Welcome on the SDC-Gender Equality Network

Like Marta and Juan on the picture, women and men live together, talk to each other, care for one another, and build common livelihoods. Still, women and men are often expected to have different roles and responsibilities in society, and the relations between women and men, girls and boys, are marked by inequality. Women are more likely to be excluded from decision-making than men – from the household up to the highest levels of government – and they have less access to and control over economic resources such as credit, land and income. Discrimination also hits girls harder than boys – for example, girls are more likely than boys to be withdrawn from school because of the greater value attached to boys’ education in many societies. While gender inequalities are pervasive across northern as well as southern and eastern countries, and exist across all social strata, it is women living in poverty who are most acutely affected.

It is for this reason that SDC has made a strong commitment to fight against discrimination, and to empower women and promote gender equality. To reach these goals, different gender mainstreaming methods are implemented, in combination with targeted women's empowerment programs. SDC staff and partners already have much experience of using these instruments; this knowledge should be shared and new capacities strengthened. That is why we created this platform: to share knowledge, to develop common visions, to debate issues, to bring together theoretical knowledge and field realities - all this, in order to be more effective in moving towards a just and equal world.