SADC Gender Monitor: Monitoring Implementation of the Beijing Commitments by SADC Member States, Issue 1, February 1999. Published by Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender Unit and the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) Women in Development Southern Awareness (WIDSAA) Project, P.O. Box 5690, Harare, Zimbabwe, ISBN 1-77910-003-5

The SADC Gender Monitor: Monitoring Implementation of the Beijing Commitments by SADC Member States is an annual bulletin that aims to track and highlight progress made by the region to develop gender equality by integrating gender perspectives in legislation, policies and programmes, according to the pledges made in the Critical Areas of Concern of the Global Platform for Action.

Four years after the Global Platform for Action was drawn up at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, the torch was taken up by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with the signing of the Gender and Development Declaration at the SADC Summit held in Blantyre, Malawi in 1997.

The SADC region committed itself to addressing among others:

• Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women;
• Inequalities between women and men in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels;
• Inequalities in economic structures and policies in all forms of productive activities at all levels; and
• Lack of respect for, and inadequate promotion and protection of human rights of women and the girl-child.

The first issue of the SADC Gender Monitor has nine chapters that analyse regional efforts to improve women's access to education, health and decision-making positions and to promote women's human and legal rights.

Various initiatives that have been instituted in the different countries are discussed. South Africa's Women Budget Initiative is upheld as a positive move to mainstream gender into the budgetary process by examining the impact of national and provincial budgets on men and women.

The 1997 South African budget was found to benefit men more than women. "The analysis revealed that three provinces, where 60 percent of African women live, receive 10 percent less from the budget than the three richest provinces."

Not only has domestic violence been declared a criminal offence in Mauritius but the law of 1997 provides timely protection for the victim. Countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia have introduced Gender Violence Tribunals to sensitise the public and law enforcement agents about the adverse effects of domestic violence on the advancement of women.

A collaborative effort between SARDC-WIDSAA and the SADC Gender Unit at the SADC Secretariat in Botswana, the SADC Gender Monitor makes use of a wide range of sources. Papers presented by various people at different fora, government reports and other documents, reports by NGOs, published and unpublished, are used in compiling the bulletin.

The full text of the Gender and Development Declaration and an addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against women and children add to the wealth of information contained in this bulletin. Policy makers, donor and development agencies, NGOs, women's organisations, researchers and the media will find the bulletin invaluable as it brings together updated information on regional progress for the advancement of women.

However, as the bulletin shows, much still remains to be done before gender issues become an integral part of all activities in the SADC region. A lot still needs to be done to address the educational needs of the girl-child especially the disabled girl-child. In addition, health care remains a dream for many women in the region.

"There is still a significant percentage of women in the SADC region suffering from diseases relating to poor and inadequate intake of food and lack of access to quality medical care," says the bulletin.