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GTZ is now GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

Since 1 January 2011, GIZ has brought together under one roof the long-standing expertise of DED, GTZ and Inwent. For further information, go to www.giz.de.

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Themes > Good governance > Democracy and the rule of law > Women law

Women’s Rights are Human Rights: Ideals and Reality

Throughout the world there is widespread discrimination against women and girls in the exercise of their social, political and economic rights. Despite the progress made in their formal legal position, a wide gap remains between formal entitlements and the everyday reality of women’s lives.

“Participating in the gender dialogue workshops, we elders together with our younger generations started to reflect on the roots of our culture. We discovered that the original Oromiya values are not consistent with violence against women and girls, but do stress peace and harmony among people. Therefore, after long debates, we decided to change our customary laws so that they protect women and girls from forced marriages and genital mutilation.”
(Comment of a traditional village-chief in Oromiya, Ethiopia, Cooperation-project “decomposition of gender-related violence” with the NGO HUNDEE)

The promotion of women's rights is accorded high priority in German development cooperation from two points of view: as a political goal in itself and as a key to sustainable social and economic development. As a sign of its international commitment to the issue, the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) contracted German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in 1997 to implement the project "Strengthening Women's Rights", which since then has carried out exemplary work in over 30 countries worldwide.


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