Our Top­ics

Gender Equal­ity

No state in the world has so far succeeded in overcoming gender-specific discrimination. In many countries, various harmful social norms, structures, institutions and established power relations still deny girls and women equal participation in public, social and political life. All too often they are unable to develop their immense potential to contribute to sustainable development.

However, much has happened since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 or the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 25 years ago. Numerous states and communities of states, such as the European Union and the African Union, have adopted laws and strategies to promote gender equality and strengthen women's rights. 

With the adoption of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development the heads of state and government have therefore set themselves the goal of overcoming gender-based discrimination. Germany is working internationally to anchor women's rights as a cross-cutting issue and to establish the actual overcoming of gender-based discrimination as a goal of development cooperation.