Introduction and rationale
- This Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy recalls, reaffirms and further strengthens IUCN’s commitment to realising gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment and puts into place requirements for embedding a gender-responsive approach into its Programme and project portfolio.
- IUCN defines a gender-responsive approach1 as the proactive identification of gender gaps, discriminations and biases and then the coordinated development and implementation of actions to address and overcome them. This approach helps ensure that IUCN programming not only avoids exacerbating or reinforcing inequalities, but rather takes meaningful steps to reduce disparities and to empower women, girls and members of traditionally disadvantaged groups.
Rationale - With a comprehensive rights-based framework2 underpinning its conservation and sustainable development efforts, IUCN recognises that protecting and promoting women’s rights and advancing gender equality, including through women’s empowerment, are not only globally agreed imperatives in their own right, but fundamental to meeting its mission.3 It further understands that IUCN’s conservation and sustainable development programming offers the provides significant potential to accelerate progress toward gender equality.
- IUCN has been a leader on gender and environment considerations for decades. Since 1984, women’s issues and gender equality concerns have been given high priority through multiple decisions of IUCN Members’ Assemblies and World Conservation Congresses4 and, in 1998, IUCN formally approved its first Gender Equality and Equity policy, which was last updated in 2007.5
- IUCN plays a major role mainstreaming gender in key international forums6 (e.g., supporting decisions under and development of gender plans of action for Parties, Secretariats and stakeholders of the Rio Conventions), driving a strengthened understanding of the importance of gender-environment linkages amongst members and peers and piloting innovative strategies for gender-responsive action.Read More https://www.iucn.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/iucn-policy-on-gender-equity-and-equality-october-2018-english-only.pdf