East African Community Gender Policy

Abstract

The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is central to the mandate of The EAC and intrinsic to its development approach. This includes advocating for women’s and girls’ equal rights, combatting discriminatory practices and challenging the roles and stereotypes that affect inequalities and exclusion. The policy champions homegrown solutions to the regions gender and affirmative action development challenges. This framework therefore serves as a tool for results oriented measures for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Armed with this Gender Policy the EAC is well placed to ensure that gender equality and the empowerment of women are integrated into every aspect of its work to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities and exclusion. In particular, the policy provides a strong situation analysis and outlines key priority areas in the region both at the Partner State and at the secretariat. It also provides mechanisms that provide a platform for accountability. The policy takes cognizance of the fact that Partner states have their own national Gender policies and other legal frameworks to enhance gender equality and affirmative action at the national level. Thus harmonization, standardization tracking and reporting are the key driving factors in the EAC Gender policy. The EAC recognizes that achieving progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment requires working collaboratively with Partner States’ governments, the private sector, the civil society, religious institutions, development partners, and other actors. It is for this reason that this policy is a result of several consultative forums all key stakeholders.