Equal rights for women and girls
September 23, 2020
Women are still severely under-represented in politics around the world, including in the Netherlands. They also have fewer economic opportunities than men. And they are more likely to fall victim to violence. Reasons for this include discrimination and the subordinate position women often hold in relation to men.
Dutch efforts to strengthen the position of women and girls worldwide
Equal rights for women and girls are a central part of the government’s human rights policy. In the years ahead the Netherlands will continue working to improve the position of women and girls worldwide.
The core issues which the Netherlands focuses on are:
- implementing UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security;
- combating violence against women;
- preventing child marriage;
- promoting political and economic participation by women;
- achieving gender equality between men and women.
Dutch efforts to promote equal rights for women and girls worldwide
The Netherlands advocates equal rights for women and girls around the world in various ways. For example by:
- ensuring important issues are put on the agenda of international organisations, including the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OCSE), the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE);
- supporting projects through the Human Right Fund. This fund encourages the promotion of women’s and girls’ rights. The government's annual Human Rights Report provides an overview of Dutch efforts worldwide and their results;
- supporting other projects that strengthen women’s and girls’ rights, for example through the Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women (FLOW) programme;
- having the Dutch Human Rights Ambassador raise this issue during visits to other countries. The Human Rights Ambassador works to bring more cohesion to Dutch human rights policy;
- financially supporting UN programmes that promote women's rights. These programmes are aimed at:
- better education opportunities for girls;
- combating maternal mortality, child marriage and violence against women;
- encouraging political and economic participation by women;
- promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
- supporting the SheDecides [BKd1] movement. This movement was launched by the Netherlands in order to build support for the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. SheDecides now enjoys political and financial support from around 60 countries.
