By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 14 2008 (IPS)

When the second international conference on Financing for Development (FfD) takes place in Qatar come November, women activists are planning to pitch their tents in the capital of Doha in an attempt to demand concrete commitments for "gender equality" and "gender empowerment" from the 192 U.N. member states.

"Yes, women&#39s groups are organising for FfD," confirms June Zeitlin, executive director of the Women&#39s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), an international activist group, whose founding members include Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai of Kenya.

"WEDO is part of a working group of women&#39s groups and other economic justice groups following the preparations (for FfD) and giving input to the process," Zeitlin told IPS.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), said: "Investing in women is one of the best investments a government can make, and the Doha Conference should reinforce this."

Greater investments are needed to improve women&#39s education, health and employment, she added.

"To create a more prosperous world, the Doha Conference should agree to increase funds to achieve development priorities, including gender equality and women&#39s empowerment," Obaid told IPS.

"But it did not come up with any numbers because the CSW session was not a pledging conference," explained an Asian diplomat, in an off-the-cuff remark. The follow-up will be in Doha, he added.

At the conclusion of the session, CSW chairman Olivier Belle of Belgium said: "We now have a path to the future… it is time for concrete action."

The "agreed conclusions" of CSW were intended as inputs into the preparation of the upcoming FfD in Doha, which will be a follow-up to the first FfD meeting held in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002.

The CSW has asked member states to implement a series of measures, including incorporating gender perspectives into all economic policy making; increasing women&#39s participation in economic governance structures; carrying out gender-sensitive analysis of revenues and expenditures in all policy areas; and undertaking gender-sensitive assessments of national labour laws.

Additionally, it has called on member states to increase women&#39s access to, and control over, bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit, and also address the overall expansion and feminization of the HIV/AIDS pandemic – "taking into account that women and girls bear a disproportionate share of the burden imposed by the deadly disease."

The CSW also expressed its concern at under-resourcing in the area of gender equality in the U.N. system, including the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the Division for the Advancement of Women.

In a written submission to the CSW sessions last month, the Philadelphia-based Women&#39s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) said the combined budgets of all of these U.N. women&#39s bodies totaled only about 65 million dollars in 2006, and about twice that amount in 2007.

Still, it pales in significance to the annual budget for the U.N. children&#39s agency UNICEF, which was about 2.34 billion dollars.

Obaid of UNFPA argued that "investing in women is smart economics."

She pointed out that "the Monterrey Conference agreed that financing for development will produce results only if attention is paid to integrating women&#39s empowerment and gender equality into national policies, budgeting and governance."

"A growing body of evidence shows that investing in women is essential to development and economic growth," she added.

The 2007 Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific concluded that gender inequality costs the region nearly 80 billion dollars a year. This, she said, includes losses of up to 47 billion dollars annually due to restrictions on women&#39s access to jobs and 30 billion dollars due to gender gaps in education.

"In every region, increased women&#39s labour participation and earnings are associated with reduced poverty and faster growth. Women tend to spend their resources to ensure the education and health of their children, who will then face better employment and life prospects.&#39&#39

So, the benefits extend beyond the woman herself to her children, family, community, nation and the world at large, Obaid declared.

Zeitlin of WEDO said the GEAR campaign (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) highlighted the under-resourcing of the women&#39s entities in the UN system and the need for a stronger, consolidated, higher status women&#39s entity.

"We believe it is well-demonstrated that the lack of a strong, well-resourced women&#39s entity with normative and operational responsibilities, and an effective presence at country level, led by an Under-Secretary-General, has impeded the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women," she said.

The commitments made at the 2005 Women&#39s Conference in Beijing were all about improving women&#39s day-to-day lives.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are aimed at improving the lives of the poorest of the poor, the majority of whom are women and children, Zeitlin said.

The secretary-general and many member states spoke of the high pay-off in terms of development gains from investing in women.

"The GEAR campaign called on member states to create a strong women&#39s entity in the United Nations, with this as its mandate," she added.

Meanwhile, a proposal for a new U.N. women&#39s agency – to be headed by an under-secretary-general – has remained in limbo, despite support from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The proposal can be a reality only when it is eventually approved by the 192- member General Assembly. But member states have been dragging their feet – either for political or financial reasons.

Zeitlin said CSW&#39s "agreed conclusions" specifically call for strengthening the U.N. system both through more effective gender mainstreaming and for enhancing its capacity to effectively assist member states on gender equality and women&#39s empowerment, and to make adequate and reliable human and financial resources available.

"We are very grateful to the countries that took the lead in advocating for stronger institutional mechanisms," she added.

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