A. Desk Review
To gather the existing documented information on the specific topic. This tool is very relevant in getting background information on the specific topic. Specifically when implementing Gender Analysis, this tool aims to understand the extent of gender disaggregated data available in the country.
Involves detailed review of relevant documents within the Bank and within the country. This tool provides an introduction to the existing knowledge of the topic within the Bank and the country.
B. Household Interview
To directly gather quantitative information from the beneficiaries on their socio-economic characteristics. The quantitative data thus collected will help to interpret the qualitative data gathered through other sources
Typically household interviews are carried out by quantitative study experts. Interviews include a sequence of focused questions in a fixed order, often with pre-determined, limited options for responses. They are carried out among the direct beneficiaries. The unit of study is the household. An average duration of such an interview is estimated to be one hour.
C. Focus Group Discussion
To openly discuss and build consensus on the perceptions, attitudes and views of the primary stakeholders on the objective and strategy of the proposed project. It also aims to ensure whether the proposed changes are acceptable to them.
FGDs carried out by the qualitative study experts are relatively low cost, small group (four to twelve participants plus facilitator). The participants of FGDs are homogenous, belonging to the same category of the beneficiary population. Separate FGDs with male and female participants are mandatory in order to fully explore gender differences in attitudes, feelings, and preferences. The facilitator should be well experienced in gathering qualitative data to lead FGDs. In addition, the local consultant team leader should ensure that the facilitator has the know-how for how to facilitate equal participation from all its participants. If not, the discussion can get monopolized by a few participants. An average duration of a FGD is 2.–2.5 hours. Care should be taken not to increase the duration of FGDs over three hours as participants tend to loose the focus of the discussion. Light refreshments can be served depending on the location and type of participants of the FGD.
Other tools such as trend analysis, social mapping and day time use analysis can be carried out as part of FGDs to capture information on specific topics of interest.
(Details on these tools are provided in the next section of the table.)
Additional Tools to be Used as Part of Focus Group Discussions:
1. Trend Analysis
To provide a sequence of changes from a chosen period to the current date.
Trend analysis involves requesting participants to discuss various changes that have occurred within the community over a period of time such as role of women in households, rate of labor participation of women, rate of female children attending schools and universities, etc. Often important events are used to identify the period as people often cannot relate if only dates are provided. This tool is carried out as part of the FGD.
2. Day-time Use Analysis
To gather information on the various activities of an individual during a typical day. This tool specifically aims to understand the pattern of behavior of an individual.
Day-time use analysis involves gathering detailed information on the type of activities performed by both male and female beneficiaries. It also documents when these activities are performed and the average time spent on each activity. Specifically, this tool will help in identifying the types of activities typically undertaken by men and women and the average time spent by them on various activities during the course of the day. Some of the typical activities covered include time spent on: (i) collecting water/firewood , (ii) waiting for public transport, (iii) accompanying children to school, (iv) travelling to work place, etc. This tool is carried out as part of FGD.
3. Social Mapping
To provide a visual display of community members’ perceptions of the physical dimension of their community in social and economic terms.
Social Mapping helps to develop:
(i) inventory of resources within the community (types of available roads, modes of transport on these roads, wells, hand pumps, schools, public service buildings, etc);
(ii) inventory of type of households (whether slums/poor or non-poor or both); and
(iii) location of community resources in relation to the households of differing wealth levels.
Maps can be drawn on the ground by the participants or on regular paper. If on the ground, the participants could use different objects like twigs, stones, leaves, etc to differentiate various types of resources, and if on regular paper, the participants could use color markers to differentiate various types of resources. Maps on regular size paper are preferred as they could be included as part of the annex in the specific site report. This tool is carried out as part of the FGD.
D. Direct Observation
To perceive the existing situation in a selected locality.
Simplest of all techniques implemented by the qualitative study. It involves counting, noting behavior and expression, and registering notable facets of a particular development situation. This could be carried out in selected locations that enable the researcher to capture the activities of the beneficiaries on the specific topic.
E. Semi-structured interviews
To provide a forum for one-to-one discussion in a relaxed atmosphere on specific topics with direct beneficiaries and secondary informants. Specifically it aims to provide an opportunity for self-expression to populations who are shy or otherwise resistant to opening up in front of others.
Also called conversational interviews, carried out by the qualitative study experts, provide a framework within which respondents can express their own understanding in their own terms. It is often structured around a number of pre-determined topics. They are structured by interview guide with a limited number of preset questions with the flexibility to elaborate on specific topics if desired by the person interviewed. This kind of guide ensures that the interview remains focused on the development issue while allowing enough conversations so that the participants can introduce and discuss topics that are relevant to them. These tools are deliberate departure from survey-type interviews with lengthy, predetermined questionnaires. These interviews are carried out with secondary informants and direct beneficiaries. The average duration of such an interview is estimated to be one hour.
F. Case Study
To study individual cases relating to the topic. These case studies will help in dramatizing/highlighting problems and issues of an individual or a household within a community.
Case study stories bring out the individual’s or household’s major needs, issues/problems, and their perception of the solution to these problems through conversations in a relaxed atmosphere. This method probes to document the individual’s personal details such as name, place of residence, employment status, marital status, number of children, etc. Sample population will be selected purposively based on the key topic studied. They are undertaken by the qualitative study experts. The average duration of such a conversation can last between 2-2.5 hours depending on the personality of the beneficiary studied.
G. Stakeholder workshops
To provide an open forum to discuss and build consensus and ownership of the field findings and recommendations and thus arrive at an agreement on the next steps. This is a powerful tool for reaching a consensus when there are contradictions among the information gathered from different sources.
Stakeholder workshops are held at the end of fieldwork. All levels of stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the workshops. The workshop is an effective way to discuss common findings in the field, to disseminate the field findings, to create ownership of the findings, and to decide on the next steps. Participants can include both direct and indirect beneficiaries along with government representatives, Bank staff, and NGOs/private organizations. Average duration of these workshops can range from half a day to a full day.
Stakeholder workshops can also be used as the only major tool to discuss and come to consensus on specific topics such as developing transport strategies, monitoring and evaluation of gender issues in project implementation, etc. In this case, a series of such workshops will be carried out in one or more locations on different recommendations from various studies.
Qualitative study experts are responsible for implementing stakeholder workshops.
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Monday, March 31, 2008
Ways to Integrate Gender into Social Assessment Tools
A. Stakeholder Workshops:
Provides an open forum to discuss and build consensus and ownership of the field findings and recommendations and thus arrives at an agreement on the next steps. This is a powerful tool for reaching a consensus when there are contradictions among the information gathered from different sources.
1. Include male and female population in the sample
2. Ensure that discussions address gender relations when asking the following questions:
Provides an open forum to discuss and build consensus and ownership of the field findings and recommendations and thus arrives at an agreement on the next steps. This is a powerful tool for reaching a consensus when there are contradictions among the information gathered from different sources.
1. Include male and female population in the sample
2. Ensure that discussions address gender relations when asking the following questions:
- Who are the target populations?
- What are their interests in the project or policy?
- What are the power differentials among the various categories of the target population?
- What relative influence do they have on operations?
- Do recommendations address both equity and efficiency?
B. Focus Group Discussion (FGD):
Facilitates open discussions to build consensus on the perceptions, attitudes, and views of the primary stakeholders on the objective and strategy of the proposed project. It also aims to ensure whether the proposed changes are acceptable to them.
- Use men and women facilitators.
- Identify sample needs, priorities, and constraints of both male and female populations.
- Perform additional exercises with men and women in separate groups.
- Schedule focus group meetings, paying attention to men’s and women’s different work schedules.
- Identify and address other constraints to women’s participation, such as childcare, domestic duties, distance, and cultural constraints.
