GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

Gender and Development is a field that uses a feminist approach to understand and address
how development efforts can disproportionately impact women and men. It aims to ensure
that development processes are participatory, equitable, sustainable, and respect human
rights, while also addressing gender inequalities and promoting gender equality. GAD
recognizes that women and men have different needs and interests, and that these differences
are shaped by cultural, social, economic, and political norms.

Gender and Development are considered important areas in the study of social sector issues in
development. The historical development of societies has placed women at distinctively
disadvantageous position. Historical studies reflect that women have played a marginal role in
the, development of societies. However, modern development theories attribute significant
participation by all sections of society, including women as a gender category, in the
development process. Women constitute almost half of human population, and their role in the
development process has critical significance in the success of failure of nations.

Gender equality is not only a human right it is a powerful lever for strong, green and inclusive
economic development. Economies are more resilient and productive when they reduce gender
inequalities, strengthen women’s rights, and support their equal participation in all spheres of
life.

What Is Gender Studies?

Beliefs about what is male or female influence our lives and in fact all products, from clothes
and advertisements to social and cultural representations. Our personality and image too are
many times determined by the fact that we are male or female. The connotation of gender can
change as it is a culturally constructed idea of what sex difference means and this may differ
from place to place and in different contexts. Often, society conflates sex and gender and views
them as the same thing.

The conceptual distinction between sex and gender is a useful analytical tool to clarify ideas,
and has now been almost universally taken up. According to this distinction, sex is connected
with biology. Biological and certain physical conditions (chromosomes, external and internal
genitalia, hormonal states and secondary sex characteristics), lead to the determination of male
or female sex. Whereas the gender identity of men and women in any given society is socially
and psychologically (and that means also historically and culturally) determined. To determine
gender, however, social and cultural perceptions of masculine and feminine traits and roles
must be taken into account. There is considerable, but not total, correlation between female
sex and feminine gender, and male sex and masculine gender.

Gender is the social dimension of being male or female. Gender identity is the sense of being
male or female, which most children acquire by the age of three. The World Economic Forum
explains that gender is not synonymous with women as it is commonly understood. It refers to
both men and women, and to their status, relative to each other

Gender is a categorizing code in our society and culture. It is an extraordinary discerning means
in the distribution of education, employment, manual labour, care, possession, income
generation, organizational aspects or ill health. In sociological terms, a 'gender role' refers to
the characteristics and behaviours that different cultures attribute to the sexes of male and
female being ascribed as masculine and feminine characteristics and behaviours. To study
gender is to study a fundamental category of identity of an individual, and also a way of
categorizing human beings that shapes basic structures in a society. Gender is both a factor in
how an individual develops his/her identity, and a stratifying principle in society.

People of different genders have different sorts of access to resources, and are seen as having
different roles and responsibilities. Studying gender also involves studying the ways in which
the world around us is gendered: how and why certain attributes of the world are associated
with masculinity and femininity. Gender study is a field of interdisciplinary study, drawing upon
the theories and methods of diverse disciplines.

Gender Studies not only investigates the genuine physical and biological differences between
women and men, but also reflects critically about what these differences mean in a socio-
cultural context. As the socio cultural context varies across time and boundaries, the diversity
and elements included in gender studies also varies. In recent time gender studies has
established itself as an integral field across cultures and societies

Gender is learnt through a process of socialization and through the culture of the particular
society concerned. In many cultures, boys are encouraged in the acts considered to display
male traits (and girls vice versa) through the toys given to children (guns for boys, dolls for
girls), the kind of discipline meted out, the jobs or careers to which they might aspire and the
portrayal of men and women in media. Children learn their gender from birth. They learn how
they should behave in order to be perceived by others, and themselves, as either masculine or
feminine.

Moreover, the division of labor between the sexes is best explained by gender but because
reproduction is based on a universal biological difference between the male and female, sex,
societies use this as a basis for allotting other tasks. These tasks are allotted according to
convenience and precedents in the particular culture, and determine masculine and feminine
roles.

We see, then that tasks and the division of labor do not relate to the sex of the individuals
concerned, and so are not common on one sex from one culture to another, but are culture
specific. Thus gender is culture specific. Gender not only varies from one culture to another but
it also varies within cultures over time; culture is not static but evolves. Societies become more
complex, the roles played by men and women are not only determined by culture but by socio-
political and economic factors.
Hence, throughout the human life Gender, is reinforced by parent, teachers, peers, their
culture and society. Every society uses biological sex as one criterion for describing gender but,
beyond that simple starting point, no two cultures would completely agree on what
distinguishes one gender from another. Therefore there is considerable variation in gender
roles between cultures.

WHY IS GENDER A DEVELOPMENT ISSUE?

Development is a continuous process. The perspective and meaning of development is different

for different ages. It involves the idea of both cultural and economic progress and the use of
science and technology in various fields and the resultant changes thereof. Development
includes the economic policies, the infrastructure projects (such as transport, communication
system, schools, healthcare facilities etc.) industrial policy and most importantly, the welfare
state.

There is a common notion that development is indicated by a nation’s rise in national and per
capita income and GDP, growth of industries, increase in agricultural output, effective
mobilisation of labour and capital and increase in foreign trade. This notion does not take into
account the equal distribution of resources, equal opportunities for all and the well-being of the
population, especially women. In many countries and societies patriarchy is prevalent thereby
leading to female subordination despite the fact that, women play a critical role in household
development as well as the development of a nation. It is a fact that, gender discrimination has
led to inequality in economic, social and political activities. This calls for considering gender a
very important issue.

Gender as a concept or category has emerged to understand the complexities of women's

subordination in society. It emphasize women's social and political participation i.e. women's
ability to participate equally with men at all levels and in all aspects of public and political life
and decision making. The word gender does not necessarily refer to women as a group or class
of society. Rather it is used as an analytical social category to study the problems of women.
The theory of development is closely related to gender because of the large scale exclusion of
women from the process of development. The study of development with gender perspective
needs to be understood for the following reasons:-

 It manifests the efforts towards ensuring equitable distribution of fruits of development.

 The idea of gender as a category has emerged as an outcome of the prevalent disparity
and discrimination between men and women in almost all societies.
 It enables us to quantify the results of development efforts and also reflects the relative
share of each segment of society which helps in devising sector specific policies and
goals.

The concept of gender and development highlights the relationship between gender and
development initiatives and feminists’ viewpoints along with important issues such as
leadership, education, health, peace building activities, violence against women and economic
empowerment. A country cannot progress without the significant contribution of its citizens.
Globally, the gender aspect is recognized as central to all developmental programmes. The
promotion of gender parity and women’s empowerment is one of the eight internationally
agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Thus, there is an immediate need to take appropriate steps to provide both women and men
with equal opportunities and conditions in economic, social, cultural, economic and political
arenas to enable them to enjoy their rights, to participate in all the developmental activities
and gain from the resulting progress. The role Gender and development perspective should be
to address the activities of men and women need to be addressed separately. The reproductive,
productive and social or community roles women are playing must be looked at as well as the
roles played economically and socially by men. By examining men's and women's roles a
greater understanding of their needs and involvement in power and decision-making around
specific tasks and issues will be reached. To achieve this, incorporating a gender analysis into
development should be the primary practical requirement i.e. to consult with and listen to
women so that their roles and resulting needs are better understood. For example:-

 In Education: Ensuring girls and women have equal access to quality education, addressing
gender-based violence in schools, and promoting gender-neutral curricula.
 In Healthcare: Addressing gender disparities in health outcomes, providing women with
access to reproductive health services, and combating maternal mortality.
 In Economic Development: Promoting women's entrepreneurship, providing access to
microfinance and credit, and ensuring equal pay for equal work.
 In Governance and Politics: Promoting women's participation in political processes,
advocating for gender-responsive laws, and ensuring women's representation in
government.

GENDER EQUALITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Gender equality can contribute significantly to economic growth by increasing the stock of
human capital, raising labour productivity, improving agricultural productivity and increasing
the stock of physical capital.

1. Gender equality leads to enhanced human capital- No country can progress if the
majority of women population remains illiterate. Many studies have shown that, women
especially the literate, are efficient in using the resources at their disposal as compared
to men, to promote nutrition, health and education of their children; well educated
women can undertake higher-value economic activity. Socially and culturally developed
countries enable improved and effective gender quality in education promoting growth;
such countries encourage women to pursue better and higher education.
2. Gender equality promotes increased labour productivity- Gender equality leads to
more competitive labour markets. Gender equality in education stresses on increased
gender equality in employment too. It is generally observed that product markets
become more competitive if all the prospective entrepreneurs can use their talents.
 Unfair laws and biased social norms act as an obstacle to female entrepreneurship;
when women are treated differently from men with respect to access to institutions and
loans, property rights and taxation, their ability to start a business becomes difficult.
3. Gender discrimination affects agricultural productivity- Gender discrimination can
cause hindrance to improving agricultural productivity. In many countries where
agriculture is a major occupation and major contributor to the total economy, a large
number of women participate. Unequal distributions of resources which include credit
facilities, labour and fertilizer lead to lower yields and profits.
4. Increased gender equality attracts investment in physical capital- The rate of
investment is motivated by the expected rate of return on the investment. A good and
an efficient productive workforce due to greater equality in education and employment
increase the expectation in the returns, which in turn leads to increased investment and
growth. New investment not only promotes growth directly but also encourages
economies to adopt modern updated technologies for higher production. In addition, by
improving women’s wage rates through equal distribution of income, increased savings
occur. They in turn can be used through the financial sector so as to provide capital for
companies to make new investments.

HISTORIC OVERVIEW ON THE WORLD CONFERENCES ON WOMEN

In June 1946, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to ensure the empowerment of women and gender
equality (E/RES/2/11, 21 June 1946), and to provide recommendations to the Council on the
obstacles relating women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and education fields.

Over the years, the CSW has organised different conferences in order to assert and improve the
rights of women. So far, four world conferences on women have taken place. The conferences
have sought to unite the international community behind a set of common objectives with an
effective plan of action for the advancement of women everywhere, in all spheres of public and
private life.

The First World Plan for Action was adopted in Mexico City in 1975 and called upon
governments to develop strategies that would bring gender equality, eliminate gender
discrimination and integrate women in development and peace-building. Within the United
Nations, the Plan of Action also led to the establishment of the International Research and
Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and the United Nations
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

The Second World Conference, held in Copenhagen [] in1980, brought together 145 Members
States to review the Mexico Plan for Action and stated that despite the progress made, special
actions needed to be taken in areas such as employment opportunities, adequate health care
services and education.
At the Third World Conference held in Nairobi in 1985, the UN revealed to Member States that
only a number of women benefited from the improvements and participants were asked to find
new areas to ensure that peace, development and equality could be achieved. Three sectors
identified in Nairobi include equality in social participation and equality in political participation
and decision-making. The conference further recognized the necessity of women to participate
in discussions in all areas and not only on gender equality.

The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995) was the largest conference the
United Nations had ever organised. Over 189 governments, 17000 participants including 6000
government delegates, more than 4000 representatives of NGOs, 4000 journalists and all the
United Nations organizations attended the Conference. The 189 UN Member States adopted
unanimously the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) to ensure the improvement of all women
without any exceptions. The BPFA outlined 12 critical issues, which constitute barriers for the
advancement of women, and identified a range of actions that governments, the United
Nations and civil society groups should take to make women‟s human rights a reality.

The Platform for Action: twelve critical areas

The twelve critical concerns identified in the BPFA include: poverty of women, unequal access
to education, lack and unequal access to health care systems, violence against women,
vulnerabilities of women in armed conflict, inequality in economic structures, inequalities in
power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms to improve the advancement of women,
lack of respects and inadequate protection in human rights, under-representation of women in
the media, inequalities in natural resource management and in the safeguarding of the
environment, and the discrimination and violation against the girl child. Full implementation of
the twelve issues would see the enhanced empowerment of women economically, socially and
politically

The term ‘women in development' came into use in the early 1970s, after Ester Boserup’s
publication on “Women’s Role in Economic Development”. Boserup analyzed the changes in
traditional agricultural practices as societies modernized and examined the differential impacts
of the changes in work done by men and women. WID was initially used by the Women’s
committee of the Washington DC chapter of the Society for International Development as part
of a deliberate strategy to bring new evidence generated by Boserup and others to the
attention of American policy makers. This was articulated by liberal feminists who advocated
for legal and administrative changes that would ensure women would be better integrated into
economic systems and governance. This was later to form the basis of the gender agenda,
which is best summarized under the following international women’s conferences, that have
united the international community behind a set of common objectives with an effective plan
of action for the advancement of women everywhere, in all spheres of public and private life.

1975: Mexico City - A global dialogue is opened

This first world conference on the status of women was convened in Mexico City to coincide
with the 1975 International Women's Year to remind the international community that
discrimination against women continued to be a persistent problem all over the world. Three
key objectives were identified which became the basis for the work of the United Nations on
behalf of women:-

 Full gender equality and the elimination of gender discrimination;

 The integration and full participation of women in development;
 An increased contribution by women in the strengthening of world peace.

1980: Copenhagen - The review process begins

This conference was attended by over 145 representatives and reviewed the gains made and to
appraise the 1975 World Plan of Action. An important milestone had been the adoption by the
General Assembly in December 1979 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, one of the most powerful instruments for women's equality.
The Copenhagen Conference recognized that signs of disparity were beginning to
emerge between rights secured and women's ability to exercise these rights. It pinpointed
three areas where specific, highly focused action was essential if the broad goals of equality,
development and peace, identified by the Mexico City Conference, were to be reached. These
three areas were equal access to education, employment opportunities and adequate health
care services.

1985: Nairobi - “The forward looking strategies"

The Nairobi conference reviewed and appraised the achievements of the United Nations
Decade for Women and identified WID as a strategy that isolates women from mainstreaming
development. It showed that development interventions had little impact on women’s welfare,
legal and social status. This shortcoming opened up debates on the most appropriate way on
how women can participate in development and that is how GAD was born. GAD questioned
existing power relations between men and women in all spheres of life;

The women's movement, divided by world politics and economic realities at the Mexico
Conference, had now become an international force unified under the banner of equality,
development and peace. It broke new ground as it declared all issues to be women's issues.
Women's participation in decision-making and the handling of all human affairs was recognized
not only as their legitimate right but also as a social and political necessity that would have to
be incorporated in all institutions of society.

1995: Beijing - legacy of success

The efforts of the previous two decades helped to improve women's conditions and access to
resources, but did not change the basic structure of inequality in the relationship between men
and women. Decisions were still being made mostly by men. The Conference unanimously
adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that was in essence an agenda for
women's empowerment and stands as a milestone for their advancement in the twenty-first
century. It specified twelve critical areas of concern considered to represent the main obstacles
to women's advancement and which require concrete action by Governments and civil society:-

 Women and poverty

 Education and training for women
 Women and health
 Violence against women
 Women and armed conflict
 Women and the economy
 Women in power and decision making
 Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
 Human rights of women
 Women and the media
 Women and the environment
 The girl child

KEY ASPECTS OF GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

 Gender Analysis: This involves understanding how gender roles, norms, and power
dynamics influence development processes and outcomes. It helps identify how
policies, programs, and projects affect women and men differently.
 Women's Empowerment: This recognizes women as active agents of development and
advocates for their participation in decision-making processes. It seeks to strengthen
women's legal rights, access to resources, and opportunities to participate in social,
economic, and political life.
 Gender Mainstreaming: This is a strategy to integrate gender perspectives into all
stages of development, from planning to implementation and evaluation. It ensures
that women's and men's concerns and experiences are considered in all aspects of
development.
 Addressing Gender Inequalities: This aims to dismantle gender stereotypes, reduce
gender-based violence, and promote equitable access to education, healthcare, and
economic opportunities for all genders.
GENDER ANALYSIS

This is the process of examining roles, responsibilities or any other situation with regard to
women and men, boys and girls, with a view to identifying gaps, raising concerns and
addressing them: it is the investigation and identification of specific needs of girls and boys,
women and men for policy and programme development and implementation.

GENDER ANALYSIS FRAMEWORKS

Frameworks are approaches used to generate data and information during gender analysis.
They serve different purposes depending on the situation and what is being analyzed. The
following are the commonly used gender analysis frameworks:-

1. Harvard gender analysis framework: It is one of the early frameworks of analysis and
was developed by researchers at Harvard Institute for International Development in
USA. It is based on the understanding that women and men are affected by
development activities differently. The framework emphasizes the role on data and
information because provision of data makes women and men to be more visible in
projects. It uses tools like activity profile, access and control profile, analysis of
determinant factors and project cycle analysis.
2. Gender Planning In The Third World Countries (By Caroline Moser): It takes the view
that gender planning is technical and political in nature and involves a transformative
process. There are six (6) tools in the framework. These tools are, gender role
identification, gender needs assessment, balancing of roles, WID/GAD policy matrix,
disaggregating control of resources and decision making within the household and
gender awareness.
3. Gender equality and empowerment framework (By Sarah Longwe): It focuses on what
women’s equality and empowerment means and the extent to which development
interventions supports empowerment. Empowerment refers to the enabling women to
take an equal place with men and to participate equally in the development process to
achieve control over the factors of production on an equal basis. It introduces five levels
of equality by which to assess the level of women empowerment. The levels are,
control, participation, access, welfare, conscientisation.
4. People orientated planning (UNHCR): It lays emphasis on participation of the people
and takes into consideration change to be of essence in planning but does not challenge
the existing gender relations.
5. Social Economic of Gender Analysis (SEGA): This framework focuses on the issue of
gender analysis mainly in socio-economic context. It emphasizes the need for economic
empowerment and equality in distribution of resources.
6. Gender Analysis Matrix (GAM): It seeks to establish the different types of impacts of
development interventions on women and men at community levels. It helps the
community to carry out analysis and to identify gender roles and challenge their
assumptions on these roles. It is a participatory planning tool. GAM is used to carry out
analysis at the level of women, men, households and the community. It looks at impacts
 on four areas of labour, resources, time and social-cultural
factors. It allows for community participation.
7. Social relations approach: This framework lays emphasis on gender relations and
particularly social construction of gender. It emphasizes that planners examine their
organizations and institutions and understand how they can bring biases during the
planning process.
8. Capacities and vulnerabilities analysis framework: The main emphasis on this
framework is carrying out analysis to specifically identify the vulnerabilities of both
women and men and how these vulnerabilities can be addressed. It is meant for
emergency situations. The analysis looks at cause of vulnerability.

STEPS IN GENDER ANALYSIS

1. STEP 1: Identifying, defining and refining the issue: Policy analysis usually begins with
identifying a problem or an opportunity requiring policy development or analysis. This
stage involves determining the nature, scope and importance of the issue within the
context of the current policy environment that warranted placing it on the policy
agenda.
2. STEP 2: Defining desired goals and anticipated outcomes: In this stage, desired goals and
anticipated outcomes for the policy are proposed. An analysis of intended/unintended
outcomes usually examines the degree to which the policy can meet or hinder other
policies or government objectives. Outcome indicators, monitoring processes, partners
in defining outcomes, and accountability for achieving outcomes are usually considered
in this phase.
3. STEP 3: Defining the information and consultation inputs: This step is most often done
along with the research phase. It looks at what knowledge is needed, and what sources
can best provide it. Available and relevant data sources and partners in data gathering
and analysis are identified.
4. STEP 4: Conducting research: This stage clarifies the research design, and the type of
analysis to be done (e.g. cost/benefit, social impact, relationships to government etc.). It
is here that tasks and methods of analysis and approaches to data presentation are
discussed.
5. STEP 5: Developing and analyzing options: An analysis of options and their outcomes
and implications are articulated and refined. The relationship of options and their
impact on existing policies, programs and legislation are also studied for example:
economic, social, equity, community, environmental etc. Impact analyses are developed
preferably for each option while responsibility for implementation and the resources
required are also examined.
6. STEP 6: Making recommendations: The recommendation of options is often a
collaborative effort, and sometimes draws directly on public input and consultation. The
rationale for the recommendations is derived from the analysis of options, and presents
the recommendation in terms of its favorable and unfavorable impacts, implications,
and the policy environment.
 7. STEP 7: Communicating policy: Communicating the recommended policy can play a
significant role in its acceptance and implementation. Timing, choice of media,
language, and public involvement are important to ensure that government intent and
the impacts of the policy, program and legislation are understood. The participation and
acknowledgement of partners and consulting groups can be a key part of
communicating policies inside the government and to the public.
8. STEP 8: Assessing the quality of analysis: At this stage it is important to review the
analysis process.

