'The paper argues that successful service delivery to poor people requires that clients have voice and influence in the process of service design and delivery. It presents methods - such as participatory planning and gender budgeting - to strengthen the voice of poor women, and help ensure that both women's and men's concerns and priorities are taken into account. But it also recognises that tools and training are not enough; if women's perspectives on poverty reduction priorities disappear once more...

Maria S. Floro and Mieke Meurs argue that the changes in labor markets and labor relations, and the reduction of spending for social protection has worsened women’s access to decent work. Accordingly, women shoulder the double burden of paid and reproductive work - a drawback that could be solved by social policy that enables men and women to balance both their paid and reproductive work responsibilities.

DoG Occasional Paper No. 43, FES Berlin, June 2009

The State of the World's Children 2009 examines critical issues in maternal and neonatal health. It explains why support for the rights of women and children is a prerequisite for improving maternal and newborn health, emphasizes the need to establish effective continua of care and outlines ways to strengthen health systems.

The extent of undernutrition in India is widespread but the exact magnitude
both
in absolute terms and in international comparison
varies considerably depending on
which indicator is consulted. The first aim of this article is to contrast the nutritional
situation in India to other parts of the world, based on two main methods for
characterising undernutrition. A further objective is to investigate to what extent
undernutrition in India has declined over time and how the inter-state differ more...

In spite of the enshrining anti-poverty programs and objectives of the poverty eradication programs contained in India’s five year plans, women’s poverty in India, even after 58 years of independence, is glaring. This paper, based on a field survey, addresses the issues of economic constraints and the denial of women’s access to productive assets in the form of land ownership and human capital such as education, skill-training. The article contributes to the overall picture of female pover more...

'Gender issues in many post-communist countries of Europe and Central Asia diverge significantly from other regions. Women live much longer than men in the Russian Federation and a number of other CIS countries; women in the region enjoy relatively high rates of labour-force participation; and unemployment rates are lower for women than for men in significant numbers of CIS and European countries.
This does not mean that women have not been affected adversely by the post-communist transition. L more...

'Understanding the distribution of gender roles within families is crucial for identifying and addressing the gender dimensions of policies, programmes, and projects. While gender roles may seem constant over time, they are not carved in stone; they can change significantly with broader social developments, external shocks, or changes in family structures. Moldova’s massive labour migration, which has pushed some 30 percent of the labour force into working abroad, could constitute such a chang more...

'Discrimination in the workplace remains an important factor in explaining women’s inferior social status. With Poland’s May 2004 accession to the European Union, amendments to the country’s labour code both defined and prohibited direct and indirect discrimination in employment.'

Article from Development and Transition, a joint publication of UNDP and the London School of Economics. The issue is devoted to ‘Gender In Transition’, to understand how transition and development affect more...

This assessment evaluates the impacts, needs and perceptions of men and women in the Gaza Strip following the aftermath of the December, 2008, Israeli military incursion. The key findings are based on face-to-face surveys with more than 1,000 men and women in the Gaza Strip and serves to facilitate and support humanitarian efforts in the volatile region.

'Every 10 seconds, somewhere in the world, a little girl is a victim of genital mutilation. Three million girls are excised every year. To mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM on 6 February 2008, more than 100 representatives of international organizations, civil society, media, diplomatic missions and the local authorities in Geneva gathered at The House of Parliaments to discuss ways of putting an end to this harmful practice. The IPU, the Département des Institutions de l’Et more...