C. Social Mapping Exercise:
Provides a visual display of community members’ perceptions of the physical dimension of their community in social and economic terms. This could be carried out as part of a Focus Group Discussion.
- Use men and women facilitators.
- Gather gender disaggregated data.
- Perform additional exercises with men and women in separate groups.
- Schedule exercises paying attention to work schedules of both men and women.
- Identify perceptions for both men and women of the availability and access to various services within the community.
D. Direct Observation:
Allows an opportunity to perceive the existing situation in a selected locality. Specifically, while in the field, the participant observer looks, listens, asks questions, and documents detailed notes on his/her observations.
- Use men and women participant observers.
- Ensure observations and analysis of existing situation provides a clear insight into gender based differences of all topics covered.
E. Desk Review:
Gathers the existing documented information on the specific topic. This tool is very relevant in getting background information on the specific topic. Specifically when implementing Gender Analysis, this tool specifically aims to understand the extent of gender disaggregated data available in the country.
- Identify availability of data disaggregated by gender.
- If yes, identify areas covered.
- Identify major gaps in the information.
- Gather gender disaggregated data.
F. Semi-structured Interviews:
Provides a forum for one-to-one discussion in a relaxed atmosphere on specific topics with direct beneficiaries and secondary informants. Specifically, it aims to provide an opportunity for self-expression to the part of the population which is shy or otherwise resistant to opening up in front of others.
- Include male and female population in the sample.
- Ensure men and women interviewers.
- Gather gender desegregated data.
- Interview men and women separately.
- Schedule interviews paying attention to men’s and women’s different work schedules.
- Identify and address constraints to women’s participation, such as childcare, domestic duties, distance, and cultural constraints.
The above table is developed from information provided in the following document: Moser Caroline, Annika Tornqvist, and Bernice van Bronkhorst. 1997. Draft of "Mainstreaming Gender into Social Assessments." Washington, DC: World Bank.
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Mainstreaming Gender into Social Assessments
BACKGROUND
In the World Bank, social assessments are one of the most important new operational tools to integrate social issues into lending operations. Social Development and Results on the Ground (WB, 1996) states that "gender is a major social factor in achieving growth and equity, therefore projects need to mainstream gender" and that "women’s participation in economic and social development is essential for promoting economic efficiency and for reducing poverty." Therefore, the integration of gender into social assessments is critically important. This note highlights best practice examples for mainstreaming, or integrating gender into social assessments and provides practical guidelines to identify critical entry points to achieve this.
Results of a recent review of a small sample of social assessments that represent different countries and sectors – undertaken as part of a study on mainstreaming gender and social development into World Bank work – showed that to date gender has not been systematically included in social assessments. In addition, the study highlights that the integration of gender into the design of a social assessment does not automatically result in a gendered output, while a lack of gender in the design does not necessarily preclude a gendered output.
Finally, the study showed that the integration of gender into a social assessment is primarily determined by the individual researcher who designs and implements the social assessment, and their awareness of gender issues. Some useful and easily achievable lessons and entry points for the mainstreaming of gender into social assessments have been identified by this review.
In the World Bank, social assessments are one of the most important new operational tools to integrate social issues into lending operations. Social Development and Results on the Ground (WB, 1996) states that "gender is a major social factor in achieving growth and equity, therefore projects need to mainstream gender" and that "women’s participation in economic and social development is essential for promoting economic efficiency and for reducing poverty." Therefore, the integration of gender into social assessments is critically important. This note highlights best practice examples for mainstreaming, or integrating gender into social assessments and provides practical guidelines to identify critical entry points to achieve this.
Results of a recent review of a small sample of social assessments that represent different countries and sectors – undertaken as part of a study on mainstreaming gender and social development into World Bank work – showed that to date gender has not been systematically included in social assessments. In addition, the study highlights that the integration of gender into the design of a social assessment does not automatically result in a gendered output, while a lack of gender in the design does not necessarily preclude a gendered output.
Finally, the study showed that the integration of gender into a social assessment is primarily determined by the individual researcher who designs and implements the social assessment, and their awareness of gender issues. Some useful and easily achievable lessons and entry points for the mainstreaming of gender into social assessments have been identified by this review.
Box 1: Ways to integrate gender into commonly used social assessment tools
- Sample population for assessment must include both men and women.
- Use both men and women interviewers.
- When culturally appropriate, interview men and women separately, as men and women may not always speak freely in front of each other.
- Ensure interviews are undertaken taking account of men’s and women’s different work schedules. For example, do not schedule a village meeting at times that women are usually preparing meals.
- Ensure that data is gender-disaggregated during collection and analysis.
Box 1 provides very basic and practical recommendations for the integration of gender into some of the commonly used social assessment tools, including quantitative surveys, participant observation, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews. The following more detailed guidelines will ensure that gender is successfully integrated into social assessments:
BUILD GENDER INTO THE DESIGN OF SOCIAL ASSESSMENT
Stakeholder analysis, household surveys, focus group discussions, and other methodologies are in principle gender-neutral and do not necessarily incorporate a gender analysis or bring out gender issues. Therefore gender and gender analysis need to be built in from the beginning of the project cycle.
The same recent review of social assessments from a gender perspective provides examples to illustrate these issues:
- The social assessments for the Baku Water Supply Rehabilitation project and the Kazakstan Water, Sanitation, and Health project were both gender neutral in terms of their methodology. However, in the case of the Baku gender issues were identified during the social assessment process, and women were identified as the main beneficiaries of the project. In contrast, whilst being a similar project in a similar socio-economic and cultural context, they were not in Kazakstan.
ENSURE GENDER INTO DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Experience from various studies shows that gender disaggregated information can easily be obtained by, for example, interviewing poor men and women separately. However, some social assessments that include gender in the design and gather gender-disaggregated information do not necessarily follow this through in the analysis. This may be due to a lack of adequate time, resources, and/or skills to analyze and present gender data. Therefore social assessments need to plan and budget for the integration of gender into the study design, the collection, and analysis of gender disaggregated information.
- In the Mexico Participatory Poverty Assessment, 50 percent of those interviewed about their perception of their role in the development process in Mexico were women and 50 percent were men. However, no gendered conclusions were drawn. The assessment included women’s and men’s views on separate, specific sectors and issues, but their views were not compared on the same issue. So while the information was available, it was not processed as a gender analysis.
Another best practice pointer that was identified during the review is that social assessments that include the evaluation of gender issues as one of the key objectives and integrate gender into the design of the social assessment are also the most successful in integrating gender into the data analysis. Furthermore, including a gender specialist in the social assessment team can facilitate this outcome.
- The strong analysis of gender issues in the social assessment for the Nicaragua Rural Municipalities Project points to the effectiveness of including the evaluation of gender issues as a key objective as well as having a gender specialist in the social assessment team.
INCUDING GENDER IMPROVES PROJECTS
As was stated above, gender is a major social factor. Failure to integrate gender can seriously impede the successful outcome of a project. Conversely, including gender from the beginning of the project cycle and into the social assessment can improve projects by identifying and addressing the roles and needs of its intended beneficiaries. Below are some examples of how successfully gendered social assessments helped to improve project design and outcomes.
- The gender analysis carried out during the initial stage of The India Cataract Blindness Control Project, revealed several logistical, financial, and socio-cultural factors that prevent individuals, particularly women, from seeking cataract surgery. Consequently, outreach activities focused primarily on women and isolated tribal populations, as those least likely to seek treatment.
- The objective of a recent social assessment in Nigeria was to examine institutions operating at various levels in society. The study included gender analysis, as well as analysis of other social variables such as ethnicity, age, and class. The information was used to develop priorities on the basis of gender.
- A social assessment for the urban transport project in Ashgabat, aimed to capture gender differences and found that urban public transport is particularly important for the poor and for women. As a result, improvements were introduced that directly served the needs and interests of low-income groups and women.
