Today is a celebration of women and the fight for equality. Today is International Women’s Day.
In the three decades since USAID issued its gender policy, tremendous changes have occurred in how women’s roles are viewed in society and within development programs. As stated at the policy launch by Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator, “instead of seeing women simply as beneficiaries of programs…we see women, and all of our partners see women, as the change agents that bring about that new era of entrepreneurship, of leadership of the peace processes and of basic access to fundamental human rights.”
The updated policy exhibits a fundamental shift in how donors view women as catalysts for change and their role in developing a society. Though the advances made in women’s empowerment are numerous, there are still millions of women and girls across the globe that face numerous obstacles, discrimination, and violence in their daily lives.
Those who work within a gender context—and hopefully all who work in development—recognize that women are the change agents in a society and the need to empower them is crucial to effective development. While statistics show that poverty most negatively affects women, they also hold the key to societal and community progress. And progress will be impossible if they are not taken into account.
The Humanitas Global Development team attended yesterday’s Interagency Gender Working Group Plenary in Washington, DC that was convened to commemorate International Women’s Day. It was an opportunity for Caren Gowen, U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Senior Gender Advisor, to present USAID's updated policy on Gender Equality and Female Empowerment—a welcome and long overdue update to development policy. It also offered a platform from which innovative and exciting projects and policy tools focused on gender were highlighted from a number of different development agencies including EngenderHealth, FHI 360, CARE, PATH, and PAHO.
Through the continued integration of gender equality and female empowerment in development programs, we can unearth the full potential of women, and in the process reach our goal of strengthening communities and nations.
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