Beijing’s  Declaration  and Platform for Action agenda: The progress in Europe and Central Asia

1995-2014

The Beijing Platform for Action was adopted in 1995, at the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women. It is an internationally agreed action plan for achieving equality for women across the following 12 critical areas

1. Women and Poverty

2. Education and Training of Women

3. Women and Health,

4. Women and the Economy

5. Women in Power and Decision-making

6. Human rights of Women

7. Women and Armed Conflicts

8. Institutional Mechanism for the advancement of Women

9. Women and the Environment

10. Violence against Women 11. The Girl-child

12. Women and the Media

Availability of Gender-Disaggregated Data

Limited gender disaggregated data availability complicates the monitoring of progress in the 12 critical areas identified in the Beijing Platform for Action. In 1995, national and international statistic's offices were called upon to strengthen their capacity to produce gender disaggregated statistics in all areas concerned. Despite the improvements in the availability of statistically relevant information, data on some of them is still lacking. While many new gender-sensitive indicators have been introduced, the data on them is often not yet available. Moreover, the time frame and coverage of the existing data sets tend to vary and missing values are common.

The data used in this paper is based on national official sources. It is taken from years 1995; 2000; 2005 and 2010, where possible. In case too little data was reported for one of the chosen years to make regional comparisons, a reference period of three years was used. More information about the time-frame covered can be found in annex (data-sheets).

Women and Poverty Global reports show that an increasing proportion of the World`s poor are women. In the region as around the word, the reasons behind feminization of poverty are complex and often rooted in biases and inequalities in households, labour markets, legal codes; and political systems. The disparities in

access to employment and assets that could be used to accumulate capital are likely to put women in greater risk of poverty.

In the region, women still earn less than men in similar jobs. Even though the differences in income have become smaller dropping from 32.5 percent in 2000 to 23.3 percent in 2010, a gender wage gap is far from closing. Inequalities are most prevalent in Caucasus and CIS where women earned on average 33.9 percent less than men in 2010; and in Central Asia where 26.25 percent gender wage gap was reported for the same year. Fastest progress in closing the wage gap has been achieved in countries where disparities in income level have been more pronounced, such as Armenia (narrowing from 48.1 % in 2000 to 35.9 % in 2010) and Tajikistan (narrowing from 56.8 % in 2000 to 44 % in 2010).

It is to be noted that the income differences in the region do not seem directly to correlate with the level education. For example, in Central Asia, there were 1.02 women for each man with at least a secondary education, but women still only earned 3/4 of the salary of men. The gap could, instead, be partly attributed to traditional understanding of roles of men and women in the society and at home, and career and educational choices influenced by these views. (UNIFEM).

There  is  not  enough  information  available  to  assess  the  progress  made  in  women’s  access  to  financial  

assets such as credit or saving and to land or other properties. When it comes to legislation, all countries have reported to have a gender equal marital property regime, inheritance and land ownership rights. However, there is little information available about the actual realization of these rights within the last 15 years. The data that are available suggests that equality before law has not necessarily eliminated inequalities from the society. For example, according to FAO, only 8 percent of landowners in Kyrgyzstan were women.

17.60 21.35

33.60

15.30 25.10

15.57

26.25

8.50

0 5

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Caucasus and CIS Central and Eastern Europe

Central Asia Western Balkans and Turkey

perc

enta

ge

Source: UNECE Statistical Database, compiled from national and international official sources.

Gender Pay Gap* as Difference in Monthly Earnings

2005

2010

Education and Training of women Some  progress  can  be  noted  in  women’s  access  to  education. Disparities between the educational attainment of men and women have gradually decreased and the level of education has risen. Girls in the region were almost as likely to graduate from primary school as boys in 2005. By 2010, the expected primary graduation rate for girls had on average become higher than for boys. Women have caught up with men and at times even surpassed them in tertiary education attainment as well.

Despite the achievements, equal access to education still remains a challenge in some parts of the region. Disparities tend to be more pronounced in the Western Balkans area, in particular, in Turkey where women are still 20 percent less likely to graduate from secondary school and get a university degree.

Segregation in education prevails. There has been little consistent progress in tackling the stereotypical attitudes that hinder women from pursuing education and a career in male-dominated fields. A gender gap for participation in non-traditional fields of study, such as technical and vocational education still exists in all countries of the region, with the notable exception of Azerbaijan, where 50.76 percent students in technical and vocational programmes were female in 2010. This is a close to 20 percent increase since 1995 when only 31.4 percent of women were involved in these programmes. The share of women in those non-

92.4 94.1 89

75

94.7 97 88

76

95.8 101.8

95

80

0

20

40

60

80

100

Caucasus & CIS Central Asia Central & Eastern Europe

Western Balkans & Turkey

Source: International Human Development Indicators.

