15.1 Introduction At the 15th Annual Meeting of the APF in 2010, the APF secretariat recommended that the Forum Council adopt the recommendations on gender analysis in APF programming of the 2010 Review of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (the Joint Donor Review). Forum Councillors approved the recommendation and incorporated this task in the APF Strategic Plan. In implementing this task the APF secretariat has: • Reviewed relevant international aid and capacity development 'best practice' on gender integration, mainstreaming and diversity for guidance; • Conducted a review of peer practice for 'human rights' specific agencies; • Reviewed current APF practice to identify relevant commitments; and • Drafted an APF Gender Policy for submission back to the Forum Council for consideration and approval at the 16th Annual Meeting of the APF in September 2011. 15.2 Background Women make up just over half of all people in the Asia Pacific region, but continue to suffer a disproportionate amount of discrimination and barriers to equal participation in society. They also face many examples of serious human rights abuses, such as domestic violence and trafficking. Addressing the unequal status of women is one of the primary responsibilities of NHRIs. Considering gender in programming has been an issue for development agencies — NGO, bilateral and multilateral — since the México Women‘s Conference in the mid 1970s, when the first women and development approaches were agreed to. Over the last decades international, national and local development agencies, organizations, and institutions have begun to operationalize the gender impact of their work to redress inequities and inequalities which arise as a result of unequal gender roles and relations. The process of operationalizing gender is generally referred to as gender mainstreaming. A number of international agreements frame the APF‘s ongoing response to gender mainstreaming. The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action provides a comprehensive framework to guide rights-based action for gender equality. Despite virtually universal commitment, implementation of gender equality policies has proved challenging. A 2005 review1 of nine OECD bilateral donors found very significant ‘policy evaporation’ in the progression from commitment to 1 Mirijam van Reisen with Maxi Ussar (2005), Accountability Upside Down: Gender equality in a partnership for poverty eradication, Eurostep and Social Watch.