Gender equality
©UN in Albania
One UN Annual Report 2008
Gender equality is not only the third UN Millennium Development Goal but is also one of UNESCO’s top priorities. Through its Gender Equality Action Plan for 2008 – 2013, UNESCO integrates gender equality and gender mainstreaming into its programming and activities.
UNESCO Venice Office supports gender equality in its activities implemented within the South East Europe region. The achievement of gender equality in the area is now more important than ever, since at the moment all of the region’s counties are undergoing an important transition process in which the full participation of their female citizens must be guaranteed. Leaving women out of the most significant, rapidly changing realities would thereby mean to enlarge the gap between male and female opportunities at an even greater extend.
UNESCO Venice Office and Gender Equality in South East Europe
UNESCO Venice Office is committed to enhance women’s empowerment in South East Europe by mainstreaming gender equality in its Joint Programmes, and by applying a gender perspective in the implementation of the activities in cooperation with the other UN agencies in the field.
© UNESCO/J. Idrizi -
Kosovo Primary School Iliria
© Svetlana Spajic -
Serbian singer in traditional costume
In Culture, the Office actively encourages the recognition of women’s contribution in the field of music. On the basis of UNESCO’s successful study on “Women and Music in Montenegro”, the Culture Unit is currently preparing a new publication “Women and Music in Serbia”, emphasising women’s roles as musicians, composers and musicologists in the country.
In Natural Sciences, the Office has contributed to the foundation of the Ipazia-UNESCO Centre in Turin , an International Network of Women Scientists with the objective of supporting the study, research and training of women scientists from the Mediterranean and the Balkans. To further promote a more vigorous female participation in natural science, UNESCO has also endorsed various scientific publications. In 2007, the Office has contributed to the elaboration of the international report “Science, Technology and Gender” by UNESCO’s Division for Science Policy and Sustainable Development. Moreover, the Office supported the publication of the 2008 and 2010 reports “Donne e Scienza” by the association Observa – Science in Society, focussing on women’s involvement in scientific studies and careers worldwide, and with special attention to the Italian conditions.
In Communication and Information, the Office aims to promote documentations for and about women, as for example the recent presentation of the book “Women in Animation” by Matilde Tortora.
