47 Gender equality and women's empowerment
in development 2010-15
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Cleared from scrutiny; further information provided and requested; drawn to the attention of the International Development and Women and Equalities Committees
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| Document details | Commission Staff Working Document on implementation of the EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Development 2010-2015
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| Legal base | —
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| Department | International Development
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| Document numbers | (36645), 5732/15, SWD(15) 11
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
47.1 Gender equality is one of the eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) that, in 2000, the UN set itself to achieve, most
by 2015.[ 351]
47.2 The antecedents of this report go back to a
2007 Commission Communication, the overarching aim of which was
to promote progress in achieving: equal rights (political, civil,
economic, employment, social and cultural) for women and men,
girls and boys; equal access to, and control over, resources for
women and men; and equal opportunities to achieve political and
economic influence for women and men. The strategy envisaged a
twin-tracked approach: increasing the efficiency of gender mainstreaming
and specific actions for women's empowerment in partner countries.
Priorities included: gender equality issues in the regular political
dialogue with partner countries; integrating gender equality analysis
and objectives into country strategies and indicators for measuring
performance and impact; and building institutional capacity both
within the EU and partner countries.
47.3 This was followed by the EU 2010-2015 GAP (Plan
of Action on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Development).
The GAP contains nine objectives, 37 actions and 53 indicators
which the European Commission, the European External Action Services
(EEAS) and the 117 EU Delegations that have external cooperation
activities EU Delegations, and EU Member States, are committed
to implement and to report annually, to the deadlines agreed for
each indicator for which they are responsible.
47.4 In March, the previous Committee found that
the general thrust of this report — the third thus far on
the key issue of implementation — was all too familiar:
slow progress in some countries, sectors or Member States, which
reflected a lack of ownership and commitment at the middle management
level, combined with a lack of understanding about its implications
and know-how on its implementation. The story was thus of the
Commission/European External Action Service (EEAS) "talking
the talk", but failing to "walk the walk". Looking
ahead to the post-2015 development agenda, a successor GAP should
indeed focus on results. But, before then, the Commission and
EEAS needed to focus on implementation of what had been agreed
thus far. Given the timing, the Council Conclusions on this report
would assume a particular importance. The then Minister was accordingly
asked to provide a copy in due course, and her (or her successor's)
assessment of how they took the vital issue of GEWE (Gender Equality
and Women Empowerment) forward in the right way, and with genuine
commitment.
47.5 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at
the Department for International Development's (Baroness Verma)
assessment is set out below (see "Background"). Overall,
she says that they reflect all of the UK's broad priorities for
the EU's work on Gender Equality. Development Commissioner Mimica
has stressed his personal commitment to the fight against gender-based
violence, and the promotion of human rights, and committed to
produce an "institutional shift" in the Commission's
approach to gender.
47.6 The Minister professes herself pleased that
the Conclusions note the concern of Member States on the slow
progress in the implementation of the current GAP, and characterises
"the strong emphasis on results" as "a useful impetus",
as well as "the need for sufficient resources to support
implementation of the next GAP".
47.7 We reproduce the key paragraphs of the (eight
pages of) Council Conclusions at the Annex to this chapter of
our Report. We note in particular that the Council "urges
the Commission to implement the report's recommendations"
and "looks forward to a final report on the implementation
of the current GAP". So do we, and expect a full assessment
from the Minister of the extent to which the Council's exhortations
have been taken on board, and what further action she then judges
to be necessary.
47.8 The Council Conclusions also refer to a report
on the Evaluation of the EU Support to Gender Equality and Women's
Empowerment in Partner Countries for the period 2007-2013, with
regard to which the Council "urges the Commission and the
EEAS to implement its main recommendations, notably in the successor
to the current GAP, starting with a fully-fledged management response",
and expresses its concern "with the performance of most EU
Delegations which are not sufficiently taking gender equality
into consideration". We are not aware of this Report, and
ask the Minister to clarify whether or not it should have been
submitted for scrutiny, and to let us know what those recommendations
are.
47.9 The Minister says that she will continue
to press for the commitments in the Council Conclusions to be
reflected in the successor to the current GAP, which she says
will be "presented" to the October "Development"
Foreign Affairs Council. We presume that this implies some form
of preliminary consideration, and not that concrete proposals
are to be adopted prior to any form of parliamentary scrutiny.
If we are mistaken, then we ask the Minister to write to us immediately
to explain why and how this has come to pass.
47.10 In the meantime, we are drawing the Minister's
response to the attention of the House because of the importance
of the subject matter.
47.11 For the same reasons, we also draw these
developments to the attention of the International Development
and Women and Equalities Committees.
Full
details of the documents:
Commission Staff Working Document: 2014 Report on the Implementation
of the EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
in Development 2010-2015: (36645), 5732/15, SWD(15) 11.
Background
47.12 Adopted by the Council in 2010, the GAP contains
nine objectives, 37 actions and 53 indicators. All are time bound.
European Commission services and the European External Action
Services (EEAS) at Headquarters and Delegations level, as well
as EU Member States, are all committed to its implementation and
to report progress annually. Indicators are selected each year
for reporting, their selection depends on factors such as their
target date for completion. The indicators are all expected to
track actions that in turn feed into the nine objectives deemed
necessary to strengthen the capacity of the European Union and
EU Member States to improve gender equality mainstreaming in and
contribute to women's empowerment through development cooperation.
The indicators deal with those areas considered essential ingredients
of effective mainstreaming, including: political dialogue, programme
and project design and implementation, measurement, peace and
security etc.
47.13 In January 2014, when submitting the third
of these GAP annual reports for scrutiny, the then Minister (Lynne
Featherstone) was pleased that, as in previous years, the report
highlighted not only the achievements made in promoting gender
equality through development cooperation, but also the persisting
challenges and areas where more work needed to be done. However,
the report's conclusion that, overall, progress was "extremely
slow" between July 2012 and June 2013, was very disappointing.
Though the EU institutions and a number of Member States remained
highly committed to prioritising gender equality in global negotiations,
including as part of the post 2015 development agenda, to "ensure
the credibility of the EU's position in these negotiations",
it was "very important that the EU delivers on its own commitments
to integrate gender equality in its development programmes".
The 2014 GAP implementation annual report
47.14 The report covers the period July 2013-June
2014. It found that "overall, this report shows some progress
in areas such as political dialogue, coordination, partnerships
and on the post-2015 agenda". But, disappointingly, "progress
remained very slow on issues such as gender analysis, monitoring
(indicators) and financial tracking". The authors said that
reports from EU Delegations "clarify that where change is
really occurring, it's because of management and political leadership
at the level of Delegation and Headquarters' middle- and top-management".
The EU had "clear and strong commitments on GEWE[ 352]";
however, slow progress on the GAP in some countries, sectors or
Member States "may reflect a lack of ownership and commitment
at the middle management level, combined with a lack of understanding
about its implications and know-how on its implementation".
Thus, the Commission said:
"Setting
out a clear vision for GEWE and what is sought to be achieved
concretely (e.g. through the results framework, post 2015 agenda,
sector programmes, political dialogue) might help improve the
incentives, understanding and leadership needed for institutional
change in the longer term. The new GAP may wish to consider a
narrative that clearly states this and consider high level leadership
to raise its profile."
47.15 When the report was submitted for scrutiny
in February, the then Minister (Baroness Northover) underlined
the Government's commitment to putting girls and women at the
centre of international development, it being one of the six priorities
specified in the 2011-2015 Department for International Development's
(DFID) Business Plan. The UK had been a key member of the EU Gender
Experts Core Group since its inception, and was a member of the
Task Force to guide the drafting of a new "robust and ambitious"
successor to the GAP.
47.16 In the meantime, the then Minister said that
meeting the targets set out in the current GAP and in its successor
would require "stronger, more visible support from EU senior
management, improved technical capacity, systematic use of robust
gender analysis and gender-disaggregated data, a stronger focus
on results, and greater and more consistent engagement with women
and girls (beneficiaries) at all stages of the programming cycle".
Action needed to be taken "both in Brussels and in EU Delegations
to improve coordination and commitment to delivering results on
gender". The Minister wanted to see "faster and deeper
progress than has been evident so far" and had "made
this clear to the Commission including through Ministerial and
senior DFID staff visits to Brussels over the last three months,
as well as through active participation in the drafting of the
successor to the GAP".
47.17 The then Minister was accordingly pleased that:
"both the High Representative of the European
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President
(HRVP) of the European Commission (Federica Mogherini) and the
European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development
(Neven Mimica) have indicated that they will make gender a top
priority for their terms in office. This top level leadership
is something the UK pushed hard for in our early interactions
with the new Commission. We will continue to build on this through
further Ministerial engagement, as well as technical inputs via
the Task Force and bilateral engagement with Commission officials."
(see paragraphs 46.24-46.27 below for the Minister's detailed
comments).
The previous Committee's assessment
47.18 Our predecessors recalled that the general
thrust of the report was all too familiar: slow progress in some
countries, sectors or Member States, which reflected a lack of
ownership and commitment at the middle management level, combined
with a lack of understanding about its implications and know-how
on its implementation — reasons why they had recommended
a European Committee debate on the 2013 report.[ 353]
47.19 This 2014 GAP report assumed a particular importance
because, on the post-2015 agenda — which they consider elsewhere
in their previous Report[ 354]
— the position of the Union gives a strong emphasis to gender
equality, both as an objective in itself and as a crosscutting
issue; as was recognised in the Council Conclusions of last May
on the 2013 GAP report, which called upon the EU and its Member
States to "develop an ambitious and robust successor to the
current GAP, focused on results and taking into account the post
2015 agenda".
47.20 The Council Conclusions on this 2014 GAP report
would likewise assume a particular importance. The story thus
far was of the Commission/European External Action Service (EEAS)
"talking the talk", but failing to "walk the walk".
It would be surprising if the new HR and Development Commissioner
did not make gender a top priority; it was no doubt such with
their predecessors. A successor GAP should indeed focus on results.
But, before then, the Commission and EEAS needed to focus on implementation
of what had been agreed thus far. Top level leadership was vital.
This essential element should be reflected in the Council
Conclusions. The then Minister was accordingly to provide a copy
in due course, and her (or her successor's) assessment of how
they took the vital issue of GEWE forward in the right way, and
with genuine commitment.
47.21 In the meantime, the report was cleared from
scrutiny.
47.22 These developments were also drawn to the attention
of the International Development Committee.[ 355]
The Minister's letter of 11 June 2015
47.23 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the Department for International Development (Baroness Verma)
encloses a copy of the Council Conclusions,[ 356]
whose content (she says) the UK influenced "through both
official and Ministerial channels". As a result, the Conclusions
reflect "all of the UK's broad priorities for the EU's work
on Gender Equality, including more concrete commitments regarding
effective implementation of the next GAP".
47.24 In particular, the Minister says, the UK managed
to insert language on the following into the Conclusions:
· "Women's
and girls' rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls will be at the core of the post-2015 agenda, both as
a stand-alone goal and as a cross-cutting issue, as well as a
target and indicator of all the Sustainable Development Goals.
· "Women's
and girls' rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls as a policy priority for all EU's external action as
well as its development cooperation, should be strengthened and
coherent in all areas without exception.
· "The importance
of strategic monitoring, evaluation and follow-up and the need
to clarify and strengthen reporting, including statistics, accountability
arrangements and management responses to achieve results. In particular,
defining clear targets and meaningful indicators, measured by
data disaggregated by sex, age and other factors, as well as to
improve tracking of budgetary allocations and expenditures and
results measurement are priorities to ensure the Gender Action
Plan is properly implemented.
· "The importance
of securing sufficient financial and human resources in order
to fully deliver on the EU's commitments."
47.25 The Minister also says:
"The Council Conclusions reaffirm the commitment
of the EU and its Member States to the elimination of all forms
of discrimination against women and girls. During a discussion
at the Development Foreign Affairs Council in May, Development
Commissioner Mimica stressed his personal commitment to the fight
against gender-based violence, and the promotion of human rights,
and committed to produce an 'institutional shift' in the Commission's
approach to gender. The Conclusions also reflect UK work with
other Member States, including France, to secure impetus on Sexual
and Reproductive Health Rights, Female Genital Mutilation and
Child and Early Forced Marriage."
47.26 On the question of Implementation, the
Minister says:
"We are pleased that the Conclusions note the
concern of Member States on the slow progress in the implementation
of the current GAP, including on issues such as gender analysis,
statistics, monitoring, financial tracking, delivery and impact.
We believe that the strong emphasis on results is a useful impetus
as well as the need for sufficient resources to support implementation
of the next GAP."
47.27 Looking ahead, the Minister says:
"We shall continue to press for these commitments
to be reflected in the successor to the current GAP, which we
now expect will be presented to the Development Foreign Affairs
Council in October."
Previous Committee Reports
Thirty-seventh Report HC 219-xxxvi (2014-15),
chapter 27 (18 March 2015); also see (35635), 17432/13:
Twenty-ninth Report HC 83-xxvi (2013-14), chapter 1 (8 January
2014).
Annex: extract from the 20 May
2015 Council Conclusions on Gender in Development
"21. The Council takes note of the fourth report
on the implementation of the EU Action Plan on Gender Equality
and Women's Empowerment in Development 2010-2015, covering the
period from July 2013 to June 2014. The Council welcomes the progress
being made in areas such as political dialogue, coordination,
partnerships and the strong EU position on the post- 2015 agenda.
However, the Council expresses concern with regard to the very
slow and incomplete implementation of the Action Plan and lack
of progress on issues such as gender analysis, statistics, monitoring,
financial tracking, delivery and impact. The Council urges the
Commission to implement the report's recommendations and looks
forward to a final report on the implementation of the current
GAP.
"22. The Council also welcomes the report on
the Evaluation of the EU Support to Gender Equality and Women's
Empowerment in Partner Countries for the period 2007-2013. The
Council takes note of the findings and conclusions of the report
and urges the Commission and the EEAS to implement its main recommendations,
notably in the successor to the current GAP, starting with a fully-fledged
management response. The Council is concerned with the performance
of most EU Delegations which are not sufficiently taking gender
equality into consideration, for example by not implementing compulsory
gender equality assessments in Results Oriented Monitoring.
"23. The Council calls for revitalised commitment
and leadership from the Commission and the EEAS on the EU's ambition
for achieving gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment.
The Council underlines the need to make gender a priority, encourage
best practices, strengthen accountability and transparency, and
ensure all programming decisions are evidence based and linked
to results. In particular, the Council calls on the Commission
and EEAS to take more significant action to strengthen the role
and responsibility of EU Delegations and to prioritise and invest
in high quality gender analysis as the basis for country level
strategies, programming and policy and political dialogue.
"24. The Council underlines the importance of
strategic monitoring, evaluation and follow-up and the need to
clarify and strengthen reporting, including statistics, accountability
arrangements and management responses to achieve results. In particular,
the Council stresses the need to define clear targets and meaningful
indicators, measured by data disaggregated by sex, age and other
factors, as well as to improve tracking of budgetary allocations
and expenditures and results measurement. In doing so, close and
consistent linkages should be sought with the post-2015 agenda
and the new EU International Cooperation and Development Results
Framework. The Council stresses that more emphasis must be given
to gender in the EU Results Framework and calls on the Commission
to report against sex and age disaggregated indicators.
"25. The Council calls for an enhanced and more
strategic and human rights based approach, containing key transformative
priorities for tackling gender inequality and addressing existing
gaps for gender equality and the empowerment and full realisation
of fundamental freedoms and human rights of all women and girls.
The Council looks forward to an ambitious and robust successor
to the current GAP, covering the period from 2016 to 2020. The
Council stresses the need to build upon the progress of the current
GAP, while keeping its three-pronged approach, apply lessons learned
and fully address remaining shortfalls and challenges, as well
as to focus on results. The Council calls on the Commission to
ensure that the successor to the current GAP reflects all of the
EU's external action. The Council welcomes and further encourages
the inclusive approach being adopted by the EU and its Member
States, and looks forward to the ongoing work being carried out
by the Taskforce in view of preparing the new GAP.
"26. The Council calls on the Commission to
secure sufficient financial and human resources in order to fully
deliver on the EU's commitments on women's rights, gender equality
and the empowerment of women and girls. The Council further reiterates
the need to transform institutional cultures and to strengthen
political leadership and increase capacity, coordination, coherence,
complementarity and accountability in order for the EU and its
Member States to lead by example."
351 For a full discussion of Gender Equality and Women
Empowerment, see the April 2003 UN Millennium Project Background
Paper of the Task Force on Education and Gender Equality Promises
to Keep: Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Back
352 Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. Back
353 For the full record of the debate, see Gen Co Deb, European
Committee B, 6 March 2014, cols. 3-24. Back
354 See (36070), 10412/14: Commission Communication: A Global
Partnership for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development
after 2015, at chapter 27 of that Report. Now also see our
further Report on this Commission Communication at chapter 2 of
this Report. Back
355 Thirty-seventh Report HC 219-xxxvi (2014-15), chapter 27
(18 March 2015). Back
356 See Council Conclusions dated 20 May 2015 on Gender in Development. Back
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