OECD Gender Initiative

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OECD Gender Initiative


Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC

May 26, 2011




This is a “dollars and sense” economic issue. Our continued effort to empower women is a struggle against social, cultural, and in some cases legal discrimination. To advance the cause of women, we must highlight the economic opportunities that are lost when women do not participate fully in society.
This is why the United States has asked the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development to launch its Gender Initiative and focus its economic lens on recommending policy solutions and identifying the barriers to greater gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship.
On May 26, during the Development Session of the OECD MCM, Secretary Clinton as Chair:
1) Welcomed the Interim Report’s Way Forward, and called on the Secretary General to take the appropriate measures to implement the Action Plan.
2) Affirmed the Initiative’s statement “that women’s economic empowerment is critical to stronger, fairer economic growth.”
3) Called on the OECD to work with other willing international organizations to create a plan to make existing gender data more comparable and useful and identify a list of common indicators for future data collection.
4) Announced that the World Bank and UN Women have agreed to work with the OECD on this joint-plan for the November 2011 High Level Meeting on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea.


PRN: 2011/840