Number of Women per 100 Men with at Least Secondary Education

2000 2005 2010

traditional programmes is particularly low for e.g. in Cyprus the share has remained below 20 percent for the last 15 years.

The last decade has seen a slow move towards universal literacy in the region. Relatively, high level of education also translates into high literacy rates. More than 95 percent of adults in all countries of the regions were literate in 2000 and more than 96 percent in 2010. Despite the improvements, 70 percent of the illiterate population were women in 2010; in Western Balkans and Turkey region, the share of women among the illiterate population is more than 78 percent.

31.40

42.31

35.76

36.05 33.28 36.68 37.76

36.06 40.74

35.90 30.97

35.51 39.96

35.90 37.45

0 5

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Caucasus & CIS Central & Eastern Europe

Central Asia Western Balkans & Turkey

(% o

f tot

al )

Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics.

Share of Female Students in Technical and Vocational Programmes

1995

2000

2005

2010

Women and Health Life-expectancy of both men and women has been gradually rising in the region. This indicates an overall improvement in access and quality of health care services and the lowering of morbidity and mortality rates (UN Population Division). Women out-live men up to 10 years throughout the region.

95

95.5

96

96.5

97

97.5

98

98.5

99

99.5

100

(% o

f all

wom

en)

Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics.

Adult (15+) Women`s Literacy Rate 2014

Caucasus & CIS

Central & Eastern Europe

Central Asia

Western Balkans & Turkey

Maternal health has improved. Overall, maternal and infant mortality rate has lowered. Nonetheless, notable differences between the sub-regions persist. While the maternal mortality rates have dropped by 50 percent in the Caucasus and CIS and in Central Asia ( 48.3 to 25.2 deaths per 100, 000 births in the former and 39.3 to 19 deaths in the latter); it still remains relatively high compared to other sub-regions. A particularly steep drop in the maternal mortality rate has been reported in countries, where it has been the highest, such as Armenia (from 72.9 in 2000 to 8.9 in 2010) and Turkmenistan (from 50.4 in 2000 to 6.9 in 2010).

64.0

66.5 67.0 66.7 65.5

68.1 68.3

71.2 70.3

71.1 70.6

74.3 74.0

76.7

77.2

81.5

72.6

74.9

77.0

82.1

70.0

71.9 72.9

73.6 75.0 76.8

77.5 79.1

60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84

1995 2000 2005 2010

year

s

MEN

Life Expectancy at Birth

Caucasus & CIS

Central & Eastern Europe

Central Asia

Western Balkans & Turkey

Caucasus & CIS

Western Balkans & Turkey

Central Asia

Central & Eastern Europe

Source: UNECE Statistical Database

WOMEN

More women have gained access to reproductive health services. On average, the share of births attended by skilled health personnel has increased by 5 percent since the year 2000 and reached a very high 98 percent by 2010. Access to maternal health care services still remains a challenge in parts of Central Asia. Despite the notable progress made by Turkmenistan, more than 12 percent of women do not get assistance from skilled heath personnel when giving birth.

39.34

22.26 19.11

48.30

35.95

25.21

13.07 17.40

11.34

0 5

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

2000 2005 2010 (Ann

ual n

umbe

r of m

ater

nal d

eath

s per

100

,000

Li

verB

irths

)

Source: European health for all database (HFA-DB).

Maternal Deaths per 100,000 Live Births Caucasus & CIS Central Asia Central & Eastern Europe Western Balkans & Turkey

Access to reproductive and sexual health remains a challenge. The data on contraceptive prevalence suggests that there has been little consistent progress in the use of contraceptives. In Western Balkans and Turkey sub-region and a number of countries from other regions like Armenia and Turkmenistan fewer couples use contraceptives than before (60.5 % in 2005 to 53.1 % in 2005; and 61.8 % in 2005 to 48% in 2005 respectively). The FYR Macedonia reports particularly low rates of contraceptive prevalence. (13. 5 % in 2005).

HIV prevalence in the region has been on the rise. Since 1995, the number of women living with HIV has become six fold, increasing from 22,900 in 1995 to 139,900 in 2010. The prevalence is highest in the Caucasus and CIS region, mostly due to the disproportionately high numbers reported by Ukraine. If data from the Ukraine is omitted from the analysis, Central and Eastern Europe becomes the region with the highest number of women living with HIV. HIV prevalence is lowest in Western Balkans and Turkey; however, the number of women living with HIV has rapidly risen there as well. Whereas awareness on the of the illness has increased, youth with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS still forms a minority is all the countries surveyed.

95.9

97.2

99.7

92.3

95.7 95.4

99.3 99.2 99.6

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

100

2000 2005 2010 (% o

f birt

h at

tend

ed b

y sk

illed

per

sonn

el

Source: Millenniun Develoment Goals Indicators.

