Secretariat - Gender Section

Activities

Gender equality projects

According to the 2004 Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, the OSCE participating States bear the primary responsibility and are accountable to their citizens for promoting equal rights and opportunities for women and men. The states are urged to make full use of OSCE expertise to assist them in their efforts to achieve gender equality.

Priority areas

The Action Plan lays down priority areas as a basis for the OSCE Secretariat, institutions and field operations for developing projects and programmes to assist participating States in preventing gender-based discrimination. The OSCE and its participating States should endeavour to:

  • ensure non-discriminatory legal and policy frameworks,
  • prevent violence against women,
  • ensure equal opportunities for participation of women in political and public life,
  • encourage women's participation in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict reconstruction,
  • promote equal opportunity in the economic sphere, and
  • build national mechanisms for the advancement of women.

The priority areas of preventing violence against women and encouraging women's participation in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict reconstruction are underlined by two OSCE Ministerial Council Decisions.

Assistance in promoting gender equality

The Gender Section works to strengthen the OSCE's capacity for planning, implementing and evaluating projects in the above priority areas.

In co-operation with local partners, host countries and/or the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), field operations initiate, support and run projects to:

  • build local capacity and expertise on gender issues, 
  • review legislation to ensure legal guarantees for the promotion of gender equality, 
  • set up shelters for victims of domestic violence, 
  • promote the participation of women in politics, 
  • assist in implementing and assessing national strategies and action plans, and 
  • network with community leaders and politicians.