CONCLUSION
Social assessments are clearly an important and effective tool for incorporating gender concerns into World Bank operations. All social assessments can, at little extra cost, include gender issues in household surveys, focus group interviews, and other methods used. In some cases gender may not be an important consideration for a project, but this can only be established reliably after the completion of a social assessment that has successfully integrated gender.
The preceding information comes from Social Development Notes, July 1998, and was written by Caroline Moser, Annika Tornqvist, and Bernice van Bronkhorst. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTGENDER/0,,contentMDK:20260598~isCURL:Y~menuPK:489221~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:336868,00.html
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Sunday, March 30, 2008
Major Issues in Gender and Environment
1. Poverty
2. Household food security
3. Women's work
4. Knowledge, culture and power
5. Population, reproductive rights and health care
6. Forest resource management
7. Energy
8. Sustainable agriculture and farming systems
9. Land reforms and land rights
10. Water resources
11. Common property and resource management
12. Migration and displacement
13. Credit and enterprise development
14. Science and Technology
15. Urban environment and services
16. Housing
17. Market economy and industrialization
18. Women's relationship with nature
19. Women's movements
20. Gender, environment and development
Source: Gender and Environment Research Network in Asia. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-005.html
2. Household food security
3. Women's work
4. Knowledge, culture and power
5. Population, reproductive rights and health care
6. Forest resource management
7. Energy
8. Sustainable agriculture and farming systems
9. Land reforms and land rights
10. Water resources
11. Common property and resource management
12. Migration and displacement
13. Credit and enterprise development
14. Science and Technology
15. Urban environment and services
16. Housing
17. Market economy and industrialization
18. Women's relationship with nature
19. Women's movements
20. Gender, environment and development
Source: Gender and Environment Research Network in Asia. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-005.html
Gender and Food Security
The state of the world's environment is vital for global food security. It was once believed that natural resources had an unlimited capacity to meet humanity's needs. It is now more widely understood that the environment is under threat and in need of protection.
Since the early 1980s considerable attention has been devoted to the relationship between women and the environment, and extensive efforts have been made to identify the effects of the international environmental crisis on women. Momentum was gathered at the workshop of non-governmental organizations, which ran parallel to the first World Conference on Women in Nairobi (1985), where it was not only recognized that the themes of "women and development" and the "environment" are interlinked but also must be incorporated into policy planning.
These efforts culminated with the finalization of the Women's Action Agenda 21, elaborated in the run-up of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and development (UNCEDA), whereby the important relationship between women and the environment was stressed.
As the world's food producers, women and men have a stake in the preservation of the environment and in environmentally sustainable development. Land and water resources form the basis of all farming systems, and their preservation is crucial to sustained and improved food production. Water is present at many levels in the life of rural women: they collect water and manage its use in the household; they farm irrigated and rain-fed crops; they know where the water can be found, how to store it, when it is scarce and whether it is safe for their family's use.
The same is true with land. Women farmers tend to use and perfect traditional cropping methods developed over time to protect precious natural resources. This makes them key players in the conservation of soil fertility.
Women employ methods such as fallowing (leaving fields uncultivated for at least a season), crop rotation (planting a field with different successive crops), intercropping (planting several different crops in a field at one time), mulching (spreading organic material on the soil around plants to avoid water evaporation) and a variety of techniques that promote soil conservation, fertility and enrichment. Planners are now recognizing the value of learning from women's local knowledge to protect and sustain the environment.
But poverty is a leading cause of environmental degradation in the developing world. Women farmers trying to eke out an existence on marginal lands, with little education and no access to agricultural resources, are often driven to adapting less labour-intensive crops and practices that may harm the environment. Soil erosion, polluted water and declining yields result.
Furthermore, as women rarely own land they cultivate there is little incentive for them to make environmentally sound decisions, while their lack of access to credit hampers them from buying technologies and inputs that would be less damaging to natural resources. These negative factors set up a cycle of declining productivity, increasing environmental degradation and food insecurity for the future.
Men and women need to be alerted to the threats that environmental degradation pose to food security. Women in particular, need to be informed about alternative methods of cooking, farming, heating and waste disposal. Gender-sensitive planning in training and technology development would not only improve production today, but it would also ensure the protection of the environment for tomorrow.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, Gender Unit in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-004.html
Since the early 1980s considerable attention has been devoted to the relationship between women and the environment, and extensive efforts have been made to identify the effects of the international environmental crisis on women. Momentum was gathered at the workshop of non-governmental organizations, which ran parallel to the first World Conference on Women in Nairobi (1985), where it was not only recognized that the themes of "women and development" and the "environment" are interlinked but also must be incorporated into policy planning.
These efforts culminated with the finalization of the Women's Action Agenda 21, elaborated in the run-up of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and development (UNCEDA), whereby the important relationship between women and the environment was stressed.
As the world's food producers, women and men have a stake in the preservation of the environment and in environmentally sustainable development. Land and water resources form the basis of all farming systems, and their preservation is crucial to sustained and improved food production. Water is present at many levels in the life of rural women: they collect water and manage its use in the household; they farm irrigated and rain-fed crops; they know where the water can be found, how to store it, when it is scarce and whether it is safe for their family's use.
The same is true with land. Women farmers tend to use and perfect traditional cropping methods developed over time to protect precious natural resources. This makes them key players in the conservation of soil fertility.
Women employ methods such as fallowing (leaving fields uncultivated for at least a season), crop rotation (planting a field with different successive crops), intercropping (planting several different crops in a field at one time), mulching (spreading organic material on the soil around plants to avoid water evaporation) and a variety of techniques that promote soil conservation, fertility and enrichment. Planners are now recognizing the value of learning from women's local knowledge to protect and sustain the environment.
But poverty is a leading cause of environmental degradation in the developing world. Women farmers trying to eke out an existence on marginal lands, with little education and no access to agricultural resources, are often driven to adapting less labour-intensive crops and practices that may harm the environment. Soil erosion, polluted water and declining yields result.
Furthermore, as women rarely own land they cultivate there is little incentive for them to make environmentally sound decisions, while their lack of access to credit hampers them from buying technologies and inputs that would be less damaging to natural resources. These negative factors set up a cycle of declining productivity, increasing environmental degradation and food insecurity for the future.
Men and women need to be alerted to the threats that environmental degradation pose to food security. Women in particular, need to be informed about alternative methods of cooking, farming, heating and waste disposal. Gender-sensitive planning in training and technology development would not only improve production today, but it would also ensure the protection of the environment for tomorrow.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, Gender Unit in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-004.html
Some Gender and Environment Statistics
- Water pollution in Uzbekistan has led to an increase in birth defects and complications in pregnancy.
- Pesticide exposures in Central Sudan are linked to 22 percent of hospital stillbirths.
- Air pollution in the Ukraine has been linked to 21 percent of all illnesses affecting women and children.
- One in three women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer sometime during their lives.
- Nuclear contamination in Chelyabinsk, Russia has led to a 21 percent increase in cancer and a 25 percent increase in birth defects. Half the population of child bearing age is sterile.
- In Guatemala, pesticide residues in breast milk are reported to be 250 times the amounts allowed in cow's milk.
- Most children in China take in DDT from breast milk at levels 10 times higher than internationally accepted maximums.
Women's Health and the Environment
Women are often most sensitive to changes in the environment because they are in closest contact with the home and the land; they are the first line of defense. Survival of women and their families is closely linked to the health of the land, forests, fisheries and other natural resources. There is strong evidence of the irrevocable damage caused by environmental assaults during various stages of the life cycle, particularly to the fetus and growing child.
Unsustainable patterns of production continue with women facing serious health risks, especially reproductive health, as they become more active in the labor force. To a large extent, occupational risks to women are still unrecognized, uncharacterized and uncontrolled. Increased use of pesticides threatens women's health and the health of future generations in all parts of the world. Despite governments' commitments on environmental health in Cairo, official action and public awareness of prevention and risk reduction remain inadequate.
Source: Risks, Rights and Reforms: A 50-Country Survey Assessing Government Actions Five Years After the International Conference on Population and Development (WEDO, March 1999) in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-002.html
Unsustainable patterns of production continue with women facing serious health risks, especially reproductive health, as they become more active in the labor force. To a large extent, occupational risks to women are still unrecognized, uncharacterized and uncontrolled. Increased use of pesticides threatens women's health and the health of future generations in all parts of the world. Despite governments' commitments on environmental health in Cairo, official action and public awareness of prevention and risk reduction remain inadequate.
Source: Risks, Rights and Reforms: A 50-Country Survey Assessing Government Actions Five Years After the International Conference on Population and Development (WEDO, March 1999) in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-002.html
Introduction to gender and environment
Why explore the linkages between gender and environment? Historical context for the current discourse on gender and environment, e.g., the degradation of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, pollution, resource depletion, the failure of western development to meet basic needs in the South, and the proliferation of waste and overconsumption in the North, the global women's movement, the environmental movement, and the development of women's, gender, and environmental studies within the academy.
Basic concepts in gender analysis:
Gender division of labour, patriarchal ideology, gender inequality, androcentrism. Basic concepts in ecology: ecosystems, interconnection, diversity, sustainability.
Emerging perspectives on gender and environment:
What is the relationship between Woman and Nature in western thought? Is the domination of women and nature rooted in patriarchal ideology? Feminist critiques of science and western concepts of "development." How does the gender division of labour structure relations to the natural world?
Women in the two-thirds world: environmental degradation and the struggle for survival:
The Green Revolution and its impacts on food production. Cash crop production, appropriation and degradation of land. How does environmental degradation affect the daily lives of poor women? What difference does class and gender make?
Women, water, fuel and forest resources. The gender division of labour and environmental impacts on women's work. Women's traditional ecological knowledge. Poverty, survival, and women's roles in maintaining the means of sustenance.
Dialogues with and within ecological feminism:
How do women engaged in environmental action define themselves? What can we learn from ecofeminist perspectives on gender and environment? What are the major weaknesses of ecofeminist theory and practice?
Political action and cultural transformation:
Ecofeminist politics, ethics, and spirituality. Issues in cultural transformation and cultural appropriation. Greenham Common, Chipko Movement, Kenya Green Belt Movement, World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet, local stories of women and environmental action.
Sumber: http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-001.html
Basic concepts in gender analysis:
Gender division of labour, patriarchal ideology, gender inequality, androcentrism. Basic concepts in ecology: ecosystems, interconnection, diversity, sustainability.
Emerging perspectives on gender and environment:
What is the relationship between Woman and Nature in western thought? Is the domination of women and nature rooted in patriarchal ideology? Feminist critiques of science and western concepts of "development." How does the gender division of labour structure relations to the natural world?
Women in the two-thirds world: environmental degradation and the struggle for survival:
The Green Revolution and its impacts on food production. Cash crop production, appropriation and degradation of land. How does environmental degradation affect the daily lives of poor women? What difference does class and gender make?
Women, water, fuel and forest resources. The gender division of labour and environmental impacts on women's work. Women's traditional ecological knowledge. Poverty, survival, and women's roles in maintaining the means of sustenance.
Dialogues with and within ecological feminism:
How do women engaged in environmental action define themselves? What can we learn from ecofeminist perspectives on gender and environment? What are the major weaknesses of ecofeminist theory and practice?
Political action and cultural transformation:
Ecofeminist politics, ethics, and spirituality. Issues in cultural transformation and cultural appropriation. Greenham Common, Chipko Movement, Kenya Green Belt Movement, World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet, local stories of women and environmental action.
Sumber: http://www.gdrc.org/gender/1pager-001.html
UNEP: Gender and Environment
There is a general misunderstanding about what we mean when we refer to gender and environment. Gender mainstreaming refers to a policy of reflecting gender in all policies and programmes and to examining the effects of decisions on women and men, respectively, It is crucial that gender mainstreaming be a central factor in UNEP polities and programmes.
The topic of Gender and Environment is far more than gender mainstreaming. The discussion of Gender and Environment is based on two precepts:
- That gender mediates human/environment interactions and all environmental use, knowledge, and assessment; and
- That gender roles, responsibilities, expectations, norms, and the division of labor shape all forms of human relationships to the environment.
It is now very clear that gender differences and inequalities influence the extent and nature of almost every form of environmental encounter, use, and impact.
Examples from Rwanda:
- The annual population growth rate in Rwanda is very high - over two percent. Any attempt to introduce family planning by aid agencies is met with considerable resistance by the government, churches and mosques. This is a gender issue, not a women's issue, because men control all three of these institutions.
- At a site where American engineers had drilled new water wells, the quality of the groundwater was far higher than the river water that was traditionally the source of water for the community. Women, who collected water, did not have to travel as far, because the welts were closer to the community than the river was.
But the wells remained unused, Why? Because the main opportunity for social interaction among young men and women was when women went to the river to collect water while the men were fishing or irrigating crops.
These are two minor examples to help one get a sense of why the issue is (and must be) gender and environment rather than women and environment. The two broad principles noted above manifest themselves in a variety of environmental relations and interactions, including:
- Gender differences are evident in the use and management of natural resources, and unequal relationships in the family, community, etc. mediate women's access to resources;
- Gender differences are evident in livelihood strategies that are rooted in particular uses of the environment;
- Gender differences are evident in knowledge of the environment, knowledge of specific resources, and of environmental problems;
- Gender differences are evident in responsibilities for managing, owning, or stewarding resources, and in rights to resources;
- Gender differences are evident in encounters with the environment, in perceptions of the environment and in perceptions of the nature and severity of environmental problems;
- all of the above contribute to the gender differences that are evident in accountability, stewardship, and action for the environment.
Women and Technology Transfer
Women Need to Play a Key Role in the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies(ESTs). Chapter 34 of Agenda 21 defines Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs) as technologies that protect the environment, are less polluting, use all resources in a sustainable manner, recycle more of their wastes and products, and handle residual wastes in a more acceptable manner than the technologies for which they are substitutes.
UNEP IETC focuses on ESTs that must be underpinned by the concomitant development of more holistic environmental management strategies. In 2002, an IETC Expert Group on ESTs drafted a preliminary set of generic environmental criteria for assessing and evaluating ESTs that include both environmental and social issues. Involvement of women at every stage of the technology transfer cycle has been identified as a key social criterion that decision makers would need to take into consideration during planning processes.
Women, Water and Sanitation ESTs
While women's involvement is important at all levels of decision-making, their participation is critical in the successful transfer of technologies at the community and household levels, as this would have an immediate effect on their surrounding environment, and their health and livelihood. This would also influence their decision-making powers in the community/household. Attention should be paid to the fact that women at different stages of their life, for instance at their reproductive age, would be affected differently by the adoption of ESTs.
Focusing on water issues, women are major users of water, and also discharge most of used water from a household - through cooking, washing, cleaning, bathing children, etc. They are also key players in maintaining the hygiene of family members. For the water to be used in a sustainable manner, it is important that they are made aware of the interrelationships between the technologies selected, the way it is applied and used in the provision of potable water, the discharge of used water, and issues related to sanitation and health. It is thus important to involve women in both the decision-making process, i.e. selection of ESTs, as well as in implementation, i.e. adoption and use of ESTs.
CASE STUDY: In the suburbs and districts of Dibuchi, people drilled bore wells within the boundaries of their houses, where they also dug holes for toilet purposes. This resulted in water contamination and the spread of water-borne diseases, which led in turn to the death of many children. Such situation could have been avoided if EST was selected and adopted in an appropriate manner, taking women's needs and wishes into consideration. (Source: UNEP International Environmental Technology Center).
The connections between gender relations, environmental change and vulnerability have only begun to be studied. Vulnerability to the detrimental effects of degraded environments are gendered; the effects of improvements in environmental quality don't ripple through a community in equal ways across race, age, class, and gender lines; and vulnerability to environmental change and abilities to cope with or compensate for environmental change are gendered.
A gender-segregated workforce results in different exposures to environmental risks for women and men. Consider these issues:
- men might be exposed to toxic chemicals used in mining, women will be exposed to pesticides used in export flower-industry)
- women's and men's income-generating activities may require specific resources (fuel, water) that produce particular wastes
- environmental contamination produces different health hazards for men and women - women may be particularly vulnerable to home-based hazards such as indoor pollution
- women's workload to provide resources for the household (water, fuel, food) increases when resources become scarce
- if environmental hazards produce illness, men and women have different responsibilities for caring for ill family members
- responses to environmental change vary with age, class, family hierarchy, and gender
- biases in educational and training systems may mean that women are less equipped than their male counterparts to understand, cope with, and anticipate environmental change or resource conditions.
One of the cumulative effects of all these gendered relationships is that even perceptions of the environment and of the state of the environment are often shaped by gender.
Source: Abstracted from documents of -
United Nations Environment Programme
UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment
UNEP's International Environmental Technology Center http://www.gdrc.org/gender/a21/unep-gender-environment.html
Implications for Developmental Programmes and Projects
The criticality of incorporating gender considerations in any developmental or management action is well acknowledged. Taking this into consideration, the focus and coverage of an initiative is the placing of gender within the context of overall development and management. Within these areas, the coverage of the cross-cutting programme should be gender, environment and technology transfer in developing countries . There can be two complementary and supplementary objectives:
- To mainstream the principles of gender equity and responsiveness in developmental programs and projects.
- To promote gender sensitivity and responsiveness in technology transfer, and in the application, adoption and use of environmentally sound technologies.
The program can be operationalized by outlining the strategies and mechanics of implementation, expected outputs, targets and results and timetable, based on these objectives. Success of a gender initiatives will also rest on links with existing organizations/institutions (international and national) that have gender programmes in order to develop and implement a monitoring system for gender-responsiveness in technology transfer.
Gender Analysis Matrix
One of the key aspects of a Gender Analysis Framework is a matrix that studies affected stakeholder within a set of categories. It is an analytical tool that uses participatory methodology to facilitate the definition and analysis of gender issues by the communities that are affected by them. Using the Gender Analysis Matrix will provide a unique articulation of issues as well as develop gender analysis capacity from the grassroots level up. The Gender Analysis Matrix is based on the following principles:
- All requisite knowledge for gender analysis exists among the people whose lives are the subject of the analysis.
- Gender analysis does not require the technical expertise of those outside the community being analysed, except as facilitators.
- Gender analysis cannot be transformative unless the analysis is done by the people being analyzed.
- Labour: This refers to changes in tasks, level of skill required (skilled versus unskilled, formal education, training) and labour capacity (how many people and how much they can do; do people need to be hired or can members of the household do it?).
- Time: This refers to changes in the amount of time (3 hours, 4 days, and so on) it takes to carry out the task associated with the project or activity.
- Resources: This refers to the changes in access to capital (income, land, credit) as a consequence of the project, and the extent of control over changes in resources (more or less) for each level of analysis.
- Culture: Cultural factors refer to changes in social aspects of the participants' lives (changes in gender roles or status) as a result of the project.
Currents in Development and Gender
Is poverty female?
It has become common in development circles to talk of the 'feminisation of poverty'. The phrase implies that poverty is becoming a female phenomenon, or that women are becoming poorer relative to men. This trend is often linked to an increase in the number of female-headed households, to the informalisation of labour markets and, generally, to the economic crises and adjustments of the 1980s in Latin America and Africa.
Because many studies on poverty do not look inside the household, evidence is lacking to show a feminisation of poverty. Moreover, the evidence we do have does not always show that more women than men are poor, or that their proportion among the poor, relative to men, is increasing. Certain groups of women - including some but by no means all female heads of household - may be particularly vulnerable to poverty. Women are discriminated against within the household, in legal and property rights, in access to financial resources, in labour markets and by public sector institutions. But not all women are poor and not all poor people are women. It does not advance attempts to combat gender discrimination, or assist in poverty alleviation efforts, if women and the poor are treated as synonymous.
A new BRIDGE Report explores in detail the complex relationship between gender discrimination and poverty.
From BRIDGE Report No. 30: Gender and Poverty, S. Baden with K. Milward, commissioned by SIDA, January 1995 in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-and-envi.html
It has become common in development circles to talk of the 'feminisation of poverty'. The phrase implies that poverty is becoming a female phenomenon, or that women are becoming poorer relative to men. This trend is often linked to an increase in the number of female-headed households, to the informalisation of labour markets and, generally, to the economic crises and adjustments of the 1980s in Latin America and Africa.
Because many studies on poverty do not look inside the household, evidence is lacking to show a feminisation of poverty. Moreover, the evidence we do have does not always show that more women than men are poor, or that their proportion among the poor, relative to men, is increasing. Certain groups of women - including some but by no means all female heads of household - may be particularly vulnerable to poverty. Women are discriminated against within the household, in legal and property rights, in access to financial resources, in labour markets and by public sector institutions. But not all women are poor and not all poor people are women. It does not advance attempts to combat gender discrimination, or assist in poverty alleviation efforts, if women and the poor are treated as synonymous.
A new BRIDGE Report explores in detail the complex relationship between gender discrimination and poverty.
From BRIDGE Report No. 30: Gender and Poverty, S. Baden with K. Milward, commissioned by SIDA, January 1995 in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-and-envi.html
Can't pay, won't pay! women priced out of the water market
Integrated water resources management (WRM) is currently high on the development agenda. It is the subject of a recent World Bank Policy Paper (1993). Given the likely influence of the Bank's new WRM policy - around 13 percent of Bank funds are invested in water projects - it is crucial to ensure that gender issues have not been overlooked.
The new WRM approach stresses the economic value of water as a scarce resource. Conservation and pricing are the main mechanisms proposed to limit waste and inefficient use. There is also a shift towards decentralised management and delivery of services, to reduce costs and increase the participation of water users. Pricing of water resources is aimed at moving water from low to high value uses. But as water markets develop, men may see gain in selling water for income, reducing women's access to water for non-market uses or in the production of 'low value' crops for household consumption.
Recent research reveals that women are often willing to pay more than men for improved services. But women are unable to commit to major financial outlays. Their desire for improved services may not be matched by ability to pay, or to command resources within the household. Pricing and financing mechanisms for water services must take this into account.
"Women's desire for improved services may not be matched by ability to pay".
Often, where communities have to pay for new water supplies, revenues prove surprisingly low. Affordability studies to determine appropriate water tariffs focus on men, whereas women pay a high proportion of new charges. In such cases, not only are some poor women denied access to water but overall project sustainability may be undermined due to lack of funds.
From BRIDGE Report no. 21: Water Resources Management: A Macro-level Analysis from a Gender Perspective, by C. Green with S. Baden, commissioned by SIDA, January 1994 in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-and-envi.html
The new WRM approach stresses the economic value of water as a scarce resource. Conservation and pricing are the main mechanisms proposed to limit waste and inefficient use. There is also a shift towards decentralised management and delivery of services, to reduce costs and increase the participation of water users. Pricing of water resources is aimed at moving water from low to high value uses. But as water markets develop, men may see gain in selling water for income, reducing women's access to water for non-market uses or in the production of 'low value' crops for household consumption.
Recent research reveals that women are often willing to pay more than men for improved services. But women are unable to commit to major financial outlays. Their desire for improved services may not be matched by ability to pay, or to command resources within the household. Pricing and financing mechanisms for water services must take this into account.
"Women's desire for improved services may not be matched by ability to pay".
Often, where communities have to pay for new water supplies, revenues prove surprisingly low. Affordability studies to determine appropriate water tariffs focus on men, whereas women pay a high proportion of new charges. In such cases, not only are some poor women denied access to water but overall project sustainability may be undermined due to lack of funds.
From BRIDGE Report no. 21: Water Resources Management: A Macro-level Analysis from a Gender Perspective, by C. Green with S. Baden, commissioned by SIDA, January 1994 in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-and-envi.html
Do environmental projects promote gender equity?
In the 1980s, governments and development agencies became much more aware of the need to consider gender issues in their environmental and natural resource management programmes. This led to changes in project design and implementation. It is too soon to say definitively how well this new gender-sensitive approach is working. But it may be a mistake to expect too much of the new style interventions.
Policy makers first came to appreciate that women 'play an essential role in the management of natural resources, including soil, water, forests and energy...and often have a profound traditional and contemporary knowledge of the natural world around them'. (World Bank, 1991). The exclusion of women from environmental projects - through outright neglect or belief in the gender neutrality of projects - would thus be a recipe for project failure.
Subsequently, donor agencies came to see women as especially vulnerable: 'their responsibilities as day-to-day environmental managers ...make women both victims of and contributors to the natural environment's degradation and pollution.' (Ibid).
On the other hand, gradually, awareness grew of many grassroots success stories of women fighting to conserve local resources - such as those described in Power to Change (Women's Feature Service, 1994). This then led to women being viewed as 'major local assets to be harnessed in the interests of better environmental management' (Davidson cited in Braidotti et al, 1994).
The new style of environmental project accordingly asks whether natural resource users are male or female and is concerned to 'reach the right people' in the delivery of services. For example, social forestry schemes have been redesigned, recognising the diverse uses of tree products and different species preferences of men and women: men typically want timber for construction and fencing, while women need fodder and woodfuel. And, in water and sanitation activities, women's participation on water committees or in maintaining facilities is becoming the rule rather than the exception.
"Women were seen as 'assets to be harnessed in the interests of better environmental management'".
But the ideas behind the new approach are not always honoured in practice. First, project intentions can be subverted. Leaving environmental management to community level institutions - such as those promoted by the Aga Khan programme in northern Pakistan - does not guarantee women's access to project resources. And the aim of involving women at all stages of the project cycle often translates into demands on women to do voluntary work, without giving them a fair share of project benefits.
Second, compared to a gender analysis of the underlying problems, environmental projects promote a limited set of aims. Policy documents (e.g. World Bank, 1991) acknowledge that lack of property rights reduces women's capacity to conserve environmental resources but the new approach does not address this issue. Donors still favour giving women access to credit, to help them manage resources and build up assets. This is naive in assuming that traditional male control over land and other assets will not extend to newly acquired natural resources. Trying to give women authority within isolated projects without taking into account their restricted property rights is almost bound to fail.
Is there any way of strengthening women's control over resources in environmental projects? Legal changes guaranteeing women independent property rights and increased political representation are needed at the national level. But such reforms take time. They also need to be complemented at the local level by building up women's capacity to claim the new rights attained.
One approach suggested for environmental projects is support for collective actions by women (Agarwal, 1994). This has the potential to confer inalienable use rights - though not necessarily property rights - over natural resources. Women have more chance of exercising rights as a group than as individuals. Wasteland development projects in India (such as the Bankora projects in West Bengal) have successfully supported women's group efforts to regenerate forest and improve land productivity. They also build on women's greater use rights over common property than on privatised lands. But women need to keep the initiative here: new government policies in India are formalising collective management of forests under male-dominated communal institutions, undermining women's traditional property rights in forest resources.
Support for women's collective actions in addressing natural resource management problems is one instance of a general strategy to strengthen women's bargaining power in their relations with men. Other examples need to be found to develop the policy relevance of this approach to a broad range of environmental problems.
Susan Joekes, IDS Fellow in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-and-envi.html
Policy makers first came to appreciate that women 'play an essential role in the management of natural resources, including soil, water, forests and energy...and often have a profound traditional and contemporary knowledge of the natural world around them'. (World Bank, 1991). The exclusion of women from environmental projects - through outright neglect or belief in the gender neutrality of projects - would thus be a recipe for project failure.
Subsequently, donor agencies came to see women as especially vulnerable: 'their responsibilities as day-to-day environmental managers ...make women both victims of and contributors to the natural environment's degradation and pollution.' (Ibid).
On the other hand, gradually, awareness grew of many grassroots success stories of women fighting to conserve local resources - such as those described in Power to Change (Women's Feature Service, 1994). This then led to women being viewed as 'major local assets to be harnessed in the interests of better environmental management' (Davidson cited in Braidotti et al, 1994).
The new style of environmental project accordingly asks whether natural resource users are male or female and is concerned to 'reach the right people' in the delivery of services. For example, social forestry schemes have been redesigned, recognising the diverse uses of tree products and different species preferences of men and women: men typically want timber for construction and fencing, while women need fodder and woodfuel. And, in water and sanitation activities, women's participation on water committees or in maintaining facilities is becoming the rule rather than the exception.
"Women were seen as 'assets to be harnessed in the interests of better environmental management'".
But the ideas behind the new approach are not always honoured in practice. First, project intentions can be subverted. Leaving environmental management to community level institutions - such as those promoted by the Aga Khan programme in northern Pakistan - does not guarantee women's access to project resources. And the aim of involving women at all stages of the project cycle often translates into demands on women to do voluntary work, without giving them a fair share of project benefits.
Second, compared to a gender analysis of the underlying problems, environmental projects promote a limited set of aims. Policy documents (e.g. World Bank, 1991) acknowledge that lack of property rights reduces women's capacity to conserve environmental resources but the new approach does not address this issue. Donors still favour giving women access to credit, to help them manage resources and build up assets. This is naive in assuming that traditional male control over land and other assets will not extend to newly acquired natural resources. Trying to give women authority within isolated projects without taking into account their restricted property rights is almost bound to fail.
Is there any way of strengthening women's control over resources in environmental projects? Legal changes guaranteeing women independent property rights and increased political representation are needed at the national level. But such reforms take time. They also need to be complemented at the local level by building up women's capacity to claim the new rights attained.
One approach suggested for environmental projects is support for collective actions by women (Agarwal, 1994). This has the potential to confer inalienable use rights - though not necessarily property rights - over natural resources. Women have more chance of exercising rights as a group than as individuals. Wasteland development projects in India (such as the Bankora projects in West Bengal) have successfully supported women's group efforts to regenerate forest and improve land productivity. They also build on women's greater use rights over common property than on privatised lands. But women need to keep the initiative here: new government policies in India are formalising collective management of forests under male-dominated communal institutions, undermining women's traditional property rights in forest resources.
Support for women's collective actions in addressing natural resource management problems is one instance of a general strategy to strengthen women's bargaining power in their relations with men. Other examples need to be found to develop the policy relevance of this approach to a broad range of environmental problems.
Susan Joekes, IDS Fellow in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-and-envi.html
Gender and the Environment
"Women ... play an essential role in the management of natural resources, including soil, water, forests and energy ... and often have a profound traditional and contemporary knowledge of the natural world around them" - World Bank
BRIDGE (briefings on development and gender) is an information analysis service specialising in gender and development issues. BRIDGE's aim is to assist development professionals in government and non-government organisations to integrate gender concerns into their work. Based at the Institute of Development Studies, in the UK, BRIDGE was set up with financial assistance from OECD-DAC agencies. ODA funded this trial issue of Development and Gender in brief.