Births Attended by Skilled Health Personnel

Caucasus & CIS

Central Asia

Central & Eastern Europe Western Balkans & Turkey

Violence against Women Violence against women remains a serious challenge in the region. (WHO) It takes many interrelated forms: physical, psychological, sexual and economical. Systematic data on these different dimensions of violence, however, is still lacking. Violence often remains unreported due to fear of stigma, unawareness of legal rights of distrust in the police of legal system, so statistics on the prevalence of any type of violence against women should not be taken at face value.

Women are still much more likely to experience sexual violence. The vast majority of victims of sexual assault are women throughout the region and time period under question. Approximately, 10 percent of sexual assault victims are men. The number of reported cases varies greatly by year and country, and is dependent on the capacities of the particular state to deal with the complaints and implement necessary legislation (UNSTATS). Overall, sexual violence seems to be more prevalent in CIS countries.

The share of women amongst the victims of homicide and serious assault has somewhat increased. While in the year 2000, the share of female victims of homicide ranged from 9.1 to 29.5 per cent, in 2010 the lowest share reported were 15 per cent and highest 38.9 per cent. This trend has been especially notable in CIS Countries. Nevertheless, the probability of falling victim of a serious assault or

0 2000 4000 6000 8000

10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 22000 24000 26000 28000 30000 32000 34000 36000 38000 40000 42000 44000 46000

1995 2000 2005 2010 Source: UNAIDS, AIDS Info.

Estimated Number of Women (15 +) Living with HIV

Ukraine

Central and Eastern Europe

Caucasus and

Central Asia

Western Balkans and Turkey

homicide is still much higher for men than for women. Women make up only approximately 20 percent of all assault and 30 per cent of homicide victims on average.

What is more, while the data on the relationship between homicide victims and perpetrator is limited, it seems to indicate that women are more often than not killed by someone they know, such as their spouse or an ex-spouse.

The majority of people convicted to any type of crime are men. (Women do not make up more than 20 percent on average in any of the sub-regions). The share of women is particularly low among those convicted for rape. This tendency has changed little since 1995.

The majority of trafficking victims are taken away their freedom and their vulnerable position exploited for forced labour, prostitution or other purposes. According to UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking women makes up the majority of victims of this crime.

In the region there seems to be a slight downward trend in reported victims of trafficking in women since it peaked around 2005. The number of female victims of trafficking, however, varies manifold, higher numbers being reported in CIS countries, Turkey and Romania. These disparities do not only reflect the actual extent of the problem in different countries, but the capacities and political will to create and implement the legislation to deal with the issue. (UNODC).

Women and Armed Conflicts Gender perspective is only a recent addition to conflict resolution and management and has not been widely implemented yet. What is more, gender disaggregated data on armed conflicts is still very limited. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) is one of the first legal documents that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. Even though it was unanimously adopted in 2000, most countries in the region are yet to put it in action. 6 out of 22 of the countries of the region where UNDP is working in have a national action plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325. (Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia), The fact that all the action plans have been created within the last three years, nonetheless, gives hope for more countries to take action in the near future.

Women and the Economy There are fewer economically active women than men. Work market participation of women has been relatively  stable,  reaching  approx.  72.5  percent  of  men’s  labour  market  participation  on  average  and  constituting approximately 45.3 percent of the total labour market. Disparities in labour market participation remain more pronounced in Western Balkans and especially in Turkey where there are 4 women active in the economy to 10 men.

Cyprus, Lithuania and Azerbaijan have made notable progress in closing the gap in labour force participation between men and women (Increase in Cyprus from 64.48 % in 2000 to 80.08% in 2010, in Lithuania from 76.94 % to 84.66 % and in Azerbaijan from 78.35% to 90.12% for the same period, respectively). Few countries have experienced a downwards trend in labour market participation rates.

More women have entered full-time employment and gained the status of an employee. However, there are still more part-time and family workers among women and employers among men. The share of female employers has, nonetheless, slightly increased in the last decade. Whereas in 2000, the share of women working as employers ranged between 0.1 percent in Armenia to 3.5 in the FYR Macedonia, in 2010 the lowest share of women with the status of the employer was found in Azerbaijan with 0.8 percent and highest in Cyprus with 7.7 percent.

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

100

1995 2000 2005 2010

%

Source: World Development Indicators.

Ratio of Female to Male Labor Participation Rate

Caucasus & CIS

Central Asia

Central & Eastern Europe

Western Balkans & Turkey

Women in Power and Decision-making Women continue to be under-represented in decision-making throughout the region. Women make up only 1/3 of the legislators, senior officials and managers at most. In 2010 in countries like Cyprus and Azerbaijan approximately only one in ten legislator, senior official and manager was a woman.

