Australian Government. AusAID: Office of Development Effectiveness

Gender equality and aid effectiveness

Educating women and girls in Papua New Guinea. Photo: Jacqueline Smart, AusAID.

Increasing women's equality and empowerment is crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Australian Government's response to the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness, An Effective Aid Program for Australia, affirmed that 'promoting gender equality and empowering women will continue to be an overarching goal of Australia's aid program'.

Efforts to promote gender equality and empower women will be the subject of an upcoming ODE independent evaluation. The evaluation will aim to identify evidence which will assist Australia's aid program strengthen its approaches to contribute to transformational change in the lives of women and girls.

To promote discussion and guide the focus of the evaluation, ODE has commissioned five think pieces on issues including women's engagement in the informal and formal economy, violence against women and women's political participation.

Think pieces

The following documents from members of the international aid community provide insight and opinion into gender equality and aid effectiveness in developing countries.

Women and the informal economy—Lota Bertulfo

The old economic picture of a place of work was the shop, the office or the factory. The new reality of a workplace is the street, the sidewalk or the home. Gender specialist Lota Bertulfo delves into the murky world of women in the informal economy and argues that any attempt to alleviate poverty must have a gendered approach.

Women and the formal economy—Lorraine Corner

With globalisation, the costs of excluding women from the workforce increasingly outweigh the costs of their participation. Dr Lorraine Corner argues that development actors need to promote women’s inclusion in the formal economy as the main mechanism to achieve gender equality and empowerment.

Ending violence against women and achieving MGD 3—Christine Bradley

Freedom from violence is fundamental not only to women’s empowerment, but also to all the Millennium Development Goals. Dr Christine Bradley looks at how violence against women constitutes a barrier for achieving equality in all aspects of life: from attaining an education, to entering the workforce, to participating in political life.

Women in politics and aid effectiveness: an aid to evaluation of MDG 3—Marilyn Waring

Dr Marilyn Waring looks at Millennium Development Goal 3 and asks whether women's empowerment can be accurately measured by the number of women elected to national office. She discusses the reality for women who run for office in male dominated environments and suggests more meaningful indicators for women's empowerment and leadership.

Women, peace and security: a gendered approach to aid effectiveness in post-conflict development—Sherrill Whittington

While much attention has been given to the victimhood of women in post-conflict development, too little focus and resources are allocated to strengthening the capacity of women to assume key leadership roles as peacebuilders. International consultant Sherrill Whittington argues that peace is more likely to be lasting where both men and women are included in decision making processes when rebuilding communities.

 

Last reviewed: 16 February, 2012

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