Development and Gender in brief is a new publication providing concise, up-to-date briefings on key gender and development themes. In this issue, we ask whether recent changes in environmental policy have produced real benefits for women. Evidence suggests that many projects - in water and sanitation and social forestry, for example - fail to promote women's interests. The same is true of responses to environmental disasters such as the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone; women's needs were neglected leading to higher mortality among women than men. We also review the World Bank's new water resources management policy, which advocates water pricing to promote sustainable use. But can women pay? Currents, a special column on the back page, airs opinion on a different issue: the 'feminisation of poverty'.
BRIDGE (briefings on development and gender) is an information analysis service specialising in gender and development issues. BRIDGE's aim is to assist development professionals in government and non-government organisations to integrate gender concerns into their work. Based at the Institute of Development Studies, in the UK, BRIDGE was set up with financial assistance from OECD-DAC agencies. ODA funded this trial issue of Development and Gender in brief.
Development and Gender in brief is a new publication providing concise, up-to-date briefings on key gender and development themes. In this issue, we ask whether recent changes in environmental policy have produced real benefits for women. Evidence suggests that many projects - in water and sanitation and social forestry, for example - fail to promote women's interests. The same is true of responses to environmental disasters such as the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone; women's needs were neglected leading to higher mortality among women than men. We also review the World Bank's new water resources management policy, which advocates water pricing to promote sustainable use. But can women pay? Currents, a special column on the back page, airs opinion on a different issue: the 'feminisation of poverty'.
Some Principles of Gender Analysis
Implementing Gender Equality in Organizations
An analysis of gender equity policies in an organization and elsewhere has resulted in the conclusion that, while no single defined set of principles exists, the following are important elements of a conceptual framework:
1. Accountability
From a management point of view, accountability tends to revolve around different processes. In a mature equity culture, accountability for equity issues is not be singled out for attention. However, the culture to date tolerated comments of the kind that "it is someone else's responsibility" or "that's what the gender unit is for". Until there is more mainstreaming of responsibilities accompanied by accountability, only the committed few will fully carry out those responsibilities, and only restricted outcomes will be possible. In order to overcome this difficulty, a wider framework for gender equity responsibilities across an organization needs to be established to promote stronger forms of accountability. It is also essential that staff in management and supervisory roles accept responsibility for gender equity policies and practices within their units.
2. Comparability
While there are no gender equity absolutes, comparison is a strong mechanism to lift the performance of like institutions. The benefit arises from sharing statistical data, policy and practices.The adoption of this principle involves policy and best practice at other organizations and comparative data analysed. Benchmarking with other organizations, particularly in terms of staffing profiles, can be a valuable tool in assessing progress in various areas. Gathering information on policy and practice elsewhere is likely to assist, for instance, in identifying successful ways of increasing the number of women on committees and enhancing the career prospects of women.
3. Networking
The absence of an effective internal gender equity network can result in two undesirable consequences. Firstly, inequities due to lack of knowledge about opportunities can flourish and secondly, the effectiveness of the system in drawing the organization's attention to such inequities is diminished. Networking within the organization can therefore be enhanced with the aim of furthering staff awareness, understanding of, and commitment to, gender policies, principles and practice.This can include an organization-wide information capture, the establishment of communications mechanisms to ensure that the organization is aware of, and responsive to, the needs of its staff, and grievance advice.
4. Cultural Values
This is probably the most important and wide-ranging of the principles. By focussing on its cultural values, the organization can have the opportunity to identify possible improvements. It is only by addressing cultural values that the core business of the organization will be seen from a equity standpoint. Policies, procedures and education programs need to be developed, implemented on an integrated basis and evaluated to promote workplace attitudes towards gender equity. Diverse issues in relation to gender equity needs to be examined in consultation with all staff and information on best practice promulgated. One strategy can be to include gender equity in the terms of reference of the organization's reviews.
5. Strategies
The four areas listed above constitute major focal points for considering the health of the organization with regard to gender issues. In Strategies, a fifth principle is added.This captures the organization's commitment to developing knowledge and understanding of how the system can be changed in order to meet overall equity objectives. Under this members of the organization are empowered through knowledge of existing strategies. New programs which identify and address inequalities, special needs and the status of women in relation to employment at all levels also need to be established and evaluated.
Source: The ANU Gender Equity Plan in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/principles.html
An analysis of gender equity policies in an organization and elsewhere has resulted in the conclusion that, while no single defined set of principles exists, the following are important elements of a conceptual framework:
1. Accountability
From a management point of view, accountability tends to revolve around different processes. In a mature equity culture, accountability for equity issues is not be singled out for attention. However, the culture to date tolerated comments of the kind that "it is someone else's responsibility" or "that's what the gender unit is for". Until there is more mainstreaming of responsibilities accompanied by accountability, only the committed few will fully carry out those responsibilities, and only restricted outcomes will be possible. In order to overcome this difficulty, a wider framework for gender equity responsibilities across an organization needs to be established to promote stronger forms of accountability. It is also essential that staff in management and supervisory roles accept responsibility for gender equity policies and practices within their units.
2. Comparability
While there are no gender equity absolutes, comparison is a strong mechanism to lift the performance of like institutions. The benefit arises from sharing statistical data, policy and practices.The adoption of this principle involves policy and best practice at other organizations and comparative data analysed. Benchmarking with other organizations, particularly in terms of staffing profiles, can be a valuable tool in assessing progress in various areas. Gathering information on policy and practice elsewhere is likely to assist, for instance, in identifying successful ways of increasing the number of women on committees and enhancing the career prospects of women.
3. Networking
The absence of an effective internal gender equity network can result in two undesirable consequences. Firstly, inequities due to lack of knowledge about opportunities can flourish and secondly, the effectiveness of the system in drawing the organization's attention to such inequities is diminished. Networking within the organization can therefore be enhanced with the aim of furthering staff awareness, understanding of, and commitment to, gender policies, principles and practice.This can include an organization-wide information capture, the establishment of communications mechanisms to ensure that the organization is aware of, and responsive to, the needs of its staff, and grievance advice.
4. Cultural Values
This is probably the most important and wide-ranging of the principles. By focussing on its cultural values, the organization can have the opportunity to identify possible improvements. It is only by addressing cultural values that the core business of the organization will be seen from a equity standpoint. Policies, procedures and education programs need to be developed, implemented on an integrated basis and evaluated to promote workplace attitudes towards gender equity. Diverse issues in relation to gender equity needs to be examined in consultation with all staff and information on best practice promulgated. One strategy can be to include gender equity in the terms of reference of the organization's reviews.
5. Strategies
The four areas listed above constitute major focal points for considering the health of the organization with regard to gender issues. In Strategies, a fifth principle is added.This captures the organization's commitment to developing knowledge and understanding of how the system can be changed in order to meet overall equity objectives. Under this members of the organization are empowered through knowledge of existing strategies. New programs which identify and address inequalities, special needs and the status of women in relation to employment at all levels also need to be established and evaluated.
Source: The ANU Gender Equity Plan in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/principles.html
Gender Analysis Framework
The gender analysis framework has four parts and is carried out in two main steps. First, information is collected for the Activity Profile and the Access and Control Profile. Then this information is used in the analysis of factors and trends influencing activities and access and control, and in the project cycle analysis.
Activity Profile
Who does what? What men and women (adults, children, elders) do, and where and when these activities take place.
The planner needs to know the tasks of men and women in the population subgroups in the project area to be able to direct project activities toward those performing particular tasks. Therefore, data must be gathered on women‘s and men’s involvement in each stage of the agricultural cycle, on their shared as well as unshared tasks, and on the degree of fixity of the gender division of labor. The objective is to ensure that women are actively included in the project and are not disadvantaged by it.
