Introduction: Beijing +20- Where now for Gender Equality?

This report was written to assess the previous 20 years that have followed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA). The report focuses on: the work that women do, their body politic, the inequality and discrimination they face, and directions for our future agenda of gender equality. The report examines the impact that neoliberalism has had on job opportunities available to women in the developing world. Its authors are concerned that the diminishing power of states, in relation to private corporations, will force women into underemployment even as they gain greater economic autonomy. The report also discusses how institutional efforts towards achieving gender equality have been less substantive and more superficial than promised by countries. The report recommends exploring virtual and online spaces as a way to contest dominant discourses, as well as taking steps to close the implementation gap between rhetoric and policy.