Gender Needs The needs that result from everyday gender roles performed by both women and men are called ‘gender needs’. Gender needs are important issues in the development planning if the planning is to be gender responsive. Both men and women play different roles in the society, therefore they have different. gender needs. As women are deprived of different rights and inequality prevails in the’society, they are in subordinate position, and from such discriminatory reality, ‘gender needs’ appear in the development discourse. There are two types of gender needs: Practical Gender Needs and Strategic Gender Needs. Maxine Moleneux first coins the gender needs in the development literature as Women’s Interest and Strategic Gender Interest. Later Caroline Moser developed the terms as Practical Gender needs and Strategic Gender needs. Practical Gender Needs: Practical gender needs are the needs women identify in their socially accepted roles in society. Practical gender needs do not challenge the gender division of labour or women’s subordinate position in the society, although rising out of them. Practical gender needs are a response to immediate perceived necessity, identified in a specific context. They are practical in nature and often are concerned with inadequacies in living conditions such as water provision, health care and employment. Strategic Gender Needs: Strategic gender needs are the needs women identify because of their subordinate position to men in their society. Strategic gender needs vary according to particular’ contexts. They relate to gender divisions of labour, power, control and may include such issues as legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages and women’s control over their bodies. Meeting strategic gender needs help women to achieve greater equality. Italso changes existing roles and therefore challenges women’s subordinate position. Patriarchy Literally, the word patriarchy means the rule of the father or ‘the patriarch’. It was used to describe a specific type of ‘male dominated family’- the large houschold of the patriarch that comprises women..iunior men, children, slaves and domestic servants all under the rule of this dofniriant male. Now it is used more generally to refer to male domination, to the power relationships by which men dominate women or a system whereby women are kept subordinate in a number of ways. Sylvia Walby in her book, Theorising Patriarchy calls it “a system of social structure and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women. The system is called Pitritantra in Bangla. ‘ianifestation of atriarchy in the daily life experiences Son preference: Family members become unhappy when a girl child is born in the family. Discrimination in food distribution: In case of food, boys and men in the family take the food first, and girls and women have to make do with whatever is left over. Burden of household work on girls and women: Daughters help in her mother’s work, boys don’t. Lack of educational opportunities for girls: Father thinks it is unnecessary for the girls to go to school. Lack of freedom and mobility for girls: Girls can not easily go out to meet friends or to play. Wife battering: Husband batters his wife. Male control over women and girls: Sometimes brothers are worse than their father; they do not allow their sister to talk to any boys, Sexual harassment at work place: Throwing out of the job when a subordinate woman is unwilling to give in to the demands of her boss. Lack of inheritance rights: Most often women do not get the share of father’s or husband’s property. Male control over women’s bodies and sexuality: Despite unwillingness, a wife has to submit her body to her husband whenever he wants. Contro} over fertility or reproductive rights: Husband does not use contraéépuves or permit his wife to use family planning method. All these experiences of subordination destroy women’s self-esteem, self-respect and self-confidence, and set limits on their aspirations, The family: Family the basic unit of society is the most patriarchal. A man is considered the head of the family and he controls everything including women’s sexuality, labour or production, reproduction and mobility. In the family man is considered superior to women. As a result, boys learn to assert and dominate and girls. to submit. Religion: Most modern religions are patriarchal imparting male supremacy over women. The feminine principle of power had existence before the institutionalised religion but in course of time the goddesses have been replaced by gods. Although some countries are secular, still a person’s legal identity with regard to marriage, divorce and inheritance is determined by his or her religion. The legal system: The legal system in most countries favours men. Law with regard to family, marriage and inheritance are closely related to the patriarchal control over property. Legal system in South Asia considers man as the head of the family, natural guardian of the children and the primary inheritor of the property.Economi ee ea “conomie institutions: Within a patriarchal economic system, aie sae institutions, own most property, direct economic activity, solution C Ie a lue of different productive activities, As a result most economic oa 'Y Women is neither recognised nor paid for. Women’s contribution in ‘On Process is completely discounted by the patriarchal system. eee systems and institutions: Most of the political institutions are male “Ominated starting from village council to parliament. Although we see a handful of Women in supreme position in the political parties of South Asia, they have strong association with male political personalities of ‘the family, and the thin boundaries laid down by men. ri ne Media: Media are very important tools that propagate the class and gender ideology of upper class and upper caste men. We see the portrayal of women in different media like television, radio, magazines and newspapers is stereotypical and distorted, They Tepeat male supremacy and women’s inferiority constantly. Again violence is rampant in the films, and women are highly under represented. Most often the reporting, coverage, advertising and messaging are very sexist. Educational institutions and knowledge systems: Men’s hegemony over the creation of knowledge marginalized women's knowledge and experiences, their expertise and aspirations. Still we want to see more female teachers in the primary schools as they can provide motherly love to the children having education. Again we see a boy to plant a tree while a girl to water it in the text book’s picture, which is learnt by the children in their school. Thus, patriarchy perpetuates in our society through different institutions, Gender Mainstreaming Gender mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all level. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. Gender mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality.