by Claudia C. Lodia

Soon after the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), a platform that reflects the consensus to reassert the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) while aiming to implement the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, women groups on the ground in the global South, began to increasingly illustrate the practical links between women and economic growth, women and peace, and women and active governance. In the past decade, for instance, there has been significant push with the use of affirmative action in Latin America and South Africa as means toward reaching gender equality in representative politics. Additionally, in relation to international peace and security, the women's movement behind the BPFA spurred the passing of the UNSCR 1325, which formally recognizes the utmost importance of a gendered perspective in achieving and maintaining peace.