The Fourth World Congress on Women took place in Beijing on September 15, 1995. Women from all over the globe met to discuss the empowerment and status of women. The Congress determined that uneven progress had been made towards the goal of empowering and ensuring the human rights of all women. The Congress linked women’s rights with the eradication of poverty, the need for sustainable development, nuclear disarmament, and respect for international law. The Congress developed a Platform for Action, which the international community was asked to enforce. However, the main responsibility for implementation was placed on national governments. Following the Platform for Action, violence against women would be halted, and women would be ensured full human rights – including the right to equal access to power and decision-making opportunities. Five years later, women met to assess the progress made since 1995 and stated that more progress was needed. Even now, 12 years later, it is obvious that more work needs to be done to advance the status of women globally.

Gender mainstreaming is designed to ensure the consideration of gender equality when any political, economic or social policy is contemplated. The United Nations has decided to implement gender mainstreaming into the policies and programs undertaken by the United Nations System. Member states of the United Nations are expected to implement gender mainstreaming in their own policies and programs. For example, if an international organization associated with the United Nations wants to implement and/or fund a new development strategy in a developing county, the organization and the government of the country are supposed to consider the impact of the strategy on women’s status and rights in said country. If it is determined that the strategy will negatively affect gender equality, the strategy should not be put in place. Gender mainstreaming is a tool which helps ensure the equality of men and women.

www.womenwatch.org is a website sponsored by the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality. The site contains news articles regarding the status of women across the globe, and provides the viewer with access to United Nations documents relating to women. It also lists and describes events concerned with gender equality and women’s rights. The site contains online videos and links to other websites concerned with gender equality. The website identifies twelve critical issues regarding equality for women: the eradication of poverty, the education and training of women, women’s right to health, violence against women, the human rights of women during conflict, women and the economy, the ability of women to have power and decision-making opportunities, international mechanisms for empowering women, the human rights of women, women and the media, women and the environment, and the status and empowerment of the girl child. The Millennium Development Goals are mentioned as a thematic issue relating to the empowerment of women.