1 Gender Mainstreaming and Realizing Womens Rights (Nigeria) Bola Fajemirokun

2 Introduction Case study describes work done under the poverty to economic justice study of 2004 and follow-up. Studt coincided with launch of Phase 1 of Country PRSP in 2004, i.e. National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS. Feminization of poverty acknowledged in NEEDS. Study focus: what strategic actions are necessary to improve womens economic position in Nigeria?

3 Partners Two NGOs: Devt. Initiatives Network, DIN (with the support of the Ford Foundation) – policy analysis & Lagos metro surveys. Social and Economic Rights Action Centre, SERAC (with the support of the Global Fund for Women) – campaigns & dissemination.

4 Actions Analysis of non-governmental and governmental actions, which have a bearing on womens economic status or condition. Four categories: National policies on women (2000), HIV/AIDS (2003), population for sustainable development. Social and related legislation, e.g. human rights frameworks, workplace entitlements, social benefits (pensions, health insurance, housing credits).

5 Actions (contd) Institutions, e.g Fed. Ministry of Women Affairs (est. 1995), Nat. Comm. for Women, Nat. Centre for Womens Devt, Small & Medium Enterprises Devt. Agency,SMEDAN (est. 2003). Poverty reduction programmes, e.g. Govt microcredit schemes, Nat. Poverty Eradication Programme (since 1999). In addition, Lagos metro area survey of 150 respondents.

6 Results 1. Robust nat. policy frameworks that are in conformity with inter. treaty obligations. 2. Gender targets specified./Gender mainstreaming promoted in key policies and in NEEDS. 3. But with regards to institutions and poverty reduction programmes, no evidence of gender mainstreaming being done. 4. Sex-disaggregated data not being collected. 5. Increased spending on poverty reduction but gender impacts of govt budgets and programmes difficult to assess. Access to information difficult.

7 Challenges Limited involvement of women in political decision- making (state & national). Only 20 of the 36 States have female representation in State legislature. NASS: Out of a total of 109 senators in the Senate, there are only three female senators. In the House of Representatives, out of a total of 360 members, there are only 21 female members.

8 Challenges (contd) Absence of freedom of information laws. Unavailability of accurate, up-to-date sex- disaggregated data from public institutions.

9 Recommendations Womens rights, including their economic rights, need to be promoted and protected, e.g. by reinforcing Social Charter in NEEDS and other policy commitments though new legislation. Use gender mainstreaming to ensure that government promotes gender balance in plans, programmes and projects. Poverty multi-dimensional. Access to social services just as important as income levels. Gender budget work to determine gender impacts of fiscal & spending activities of govt. Not specifically mentioned in NEEDS and other policies.

10 Moving Forward CSO-government collaborations on gender budget work especially at municipal and State levels. This will facilitate accountability and transparency in public institutions and finances.

11 Example: new project Gender Budget Transparency & Accountability Project, Geographical focus: Lagos State. Partners: DIN supported by European Union and in cooperation with Lagos State Budget Ministry. VIP: MOU concluded with Lagos State Budget Ministry in June 2006 to guarantee access to municipal and state planning & budget officers and budget docs.

12 Emerging policy process Proposed transformation of Nat. Policy on Women to Nat. Gender Policy. Opportunities for CSOs: involvement in zonal consultations and submissions of memoranda. Aims: To accelerate gender mainstreaming through new administrative practices, e.g. appt. of gender desk officers & mandatory collection of sex- disaggregated data in the public sector. To institutionalize gender budget analysis.