ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the experience of mainstreaming gender into the relations between the European Union (EU) and 78 states in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). The current terms for ACP-EU development cooperation, as laid down in the Cotonou Agreement, include advanced formal references to gender issues. After having sketched the general context for gender in ACP-EU relations, and the formal framework for addressing gender under the Cotonou Agreement and Compendium, the chapter considers the gender mainstreaming record in ACP-EU relations so far. The Agreement prescribes the integration of 'a gender-sensitive approach and concerns at every level of development cooperation including macroeconomic policies, strategies and operations' and encourages 'the adoption of specific positive measures in favour of women'. The goal of achieving gender equality is crucial for development in general. The strategy of gender mainstreaming to achieve this goal is a long-term step-by-step approach, based on integrating gender issues into both policy and practice.