GENDER EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

Development is not sex neutral. It is biased towards men. Women's exclusion from the
development process at social and political levels has not only cost them their due share in
society, but it has made the task of achieving prosperity in developing countries much more
difficult. The issue of discrimination against women and the need to formulate appropriate
policies towards this has been debated for many yeas, but serious attempts to isolate the
problem and target it comprehensively was started in 1995 in the UN's Beijing Declaration,

Among other things, the mission statement of the declaration said: "It aims at removing all the
obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full
and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making". The positive
developments that took place after the Beijing Declaration were:-

 Increased awareness
 Policy reforms
 Improved legislative frameworks
 Institutional developments at the national level. These included actions in the following
areas:-
o Establishment of national policies and strategies for gender equality
o Adherence to international and regional instruments for the protection of
human rights of women
o Increased diversity in the mechanisms promoting and monitoring attention to
gender equality
o Attention to resource allocations through gender sensitive budgeting efforts to
engage men and boys more actively in the promotion of gender equality

Hence, empowerment of women is essential for development and they should not be neglected
and marginalized in the process of development.. A few critical areas of gender empowerment
and development are:-

Economic Participation: The economic participation of women in the workforce, in qualitative

terms, is important, not only for lowering the disproportionate levels of poverty among women,
but also as an important step towards raising household incomes and encouraging economic
development in the countries as a whole.
Economic Opportunity: Traditionally as well as culturally, the role assigned to women in many
societies deprives them of economic opportunity. In most of the society, women are vested
with the responsibility of bearing, rearing and caring of children. This prevents them from
participating in employment opportunities in the private sector, as well as in the public sector.
Women employed in the unorganized sector of developing countries, including India, do not get
paid for maternity leave. The duration of maternity leave, the percentage of wages paid during
the covered period, and the number of women in managerial positions are important aspects of
economic opportunities available to women in various countries. In addition, women who are
in managerial positions often make a painful choice between a
successful career and family. A study in the United States has found 49 per cent of high
achieving women to be childless as compared with only 19 percent of their male counterparts

Political Empowerment: It is said that, there are three places where women have always been
excluded, these are military, religion, and politics, and it is in the political arena that they have
the least access. The United Nations has admitted that women's increased participation in mass
politics has been predominantly concentrated in thk lower echelons of public administration,
and has not been matched by the same presence ' at the higher levels of policy and decision
making. Women's political empowerment means equitable representation of women in the
decision making structure. Women are poorly represented in democratic institutions. The Inter-
Parliamentary Union report has envisaged an average of only 15.6 percent of women
representation in the combine Houses of Parliament. The participation of women in political
institutions is probably the most significant indicator of women's contribution in development
process. The following table reflects the percentage of women in Lok Sabha in India, since the
first General Elections.

Educational Attainment: Education is one of the fundamental prerequisites for empowering

women. Education helps in reducing infant and maternal mortality. The importance of
education in general and literacy, in particular, is greater for women. However, women still
constitute two-thirds of the world's illiterate population.
Educational empowerment of women will:-

 a enhance self-esteem and self confidence of women

 develop the ability ti think critically
 a enable women to make informed choices in areas like education, employment and
health

Information and communication technology has become a driving force of development in

recent years. A study by the USAID says that countless women in the developing world are
further removed from the information age. It further envisaged that without access to
information technology, an understanding of its significance and the ability to use it for social
and economic gain, women in the developing world will be further marginalized from the
mainstream of their communities, their country and the world. The literacy rate among women
in India remains below international standards and has wide interstate differences. The World
Development Indicator, 2004 envisages that among the female youth (15-24 years), the literacy
rate is 97 per cent in Sri Lanka, as against 41 percent in Bangladesh.

Women's educational empowerment will boost their social, economic and political
empowerment. Jawaharlal Nehru once said, "to awaken the people, it is women who must be
awakened; once she is on the move, the village moves and the nation moves"

Health and Wellbeing: The World Health Organisation (WHO) expects that every mother
maintains good health, learns the art of child care, has normal delivery, and bears healthy 7
children. A healthy mother is required for the wellbeing of a family. Women are not in a better
position as compared to men in health and wellbeing because of. biological reasons. According
to the World Health Organisation, 585,000 women die every year, over 1600 every day, from
the causes related to pregnancy and child birth. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America
estimates that of the annual 46 million abortions worldwide, some 20 millions are performed
using unsafe methods resulting in the deaths of 80,000 women, which accounts for at least 13
per cent of global maternal mortality and causing a wide range of long term health problems.
Female life expectancy in Japan is 86 years, while in India and Bangladesh, it is 67 and 65 years
respectively. This, itself, shows how bad the status of female is in the underdeveloped
countries.

PHASES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION

Discrimination is faced by women throughout the different phases of their life.

1. Pre natal-Prenatal sex selection, battering during pregnancy, coerced pregnancy (rape
during war).
2. Infancy-Female infanticide, emotional and physical abuse, differential access to food
and medical care.
3. Childhood-Genital cutting, incest and sexual abuse; differential access to food, medical
care and education, child prostitution.
4. Adolescence-Dating and courtship violence, economically coerced sex, sexual abuse in
the work place, rape, sexual harassment, forced prostitution.
5. Reproductive-Abuse of women by intimate partners, marital rape, dowry abuse, sexual
abuse with disabilities
6. Old age-Abuse of widows, elder abuse (which affects mostly women).

THE GENDER DEVELOPMENT INDEX

The GDI was developed by UNDP to consider gender disparity on overall human development
of a nation. The indicators used for measuring Human Development Index (HDI) and GDI are
common, but for GDI, it is further narrowed down to calculate gender specific disparities in
each parameter. The three areas which are used to measure human capabilities for HDI are:-

 Life expectancy to measure longevity

  Educational attainment or literacy level to represent level of knowledge
 An appropriately adjusted real GDP per capita to ensure a decent standard of living

For the purpose of calculating GDI, the above indices are adjusted to find out the gender based
results which explain the level of gender inequality prevailing in a country. The GDI is designed
to evaluate the achievement of women along each of the following three components

 Life expectancy at birth,

 Illiteracy level
 Standard of living reflected in income level of women

Life expectancy at birth is a reasonable indicator of a category (particularly women) in

achieving-growth and prosperity. It depends directly on the following factors,

 Health care in society in general

 Availability of facilities to mother and child
 Society's cultural' preferences

A higher life expectancy for male than a female indicates that there is perceptible disparity
existing in the society, Measurements of GBI using this indicator categorically points out the
level of gender inequality in a country. Similarly, the educational attainment level or literacy
rate determines the access to education. In developing countries, with substantial population
living in poverty, the accessibility and affordability of educadanal facilities is a question mark for
the majority. GDI uses this indicatar to correctly point out the level of gender inequality which
cannot be determined through HBI because it concentrates on the overall development level.
The standard of living is largely determinedsby the income level of the people.

But, calculating any parameter by using an absolute level of income can be Gender and
Development misleading. Income level of the population can be highly skewed with large
sections at the very end with meager income levels, while a few can be at the top of the
pyramid with huge levels of income. The GDI uses the income levels of
both men and women to decipher the extent of inequality between Inen and . women.
Whenever and wherever there is wide disparity, the GDI will deteriorate. ~hcordin~ to UNDP
reports, developed countries consistently score high on GDI index, compared wit11 developing
countries. India ranks moderately on GDI scorecard at 113 with a GDI score of 0.6 among 177
countries. The following table (Table 3.6) shows the top ten and bottom ten countries on GDI
score.

METHODS OF CALCULATION OF GDI

The following three steps are applied for the calculation of GDI.

Step 1: The first step is to estimate Male and female development indices. As there are three
indicators, we need to estimate six development indices.
 1. male education development indices
2. male health development index
3. male income development index
4. female education development index
5. female health development index
6. female income development index

Step II: Step II involves combining female and male indices in each indicator /dimension in a
way that penalizes differences in achievements. The resulting index is called equally distributed
index.

Step 111: The final step arranges the three equally distributed indices in an outweighed manner
to obtain the value of GDI. The GDI is the average of these three equally distributed indices and
has a value ranging from 0 to 1. GDI of one (GDI=l) indicates that a country has reached its goal
on its way to development and has eliminated gender based disparities among its population.

THE GENDER EMPOWERMENT MEASURE

The GDI is a significant indicator of the spread of development initiatives in a country. It is a

gender specific measurement of development parameters. Another very important gender
specific measurement index, developed by UN and used for analysis, is the Gender
Empowerment Measure (GEM). The UN, in 1975, started focusing on the plight of women and
declared it the Decade of Women. It led to further focus on women through initiatives in
various conferences (Copenhagen, 1980, Nairobi, 1985, and in Beijing, 1995). Empowerment is
the power of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform
those choices into desired actions and outcomes. The World Bank's 2002 Empowerment
Sourcebook identified empowerments as "the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor
people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control and hold accountable institutions
that affect their lives".

Empowerment of women involves the improvements of their status in the family, community,
and society. It ensures women's accessibility to modern development facilities Gender and
Development and extends their participation in social, economic and the political process, and
decision making. GEM has emerged as an important indicator of women's empowerment in a
community. GEM helps immensely in highlighting the deficiencies in policies and their
implementation.

COMPONENTS OF GEM

According to the Employment Paper, 2003104, of the International Labour Office, Geneva, the
Gender Empowerment Measure has three components:-

 The share of women in earned income

 The relative weight of women among administrators and professional workers
  Share of women in parliamentary seats.

These three components indicate women's active role in socioeconomic and political process of
a country. The United Nations, in 1999, evaluated the GEM data for 102 countries. The value of
these indicators range from a low of 0.120 (Niger) to a high of 0.810 (Norway).

FACTORS AFFECTING GEM

There are multiple factors which may affect the GEM score of a country. Some of the factors
which may affect GEM are given below.

