Mainstreaming Gender into Development  

Report:

Report Round Table VI - Prague

Post conference note on Gender

Presentations:

- Gender and international human rights - Jessica Espey (ODI)

Output:

Gender and International Human Rights

Questions and explanation – asking the audience

·        What is ‘gender’ as a concept?

·        What is gender differentiation?

·        What are different gendered roles and responsibilities?

·        How is it useful in development policy and practice?    

Usage of confusing terminology

·        Equal opportunities

·        Equality of men and women 

·        Gender equality

·        Gender equity

·        Gender democracy

·        Gender analysis

·        Gender mainstreaming

Achievements

In Latin America quotas for women in the legislature are now widespread and women’s higher education rates increasingly exceed those of men (Dahlerup 2006).

In Asia and parts of South America women’s social movements, self-help groups and micro-finance initiatives have blossomed (with over 500,000 in Andhra Pradesh India alone!).

In Northern Africa girls tertiary school enrolment in relation to boys’ has sky-rocketed from 68 in 1998/1999 to 104 in 2006/2007 (girls per 100 boys). 

Even amongst international organizations gender sensitive planning and budgeting is vastly improving, as demonstrated by the OECD-DAC’s use of gender markers, by efforts to conduct internal gender audits and to demonstrate gender-sensitive budgeting.

Within the V4 there have also be considerable legislative achievements and gender is now ‘mainstreamed’ throughout the EC’s development cooperation.    

Actual state of gender discrimination

Different pay rates – in the UK women STILL have lower pay and are there are fewer in senior positions.

Female sexual and domestic abuse – a UN study has suggested 1 in every 3 women world wide has experienced sexual violence.

Health -  3/4 of all Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 who are HIV-positive are women (African Partnership Forum 2007) due to sexual violence, divergent disease burdens…

Involvement in household chores and time poverty – Women are still exceptionally subject to time poverty and overburdening of household responsibilities. In Brazil, 90% of women spend an average of 20 hours a week on unpaid domestic chores, in contrast to only 45% of men for an average of 7 hours a week (Jones and Baker, 2008).

The care economy – very little appreciation and value for women’s role as CARERs which is vital for economic progress and requires a GENDER LENS. Even in Czech republic the amount of maternity benefit and the child grant are not comparable to a working salary, whilst in many developing countries there are not even the facilititings for child care meaning many children are abandoned at home (Jody Heymann’s work – Forgotten Families).

Women’s role as carers is continually reinforced by society…… despite mounting evidence (including recent WHO reviews) which have demonstrated that programmes encouraging men to take an active role in the support and care of their children lead to significantly better child and maternal health outcomes. However, such efforts require great sensitivity around prevailing notions of masculinity that are often incompatible with caring roles (WHO, 2007). 

Theoretical motivations for considering gender

1.      Equality and equity as a right and political obligation 

·        International ratification – accountability to UN

·        Political accountability and public support

·        Efficiency

2. Economic rationale: Gender equality as smart economics

·        Smart economics - Gains in women’s economic opportunities lag behind those in women’s capabilities. This is inefficient, since increased women’s labor force participation and earnings are associated with reduced poverty and faster growth; women will benefit from their economic empowerment, but so too will men, children and society as a whole. Women’s lack of economic empowerment, on the other hand, not only imperils growth and poverty reduction, but also has a host of other negative impacts, including less favorable education and health outcomes for children and a more rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. (The World Bank Gender Action Plan 2006)

·        The informal / care economy can only be understood through a gender lens - Underestimating the complexity of the economy and therefore can not stimulate sustainable growth

·        Efficiency- targeting women (i.e. in case transfer schemes) has been demonstrated to have a larger impact on child health and development leading to greater productivity

3. Social Imperatives

·        To prevent social exclusion

·        Intergenerational poverty

·        Healthy child development

Gender as a Human Right

Sources of law (Commitments / Principles / Mutual Understanding): 

•         1948: Universal Declaration on Human Rights

•         1979: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

•         1995: Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women, 15 September 1995.

Main point: Gender equality is a FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT!!!  

These rights was the idea of responsabilities. Remaining question:  Who are the duty bearers? Who is responsible? 

The history of gender in development cooperation 

·        Modernisation and Inequality > Women in Development

o       Productive roles over welfare needs

o       WID’s legacy?

