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#WomensDay! | GI-ESCR calls for gender-transformative public services in new brief on women and public services

Nellie Epinat

This 08 March, on the occasion of the International Day of Women's Struggles, GI-ESCR releases a new publication on women and public services, aiming to explore the role of public services in the transformation of asymmetrical power relations between women and men. Released on International Women’s Day, the brief argues that public services can play a decisive role in this transformation and puts forward five key elements for a gender-transformative approach to public services.

There has been remarkable progress in the advancement of gender equality in the last few decades, from the strengthening of women’s rights in legal and constitutional frameworks to a lowering of the gender gap in education. Nevertheless, this progress in women’s equal rights has been met with strong political resistance, including from groups claiming to defend family values, religion, and culture. The escalating and intersecting global environmental and inequalities crises, compounded by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, add to the factors that put women’s rights at risk. These compounded adverse impacts on women’s rights are the consequence of deeply ingrained power imbalances between women and men.

In the face of these historic and emerging challenges, public services can play a decisive role in the transformation of the asymmetrical and unjust power relations between women and men. Public services enable us to tackle not only the consequences, but also the systemic and underlying factors—the uneven power imbalances — underpinning gender inequality.

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GI-ESCR’s work on Women’s ESC rights and gender equality

GI-ESCR champions women’s economic, social and environmental justice by advocating for gender equality, women’s empowerment and the enjoyment of ESC rights in the face of privatisation, the ecological breakdown and the COVID-19 pandemic.

GI-ESCR has always promoted women’s economic and social justice. We first identified women’s rights to land and productive resources as a crucial element in ensuring women’s economic and social justice and achieving substantive equality. Together with our partners, we produced in-depth analysis and expertise on women's land rights, which led to ground-breaking progress in legal standards and implementation efforts, particularly in the African context.

Our collective efforts also led to a better understanding of the importance of land rights in reducing violence against women, promoting economic independence, improving women's status in communities and their resilience to climate change.

Building on this solid foundation of work, GI-ESCR progressively shifted its focus towards advancing women’s economic, social and environmental justice.

See what we achieved over 2019-2020

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most recent articles, interviews and op-eds related to our work for women’s rights

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