 Social structure of a country - a patriarchal social system may not permit higher role for
women in decision making process. Muslim countries have perennially encountered
lower participation of women in the economic and political process.
 Historical settings - if there is relative deprivation of women vis-8-vis men it may take
longer to alter the historical setting in a country.
 Literacy rate - lower literacy rates for women could result in their exclusion from control
over resources and in the decision making process.
 Level of urbanisation - typically urban societies extend greater roles for women at all
levels. Rural societies are closed societies with limited resources as well as decision
making opportunities; whatever is available is concentrated with men.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING AND INTEGRATION

Gender Mainstreaming is process of integrating a gender equality perspective into the

development process at all stages and levels. Gender mainstreaming is a strategy for the
achievement of gender equality. Gender Integration occurs when issues and interventions
related to gender are introduced into a project, program or policy context as a broad
component or content area, without analysis and identification of gender concerns and their
implications.

As a concept gender mainstreaming can be seen strategy to be more inclusive in approach

towards different aspects of planning, implementation and assessing of different domains in
which human participation is there. It is important that perspective of everybody is taken into
account for any type of social, economic and political activity. For this it is also important that
we take care of gender differences and gender inequalities already existing. The present
structuring of policy framework cannot work independent of the aim of addressing gender
inequality in the society. Mainstreaming cannot be done at a later stage as amendments in
what already exists in terms of policy. It has to be done since the time of inception with gender
perspective being included at every step and stage.

Gender Mainstreaming or Gender and Development (GAD) mainstreaming is the

major global strategy for ensuring that the government pursues gender equality
in all aspects of the development process to achieve the vision of a gender-
responsive society where women and men equally contribute to and benefit from
development. Its importance has been extensively discussed since governments
committed to this concept in the Beijing Platform for Action during the Fourth
United Nations World Conference on Women in 1995.

It endeavors to look more comprehensively at the relationship between men and

women in their access to and control over resources, decision making, and
benefits and rewards within a particular system—it may be an organization, a
government or an entire society.2

The process of gender mainstreaming necessitates the transformation of

institutional structures, culture and practices wherein gender concerns become
central instead of remaining as peripheral issues and concerns.3

What is the Mainstream?

The “mainstream” is an inter-related set of dominant ideas, values, practices,

institutions and organizations that determine “who gets what” within a society.
The ideas and practices with the mainstream tend to reflect and reinforce each
other and thus provide a rationale for any given allocation of societal resources
and opportunities.4

Becoming part of the mainstream means:5

• women and men have equitable access to resources, including opportunities

and rewards. It implies equal participation in influencing what is valued in shaping
options within society.
• sharing equitably in the benefits of development.
• offers the opportunity to influence who does what in a society, who owns (and
can own) what, who has access to jobs and income, who controls the society’s
resources and institutions, who makes decisions, who sets priorities.

Entry Points of Gender Mainstreaming

GAD mainstreaming requires interventions from different stages of development

planning processes, from planning to programming, budgeting, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation. There are four critical entry points to GAD
mainstreaming, namely: policies, programs and projects, people, and enabling
mechanisms. These are not in any order of importance. A government agency
has the option on what entry point to use first. They may opt to adopt strategies
that characterize more than one entry point.
Policies

This refers to the official statements and pronouncements of support for gender
mainstreaming issued by the organization. These may be in the form of
department orders, special orders, administrative orders, memoranda, and
executive orders that spell out the commitment of an organization to pursue
gender mainstreaming. It also includes national and sectoral plans, specific
guidelines, manual of implementation and the GAD Framework/Strategic Plan.
Through these issuances, the organization expresses its recognition and
acceptance of gender mainstreaming as a critical and legitimate concern, even in
broad or general terms.6

People

This refers to the relevant stakeholders who assume the task of gender
mainstreaming. The following are critical to the success of gender
mainstreaming: GAD champions among top management who actively support
the gender mainstreaming program; recognition of GAD Focal Point System and
staff members as GAD experts; internal and external clients who are able to
participate in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
programs, activities and projects.7 As an entry point, people shares four
complementary and distinct roles8:

1. The Sponsor. “The individual or group who has the power to sanction or
legitimize change.” Sponsors consider the potential changes facing an
organization and assess the changes and opportunities. They decide
which changes will happen, communicate the new priorities to the
organization, and provide the proper reinforcement to assure success.
They are also “responsible for creating an environment that enables these
changes to be made on time and within budget.”
In gender mainstreaming, the sponsors are the heads of the
organizations. They express support to gender mainstreaming by issuing
policies or installing the necessary enabling mechanisms such as
approving the organization’s GAD Plan and Budget. They also set the
direction of the overall gender mainstreaming efforts of the organization
2. The Change Agent. “The individual or group who is responsible for
actually making the change. The agent’s success depends on the ability to
diagnose potential problems, develop a plan to deal with these issues, and
execute the change effectively.”
The primary change agents are usually the GAD Focal Point System
Members because they facilitate the implementation of gender
mainstreaming in the organization.
 3. The Target. “The individual or group who must actually change or those
who will benefit from development.”
The term “target” is used because these people are the focus of the
change effort and play a crucial role in the short- and long-term success of
an organization’s gender mainstreaming efforts.
To increase the likelihood of success, they must be educated to
understand the changes that are expected to accommodate. They must
also be involved in the implementation process. The targets of gender
mainstreaming are people in the bureaucracy, the field workers and the
clients of the different organizations. The officials and members of the
bureaucracy are given GAD capability programs to engage in the gender
mainstreaming efforts.
4. The Advocate. “The individual or group who wants to achieve change but
lacks the power to sanction it.” The presence of GAD advocates
determines the success rate of sustaining GAD mainstreaming initiatives.
The presence of GAD advocates helps lay a solid foundation built on
appreciation of GAD as a rights-based approach to development. Rights-
based approach means achieving a positive transformation of power
relations among the different development actors.

Programs and Projects (PAPs)

This refer to the flagship programs or activities and projects that serve as a
strategic entry point to gender mainstreaming in an organization. It is the most
practical entry point since it involves the actual implementation of the mandate of
an organization. PAPs can be review and issuance of revised GAD policies,
application of gender analysis tools, and conduct of GAD advocacy and regular
updating of GAD mechanisms such as the GAD database.

Enabling Mechanisms

This refer to the systems and mechanisms installed in the organization and the
funds allocated for GAD activities such as the GAD Focal Point System and
Knowledge Management System.

The success of any gender mainstreaming efforts depend, to a large extent, on

the resources allocated and the mechanisms that are institutionalized to
implement it.
Enabling mechanisms can be GAD Funds Audit of the Commission on Audit,
which greatly helped in ensuring the institutional compliance to the minimum 5%
utilization of the GAD budgets of government agencies and local government
units.

Levels of Gender Mainstreaming

Level 1: Foundation Formation

This is the initial stage, where the level of gender awareness of an organization is
heightened through raising people’s awareness and generating support for
gender mainstreaming. The challenge at the onset of any change effort is getting
people to understand, appreciate and imbibe the need for change. This level also
sets the tone for appreciating value-added in committing to GAD as one of the
priority thrusts of the organization.

Level 2: Installation of Strategic Mechanisms

This marks the transition of the organization toward gender mainstreaming.
Some of the enabling conditions created and established by top management to
support GAD are:
• Putting key people, necessary policies, support structures, systems and
mechanisms in pace to facilitate and sustain gender mainstreaming
• Initial application of GAD concepts and tools

Level 3: GAD Application

This is the period where GAD-related activities are already institutionalized within
the organization. Interventions are usually based on a strategic GAD agenda that
guides GAD planning and budgeting implementation. The GAD planning and
budgeting have become more strategic in terms of applying gender analysis in
regular programs that result in either increased attribution of the GAD budget
and/or more gender responsive programs.10

Level 4: Commitment Enhancement and Institutionalization

In this level, the organization has already institutionalized gender mainstreaming
and is focused on sustaining its efforts. It also challenges other organizations to
continuously evaluate and improve their efforts. After all, the long-term goal is to
improve the government’s ability to respond to gender issues and concerns on a
sustained basis.11

Level 5: Replication and Innovation

When an organization reached this level, it means that GAD has been fully
mainstreamed into its mandate and is being recognized by others as a model in
gender mainstreaming. The GAD Focal Person System members of the
organization do not only serve as internal experts but are also invited by other
organizations as GAD technical assistance providers. GAD-related mechanisms
established by the organization are also certified as learning hubs by national
and/or international organizations.12

IMPORTANCE OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING

ELEMENTS OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING

To understand gender mainstreaming in depth, it’s important to decode the elements of

gender mainstreaming. According to UNESCO document Gender mainstreaming includes the
following key elements:

 Collecting sex‐disaggregated data

 Examining this data using gender analysis
 Identifying gaps, through gender analysis and consultations with both women and men
 Raising awareness about gaps through policy dialogue and advocacy
 Building support for change through alliances/partnerships
 Developing strategies and programmes to close existing gaps
 Developing capacity of staff to plan and implement
 Putting adequate resources into place
 Monitoring, evaluation, reporting of implementation
 Communicating results and lessons learned
 Holding individuals and institutions accountable for results by securing political will and
leadership

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING

The basic principles for gender mainstreaming in the UN system at the ECOSOC meeting were:-

 Issues across all areas of activity should be defined in such a manner that gender
differences can be diagnosed, that is, an assumption of gender-neutrality should not be
made.
o Comment: Gender neutrality is an assumption which is made at some
place/organizations/institutions while considering lot of issues. This assumption
is against the principle of gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming expects
gender differences to be pointed out to make the base for further action to be
followed as policy and programme.
 Responsibility for translating gender mainstreaming into practice is system-wide and
rests at the highest levels. Accountability for outcomes needs to be monitored
constantly
o Comment: It's important that gender mainstreaming goes beyond planning and
is implemented across the whole system so that the changes which are desired
are visible. It takes lot of conviction and efforts from stakeholders at all level to
deliver but those who are at higher level and are responsible for are constant
monitoring and ensuring output.
 Gender mainstreaming also requires that every effort be made to broaden women's
participation at all levels of decision-making.
o Comment: It is important that women are there at all levels of decision making.
This would broaden the horizon of women’s participation and would facilitate
the process of gender mainstreaming.
 Gender mainstreaming must be institutionalized through concrete steps, mechanisms
and processes in all parts of the United Nations system.
o Comments: It is important that every part of the system is involved using
concrete steps and institutionalization of gender mainstreaming. As in United
Nations all the parts of the system are intended to be addressed.
 Gender mainstreaming does not replace the need for targeted, women-specific policies
and programmes or positive legislation, nor does it substitute for gender units or focal
points.
o Comments: Women have been marginalized since long and the efforts to
address this issue can not be single prong. Thus, its important that gender
mainstreaming is not seen as replacement for specific efforts which are women
specific. Targeted efforts have their own significance and must exist irrespective
of gender mainstreaming
 Clear political will and the allocation of adequate and, if need be, additional human and
financial resources for gender mainstreaming from all available funding sources are
important for the successful translation of the concept into practice.
o Comment: Political will has always been critical for implementation of policies
and programmes. For any policy to be effectively implemented and yield positive
results, it is important that proper funds are allocated. Financial inputs for
gender mainstreaming is equally important as the sensitized human resource.
APPROACHES TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING AND INTEGRATION