·        The ‘Poisoned Pie’ > Women and Development

o       Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era (The DAWN Movement) 

·        Examining social relations and institutional structures > Gender and Development

o       Frameworks of social analysis

o       The institutionalisation of G&D

The Gender Paradigm Today?
Discussion 

Questions for the audience:

•         What conceptualisation of the difference between men and women do you use in your work?

•         Do you differentiate between ‘gender’ and policies/programmes just for women?

•         How do you make a case for gender analysis in the day to day operation of your organisation?

•         Are we in danger of moving back to (or are we stuck in an era of) efficiency arguments and WID?

Twin Track Gender Mainstreaming: Theory and Practice

Main questions

·        What were/are the gender equality and women’s empowerment strategies that have been used in the past?

·        What were the problems with these strategies? 

§         Only targeting women?

§         Only focusing on women’s productive role i.e. in the economy?

§         Not looking in detail at socially constructed roles and responsibilities?    

Why at the end of the 20th century was there a shift towards a new strategy for achievement gender equality?

What was wrong with these strategies?

·        De jure equal rights do not bring equality in practice – right to work x not care support (cannot leave children)

·         Women were lagging in political representation / employment / access to services – take into account contrast between national GDP and HDI rankings on the one hand, and corresponding Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) scores in parts of East Asia and the Middle East

·         Equality measures and machinery have been operating in isolation  - work without necessary components (loan provision, vocational skills training or adult literacy) to facilitate the original purpose of the groups – women’s economic empowerment

·         Targeting of women explicitly can be counter-productive - to not only focus on women, talking to the whole population about socially constructed responsabilities

The emergence of gender mainstreaming: Examples from humanitarian and development programming   

Institutional support for gender problems:

·        UNHCR’s work on gender and gender mainstreaming in refugee assistance

·        UNIFEM’s work on gender budgeting in South Africa

·        Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) – initiative launched in cooperation with the Commonwealth Secretariat and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is about ensuring that government budgets and the policies and programs that underlie them address the needs and interests of individuals that belong to different social groups. Taking into account not only sexual inequality, but also discrimination based on ethnicity, caste, class or poverty status, location and age. 

Example project: Tanzania

- results of the project – big improvement in social provisions and corresponding budget allocations:

·        In the water sector, the allocation has increased from 3% to 6% of the national budget, at least partly as a result of advocacy campaigns. Households with low incomes now have access, at no cost, to 80 buckets of water.

·        The allocation to the health sector, another area on which advocacy has focused, had also increased to 15% of the national budget. More specifically, a number of specific budget lines for gender activities or GRB training have been introduced.

·        Within the Ministry of Finance, there is a budget line for GRB training.  

What is gender mainstreaming?

“Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the concerns and experiences of women as well as of men an integral part 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 of mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality.”  (1997 definition by UN Economic and Social Council)

Ambition is to analyse how gender impacts on all actions / programmes / policies and how a gender analysis can improve / nuance the policy and programme.  

Gender mainstreaming in EU Development Cooperation

Concept accepted and absorbed by EU’s legislative frameworks.

Ø      The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights  2000

Ø      Amsterdam Treaty on GM as the Constitution for Gender Equality Action in the EU

Ø      The Cotonou Agreement (2000) 

Ø      EU gender and development consensus, 2005

Ø      The Conotou Agreement and development consensus 2005

Ø      Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council “Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation” of 8 March 2007 COM (2007)

o       equal rights (political, civil, economic, employment, social and cultural) for women and men, girls and boys;

o       equal access to, and control over, resources for women and men;

o       equal opportunities to achieve political and economic influence for women and men.

Ø       Consensus on Gender Mainstreaming in Work of the E.P Committees 2007

Ø       Communication of the European Commission (2007)  

TTGM recognises that integration of gender in alllll planning etc is vital but that ALSO need explicit policies to support women, to provide them with initial tools like care support / like additional education if they’ve missed out due to early marriage / like victim support to those who have experienced gender based violence… So that they are at a level and have the capacity to equitably participate

Gender mainstreaming is a strategy (not a goal) and complements (not replaces) specific actions designed to promote gender equality.

