The OSCE's participating States, individually and collectively, bear the primary responsibility for implementing gender mainstreaming policies. Through their official commitments, OSCE participating States have agreed to adopt a gender perspective when designing, enacting, monitoring, and evaluating their policies and programmes, so that women and men may benefit equally and inequality is not maintained. To accomplish this, states should:

• Review existing and draft legislation and policies with a gender perspective in mind.
• Develop appropriate and enforceable legal remedies against discrimination on the basis of sex.
• Ensure adequate legal prohibitions against all forms of violence against women, as well as against the trafficking of women and children.
• Make sure that no policy or programme has an adversely discriminatory effect on women.

Participating States have recognized that the healthy development of society and the welfare of all its members require the fair and equal participation of women and men in social, economic, cultural and political life.  This is done through the promotion of:

• Non-discriminatory employment policies and practices
• Equal access to education and work-related training
• Equal access to decision-making
• Participation in civil society