Towards a gender-sensitive approach to drug demand reduction: a process within the United Nations system.

Women are linked to illicit drug-related activities, whether they be cultivation, production, trafficking, peddling or consumption. The real extent of the impact of these activities on women, however, has only gradually been gaining the attention of policy makers dealing with matters related to drug abuse and illicit trafficking. This increase in awareness is the result of successful collaboration between organizations of the United Nations system in conducting gender analysis and research into the relationship between drug abuse and related activities and women. The present article documents the process of that collaboration, which led to the recognition of the issue at the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, held at Beijing from 4 to 15 September 1995. Since the World Conference, a United Nations System-Wide Plan of Action was developed in 1996 on "Women and Drug Abuse: a Gender Perspective".