Ideally, the aim of any nation should be to work for development in all the spheres of economy
in order to enrich the lives of its citizens. But it is generally observed that women have not
benefitted much from development activities since the needs of males and females are
different. This aspect has been addressed by theorists through many approaches. Among them,
the three main theories are:-

1. Women In Development (WID)

2. Women And Development (WAD)
3. Gender and Development (GAD)

WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT (WID)

The women in development (WID) approach focused on how women could better be integrated
into existing development initiatives. According to this theory, women can be integrated in the
development process through legal policies and reforms in education, health and employment.
Women are regarded as active participants in development. This theory assumes that reforms
themselves will lead to opportunities which will be fair and equitably balanced. A number of
women’s associations and committees concerning WID were formed in Western Countries such
as USA to examine issues like equal pay for equal work, more opportunities for women in
professional organizations, amendment for equal rights etc.

The year 1975 was declared as the International Women’s year by the United Nations and the
years from 1975 to 1985 as the International Women’s Decade. This gave raise to increased
awareness on women’s issues which resulted in policy making at both national and
international level. The important themes of the Decade were equality, development and
peace. Both the UN Decade for Women and the World Conferences on Women encouraged the
inclusion of gender component in development debates.

Shortcomings in WID Theory

WID approach assumed that all developing economy should follow the same developmental
processes as the developed ones. It did not identify the roles of men and women in various
developmental projects. Although WID recognised the stereotyped roles of women while
identifying projects, it overlooked the cultural aspects and class differences. This approach was
more welfare-oriented and promoted women’s traditional activities like weaving, tailoring etc.
This theory was based on the assumption that changes will automatically happen in course of
time; it relied on reformist system where women were marginalised.

WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT (WAD) THEORY

This theory was developed in the 1970s by Marxist feminists. They argued for increased share
in land, resources, employment and income for women. As Marxists, they believed that,
developing countries are exploited by developed countries by means of unequal distribution of
wealth caused by international structures. They also argued that women have always been
there in the realm of economic development and they have always participated and
contributed in all developmental activities, whether public or private; that women always have
been integral part of the society and the work they do both inside and outside is central to the
maintenance of the society. It is due to patriarchy and capitalism that there have been unequal
gender developments. The WAD approach gave a comprehensive view of the social, economic
and political realities of development. Taking this in view, the Development Alternatives with
Women for a New Era (DAWN) network was first started in India

Shortcomings in WAD Theory

This approach fails to address the class differences among women and groups all women in one
category. The unique problems faced by women and the common problems of both genders
are not taken into account. Also this approach fails to highlight the issue of patriarchy and
resulting subordination and oppression. The focus of this approach is more on production and
income generating activities rather than overall equal gender development.

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD) THEORY

Both WID and WAD approaches emphasized on the separate development of women leading to
marginalisation. This gave birth to the Gender and Development (GAD) Theory. This approach
places much importance to the role and responsibilities of both men and women in any given
environment. It identifies the main issues and problems affecting women in society - such as
oppression, subordination, women's continuing state of disadvantaged positions and inability
to participate in and benefit from development processes. This theory argues that, due to
unequal power that exists between the rich and poor, men and women, there is unequal and
un-equitable development and women's full participation. Therefore in order to achieve equal
development, this approach stresses upon empowering disadvantaged people and women. It
also stresses on the fact that the development of public sector can take place only if the
domestic sector (which is mostly dominated by women) supports it. This approach also argues
that, by providing certain facilities by the government, women's workload in domestic front can
be reduced and their participation in productive work can be increased. This approach
promotes the change in men's attitude regarding their participation in domestic work. GAD
approach recognizes:-

 That gender is not a "women’s issue" but a relational issue

 That women and men have different and special needs
 That women cannot be treated as a homogeneous group
 That women tend to be disadvantaged relative to men
 That the nature of inequality is often systemic and structural
 That gender differences can also result in men being disadvantaged

METHODS AND STRATEGIES OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING

A strategy is a long term and broad plan for achieving an objective, while a method is a way of
carrying out the activities.

LEVELS OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Gender mainstreaming can be done at the following levels:-

1. Policy
2. Institutional /organizational
3. Programmes/project.

The process of gender mainstreaming at various levels

Effective gender mainstreaming can occur if the following are in place:-

 A clear gender policy

 Practical coordination of all gender mainstreaming initiatives
 A clear guide on gender mainstreaming and best practices
 Training and capacity building
 Awareness creation and advocacy on gender mainstreaming
 Partnerships and networking for persons and institutions
 Research and information dissemination on gender issues
 Sex disaggregated data
 Resources mobilization
 Monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Methods used in gender mainstreaming

 Carrying out a gender analysis regularly

 Carrying out participatory training
 Consultative meetings and feedback fora
 Preparation and dissemination of Information, Education and Communication (IEC)
materials
 Creation of data banks and resource centre on gender mainstreaming and support
services
 Creation of membership associations of people and organizations involved in gender
advocacy
 Participation of member associations in trade shows and exhibition
 Media and publicity programs.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING - ROLE OF EDUCATION, MEDIA AND SOCIETY

 Gender mainstreaming, in recent years, has emerged as a strong tool to take gender
perspective into policy at different levels. The system and policies have been inadequate
in dealing with the issues related to gender inequalities. Gender mainstreaming has
aimed to include the gender sensitive perspective in the policies and system. The
mainstream policies, perspectives, programmes need to be sensitive towards the gender
issues to be able to achieve the opportunity for a more inclusive society
 Gender mainstreaming and society
 The whole concept of gender and everything else associated with it has direct relation
with society. Individuals and groups in the society are responsible for success and failure
of any efforts for gender mainstreaming. For gender mainstreaming to be successful its
important that the society is open to change as a whole and the stakeholders are open
for any suggested change.
 From education to work place and from transportation to health services all areas at
present need to be reviewed and adjusted with respect to efforts towards gender
mainstreaming. Recognize some areas in and around your community where there is a
severe need for gender mainstreaming and suggest the reason behind your choice.
As an individual how would you develop a gender mainstreaming initiative in the area
you have
recognized from your community?
 At every stage of gender mainstreaming dynamics in society has to be understood.
Differences in society should be studied properly at the stage of data collection for an
exact representation of the society or groups in society. From individuals to groups, it’s
important that the efforts to raise awareness emerging from different quarters are
accepted.
 If any part of the system does not respond to positive change, it leads to cascading
effect on other related aspects. Thus its important that those who are working in this
field are aware about any possibility and work towards a sustainable policy and
programme. Any systemic reform would not be successful if the society does not play its
role in every area, may be it be as a whole towards giving rights to all or in specific
towards aspects like education, health etc.
 Gender mainstreaming in education
 Lot of studies and documents reflect that people who are working towards policy do not
have orientation towards gender issues. The situation in planning in education sector
was not very different.
 There are lot of systemic issues and concerns that need to be addressed in the field of
education related to education of girls. Earlier approaches focused on these issues
separately, which still exists for most of these issues. But with time there has been some
effort towards gender mainstreaming in education. One of the examples is the right to
free and compulsory education actin 2010.
 Issues like access to education have always been there since independence and we can
comment on the basis of enrollment that there has been a steady increase in it for both
girls and boys. Although the gender gap has always been there at all levels in most of
the states. There are lots of barriers that need to be understood and resolved if gender
mainstreaming has to be done in education. Every context in India has its own issues
 related to access, some of them typical for a particular gender. The range is from
geographical barriers to negative attitude of parents; from
stereotypes to non availability of toilets. How the stakeholders like parents,
administration, school authorities, community etc. deal with these different issues of
education, leads to the way things exist. The influence these stakeholders have on
getting access to schools to organizing the learning situations cannot be overlooked by
any policy makers. Every policy in education in recent years has been based on research
done in the field. It’s important for policy makers to do lot of research or utilize the
researches already done to gather the data about these factors.
 Understanding at micro and macro levels about curriculum, pedagogy and teacher
training is necessary with the help of data gathered and interpreted. Gender
disaggregated data in the field would give deep insight into the situation existing at
ground level. Some of the issues have been discussed in your earlier class. How the
ideas about these things can be decoded and then reorganized through policy
framework, would be the crucial part of the gender mainstreaming. For example in Right
to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2010, there are responsibilities fixed
on authorities, both local and state regarding having appropriate number of teachers in
school. This would help in addressing lot of issues that directly influence the education
of girls.
 Media: Paving the way for equal representation
 In XI grade we have discussed about how gender stereotypes are propagated and
sometimes addressed through media also. For gender mainstreaming media can play a
significant role. For policy to be planned and implemented effectively for the people its
important that their issues are taken care of. For gender mainstreaming, media can play
a crucial part by going deeper into the issues of gender. Media can be representative of
the population and highlight the issues of everyone. The constructive inputs can be
studied deeper and can be useful for taking the
informed decisions.
 Following are some other points related to different ways in which media plays its role
in gender mainstreaming:
 Media is considered as mirror of the society by some. How gender issues are seen and
dealt in a society is reflected by the media and sometime reinforced also. Sometime
media plays a proactive role in bringing certain issues on the table and making people
think about it.
 Media works as a connecting thread between the states. Cultural and social issues
arising at different places can provide useful inputs for others to learn from. The
information collection and dissemination role is very critical for development of the
society. Media not only collects and gives the information, majority of times it takes a
stance that can influence the views.
 Advocacy of positive tools and policies for gender equality is also an important
contribution of media. Stereotypical mindset in the society can be dealt by the media
through various programmes, debates and other ways of expression.
  As media person have access to individuals and groups which may otherwise not be
accessible, they work in bringing their concerns and issues forward. They can promote
social and cultural values regarding people from different gender.
 It has been seen that media houses work in an organized manner to promote gender
equality through different ways. Their strategies have been influential in increased
participation of women and men in different areas. Their work can be influential in
policy and programmes taken up by the state.

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND REPORTING IN GENDER MAINSTREAMING.

Monitoring is the systematic and regular tracking of progress during planning and
implementation of gender mainstreaming. It involves continuous observation, reflection and
making decisions regarding activities implemented. Evaluation, on the other hand, refers to the
periodic assessment of expected results in relation to specific objectives of the implementation
of gender mainstreaming. It is important to determine who needs what type of information, for
what purpose and how often. Appropriate instrument to be used for data collection should be
designed.

What needs to be monitored and evaluated?

 Inputs, activities, results and context

What tools should be used in monitoring and evaluation?

 Work plans, budgets, reports and projects documentation.

Reporting involves collection and documentation of information relating to the implementation

of gender mainstreaming. Such reports provide feedback and sharing of information for
planning and decision – making.

Types of reports

 Narrative / qualitative
 Quantitative

MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE (Gender responsive

leadership)

What is leadership?

Leadership is about influencing and directing people towards accomplishing tasks or to achieve
a desired goal. It is a facilitative process that involves the shaping of the behavior, attitude,
beliefs and values of people to help the leader in carrying out tasks. The person who influences
and directs the people is called a leader.
Elements of leadership

 A leader leads others towards achieving a goal

 There must be a specific task to be carried out
 There must be followers, members or a team who are being influenced
 The leader must have some authority and power to be able to influence the followers
towards accomplishment of tasks or achieving a goal.

Roles of a leader

An effective leader has the following responsibilities:-

 Guiding the team to develop a vision, setting objectives and tasks to be carried out
 Guide the team in coming up with a clear mission
 Guide the team in planning and setting of objectives and targets
 Guide the team in organizing the work and work scheduling
 Co-ordinate and motivate the team
 Guide the team in monitoring, control and taking of any remedial action
 Evaluate performance and give feedback.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GENDER RESPONSIVE LEADERSHIP

A leadership can be gender responsive if there is change of attitude towards incorporating

gender concerns in policies, the planning process, development of programmes and
development of organizational culture. The following are some actions which make leadership
gender responsive:-

 Having a clear policy which recognizes the need for incorporating gender concerns in all
aspects of the organization
 Creating gender awareness and an institutional culture that is gender responsive
 Practicing gender equality and equity in all aspects of an organization, including the
human resources aspects and budgeting.

GOVERNANCE

What is governance?

Governance is a process by which people determine their destiny. This involves identification of
leaders to guide those being governed to fulfill their vision and mission while guarding against
mismanagement of the same. It is about choices being made and holding each other
accountable in terms of how they are being governed, resource mobilization, distribution and
expenditure.

Principles of good governance

  Those given the responsibility to run the organization must have legitimate authority
 Having a good corporate governance framework which promotes transparency and
consistent with rules of law
 Creation of divisions of responsibilities at different levels with clear lines of
communication
 Monitoring and evaluation system which provides timely feedback
 Accountability and transparency in all operations
 Taking care of the organizations’ assets and prudent deployment of resources
 Equitable distribution of work, responsibility and resources
 Co-ordination and supervision
 Full active participation of all stakeholders.

Effects of poor governance

 Wrong deployment of resources, poor investments and wrong priorities

 A gender insensitive organizational culture
 Lack of accountability and misuse of the organization’s assets sometimes leading to
collapse
 Managing by crisis
 Illegitimate authority and vesting all power on certain personalities.

How to improve governance

 Develop a culture that takes into consideration all the principles of good governance
 Mainstream gender into all aspects of the organizations – planning, operations and
programmes.
 Develop a good governance structure

Best practice in gender responsive governance

 Creation of awareness on need to be gender responsive among all the stakeholders

including your internal publics
 Educating all direct players on gender mainstreaming
 Developing a framework for gender mainstreaming in the organization
 Developing a governance structure that is gender responsive e.g. ensuring there is
gender equality and equity in the following:-
o Membership recruitment
o Election of officials/leaders
o Committees’ composition
o Budgeting
o Following the principles of good governance in your organization

GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING (Gender Budgeting)

What is a budget?

A budget is a financial plan expressed in quantitative terms showing how resources shall be
acquired and used over a specified period of time and designed to achieve a specific objective

Type of budgets

Budgets are categorized according to how they are used. In government operations, there are
two types of budgets:

 Recurrent budget- A recurrent budget refers to a budget for covering mainly the
operational cost and costs which are incurred on a continuous basis.
 Capital budget- A capital budget refers to a financial plan to deal with expenditure on
long term development projects

In other organizations, the budgets are commonly categorized as:-

 Cash budget
 Operational budget
 Capital budget

What is gender responsive budgeting?

“A gender responsive budget is a budget that acknowledges the gender patterns in society and
allocates money to implement policies and programmes that will change these patterns in a
way that moves towards a more gender equal society. Gender budget initiatives are exercises
that aim to move the country in the direction of a gender responsive budget. Gender budget
initiatives are know by a range of different names, from gender sensitive budgets to gender
budget analysis.”(WCD)

Financial allocations are critical for the gender mainstreaming efforts to be successful. Just by
making policy and programmes their purpose could not be achieved. The state has to allocate
adequate budget to them. For consistent development gender mainstreaming needs to be part
of the financial budget of the state.

Budgeting is the process through which budgets are prepared. Gender responsive budgeting
therefore is a process of preparing a budget that takes into consideration gender concerns and
ensures that they are incorporated in the entire process from start to the end of period.

Purposes of budgeting

1. To state the expected goals in clear, formal terms to avoid confusion and make sure
they are attainable
 2. To communicate expectations to all concerned so that they are supported, clarified and
implemented
3. To coordinate the activities and efforts in such a way that the resources are properly
used
4. To provide a means of measuring and controlling performance.

THE BUDGET CYCLE

The budget cycle describes the summary of the budgeting process covering one financial year
from July to June of every year as illustrated below:-

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF A GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET

A gender responsive budget aims at analyzing the impact of country’s national and local
expenditure as well as revenue policy on women and men, girls and boys. It should provide the
following:-

 Take into account the different needs and interests of women and men with poor
women as a focus
 Implement gender balanced policies and programmes
 Track and monitor the progress of the budget policies.

Objectives

 Achieving gender equality/equity

 Alleviation of poverty, especially within women and vulnerable groups
 Enhancing economic efficiency and improving access to resources by both women and
men
 Measure the gap between policy and commitment as regards to human rights of both
women and men and adequacy utilization of resource allocation
 Achieving good governance by doing the following:-
o Ensuring that the process of delivering good services to women and men, girls
and boys is fair, just and responsive
o Policy making to be participatory and that it takes into consideration
perspectives of different groups including women and men
 Enhancing accountability and transparency.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET

 A gender responsive budget is not a separate one for women

 It is based on analysis and identification of gender gaps
 It is based on an analysis of how government and other organizations raise revenue
from both women and men
  Assessment of gaps between policy statements and resource allocation to both women
and men
 Ensuring public money is spent in more gender equitable ways
 Ensuring that spending is adequate for women and men’s needs.

PROCESS OF PREPARING A GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET

The process of gender budgeting has the following main steps:-

1. Step 1: Gender budget situation analysis:

o This is carried out before the preparation of the budget. It seeks to determine
how spending is targeted at needs of women and men in relation to their
activities. The identification of different gender needs helps to target the
revenue and spending priorities in a way that is gender sensitive. In human
resources, the following management and support services shall be analyzed:-
 Number of female and male staff per department and their salary scales
 Percentage of women and men at each level
 Who (women or men) mainly participate in top management
 Who (men or women) is in charge of allocation of various resources
 Who (women or men) benefit more
 Provisions for women specific needs
 What can be done to ensure gender balance.
o The gender analysis tools in use include the following:-
 Gender Disaggregated Beneficiary Assessment (GDBA)
 Gender aware budget statement
 Gender disaggregated public expenditure analysis
 Gender disaggregated revenue analysis
2. Step 2: Setting/review of the budget period: Deciding on the planning period – 1 year, 2
years, 3 years etc.
3. Step 3: Setting goals and objectives of the budget: These should include the
achievement of gender equality/equity
4. Step 4: Forecasting: Reviewing the previous year’s allocation for each item and deciding
on the amount of resources to be allocated.
5. Step 5: Integrating the forecasted amounts into a comprehensive budget

HOW TO MONITOR A GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET

This can be done using the following principles:-

 Internal control systems with continuous checks and audit as follows:-

o Follow accounting principles
o Assign tasks to specific persons with clear reporting systems
 Budgetary control system
o Carrying out variance analysis as follows:
You should take action on the variance immediately and give feedback through the following
mechanisms:-

 Reports (monthly, quarterly and annual)

 Reviewing the budget period
 Budget review – done periodically as needs arise.

GENDER ADVERSARIES

In this section, you will study about the adversaries faced by women. The two main adversaries
are:-

1. Missing women
2. Violence against women.

Missing Women

'Missing women' reflect the gender disparities of any society. The higher performing gender is
favoured, whereas the gender with low performance is neglected. This leads to further
additions to the missing women. Discrimination against women can begin early in life. Parental
selection, female infanticide or abandonment, childhood sexual exploitation, genital mutilation,
and limited access to adequate nutrition and health care; all affect the number of girls, in some
parts of the world who survive into adulthood. These factors combined with limited access to
education, early marriage and early child-bearing affect the health and wellbeing of girls, and
can have lasting effects throughout their lives. Some of the causes of missing women are:-

 Patrilocal exogamy: whereby sons remain with the origin or parental household and
contribute to joint income, while daughters migrate from their households to move into
 their husband's parental household. Investment in sons, in terms of education and share
in property, seems to pay off, whereas investment in girls is seen as wasteful
expenditure.
 Economic Value: although women do the majority of work, they do not share equally in
income, earnings and wealth. Discrimination against women in earnings, employment,
access to credit and capital accumulation mechanism, and private social benefit systems
also affects the economic wellbeing of their children and other house hold members.
 Patriarchal Society: one important reason for declining sex ratio is a patriarchal society.
The desire for male heirs of property is another reason for discrimination against
daughters.
 Poverty: the situation of women becomes worse for those living in poverty. The
disproportionate burden of family limits access to education, training and participation
in paid employment. Women are forced to enter informal unorganised employment,
thus, leading to exploitation - economically, physically and mentally.
 Declining sex ratio: The declining sex-ratio is one of the reasons of which foeticide is a
cause of concern. Many girl children are missing before they are born.

Violence against Women

Despite the protections guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the
convention on the rights of the child, gender discrimination and violence against women and
girls persists everywhere and is a growing phenomenon in many parts of the world. Despite
promises in the convention to end all forms of discrimination against women, the Beijing
Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals, girls continue to be exploited by
individuals and victimized by laws that fail to adequately protect them.

FORMS OF VIOLENCE

Gender based violence both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and
compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a wide
range of human rights violation, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence,
sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional
practices.

 Witchcraft: sometimes a woman living in a village is alleged to be a witch and the cause
of mishaps in the village. She is tortured and sometimes killed. Low education and
superstition leads to such practices.
 Devadasi: Girls in their childhood are made devadasis to serve in temples and they have
to leave their home and stay in the temple complex. These girls grow up under the
supervision of priests in the temple and when they are grown up, most of them are
exploited.
 Dowry: this is one of the most prevalent crime against women. At the time of Gender
and Development marriage, a bride is supposed to bring dowry in terms of cash or kind
as demanded by the bridegrooms' family. In the absence of dowry, the marriage is not
 finalized, and after marriage, if the dowry is not given the bride is tortured or even burnt
to death. A number of lacunae in the legal system allow the culprits to escape any
punishment.
 Exploitation at the workplace, in schools, and at home: This kind of exploitation is
seldom reported as the culprit is a known person. The crime against women is done
either by colleagues, boss, teacher, or some relative. Social stigma ' and inability to
prove the crime of a trusted person leads the victim to suffer in
silence.
 Rape: This is among the most common crimes against women. All rape cases are not
reported to police. Laws are not victim-friendly rape victims. Many times, culprits are
either close relatives, friends, or known persons.
 Blackmail: with the development of technology, women have become more prone to
blackmail. The use of spy cameras and conversion of these into CDs and DVDs have
made blackmailing more convenient.
 Sex determination: another disadvantage of technology is sex determination. The
deteriorating sex ratio is due to sex determination. Recent research shows that missing
women are more in rich northern Indian states compared to the south, and in poor
States.
 Selling of Girls: girl children are sold for a petty amount of money, and sometimes, they
are sold under the guise of marriage also. Many of them end up as prostitutes or bar
girls. The selling of girls as domestic help or sex workers is also driven by poverty of the
family,
 Other forms of violence: These include forcing girls into prostitution and honour killings.
Honour killing is killing females if they revolt against their families or relatives wishes
and decide to marry into other castes or religions.

PROGRAMMES FOR PREVENTION AND CARE

It is recognized that gender based violence exists in domestic and public spheres. Every effort
should be made to prevent such inhuman acts of violence. Elimination of discrimination against
women in employment and in access to capital and technology with attention to developing
economic opportunities for women in private enterprise, in agriculture and all sectors of formal
employment must be prioritized to enable women, their families, and their communities to
reach their full potential. Education and training skills are essential tools for achieving economic
wellbeing. The abolition of traditional discriminatory practices like sati, devadasi, genital
mutilation and enforcement of law should be strongly followed. Legislative reforms should be
formulated for the protection and
promotion of women's rights. Awareness about the laws, rights, and responsibilities in family
life must be made. Victims of violence must be offered psychological and financial support. The
following are a number of strategies adopted by UNFPA to address gender based violence:-

 Ensuring that emergency contraception is available for victims of sexual violence.

 Strengthening advocacy on gender based violence in all country programmes in
conjunction with other United Nations partners and NGOs.
  Advocating for women with Parliamentarians and Women's National networks.
 Integrating messages on the preventions of gender based violence into information,
education and communication projects.
 Conducting more research on gender based violence.

MEASURES FOR ENGENDERING DEVELOPMENT

Promoting gender equality is an important part of a development strategy that seeks to enable
all people - women and men, alike - to escape poverty and improve their standard of living.
Economic development opens many avenues for increasing gender equality in the long run. A
considerable body of evidence around the world supports this assertion. The strategy for
engendering development could include the following points.

1. Establishing incentives that discourage discrimination by gender: The structure of

economic institutions also affects gender equality in important ways. Markets embody a
powerful set of incentives that influence decisions and actions for work, saving,
investment, and consumption. Evidence from Mexico and the United States suggests
that firms operating in competitive environments discriminate less against women in
hiring and pay practices than the firms with significant power in protected
environments. The reservation of jobs for women in private and corporate sector will
discourage gender discrimination.
2. Designing service delivery to facilitate equal access: The design of program delivery
such as school systems, health care centres, financial organizations and agricultural
extension programs can facilitate or inhibit equitable access for females and males. In
parts of West Africa 'mobile bankers' bring financial services to local markets,
workplaces and homes, eliminating the need for women to travel long distances to save
or borrow. In Bangladesh, group-based lending programs use support groups and peer
pressure as a substitute for traditional bank collateral to ensure repayment. Both
designs have increased women's access to financial resources.
3. Foster economic development to strengthen incentives for more equal resources and
participation: when economic development raises income and reduces poverty, gender
inequalities often decline. As with basic rights, higher incomes generally translate into
greater gender equality in resources whether in health or in education. In education,
studies suggest that the largest improvements from income growth are likely to occur in
the poorest regions of South Asia and sub Saharan Africa. Globalisation has seen more
women working in different capacities in the private and corporate sector in India.
4. Taking active measures to redress persistent disparities in command over resources
and political voice: active measures which can be implemented quickly including
reservation for women in political institutions give women an opportunity to reduce
persistent disparities in command over resources. Recent experience from more than 30
countries, including Argentina, Ecuador, India, Phillipines, and Uganda suggests that
political reservation can be effective in increasing political participation and
representation in local and national assemblies in a relatively short period of time.
'Reservation' legislation takes different forms in different countries but, generally, it
 stipulates that a minimum number (or proportion) of political parties' candidates or of
electoral seats in national or local assemblies be reserved for women. The passing of the
Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha is a significant step towards the political
empowerment of women in India.
5. Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women: it can be government
(central, state, or local) or non government organizations which support the cause of
women's advancement. Though institutional mechanisms exist at all levels, they need to
be strengthened. The National Policy for Empowerment of women provides for
strengthening the existing mechanisms through appropriate interventions, viz.,
provision of adequate resources, training, and advocacy skills to effectively influence
macro policies, legislations, programmes, etc., to empower of women. The equal
opportunity and gender budgeting policy measures should be regularly monitored by
both the central and provincial governments in various states
6. The role of the media in portraying the female gender leaves much to be desired.
Press and the print media are generally found unduly sensationalizing traumatic events
such as rape, thereby invading the privacy of the victim. Very few positive stories of
women who have stood up for their rights are published. The media has to become
gender sensitive and more responsible while portraying women and, thus, play a
significant role in bringing about attitudinal changes in society. A gender friendly media
policy needs to be formulated for this purpose

CONCEPTS OF GENDER AWARENESS, LOBBYING AND ADVOCACY

Advocacy: This is an on going process aimed at changing of attitudes, actions, policies and laws
by influencing people and organizations with power, systems and structures at different levels
for the betterment of those affected by the advocacy issue.

Lobbying: It refers to the art of persuading and influencing other people to see things/issues
your way. Lobbying is a strategy within advocacy.

GENDER CONCERNS THAT NEED LOBBYING

Most gender concerns are contentious and therefore need lobbying. However, the following
are some of the contentious areas:-

 Property rights
 Access to credit
 Decision making and leadership
 Citizenship
 Family law
 Gender and culture
 Gender and reproductive health rights

GENDER AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS AS AN ADVOCACY ISSUE

Reproductive health rights refer to the aspects of child bearing, maternal health, child care and
care giving to People Living with HIV & AIDS. In the social construction of gender, care giving
has become a major role for women and girls. The key issues affecting women and girls are:-

 Limited or lack of access to quality health care

 Stigma related to the HIV and AIDS pandemic
 Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV
 Vulnerability due to care giving
 Child-bearing related diseases, for example, fistula.

APPROACHES AND METHODS OF GENDER AWARENESS, LOBBYING AND ADVOCACY

 The people / community identify and prioritize the advocacy issue

 They analyze and gather information on the issue by tracing the root cause of the issue.
 They develop a Goal and SMART objectives on the issue / problem.
 They identify direct targets (those who have influence over the campaign issue) and
indirect targets (those who can influence (have impact / say) over those who matter in
the advocacy issue).
 Identify resources (ideas, researched information, funds in cash and kind, equipment
etc)
 Create an action plan for the implementation of the advocacy issue
 Implement, monitor and keep evaluating the advocacy issue / strategy
 Record the changes resulting from the campaign.

SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES IN ADVOCACY:

 Negotiation / bargaining skills- It refers to the process of persuading people to see or

agree with your point of view. Possible outcomes in negotiation are:-
o Both sides loose
o One side wins and the other looses
o Both sides win or at least gain something significant
 Presentation skills- Presentation refers to a process of conveying ideas, opinions and
information in a systematic way for the achievement of desired objectives within a
specified timeframe. It is relates to
convincing the other party about mutual benefits. To make a presentation effective in
advocacy, it is important to improve skills in the following areas:-
o Use of information and data to support your presentation
o Having organized stages in the presentation to facilitate:-
 Gaining Attention – A
 Holding Interest – I
 Arousing Desire – D
 Obtaining Action - A
 Lobbying and social mobilization skills. Lobbying requires the following skills:-
o Ability to mobilize the community and developing groups
 o Skills in identifying persons who can help influencing the opinions
o Skills in selling your point of view and ideas

STRATEGIES IN ADVOCACY

Key strategies in advocacy include the following:-

 Lobbying
 Networking and coalition building
 Media relations
 Campaigns
 Publications
 Conferences and seminars
 Research

STEPS TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY

Leadership is a key element in advocacy. Such leadership requires authority and power. For a
leader to carry out advocacy work effectively, they must have legitimate power to defend their
cause, negotiate solutions and lobby for support.

Step 1: Learning skills of advocacy: Advocacy requires very specific skills, most of which can be
acquired through training and practice: knowledge and skills in problem solving, decision
making, communication, negotiation, presentation, social mobilization and lobbying. This is in
addition to other professional qualification if they are needed in what you are advocating for.
Step 2: Articulating advocacy issues: The application phase of advocacy involves the actual
articulation of issues. This depends on the issue at hand and the prevailing circumstances. It is
important to recognize all the parties to the issue at hand so that the effort of articulating is not
directed towards the wrong audience. In particular it is critical to analyze the major aspects
surrounding a particular issue before attempting to tackle it.
Step 3: Evaluation of performance: It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of an advocacy
activity. The results of such an evaluation will assist those involved in the advocacy to take
appropriate action.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE (GBV)

What are human rights?

Human rights are those rights that every human being possesses and is entitled to enjoy simply
by virtue of being human. The definition of a human being in this context traverses biological
and social difference of sex, gender, race, colour, language, national origin, age, class, religious
and political beliefs, disability, minority status etc.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

  Internationally guaranteed
 Legally protected
 Focus on dignity of human being
 Protect individuals and groups
 Oblige state and non-state actors
 Cannot be waived/taken away
 Equal and interdependent
 Universal
 Indivisible

TYPES OF RIGHTS:

 Civil and political rights

o Right to life
o Non discrimination
o Right to nationality
o Right to marry and found a family
o Right to choice
o Right to privacy
o Right to liberty and security
o Right to decision making
o Right to freedoms of association, movement, worship, expression.
o Right to education
o Right to property rights (ownership and inheritance)
o Right to information
o Right to seek asylum
o Prohibition of arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile
o Right to due process in criminal trials
o Right to effective remedy for violations
o Right to self-determination
 Economic, social and cultural rights
o Right to work, choice of and good conditions of work
o Right to participate in cultural life
o Prohibition of slavery, forced labour and trafficking in persons
o Right to enjoy the highest standard of physical and mental health.

FORMS OF SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE (SGBV)

Sexual and Gender Based Violence is any form of action directed against someone on the basis
of his/her gender or sex roles. Such action may be physical, sexual or psychological violence.
SGBV violates universal human rights protected by international instruments and conventions.
Around the world, SGBV has a greater impact on women and girls compared to men and boys,
while its nature and extent varies across cultures and regions. Examples of SGBV are listed
under specific categories as hereunder:-
  Physical violence
o Domestic violence
o Spousal beating
o Battering
o Femicide
o Abortion
o Confinement
o Abduction
o Honour / ritual killing
o Murder
o Forced marriage
o Female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices
o Trafficking of persons, including children.
 Sexual and Gender Based Violence
o Rape
o Defilement
o Incest
o Widow cleansing
o Forced prostitution
 Psychological abuse
o Quarrels
o Abusive language
o Insults
o Threats
o Dowry related violence
o Embarrassment
o Intimidation

CAUSES OF SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Sex and Gender-based violence is rooted in the structural unequal power relations between
men and women in society. These unequal power relations are at the centre of subordination
and inhibit opportunities for development. Some of the institutions that reinforce the cycle of
violence are state policies and laws, an inequitable justice system, educational institutions, the
media, family, the new economic global order, culture, religion and patriarchy which
prevail in all segments of society.

Who are the perpetuators of SGBV?

The following are some of the perpetrators of SGBV:-

 The spouse
 A family member e.g. mother in law, brother in law
 A person co-habiting with another person
  A person having a close relationship with another person e.g. boy/girl friend.

The United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR, 1948) recognizes sexual
and gender-based violence as a human rights violation. Nowhere does this declaration say that
women are to be excluded from any of the rights mentioned in the document. This was
reinforced by the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), which is very articulate on violence against women. On her part, Kenya has
domesticated some of these international human rights instruments into the Sexual Offences
Act (July 2006) and the Children Act (2002).

GENDER CONCEPTS

 Gender: This refers to the socially and culturally constructed differences between men
and women; as distinct from sex which refers to their biological differences. The social
constructs vary across cultures and time.
 Sex: Sex refers to the biological and physiological differences between males and
females as determined by nature. It is God-given, universal and non-changeable.
 Social Construction Of Gender: Refers to how society values and allocates duties, roles
and responsibilities to women, men, girls and boys. This differential valuing creates the
gender division of labour and determines differences in access to benefits and decision
making which in turn influences power relations and reinforces gender roles. This is
done at various levels of gender socialization including family, religion, education,
culture, peers and the media.
 Gender And Culture: Culture refers to people’s way of life, systems of beliefs, values,
rituals, interaction patterns and socialization which determine attributes, roles,
responsibilities, and expectations in a society. It determines what the society wants and
expects from women, men, girls and boys. It defines the status and power relations
between women, men, girls and boys. Gender concerns are as a result of cultural
context and socialization in society. Examples of these are:-
o Preference for a boy to a girl child
o Heir to property
o Naming systems
o Initiation ceremonies
o Marital practices
o Gender based violence
 Gender Roles: Gender roles are reflected in activities ascribed to men and women on
the basis of perceived differences which are reinforced through the gender division of
labour. This arises from the socialization of individuals from the earliest stages of life
through identification with specific characteristics associated with being male or female.
 Gender Relations: It refers to social relationships between men and women within a
specified time and place. These social relationships explain the differences in power
relations between the sexes.
 Gender Stereotypes: Stereotypes are structured sets of beliefs about the personal
attributes, behaviors, roles of a specific social group. Gender stereotypes are biased and
 often exaggerated images of women and men which are used repeatedly in everyday
life.
 Gender Division Of Labour: It relates to the different types of work that men and
women do as a consequence of their socialization and accepted patterns of work within
a given context.
 Gender Equity is the process of being fair to both men and women. To ensure fairness,
measures must often be available to compensate for historical and social disadvantages
that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity
can be understood as the means, where equality is the end. Equity leads to equality.
Exchanging ideas, sharing lessons learned Common understanding
 Gender Equality means that women and men enjoy the same status within a society. It
does not mean that men and women are the same, but rather that their similarities and
differences are recognized and equally valued. Gender equality means that women and
men experience equal conditions for realizing their full human rights, and have the
opportunity to contribute to and benefit from national, political, economic, social and
cultural development.
 Gender Analysis is a process to assess the differential impact of proposed or existing
policies, programs, projects and legislation on men and women. Gender analysis
recognizes that the realities of men’s and women’s lives are different, and that equal
opportunity does not necessarily mean equal results. Systemic Discrimination is caused
by policies and practices that are built into systems and that have the effect of excluding
women and minorities. Although it may not exclude all members of a group, it will have
a more serious effect on one group than on others. The remedy often requires
affirmative measures to change systems.
 Gender Issue: This is a point of gender inequality that is undesirable and therefore an
intervention. It results from some form of gender discrimination or oppression. A
gender issue arises when there is inequality, inequity or differentiated treatment of an
individual or a group of people purely on the basis of social expectations and attributes
of gender. Gender issues are sometimes called gender concerns.
 Gender Practical Needs / Interests: These are needs related to the roles of
reproduction, production and community work of men and women which, when met,
do not necessarily change their relative position/condition in society, which arise from
the gender roles.
 Gender Strategic Needs / Interests: Refers to higher level of needs of women and men
which, when met, help change their status in society. Examples of such needs are
decision making and access to information.
 Gender Sensitivity: This is the ability to perceive existing gender differences, issues and
equalities, and incorporate these into strategies and actions.
 Gender Responsiveness: This is planning and implementing activities that meet
identified gender issues/concerns that promote gender equality. Gender
Responsiveness entails consistent and systematic attention to the differences between
women and men in society with a view to addressing structural constraints to gender
equality. Women-specific approach refers to initiatives that target women or girls
exclusively. These initiatives tend to have an explicit objective to meet practical or
 strategic needs of women that are not always addressed through the integrated
approach. Such activities are often valuable development investments, especially where
they will be catalytic, innovative or strategic, or where they remedy a particularly urgent
gender inequity. They are justified as being necessary to overcome gender-blindness
that has in the past excluded women from the benefits of development.
 Gender Transformation: It describes a situation where women and men change their
way of thinking from patriarchal towards a gender equality perspective.
 Gender Mainstreaming: It is the process of integrating a gender equality perspective
into the development process at all stages and levels. Gender mainstreaming is a
strategy for the achievement of gender equality. Gender Mainstreaming refers to the
strategy for making women’s concerns and experiences as well as those of the men, an
integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies
and programs in all social, political, civil, and economic spheres so that women and men
benefit equally. Hence, inequality is not perpetuated, and discrimination against women
will be minimized.
 Women in Development (WID) is an approach that emerged in the 1970s, with the goal
of integrating women more fully into the development process. It includes strategies
such as women-only projects and credit and training projects for women.
 The Gender and Development (GAD) approach was developed in the 1980s in response
to perceived failings of the WID approach. Rather than focusing exclusively on women,
this approach is concerned with relations between women and men. It challenges
unequal decision- making and power relations between not only men and women, but
also between rich and poor.
 Women in Development (WID) is an approach that emerged in the 1970s, with the goal
of integrating women more fully into the development process. It includes strategies
such as women-only projects and credit and training projects for women.
 The Gender and Development (GAD) approach was developed in the 1980s in response
to perceived failings of the WID approach. Rather than focusing exclusively on women,
this approach is concerned with relations between women and men. It challenges
unequal decision- making and power relations between not only men and women, but
also between rich and poor.
 Gender Audit – refers to a form of “social audit” or “quality audit” which determines
whether the organization’s internal practices and related support systems for gender
mainstreaming are effective and are reinforcing each other and are being followed. This
tool or process assists organizations in establishing a baseline, identifying critical gaps
and challenges, and recommending ways of addressing them. The PCW performs gender
audit.
 Violence Against Women – refers to any act of gender-based violence that results in, or
is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or in private life.
 Women Empowerment – refers to the provision, availability, and accessibility of
opportunities, services and observance of human rights which enable women to actively
participate and contribute to the political, economic, social, and cultural development of
the nation as well as those which shall provide them equal access to ownership,
management, and control of production, and material and informational resources and
benefits in the family, community and society.