Gender & Accountability: What is the Problem? How to explain the vast gaps between lofty international commitments and realities for women? – maternal mortality is declining at 0.4% per year instead of the 5.5% needed to reach the 2015 target – Women are still outnumbered 4 to 1 in government – Women still earn 17% less then men for the same work. Discrimination on this scale is a sign of a serious accountability gap: there are no consequences for not upholding commitments to women’s rights or gender equality.

Women Perceive an Accountability Gap: Gender Differences in Perceptions of Corruption Gendered Perceptions of Corruption: Service Provision institutions Respondents with high levels of perceived corruption, ratio female to male, 2005 Ratio of female to male is 1 or more Ratio of female to male is less than 1 CEE/CIS Developed Regions East Asia & Pacific Latin America & Caribbean South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa EducationUtilitiesMedicalRegistry

The Basics of Accountability Power holders must answer to those who delegated power, resources, and mandates to them (answerability) There must be consequences for failures to implement mandates (enforcement of remedy and redress, including corrective measures)

The Accountability Cycle Authorization Implementation Review/Performance Monitoring Corrective Action

Essentials of Gender-responsive Accountability Women must be included in oversight processes. Women must be entitled and empowered to ask for explanations and to obtain information about public actions. Advancing women’s rights is a key standard against which the performance of public officials is assessed.

Parity Zone Timeline to Reach Gender Parity in National Assemblies Women in parliaments (%) Developed countries Projection (Developed countries) All other countries Projection (All other countries) Progress in 6 Slides 1.More women are needed in public office, but also need state capacity to promote gender equality

2. Public services that respond to women’s needs are the basic test of government accountability Great Disparities in Risk of Maternal Mortality Across and Within Regions Lifetime risk of maternal mortality, 2005: probablity of dying during pregnancy or child birth 1 in … mothers die Developed Regions CEE/CIS Latin America & Caribbean East Asia & Pacific South Asia Middle East & North Africa Sub - Saharan Africa 5002,0003,5005,000 20,00035,00050, VERY HIGH between 1 in 7 women and 1 in 500 women Thenumber of women that die of maternal reasons is LOW between 1 in 5,000 women and 1 in 47,600 women HIGH TO MODERATE between1 in 500 women and 1 in 5,000 women Lowest value in the region (1 or more countries) Highest value in the region (1 or more countries) Average value in the region (all countries of region)

3. Women can be ‘at one remove’ from accountability processes because of constraints on decision-making Women's Role in Health Decisions, Women's participation in decision-making on issues related to their own health, by marital status (regional averages): % of women interviewed (ages 15-49) 0%25%50%75%100% Married Sub-Saharan Africa-Unmarried Married Middle East & North Africa-Unmarried Married CEE/CIS-Unmarried Married South Asia-Unmarried Married East Asia & Pacific-Unmarried Married Latin America & Caribbean-Unmarried Self onlyJointlyNo Say

Migration Rates of People with Tertiary Education Average emigration rate at tertiary education level, circa 2000 (%) Africa Oceania Latin America & Caribbean Europe Asia Northern America Male Female 4. The ‘Brain Drain’ has become female. What does this say about labor standards and what does it mean for the pool of women leaders in local communities?

5. Low rates of reporting, prosecution and conviction for violence against women shows a gender bias in judicial systems Violence Against Women: Reporting and Charging Rates (as % of total SGBV survivors) Violence, Physical violence,Sexual violence, partnernon-partner * Complete information not available Poland* Costa Rica Australia Denmark Philippines* Czech Republic Mozambique Charged Reported

6. Aid and development institutions do not adequately track resource allocations to women Outer circle: total aid, by sectors (US$ 32.7bn) Inner circle: gender focused aid, by sectors (US$ 10.7 bn) Distribution of Sectoral and Gender Marked OECD/DAC Aid Distribution (%) Education Health/Population Other Social Infrastructure Economic Infrastructure Production Multi-sector

Gender Equality is ‘Mission Critical’ to Accountability Who answers to women? Why is this an issue for all of society? Accountability to women is a core part of democratic governance - it helps to make democracy work, and it helps to promote state capacity to deliver on promises of equality and poverty reduction for all.

“Who is accountable for gender equality? We cannot assume that democracy and good governance will directly bring gender equality and empowerment to our countries. If women are not in the national leadership, their voices on economic, political and social issues will not be heard. [And then] only by promoting the right policies, will we be able to answer this question. Who is accountable to women? Everyone in my government is.” Spanish Prime Minister José Louis Rodrégues Zapatero

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