Attention to gender equality as well as the political, social and economic empowerment of
women has increasingly received attention over the years from international donors,
governments, and development practitioners. The First World Conference on Women in
Mexico City in 1975 marked the consolidation of an international women’s movement that
sought to draw attention to some of the ways in which women were being discriminated
against in education, employment, the law, the economy, and the political sphere, among
others – and how national and international development activities were perpetuating rather
than removing this discrimination. Among other outcomes this movement led to a key
international treaty: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW).