International Women's Day

On 7 March 2008, the Commonwealth Secretariat will celebrate International Women's Day with a special lecture by renowned academic Naila Kabeer on 'The Case for Financing Gender Equality.' The theme for this year's International Women's Day is 'investing in women and girls.'
Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Director of the Secretariat's Legal and Constitutional Affairs will speak about 'Moving towards Women's Increased Access to Justice.'

Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith is hosting the event, organised by the Secretariat's Gender Section. At the event, the Commonwealth's publication 'Mainstreaming Gender in Social Protection for the Informal Economy,' written by Dr Naila Kabeer, will be launched.
At the end of their presentations, both speakers will be given an opportunity to answer questions from the audience.

Sarojini Ganju Thakur, Head of Gender at the Secretariat, said the event aims to carry forward and disseminate issues raised on financing gender equality, that were identified by the Commonwealth's 8th Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting in Kampala last June.
In their communiqué, Commonwealth ministers noted that increased investment in gender equality within the development and democratisation processes must become a priority to ensure sustained economic growth and the achievement of democracy, peace, security and development.

The Secretariat's new publication is part of its programme to support implementation of the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015, in which member governments identified 'gender and poverty' as a priority area for action.

In this book, Dr Kabeer, a social economist and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, highlights the need to promote gender equality in the informal economy - where jobs are not regulated by economic or legal institutions.
She also explores the constraints and barriers that confine women to poorly remunerated, casual and insecure forms of wage and self-employment.

The issues raised and recommendations made in the publication resonate with the theme of International Women's Day, which is investing in women and girls. International Women's Day will take place on Saturday 8 March 2008.