Who Answers to Women? - Gender & Accountability (Electronic book text)

Realizing women s rights and achieving the Millennium Development Goals depends on strengthening accountability for commitments to women and gender equality. For women s rights to translate into substantive improvements in their lives, and for gender equality to be realized in practice, women must be able to fully participate in public decision-making at all levels and hold those responsible to account when their rights are infringed or their needs ignored. UNIFEM s biannual flagship publication highlights promising examples for addressing existing accountability gaps and improving the responsiveness of power-holders to women in a number of key areas: politics and governance, service delivery, justice, markets, international aid and security institutions. Published at the half-way point to the 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs, "Progress of the World s Women 2008/2009" presents new data providing clear evidence that women s empowerment and gender equality are key drivers for reducing poverty, building food security, reducing maternal mortality, safeguarding the environment, and enhancing the effectiveness of aid.