Analysing structural links between gender relations and sustainable development

Gender relations are the social, economic and political relations that determine gender identity of both men and women. Gender relations shape the limits of what a woman or a man may undertake in the family or in public life. They also frame male and female behaviour, responsbilities and entitlements. Gender relations are embedded in all social, cultural, economic and political systems, at all levels. Relationships between spouses, children and partners, employers and employees and among community members are all influenced by the prevailing dominant model of gender relations.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.