Ensuring  women’s  equal  participation  in  political  life  on  the  highest  legislative  and  executive  levels  

remains a challenge. The mere 10 percent share of ministerial level positions women held in 1995 has not really increased. More notable progress has been made in Central and Eastern Europe and in particular, Cyprus.

Over the last 15 years, the number of women in national parliaments has increased slowly, but consistently. Regional average has gone up by close to 8 percent from 9.1 percent in 1995 to 17.3 percent in 2010. However, this still remains below the global average of 20 percent of women in the parliament.

Institutional mechanism for Advancement of women Significant progress has been achieved in strengthening national machineries for advancement of women. Almost all countries in the region have put in place national mechanisms and strategies and enacted new legislation for women's empowerment and gender equality since the mid-nineties. Gender perspective is often included in key policy documents, such as national development plans and strategies. According to UNDP ECIS Gender Equality Survey in 2013, only 12 countries in the region made a reference to gender equality implications in their national development plan.

National  Machinery  for  Gender  Equality  and  Women’s  Empowerment  are  in  place  in  21  countries  of  

the region:: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, The FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine Uzbekistan

Human Rights of Women

There is little data available on human rights and women in the region. Progress can be systematically monitored only on the level of legislation and compliance with international agreements. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted in 1979 defined discrimination against women and developed an agenda for national action to end it. Optional Protocol followed in 2000 and gave the Committee the authority to receive and deal with claims from individuals and groups within its jurisdiction and investigate systematic or grave cases of discrimination against women.

All countries of the region have either accessed of ratified CEDAW, six of them of them since 1995. The vast majority of them have also become a member of Optional Protocol.

Ratification, Accession, Signature, Succession of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) adopted in 1966 is one of the core documents for human rights to this day. It not only stated equal rights between men and women, but also freedom from torture, right to fair trial and other basic human rights. All countries in the region (except for Kosovo*) have accessed or ratified the covenant, seven countries from Central Asia and the Western Balkans and Turkey sub-regions have become members since the Beijing Platform For Action was adopted.

Ratification, Accession, Signature, Succession of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Women and the Media National statistics on women and media that would allow for meaningful regional comparisons in the time-frame chosen  are  scarce.  However,  in  recent  years  there  has  been  initiatives’ bringing the gender perspective into media research. UNESCO, for example, has developed a framework of indicators to gauge gender sensitivity in media and operations and content.

The limited data on female journalists that we do have suggest that  women’s  participation  in  media  

production vary to a large extent from country to country and there is little consistent progress to be seen. The data also shows that in case of some countries like Georgia and Lithuania women form clear majority among journalists, while in others they make only 1/3 of journalists.

Women and the Environment There is very little data available on women and environment in the region. Nonetheless, efforts have been made to understand the inter-linkages between gender and environment. Gender-sensitive indicators have been suggested amongst others by the FAO and the UNSTATS.

The Girl-child Notable progress has been made in bringing the legal minimum age of marriage into accordance with international laws. At present, only persons in Turkey and Uzbekistan can marry without consent when they are below 18 years old. However, many countries still allow the marriageable age to be reduced in special circumstances. Adolescent fertility rate in the region has lowered notably in the last 20 years, but data from 2010 suggests that the trend could be turning up. Despite notable progress, the share of adolescent mothers has remained highest in Caucasus and CIS. Lowest share of babies born to adolescent mothers could be found in Central and Eastern Europe.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) Adopted by all countries in the region defines a child as "every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier" and therefore, sets the recommended minimum marriageable age to 18 years.

Sex ratio at birth has become strongly skewed in South Caucasus to a lesser extent in parts of Western Balkans. Undistorted sex ratio is usually close to 105 male births per 100 female births. However, in Armenia 115, in Azerbaijan 117 and in Georgia, 111 boys were born per 100 girls in 2010. A slight imbalance can also be noted in Albania and Montenegro. According to the UNFPA report on gender

0 5

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

1995 2000 2005 2010 Source: UNECE Statistical Database, compiled from national and international (Eurostat, UN Statistics Division

Demographic Yearbook, WHO European health for all database and UNICEF TransMONEE) official sources.

Adolescent Fertility Rate Number of live births to women aged 15-19 per 1000 women

aged 15-19.

Caucasus & CIS

Central & Eastern Europe

Central Asia

Western Balkans & Turkey

imbalances at birth this implies a worrying increase in prenatal sex selection and an intensification of gender discrimination and son preference.

Sex ratio at birth*

* Definition: Number of male live births per one female live birth

Country 1990-1995 1995-2000 2000-2005 2005-2010Albania 1.06 1.065 1.07 1.078Armenia 1.077 1.151 1.173 1.151Azerbaijan 1.075 1.13 1.17 1.166Georgia 1.065 1.111 1.11 1.11Montenegro 1.08 1.08 1.08 1.08Source: UN DESA Population Divison. World Population Prospects.