Summary

The Paper presents a gender perspective on trends and policy implications of changes on the labour markets during the first ten years of the transition process within a context of UNECE activities in the area of Gender and Economy. It has three parts. Part I shows gender asymmetry in selected labour market developments based on available data. Part II presents policy implications and part III UNECE programmes and activities. It concludes that gender asymmetry requires more attention at policy levels in order to achieve equal opportunities for men and women on the labour market, minimize social costs of restructuring and fully utilize human resources for stimulating economic growth. This requires more data, analysis and exchange of best policy practices among countries. The UNECE activities in the area of Gender and Economy aim at assisting member countries in reaching equality of opportunities for men and women in the economy reflected in the Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Declaration and other UN documents. These activities include collection and improvement of gender data and analysis, raising the awareness on key issues and problems and promoting gender sensitive economic policies, including those related to entrepreneurship and development of SMEs. Many of these activities focus on transition countries. The UNECE activities are developed in close cooperation with UN agencies and other international organizations