NATAMBA

BDS III semester one

Gender and Development
Baseline definitions of key concepts and terms.
Beijing Conference (World Conferences on Women)The three world conferences of the UN Decade for Women - held in 1975 (Mexico City), 1980 (Copenhagen), and 1985 (Nairobi) - were important mobilizing and awareness-raising events. The Decade resulted in a consensus document, Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the advancement of Women to the Year 2000 (FLS). This document contains a comprehensive set of strategies for advancing the status of women worldwide. Ten years later, the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in 1995 in Beijing, China, to evaluate the achievements to date and plan the way forward, The resulting Beijing Platform for Action was a strong statement signed by the majority of governments in the world. The platform for Action served as an impetus for government action and a monitoring tool for NGOs to follow the extent to which their governments were following through on their national committments. These conferences have created valuable opportunities for organizing influencing policy making locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally.
Beijing +5This refers to the 5 year benchmark to measure the progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform of Action. An international meeting was convened in New York in June 2000 to discuss national achievements and constraints.
CEDAWOn 18 December 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It entered into force as an international treaty on 3 September 1981 after the twentieth country had ratified it. By the tenth anniversary of the Convention in 1989, almost one hundred nations have agreed to be bound by its provisions.The Convention was the culmination of more than thirty years of work by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a body established in 1946 to monitor the situation of women and to promote women's rights. The Commission's work has been instrumental in bringing to light all the areas in which women are denied equality with men. These efforts for the advancement of women have resulted in several declarations and conventions, of which the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the central and most comprehensive document. CEDAW Document at the UN.
Conscientisation. This is a level of empowerment which concerns the individual person's understanding of the development process in terms of structural inequality; the realization by women and men that their problems do not derive so much from their own personal inadequacies but instead they are being subjected to a social system of institutional discrimination against them. Conscientisation. involves awareness and understanding of the difference between sex roles and gender roles and that gender roles are socially created and therefore can be changed to promote equality.
CRC Children's rights are most fully articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Created over a period of ten years with the input of representatives from different societies, religions and cultures, the Convention was adopted as an international human rights treaty on 20 November 1989. CRC document at UNICEF.
Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity). Gender roles and expectations are learned. They can change over time and they vary within and between cultures. Systems of social differentiation such as political status, class, ethnicity, physical and mental disability, age and more, modify gender roles. The concept of gender is vital because, applied to social analysis; it reveals how women’s subordination (or men’s domination) is socially constructed. As such, the subordination can be changed or ended. It is not biologically predetermined nor is it fixed forever.

Sex describes the biological differences between men and women, which are universal and determined at birth.

Gender Analysis is the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated information. Men and women both perform different roles. This leads to women and men having different experience, knowledge, talents and needs. Gender analysis explores these differences so policies, programmes and projects can identify and meet the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men.

Sex-Disaggregated Data is data that is collected and presented separately on men and women.

Gender Equality means that women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development.
Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the similarities and the differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It is based on women and men being full partners in their home, their community and their society.

Gender Equity is the process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field. Equity is a means. Equality is the result.

Empowerment is about people -both women and men- taking control over their lives: setting their own agendas, gaining skills, building self-confidence, solving problems and developing self-reliance. No one can empower another: only the individual can empower herself or himself to make choices or to speak out. However, institutions including international cooperation agencies can support processes that can nurture self-empowerment of individuals or groups.

Gender Division of Labour is the result of how each society divides work among men and among women according to what is considered suitable or appropriate to each gender.

Women in Development (WID) The WID approach aims to integrate women into the existing development process by targeting them, often in women-specific activities. Women are usually passive recipients in WID projects, which often emphasize making women more efficient producers and increasing their income. Although many WID projects have improved health, income or resources in the short term, because they did not transform unequal relationships, a significant number were not sustainable. A common shortcoming of WID projects is that they do not consider women’s multiple roles or those they miscalculate the elasticity of women’s time and labour. An other, is that such projects tend to by blind to men’s roles and responsibilities in women’s (dis)empowerment.

