Gender equality

An overarching priority for the Mission is to reduce inequalities between men and women and mainstream gender equality within national institutions and municipalities in line with the 2004 OSCE gender action plan.

The Mission supported the development of the first National Strategy for Gender Equality and the inclusion of a gender perspective in the official methodology for drafting all national strategic documents along with a guidance programme to educate staff on the methodology’s use. The Mission supports public administration staff with conducting gender analyses and developing, implementing and monitoring legislation and policies to reduce gender gaps, both nationally and in municipalities. Its main partners are the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, General Secretariat of the Government and the Ministry of Finance. The Mission supports public information campaigns to raise awareness of gender bias and gender-based discrimination and supports collection of gender disaggregated data to provide evidence on gender gaps.

To streamline gender equality principles in its daily work, the Mission has established an internal Gender Equality Board, which monitors the implementation of the Mission’s gender action plan.