The Bank convened a high-level meeting with partner agencies and governments in February, to identify concrete ways to accelerate progress toward MDG3 – gender equality and the empowerment of women. At that meeting, World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz made a strong case for women's equality as a development issue, stating that “…women’s empowerment is smart economics…and a sure path to development.” Bank VP Danny Leipziger challenged donors and governments at the meeting to join the Bank’s lead in re-engaging in the work of women's economic empowerment, to meet the MDG3 goals.
Over the next 100 days, the Bank's Gender and Development Group, lead by Mayra Buvinic, constructed the Gender Action Plan, with the help of internal Bank consultation and input from donors and external groups such as the OECD/DAC and the Bank’s External Gender Consultative Group. Subsequently, the Executive Directors of the Board unanimously agreed on the initiative’s importance for achieving the Bank’s main development objectives, adding that the plan’s focus on the economic sectors-- where the Bank has unique competencies--would give gender work greater traction across a full range of Bank operations. The EDs cautioned that the Bank 's budget request ($24.5 Million over 4 years) was modest, and may need to be augmented to implement the Gender Action Plan, and they warned against a focus on economics detracting from continuous advancement in health, education, and other domains of women’s lives (including security) that are critical to empower women and achieve gender equality.
On September 16 Mr. Wolfowitz announced the plan to the global community at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group in Singapore, noting that the plan will invest in expanding women’s economic opportunities in World Bank operations in agriculture, finance, infrastructure and private sector development.
“Women’s economic participation is one of the key drivers of development, but it is often discounted as important in influencing growth” said Mr. Wolfowitz, “Women are often shut out of the development process by being denied access to own land in their own names, to take out loans, or to go into business. Systematic underinvestment in women limits their economic growth but also the growth of their communities and their countries.”
The new Gender Action Plan has received strong support from donor partners, and the Bank expects to finance about half the budget through donor contributions. Norway and Germany have been key partners in its development, and the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and International Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, stood with Mr. Wolfowitz in announcing the plan. The German Minister has agreed to be one of the plan’s champions, and will host a high-level conference on the Gender Action Plan in early 2007.
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