The biggest difference between WID and GAD is that WID projects traditionally were not grounded in a comprehensive gender analysis. The GAD approach is gender-analysis driven.

There is definitely a need for women-specific and men-specific interventions at times. These complement gender initiatives. Research shows that the success of both sex-specific and gender activities is directly linked with the depth of the gender analysis that informs them.

Gender and Development (GAD) The GAD approach focuses on intervening to address unequal gender relations which prevent inequitable development and which often lock women out of full participation. GAD seeks to have both women and men participate, make decisions and share benefits. This approach often aims at meeting practical needs as well as promoting strategic interests. A successful GAD approach requires sustained long-term commitment.

Practical Needs refer to what women (or men) perceive as immediate necessities such as water, shelter and food.

Strategic (Gender) Interests. Interventions addressing strategic gender interests focus on fundamental issues related to women’s (or, less often, men’s) subordination and gender inequities. Strategic gender interests are long-term, usually not material, and are often related to structural changes in society regarding women’s status and equity. They include legislation for equal rights, reproductive choice, and increased participation in decision-making. The notion of “strategic gender needs”, first coined in 1985 by Maxine Molyneux, helped develop gender planning and policy development tools, such as the Moser Framework, which are currently being used by development institutions around the world.

NB: The purpose of introducing such distinctions between needs is to alert the programme specialist to the importance of addressing the structural challenges to women’s empowerment. It is not to lock women’s realities and experiences into rigid and pre-set notions of what is a strategic need versus what responds to a practical need. For, in many instances, changes in women’s practical conditions of life have an effect on power relations between men and women within the community.

Gender-mainstreaming is a process rather than a goal. Efforts to integrate gender into existing institutions of the mainstream have little value for their own sake. We mainstream gender concerns to achieve gender equality and improve the relevance of development agendas. Such an approach shows that the costs of women’s marginalization and gender inequalities are born by all.

UN ECOSOC describes gender mainstreaming as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality”. (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2)

Gender-responsive objectives are programme and project objectives that are non-discriminatory, equally benefit women and men and aim at correcting gender imbalances.

Literacy Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the ratio of the female to male adult literacy rates which measures progress towards gender equity in literacy and the level of learning opportunities available for women in relation to those available to men. It serves also as a significant indicator of the empowerment of women in society.


References:
- March, C., Smyth I., Mukhopadhyay M., A Guide to Gender-Analysis Frameworks; Oxfam, 1999
- Status of Women Canada, Gender-Based Analysis: A guide for policy-making, 1996
- UNIFEM; Focusing on Women –UNIFEM’s expereince in mainstreaming, 1993
- Molyneux, Maxine ‘Mobilisation without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, States and Revolution in Nicargua’; Feminist Studies II, 2, 1985.
- OECD, DAC Source Book on Concepts and Approaches Linked to Gender Equality



Empowerment: A process through which men, women, boys and girls acquire knowledge, skills and willingness to critically analyze their situation and take appropriate action to change the status quo of women and other marginalised groups in society.
Feminism,A way of perceiving or interpreting a social situation from perspective of women and other marginalised groups in society. It further involved taking concrete action to remedy social inequalities.
Gender. Culturally and socially constructed roles, responsibilities privileges, relations and expectations of women men girls and boys,
Gender Neutral. Planning for women, men, boys and girls as if they are homogenous/not taking into consideration their different needs and roles. Experience has shown that gender neutral planning in reality addresses the needs of the dominant group.
Gender and Development. GADThis approach to development recognizes that women, poor men and other disadvantaged groups are the victims of social structures that impact them negatively. The ultimate goal of such an approach is to create equitable and sustainable development with women and men as decision-makers through empowering these groups to create social transformation with a gender perspective. It proposes taking into account the different practical and strategic needs of women and men at all stages of a project cycle, this involves gender mainstreaming. Gender and Development has replaced the Women in Development (WID) approach in most recent development literature but has yet to be broadly implemented.
Gender Awareness. Recognition that women and men perform different roles in society and therefore have different needs which must be recognized.
Gender Equality. Equal rights and opportunities for women , men, girls and boys in all sectors, political, social , legal and economic.
Gender Sensitivity. Being aware that women and men perform different roles and have different needs which must be planned for accordingly.
Gender Framework This is a tool for streamlining the analysis of needs and issues of men, women girls and boys (especially their relationships in society). It is also a guide for approacheing methodologies and policies of an organisation.
Gender Balance. This is an ideal situation where women and men boys and girls live harmoniously enjoying equal opportunities and have mutual respect for each other.
Gender Roles. These are the different tasks and responsibilities and expectations the society has defined and allocated to men and women girls and boys. They are not necessarily determined by biological make up and therefore they change with time and according to the situation.
Gender Focus,This refers to specificly addressing the needs of women and men, girls and boys in the society as determined by their gender.
Gender Blind. This is a conscious or unconscious way of doing or saying things without recognising or considering differences in position, needs and feelings based on gender.
Gender Bias,This is a positive or negative attitude/practice towards either female or male.
Gender Stereotyping. The assigning of roles, tasks and responsibilities to a particular gender on the bias of preconceived prejudices.
Gender Discrimination. A difference in treatment of people based entirely on their being male or female.This difference contributes to structural inequality in society.
Gender Disaggregated Data. This is a classified information on the basis of genders e.,g men, women, girls or boys. This data provides important indicators of gender needs.
Gender Equity. Just treatment, balanced recognition and appreciation of both women's and men's potential.
Gender Analysis. Critical examination of issues affecting both women and men within a given situation or policy.
Gender Mainstreaming.Addressing gender issues in all development policies and projected programmes irrespective of sector or type of project. Mainstreaming is therefore the very opposite of a policy strategy of segregating gender issues into separate "women's projects" The term mainstreaming is used by those who see women's development as being essentially concerned with women's participation and empowerment to address the issues of gender inequality. From this perspective the mainstreaming of gender issues entails the transformation of the development process.
Gender Policies: Gender Neutral Policy. Seeks to target selected men and women in order to realize certain pre-determined goals and objectives, but such a policy leaves the existing divisions of resources responsibilities and capabilities intact. In this context such a policy is gender sensitive but does not change the structural status quo in a given situation. Gender Specific Policy. Is intended to target and benefit a specific gender in order to achieve certain policy goals or to meet certain gender specific needs more effectively. Gender specific policy is in a way gender sensitive because its interventions are intended to meet targeted needs of one or other gender within existing distribution of resources and responsibilities. These kinds of interventions are most often welfare oriented but with potential of achieving transformatory impact when critically planned for. In this way the difference between a women-specific policy and a gender -blind policy is based on the analysis of gender specific constraints and one that is based on prior assumptions about proper roles of women. Gender Transformative Policy. Targets women men or both and recognizes the existence of gender specific needs and constraints of each or both categories, but also seeks to transform the existing gender relations in a more equitable direction through the redistribution of resources and responsibilities. Gender redistribute is the most challenging policy intervention because it doesn't not simply seek to channel resources to women within the existing social framework but in principle questions the existing status quo.
Practical needs. Those needs which are related to satisfying both men's women's girls and boys basic material needs for their day to day survival such as food, water, clothing and shelter.
Reproductive roles. Child bearing and rearing responsibilities for both men and women. These are often borne more heavily by women.
Sex. This is a biological make up of male and female.
Strategic needs. Needs that are related to changing the situation of marginalised people, especially women and girls to reach social equaloty. These include leadership and control over resources.
Women in Development. WIDAn approach used in designing planning implementing and evaluating women only focused programmes. It does not question the relation of gender inequality and therefore tends to address the symptoms rather than the causes of gender inequality. An opposing and more recently developed view is Gender and Development GAD theory