Key Steps for Gender Mainstreaming

•         Statistics disaggregated by sex and qualitative information on the situation of women and men must be obtained for the population in question. This information is required not only at project/programme beneficiary level, but also at the macro and meso levels.

•         A gender analysis should be conducted with regard to the gendered division of labour, access to and control over material and non-material resources, the legal basis for gender equality/inequality; political commitments with respect to gender equality; and the culture, attitudes and stereotypes which affect all preceding issues. Gender analysis should be conducted at the micro,meso and macro levels.

•         Gender analysis of a programme or project concept should reveal whether gender equality objectives are articulated in the initial idea, whether or not the planned activity will contribute to or challenge existing inequalities, and whether there are any gender issues that have not been addressed.

•         During the identification and formulation phases, gender analysis contributes to the identification of entry points for actions that will be needed in order to meet gender equality objectives.

•         A gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation system should also be in place from the design phase onwards, including the establishment of indicators to measure the extent to which gender equality objectives are met and changes in gender relations achieved. 

Examples of effective gender mainstreaming programmes in action

UNDP Indonesia: Gender Mainstreaming Programme - Support for Mainstreaming Gender into Development Policies and Programmes - UNDP is approaching this through the development of programmes aimed to target and train government officials in a full range of gender issues. In addition to providing on the job and formal training in gender mainstreaming and advocacy, gender will be integrated into pro-poor policy development through the PRSP process at national and regional levels.

Uganda: A two-pronged approach? NGO training of district leaders, councillors and CBOs, whilst MGLSD and MoLG trained  Gender Focal Point Officers from the Districts. There are also incentive structures via Ministry of Local Government sanctions. NGOs working with Ministries to coordinate capacity building and accountability

Problems associated with GM?

·        Mainstreaming Out? 

o       becomes a poorly resourced, check-box issue

·         Mainstreaming = Indicators?

o       focus on numbers and not the outcome, which is more important

o       results are still lacking

o       “We have concentrated on numbers and structures. But there is still mortality, violence and abuse. Why are women still being beaten?”

·         Gender Fatigue?

o       apathy around UN super agency

·         Overburdening of women’s representatives

o       funding for gender specific projects has dwindled

o       programmes are often over stretched - self-help programmes in Andhra Pradesh in India, women’s representatives in institutional structures

o       twin track approach tries to counteract this problem

·         Lack of monitoring and evaluation / social auditing

most commonly cited constraint at the operational level was the lack of effective, consistent and systematic monitoring and evaluation of gender mainstreaming outcomes and impacts

Methods to Incorporate Gender in Policies and Strategies as Well as in Practice  

Ensuring Organisational Gender Sensitivity 

Key principles:   

1. management structure - necessary expertise on gender and diversity

2. reflects the principles of gender equality and equity within it’s own organisation

-> gender sensitivity: be ensured through effective gender mainstreaming within one’s own agency 

Institutionalisation?

-         from Beijing - concept of gender has become more ‘routinised’ in organisations and a study of donor organisations has demonstrated that younger staff joining donor organisations being able to draw on gender equality training courses

-         A good example is the UK’s DFID who have increasingly placed importance on having women in senior positions

o       The percentage of female staff in DFID’s senior civil service more than doubled from 2005-2007, to 37% 

Problems

-         gender mainstreaming - a low priority, with weak incentive systems for institutionalising the empowerment of women and gender equality among donors

-         constraint at the operational level was the lack of effective, consistent and systematic monitoring and evaluation of gender mainstreaming outcomes and impacts

-         ! vital to effective programming and mainstreaming of gender equality -> undertake internal gender audits as well as audits of the programmatic side of things

Key Questions for assessing an organisations gender capacity:

•         What is the existing capacity of the institutions and individuals to work with a gender perspective?

•         What are the incentives to do so? Is the importance of a gender perspective effectively communicated at the outset of a project / programme?

•         What is the capacity of the institution and individuals to promote women’s and men’s participation at all levels?

•         What is women’s and men’s capacity to participate in all aspects of the project, from tasks in technical fields, to decision making positions, and at the community level?

•         Do policies exist to guide the institutions?

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of CASE and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

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See also:
Events: RT VI - Prague
News: Outcome and presentations Round Table VI - Mainstreaming Gender into Development
Publications: Round Table 6 outcome - Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment