Gender at the OAS

Gender mainstreaming has been a facet of the work of development organizations since the adoption of the Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). At the global level, this was reinforced two years later with the adoption of the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions on Gender Mainstreaming

At the inter-American level, the principal mandate on gender mainstreaming is the Inter-American Program on Women's Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality (IAP), adopted in 2000, which commits OAS Member States to:

  • systematically integrate a gender perspective in all organs, organizations, and entities of the inter-American system
  • encourage OAS member states to formulate public policies, strategies, and proposals aimed at promoting women's human rights and gender equality in all spheres of public and private life, considering their diversity and their life cycles
  • make international cooperation and horizontal cooperation among the member states one of the instruments for implementing this program
  • strengthen relations and foster joint cooperation and coordination activities with other regional and international bodies and civil society organizations; and
  • promote the full and equal participation of women in all aspects of economic, social, political, and cultural development

The IAP has since been reinforced by the agreements adopted at the Summits of the Americas, as well as numerous resolutions of the OAS General Assembly.

The CIM is the main body that provides technical support to gender mainstreaming policies, processes and activities, both within the OAS and with its Member States, thorugh specific awarness-rasising and capacity building activities.