2008

April: How does gender affect the challenges that young people and children face? What can be done so they can realise their rights and maximise their opportunities?

March: Oppressive norms around sexuality can intensify poverty and inequality. But how can sexual fulfilment and autonomy improve well-being, equality and justice?

February: How are trends in aid delivery impacting on funding for gender equality work? What can women’s organisations do to mobilise more funds?

2007

December / January: What critical issues and voices do mainstream economic empowerment debates ignore? How can women access and benefit from economic opportunities?

November: The gender dimensions of aging are often overlooked. How should efforts to support older people address inequalities between men and women?

October: Globally, about eight women die each hour as a result of unsafe abortions. How can we ensure that the right of all women to safe and legal abortion is realised?

September: Why is gender relevant to labour rights? How can we ensure both men and women experience fair terms and conditions of employment?

August: Disabled women are doubly discriminated against, because of their gender and of their disability. How can we ensure that their rights are protected?

July: How can gender-sensitive indicators and measurements of change help us monitor progress towards a world without gender inequality?

June: How is the United Nations reform process taking gender into account and how have women’s groups around the world got involved?

May: Why should participatory approaches be taken seriously by gender advocates? How can we ensure that participation is gender-sensitive?

April: Does microfinance really empower women? How can institutions be persuaded to adopt gendered approaches to microfinance?

March: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) are often marginalised. Many LGBT, often in alliance with women’s rights organisations, are mobilising to challenge the discrimination they face.

February: Women and girls are affected by HIV: as people living with HIV/AIDS, as mothers of infected children, and as carers of others with AIDS. Policy-makers must take their insights seriously.

2006

December/January: Sexuality can bring misery, poverty and exacerbate gender inequalities. Sexuality can also bring joy, affirmation, and well-being. How can we make possible more joy and less misery?

November: How are men’s and women’s experiences of conflict different? Do reconstruction and peacebuilding efforts meet their needs? How have women engaged as actors during conflict and post-conflict situations?

October: How can development practitioners encouragemen and boys to resist harmful constructions of masculinity and adopt more ‘gender equitable’ masculine identities?

September: New Aid Modalities What are the implications of the recent shift in aid modalities for achieving gender equality? What needs to be done to ensure that changing aid structures accelerate progress towards gender equality goals?

August: Corporate Social Responsibility How can multinational corporations improve labour conditions for women? What are the gender implications of codes of practice?

July: Much attention has been paid to the relationship between poverty and climate change but little of it from a gender perspective. Why is gender a factor in climate change and how should it be addressed?

June: How do gender and religion interact to shape women's status? What is the impact of religion on gender dynamics and power relations in societies?

May: What enables women to empower themselves? What is it that drives and sustains change in gendered power relations?

April: Why does gender-based violence (GBV) persist? What are the new strategies to combat this key development concern?

March: Funding for gender issues is declining in almost all development sectors. Women's groups should therefore build on their fundraising skills and look to alternative funding sources.

January-February: Over the past decade, human rights and rights-based approaches have increasingly been used in development. How can the concept of rights be transformed into practical strategies for gender equality and women's empowerment? 

2005
December: The WTO ministerial in Hong Kong must take into account the social roles of men & women & the unequal access to resources. These inequalities mean that trade liberalisation affects them in different ways.

November: Integrating gender and women's rights perspectives in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Phase II and its outcome processes -particularly in discussions on Internet governance, financing and post-WSIS implementation- is crucial for building an inclusive Information Society (IS).

October: The international community failed to fulfill its promise to have as many girls as boys enrolled in schools by 2005, missing the opportunity to give girls, their families, communities and countries a better future.

September: As migration may be voluntary or forced, internal or international, there is an urgent need to take account of the gender dimensions of this global phenomenon.  

August: The review on the implementation of the MDGs  will be held in September 2005. Many gender advocates argue that, despite being an important tool to measure progress, the MDGs are a far too narrow set of indicators and targets.  

July: Mechanisms must be in place through which individuals and organisations can be held to account on the extent to which they promote gender equality.

June: Women's organisations have pushed the Commission on Africa to recognise that the fight against poverty in Africa relies on women’s leadership, their access to services and to equal rights in society.

May: The notion of security should be expanded to include not only military or political security, but also social, economic and personal security.

April: Gender-disaggregated statistics are essential to building up a picture of the nature and extent of gender inequality.

March: Ten years after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, how far have governments and other stakeholders come in fulfilling the promises set out in the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA)?

February: How can gender be integrated into humanitarian assistance and reconstruction programmes in the wake of natural disasters?

January: An understanding of gender concepts, definitions and approaches is essential to gender mainstreaming.

2004
December: Violence against women (VAW) fuels the spread of HIV/AIDS. How can we tackle both to give women more choice around safer sex?

November: How can the CEDAW continue to serve as an instrument for the protection of women's human rights worldwide twenty-five years after its adoption?

October: Mainstream approaches to poverty analysis overlook the unique ways in which women and men experience poverty. How can poverty analysis become more gender-sensitive?

September: ICTs can become effective tools for gender equality and women’s empowerment only if a gender-sensitive approach is adopted when developing ICT policies and programmes.

August: Effective monitoring and evaluation must use both qualitative and quantitative indicators to assess progress towards greater gender equality.

July: is the popularity of gender mainstreaming strategies matched by their impact in practice on gender equality?

June: Literacy is often seen as an important way of bringing people out of poverty & empowering marginalised groups. However research & practice over the past decade has indicated the picture is more complex.

May: Women have a central role in water supply and distribution. How can gender roles & specific needs be acknowledged in water & sanitation projects without reinforcing & perpetuating stereotypes of women's work?

April: Gender advocates are pushing for women's social, productive & reproductive activities to be accounted for in the development of international trade policies of the WTO. How successful have they been?

March: The "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)" are eight goals which set a global development agenda to be achieved by 2015. Gender must be taken into account if these are to succeed.

January-February: Women have historically been excluded from the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. An engendered approach is needed which addresses gender equality through the promotion of rights and participation in the social world.

2003
December: Feminist Fables and Gender Myths Workshop: select papers on repositioning gender in development policy and practice presented during the IDS workshop, held in the UK from 2 to 4 July 2003. Visit our feminist fables forum for more on this topic.

November: Third world sexuality is often portrayed in development literature as uniformly heterosexual, and to do with either reproduction or HIV/AIDS but never pleasure. Visit our sexuality forum for more on this topic.

October: Mainstream approaches to conflict and reconstruction fail to recognise how armed conflict exacerbates gender inquality.

September: In order for Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) to effectively address gender concerns, gender-sensitive consultations are needed.

July-August: Budgets : have been instrumental in transmitting gender biases, yet also offer the possibility for transforming gender inequalities.

June: Islamic Feminism: Among its many meanings is the use of Islamic arguments to advocate for women’s rights by both religious and secular people in Muslim countries.   

May:HIV/AIDS: this epidemic is not only driven by gender inequality-it entrenches gender inequality, putting women, men and children further at risk.

April: Participation- usually refers to the use of participatory methodologies in development programmes and in political processes.