Gender mainstreaming - a strategy for promoting gender equality: With particular focus on HIV/AIDs and racism

The 189 countries attending the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 endorsed gender mainstreaming as a key strategy for promoting equality between women and men. The United Nations and other international organizations were called upon to implement the strategy in their own work and support the efforts of Member Countries. In 1997 the Economic and Social Council provided concrete guidelines on how the United Nations should work to incorporate gender perspectives in its work programmes (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2). The importance of the gender mainstreaming strategy was reinforced in the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly to follow-up the implementation of the Platform for Action (June 2000). Other intergovernmental bodies and events have also provided important mandates for gender mainstreaming in specific areas of work of the United Nations. For example, a major breakthrough on gender mainstreaming in the area of peace and security was achieved with the Security Council resolution 1325 (October 2000) which clearly states that there is an "urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations".