Summary of the synthesis report

Abstract

In 1995, the UN member States gathered in Beijing, China to add to the momentum started In Mexico City 20 years earlier, to drive women's agenda forward and underline the inseparable link between women's equality, empowerment and sustainable development. Ten years after that historic conference, during which Beijing Platform For Action (BPFA) was adopted, Africa will the rest of the world to review the decade within this framework, and following the mandate assigned to ECA by the UN General Assembly and under the auspices of Committee on Women and Development (CWD), the commission is expected to facilitate and coordinate the evaluation of the Implementation of the BPFA. The synthesis report, on which this summary is based, examines member states implementation of the 12 critical areas that Informs the (BPFA). A major conclusion of the report is that despite achievements, African women face daunting challenges in that high incidents of poverty among them have not significantly reduced Since 1995. African women are still struggling to gain access to such productive and critical resources as education, health, employment, decision-making structures and access to lCTs, among others.