GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT NOTES
Concepts of Gender
Culture-The distinctive patterns of ideas, beliefs, and norms
which characterize the way of life and relations of a society or group
within a society
Gender Analysis- The systematic gathering and examination of information
on gender differences and social relations in order to identify
understand and redress inequities based on gender
Gender Discrimination- The systematic, unfavorable treatment of
individuals on the basis of their gender, which denies them rights,
opportunities or resources
Gender Division of Labour- The socially determined ideas and practices
which define what roles and activities are deemed appropriate for women
and men
Gender Equality and Equity- Gender equality denotes women having the
same opportunities in life as men, including the ability to participate
in the public sphere. Gender equity denotes the equivalence in life
outcomes for women and men, recognizing their different needs and
interests, and requiring a redistribution of power and resources
Gender Needs- Shared and prioritized needs identified by women that
arise from their common experiences as a gender
Gender Planning- The technical and political processes and procedures
necessary to implement gender-sensitive policy
Gender Relations- Hierarchical relations of power between women and men
that tend to disadvantage women
Gender Training- A facilitated process of developing awareness and
capacity on gender issues, to bring about personal or organizational
change for gender equality
Gender Violence- Any act or threat by men or male-dominated
institutions, which inflicts physical, sexual, or psychological harm on
a woman or girl because of their gender
Intra-household Resource Distribution- The dynamics of how different
resources that are generated within or which come into the household are
accessed and controlled by its members
National Machineries for Women- Agencies with a mandate for the
advancement of women established within and by governments for
integrating gender concerns in development policy and planning
Patriarchy- Systemic societal structures that institutionalize male
physical, social and economic power over women
Sex and Gender- Sex refers to the biological characteristics that
categorize someone as either female or male; whereas gender refers to
the socially determined ideas and practices of what it is to be female
or male
Social Justice- Fairness and equity as a right for all in the outcomes
of development, through processes of social transformation WID/GAD- The
WID (or Women in Development) approach calls for greater attention to
women in development policy and practice, and emphasizes the need to
integrate them into the development process In contrast, the GAD (or
Gender and Development) approach focuses on the socially constructed
basis of differences between men and women and emphasizes the need to
challenge existing gender roles and relations
Women’s Empowerment A ‘bottom-up’ process of
transforming gender power relations, through individuals or groups
developing awareness of women’s subordination and building their
capacity to challenge it
Women’s Human Rights- The recognition that women’s rights are human
rights and that women experience injustices solely because of their gender
Gender Mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming is an organizational strategy to bring a gender
perspective to all aspects of an institution’s policy and activities,
through building gender capacity and accountability. The 1970s
strategies of integrating women into development by establishing
separate women’s units or programmes within state and development
institutions had made slow progress by the mid- 1980s (See National
Machineries for Women). In light of this, the need was identified for
broader institutional change if pervasive male advantage was to be
challenged.
Adding women- specific activities at the margin was no longer seen as
sufficient. Most major development organizations and many governments
have now embraced ‘gender mainstreaming’ as a strategy for moving
towards gender equality. With a mainstreaming strategy, gender concerns
are seen as important to all aspects of development; for all sectors and
areas of activity, and a fundamental part of the planning process.
Responsibility for the implementation of gender policy is diffused
across the organizational structure, rather than concentrated in a small
central unit.
Such a process of mainstreaming has been seen to take one of two forms.
The agenda-setting approach to mainstreaming seeks to transform the
development agenda itself whilst prioritizing gender concerns. The more
politically acceptable integrationist approach brings women’s and gender
concerns into all of the existing policies and programmes, focusing on
adapting institutional procedures to achieve this. In both cases,
political as well as technical skills are essential to a mainstreaming
strategy.
Any approach to mainstreaming requires sufficient resources, as well as
high-level commitment and authority. A combined strategy can be
particularly powerful. This involves the synergy of a catalytic central
gender unit with a cross-sectoral policy oversight and monitoring role,
combined with a web of gender specialists across the institution. The
building of alliances both within the institution and with outside
constituencies, such as women’s organizations, is crucial for success.
Mainstreaming tools include gender training, introducing incentive
structures which reward efforts on gender, and the development of
gender-specific operational tools such as checklists and guidelines.
Rationale for Mainstreaming Gender
- Recognition that development policies impact female and male
differently hence the need to ensure that the needs of both are
taken on board during policy development, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation - The need of collective process of articulating a shared vision of
sustainable human development and translating it into reality
(through policy, programmes and budgets) hence the need for the
effective participation of both women and men. - Recognition of the need for a combined strategy to address women
empowerment issues including selected focus of channeling assistance
to women, as a target group, to a more mainstreaming approach of
promoting gender equality as a development goal. - It is a commitment to ensure concerns and experiences of both women
and men are integral to the design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of all legislation, policies and programmes - It concerns the staffing, procedures, programmes and culture of
development organizations - Recognizes gender equality as critical to the achievement of other
development goals including poverty reduction.
The affirmative Action
Affirmative action began as corrective for past governmental and social
injustices against demographic groups that have been subjected to
prejudice. Such groups are characterized most commonly by race, sex or
gender, or ethnicity. Affirmative action seeks to increase the
representation of these demographic groups in schools, in work place,
and in society in general. A certain group or gender may be less
proportionately represented in an area, often employment or education,
due predominantly, in the view of proponents, to past or ongoing
discrimination against members of the group.
Rationale for Affirmative action
The theory is that a simple adoption of meritocratic principles along
the lines of raceblindness or gender-blindness would not suffice to
change the situation for several reasons:
- Discrimination practices of the past preclude the acquisition of
‘merit’ by limiting access to educational opportunities and job
experiences. - Ostensible measures of ‘merit’ might well be biased toward the same
groups who were already empowered. - Regardless of overt principles, people already in positions of power
will be likely to hire people they already knew, and/or people from
similar backgrounds.
In such a circumstance, proponents believe government action giving
members of the group preferential treatment is necessary in order to
achieve a proportionate distribution. From its outset, affirmative
action was seen as a transitional strategy, with the intent that over
some period of time- variously estimated from a generation to a century-
the effects of past discrimination would be sufficiently countered that
such a strategy would no longer be necessary: the power elite would
reflect the demographics of society at large.
Affirmative action in Kenya in has mainly been on gender and earlier on
for marginalized areas. Affirmative action in South Africa is designed
to correct the systemic effects of discrimination created by Apartheid.
Though affirmative action in the U.S. is primarily associated with
racial issues, the American civil rights movement originally gave as its
purpose the correction of a history of oppression against all
working-class and low-income people, and women have figured as
prominently as ethnic minorities among its beneficiaries.
