Dear Directors of the International Monetary Fund,

We are writing to ask you to support an open and robust public consultation on the IMF’s next gender equality strategy.

We have learned that the IMF’s new gender adviser, Ratna Sahay, will present the first draft gender strategy to the Board in early February, with the intention of finalizing the strategy by March. . Civil society organizations, trade unions, and especially feminist women’s rights organizations around the world have in recent years been closely involved in the IMF’s work on gender equality, submitting Ijoint positions on the IMF’s comprehensive approach to gender equality and on the development of in-depth technical proposals for the IMF’s work in this area, for example as part of its recently completed comprehensive surveillance review.

We ask for your support for an open and meaningful consultation process around this gender equality strategy. We have been informed that there will be a CSO meeting prior to the February Board meeting, but with no commitment to sharing documentation in advance, or to a broader and more robust consultation process. To engage meaningfully and effectively prepare inputs and suggestions that tie into the current strategy, it is essential that we have the opportunity to contribute a draft or actual outline, and that a process is put in place. place to integrate the recommendations of CSOs. In particular, given the tight schedule ahead of us, we are concerned that the consultation of CSOs will only be nominative and limited to commenting on an already finalized document, or that we will spend considerable time preparing detailed technical proposals without knowing what the strategy covers or aims to achieve.

While all of the IMF’s work should benefit from rigorous and meaningful CSO engagement, the fight against gender inequality is largely about dismantling structural inequalities to empower those who have been systematically disempowered, marginalized and made the most vulnerable. A genuine commitment to advancing gender equality therefore requires the meaningful and inclusive participation of women in policy decisions that impact their lives, which includes all areas of IMF work. For this reason, it is particularly important that the IMF actively seek input from women’s rights organizations in countries of the South specifically for the development of its gender equality strategy, in addition to economists with in-depth expertise, such as the International Association for Feminist Economics, and not refrain from addressing only mainstream INGOs or the Fund’s conventional civil society community which is already well placed to engage with the Fund .

Additionally, a robust consultation process should involve transparent feedback on how and why civil society comments and suggestions were or were not taken into account.

Civil society and women’s rights organizations bring long experience in researching and developing concrete suggestions on these issues, which we hope will contribute to the development of the Strategy.

If your offices are willing to speak with civil society representatives on any of these issues, we would also be very happy to coordinate an informal meeting prior to the Board meeting.

We call on the IMF’s Executive Board to ensure that civil society, and in particular women’s rights organizations in the Global South, have ample opportunity to contribute to the Fund’s new gender equality, to ensure that it is robust and relevant to its objectives.

Sincerely, the undersigned organizations:

1. Action Aid International
2. Human rights defenders
3. Network of Arab NGOs for Development, ANND
4. Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)
5. Asociación Ciudadana por los Derechos Humanos (Argentina)
6. Associação Mulheres pela Paz
7. Association of Women Affected by War
8. Women’s Association for Contemporary Society, R. Moldoava
9. ATHENA Network
10. Beyond Beijing Committee Nepal (BBCN)
11. Revolutionary Trust (India)
12. Bretton Woods Project
13. CARE International
14. Center of Legal and Social Studies – CELS (Argentina)
15. Center for Economic and Social Rights
16. Christian Help
17. D. Woman India
18. Echoes Of Women In Africa Initiatives (ECOWA) (Nigeria)
19. Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights (EIPR)
20. El Karama
21. Eurodade
22. Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM)
23. Coalition for Financial Transparency
24. FOKUS – Forum for Women and Development
25. Free the Marginalized Women’s Advocates (FREMWA) (Ghana)
26. Fundación Unidas: Mujeres Construyendo Tejido Social (Colombia)
27. Gender action
28. Gender and Development Network (GADN)
29. Gestos (HIV and AIDS, Communication, Gender) (Brazil)
30. Global Network of Sex Work Projects
31. Global Southern Coalition for Menstruation Dignity
32. Huairou Commission
33. IBON International (Philippines)
34. The Inequality Movement
35. Indigenous Peoples Global Forum for Sustainable Development, IPGFforSD (Indigenous Peoples International Platform)
36. International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
37. International Rescue Committee (IRC)
38. International Observatory of Action for Women’s Rights Asia-Pacific (IWRAW-AP)
39. Jordanian National Commission for Women
40. KULU – Women and Development
41. Kvinna Foundation to Kvinna
42. Man Up US Campaign, Inc.
43. Mujeres Unidas en Salud y Desarrollo (MUSADE) (Costa Rica)
44. Multisectorial De Las Mujeres Y Disidencias (Argentina)
45. MY World Mexico
46. ​​Organized Center for Empowerment and Advocacy in Nigeria (OCEAN)
47.Oxfam
48. Palestinian Maintenance Fund
49. AP Alga Women’s Organization
50. Phénix Center for Economic and Computer Studies
51. Protection Internacional Mesoamérica
52. Public Services International (PSI)
53. Publish what you pay
54. Radha Paudel Foundation
55. Reacción Climática (Bolivia)
56. Red of Defensoras del Ambiente y el Buen Vivir (Argentina)
57. Red Dot Foundation Global (USA) and Red Dot Foundation (India)
58. Resource Center for Women and Girls (Kenya)
59. Salamander Trust
60. SecurityWomen
61. SEDRA (servicio de desarrollo rural y Agricultura) (Chile)
62. Shirakat – Partnership for Development
63. Federation of the Sisters of Charity
64. Soroptimist International
65. Trade Information and Negotiations in Southern and Eastern Africa (SEATINI) (Uganda)
66. Support for Women in Agriculture and the Environment (SWAGEN)
67. Tax Justice Network
68. Tax Justice Network in Africa (TJNA)
69. Third World Network (TWN)
70. Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights (UAF)
71. Urgewald (Germany)
72. Womankind Worldwide (UK)
73. Women Against Rape (WAR) (Antigua)
74. Women Commit to a Common Future (WECF)
75. Women for Change (Cameroon)
76. Women in Development Europe+ (WIDE+)
77. Women in Global Health
78. Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
79. Big Girl Group
80. United Nations Women’s Reporting Network (WUNRN)
81. WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform (Netherlands)

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