ILO Governing Body, 350^th session

4 – 14 March 2024

Mid-term report on the implementation of the ILO Action Plan for Gender Equality 2022-25

EU Statement

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The candidate countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Armenia, align themselves with this statement.

1. The EU and its Member States support the ILO’s focus on gender equality and wish to thank the Office for this mid-term report. Gender equality is one of the Union’s core values, and central in its internal and external policies. Furthermore, we note that the European Commission has adopted the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, and the Gender Action Plan III in external action.
2. While we are encouraged that 54 percent of the targets are met or exceeded, we recognize the challenges posed by the 32 percent that have not been met and the 14 percent that were not reported due to data limitations. We invite the Office to further develop its capacities and methodologies to address these data gaps and actively engage in exploring innovative solutions to overcome the limitations in measuring indicators.
3. In March 2022 the EU and its Member States noted that significant work was required to meet the targets for evaluation and gender responsive auditing. We welcome that the targets for seven of the indicators concerning evaluation are now met or exceeded and that 100 percent of audited field office reports identified gender-related risks and actions taken to mitigate those.
4. Looking at the overall performance according to the six main performance areas, we note with regret that most targets are not met within the field of capacity assessment and development and that increased efforts are required within the area of equal representation of women, organizational culture and financial resource allocation. While the progress made in women’s representation at P5 staff level and above is commendable, further work is needed to achieve gender parity in all regions.
5. Gender parity is also not achieved in the composition of delegations to the International Labour Conference and regional meetings. We therefore encourage all constituents to have this in mind when nominating delegates and advisors for this year’s Conference. We support the Office’s intent to increase awareness-raising activities in preparation for official meetings to achieve gender parity.
6. The EU and its Member States also wish to highlight the importance of the ILO introducing mechanisms for measuring financial resource tracking and allocation and improving methodologies for quantifying the disbursement of funds that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. This is important to achieve fair distribution of resources and to ensure investments in structures that support empowerment of women. Gender-responsive budgeting plays an important role to truly advance on gender equality.
7. It is commendable that the ILO is reflecting on how to scale up efforts for more ambitious gender equality outcomes, for example by improving the quality of some indicators and improving the alignment between the Action Plan and the UN-SWAP. We also support the intent expressed by the Office to take stock of measures and activities taking place outside the Action Plan’s framework.
8. We recognize the challenges in comparing the performance of the Action Plan with previous plans due to differences in indicators. However, we encourage the Office to foster continuity between action plans, allowing for effective comparisons over time. This approach will facilitate a more accurate assessment of progress.
9. We support the amendment to the decision point proposed by the IMEC group and by the Workers Group.

Thank you, Chair.

*North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.