Democratic governance, women's rights and gender equality : synthesis report

This report provides an introduction to five regional papers (West Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean) produced as part of the research initiative “Democratic Governance, Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.” While a variety of legal instruments commit the international community and individual states to uphold women’s rights, the commitments are not adequately acknowledged in national laws or practice. IDRC and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) commissioned a series of background papers to provide global data and analysis on how democratic structures are impacting women’s lives