The United Nations General assembly lit a flame for gender in 1975 at Mexico when it proclaimed the year as an International Women's Year, putting gender on the map of global development.

In 2000, the world's governments converged at New York to engage in a mid-term review process dubbed the Beijing + 5. The objective was to assess progress made in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform For action (BDPFA).

The Beijing + 5 review exercise was a global process and most of the challenges and constraints in varying degrees apply to the situation in the SADC.

Apart from the emerging challenges identified in the Beijing + 5 Outcomes document, regional gender stakeholders meeting in may 2001 at a conference at Maputo, Mozambique identified two additional challenges that need to be urgently addressed for gender equality to be a reality in the SADC.

World governments meeting in new York in mid-2000 at a review process known as Beijing + 5 identified some obstacles, setbacks and emerging challenges hindering the full implementation of the BDPFA.

Since the Fourth World Conference on Women held at Beijing in 1995, a well-defined Regional Plan of Action for Gender has been developed in the SADC.

Regional parliaments have positioned themselves to be major players in advancing the gender agenda.