
in the work it supports. However, we do not agree with the need
for a blanket requirement of the kind the Committee appears to
propose. It is not always feasible or desirable for beneficiary
management to be an objective of a project or programme, though
transparency and accountability are always to be desired. As a
general rule, however, DFID will always look carefully at organisations
applying for funding for microcredit or other projects providing
services to women which are run solely by men and have no plans
to increase the number of female managers. DFID also believes
that it is important to distinguish between the highly desirable
goal of having clear strategies for women's participation and
voice in projects and programmes, and strategies for management
skills development for women. DFID would be inclined to support
the former as a principle, and the latter on a case by case basis.
67. Whilst all DFID projects are evaluated individually
against their objectives, witnesses raised concerns about the
extent to which DFID learned from its own successes and failures
and shared that information with NGOs. The forthcoming gender
review will provide an excellent opportunity for DFID to address
those concerns (paragraph 182).
Evaluation reports prepared by DFID's Evaluation
Department are routinely published and can be accessed on DFID's
website. We welcome the IDC's encouragement to include NGOs in
consultations regarding the DFID gender evaluation and in dissemination
activities.
68. The international community has at last begun
to focus its attention and efforts on the elimination of poverty.
As the evidence in this Report has made clear, it is women who
bear the disproportionate burden of extreme poverty, and no development
strategy can succeed unless it tackles the disadvantages and injustices
that millions of women in the developing world face on a daily
basis. A start has been made. The various conventions and resolutions
adopted by the international community contain excellent commitments.
It is clear to us, however, that it will take more than developmental
technique for such commitments to become a reality. These issues
are political - they are about rights and about justice - and
the radical changes needed to meet the DAC targets will not take
place unless the necessary political pressures are applied and
the necessary political decisions are taken. We reiterate our
call for countries to be called to account within the UN system
for their implementation of their international obligations. The
continuing ineffectiveness of many governments stands in shoddy
contrast to the dignity, industry and determination of women in
the developing world who, as we have witnessed again and again,
are working often in adverse circumstances to better their own
lives and the lives of those around them (paragraph 183).
The Government welcomes the Committee's strong interest
in this important area of policy, and takes note of its views.
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