The Activity Profile usually considers all categories of activities: productive, reproductive,1 community-related service. It identifies how much time is spent on each activity, how often this work is done (e.g., daily or seasonally), which periods are characterized by a high demand for labor, and what extra demands the program inputs will make on women, men, and children.
The Activity Profile also identifies where the activities take place, at home or elsewhere (the village, marketplace, fields, or urban centers), and how far these places are from the household. This information gives insights into female and male mobility, and allows an assessment of the impact of the program on mobility, method of travel, travel time for each activity, and potential ways of saving time.
Issues considered under Activity Profile include:
Who has what? Who has access to and control of resources, and decision making.
What is the socio-economic context? How activity, access, and control patterns are shaped by structural factors (demographic, economic, legal, and institutional) and by cultural, religious, and attitudinal ones.
What gender considerations are needed for the project? Gender-sensitive project planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and post-evaluation.
Activity Profile
Who does what? What men and women (adults, children, elders) do, and where and when these activities take place.
The planner needs to know the tasks of men and women in the population subgroups in the project area to be able to direct project activities toward those performing particular tasks. Therefore, data must be gathered on women‘s and men’s involvement in each stage of the agricultural cycle, on their shared as well as unshared tasks, and on the degree of fixity of the gender division of labor. The objective is to ensure that women are actively included in the project and are not disadvantaged by it.
The Activity Profile usually considers all categories of activities: productive, reproductive,1 community-related service. It identifies how much time is spent on each activity, how often this work is done (e.g., daily or seasonally), which periods are characterized by a high demand for labor, and what extra demands the program inputs will make on women, men, and children.
The Activity Profile also identifies where the activities take place, at home or elsewhere (the village, marketplace, fields, or urban centers), and how far these places are from the household. This information gives insights into female and male mobility, and allows an assessment of the impact of the program on mobility, method of travel, travel time for each activity, and potential ways of saving time.
Issues considered under Activity Profile include:
- Production of goods and services
- Reproductive and human resource maintenance activities
- Community work
- Community organization and activities
Who has what? Who has access to and control of resources, and decision making.
The Access and Control Profile considers productive resources such as: land, equipment, labor, capital and credit, and education, and training. It differentiates between access to a resource and control over decisions regarding its allocation and use. It enables planners to consider whether the proposed project could undermine access to productive resources, or if it could change the balance of power between men and women regarding control over resources.
The profile examines the extent to which women are impeded from participating equitably in projects. For example, if women have limited access to income or land, they may be unable to join groups, which provide production inputs and commercial opportunities, or to become independent commercial producers. In some subgroups, men may also suffer the same disadvantage.Program management mechanisms (e.g., the creation of water users) groups or cooperatives) may determine who has access to and control over productive resources and may change existing gender relations.
Analysis of Factors and TrendsWhat is the socio-economic context? How activity, access, and control patterns are shaped by structural factors (demographic, economic, legal, and institutional) and by cultural, religious, and attitudinal ones.
This analysis considers the structural and socio-cultural factors that influence the gender patterns of activity and access and control in the project area:
- demographic factors, including household composition and household headship;
- general economic conditions, such as poverty levels, inflation rates, income distribution, internal terms of trade, and infrastructure;
- cultural and religious factors;
- education levels and gender participation rates; and
- political, institutional, and legal factors.
Which policies and programs aimed at ensuring women’s participation could affect the project?
Which community norms and beliefs could influence women’s participation in the project’s activities?Are there laws or regulations that could affect women’s participation in the project or their access to its benefits?
Program Cycle AnalysisWhat gender considerations are needed for the project? Gender-sensitive project planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and post-evaluation.
This analysis will indicate if and where the objectives and methods proposed for the project should be modified to improve the chances that the project will succeed and to minimize the likelihood that women will be disadvantaged as a result of it.
Some questions that may need to be considered in this analysis deal with production processes, training, information, participation, access, institution building, project framework etc.Particularly within the Project framework, the following issues need to be considered:
- Do the planning assumptions (at each level of the planning framework or logical framework, for example) adequately reflect the constraints on women’s participation in the program?
- Do project performance indicators identify the need for data to be collected, disaggregated by gender? Will changes in the gender division of labor be monitored? Will data on women’s access to and control over resources be collected during the project?
- Can the project meet both practical gender needs (supporting and improving the efficiency of women’s and men’s productive roles) and strategic gender needs (improving gender equity through women’s participation in the project)?
- Do the goals, purposes, or objectives of the program explicitly refer to women or reflect women’s needs and priorities?
- Do the project inputs identify opportunities for female participation in program management, in the delivery and community management of goods and services, in any planned institutional changes, in training opportunities, and in the monitoring of resources and benefits? Will the project resources be relevant and accessible to poor women in terms of personnel, location, and timing?
- Does the project include measurable indices for the attainment of its GAD objectives, to facilitate monitoring and post-evaluation?
Why Gender Analysis?
Several different Gender Analysis Frameworks exist today. They are step-by-step tools for carrying out gender analysis, which help to raise questions, analyze information, and develop strategies to increase women's and men's participation in and benefits from forestry programmes.
Gender Analysis Frameworks are concerned with:
1. The development context or patters in an area, answering the questions What is getting better? What is getting worse?
2. Women's and men's activities and roles in the forestry sectors, answering the questions Who does what?
3. Women's and men's access to and control over resources, answering the questions. Who has what? Who needs what?, and
4. The forestry programme actions needed, answering the questions What should be done to close the gaps between what women, and men need? What does development deliver?
Gender Analysis can be used for example in the following situations:
Gender Analysis Frameworks are concerned with:
1. The development context or patters in an area, answering the questions What is getting better? What is getting worse?
2. Women's and men's activities and roles in the forestry sectors, answering the questions Who does what?
3. Women's and men's access to and control over resources, answering the questions. Who has what? Who needs what?, and
4. The forestry programme actions needed, answering the questions What should be done to close the gaps between what women, and men need? What does development deliver?
Gender Analysis can be used for example in the following situations:
- development of village level forest management plans to ensure that the contributions of both women and men are adequately recognized in determining access to and control over resources
- development, or review, of forestry policy to ensure sustainable forestry through equitable participation of all stakeholders
- profiling of stakeholders to develop an understanding of who the stakeholders in the forestry sector are beyond gender to other socially determined characteristics.
- restructuring of the forestry sector to ensure equitable participation at all levels and in a diversity of functions by both women and men.
- development of criteria for training selection or recruitment to ensure that women and men have equal opportunities to progress in their career and that there are both women and men working in diversity of capacities in the sector to work with the women and men of the other stakeholder groups.
Source: FAO, "Gender issues in the Zambia Forestry Action Programme" (1997) in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/why.html
What is Gender Analysis?
Gender analysis:
- examines the differences in women's and men's lives, including those which lead to social and economic inequity for women, and applies this understanding to policy development and service delivery
- is concerned with the underlying causes of these inequities
- aims to achieve positive change for women.
The term 'gender' refers to the social construction of female and male identity. It can be defined as 'more than biological differences between men and women. It includes the ways in which those differences, whether real or perceived, have been valued, used and relied upon to classify women and men and to assign roles and expectations to them. The significance of this is that the lives and experiences of women and men, including their experience of the legal system, occur within complex sets of differing social and cultural expectations'.
Gender analysis recognises that:
- women's and men's lives and therefore experiences, needs, issues and priorities are different
- women's lives are not all the same; the interests that women have in common may be determined as much by their social position or their ethnic identity as by the fact they are women
- women's life experiences, needs, issues and priorities are different for different ethnic groups
- the life experiences, needs, issues, and priorities vary for different groups of women (dependent on age, ethnicity, disability, income levels, employment status, marital status, sexual orientation and whether they have dependants)
- different strategies may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for women and men and different groups of women
Gender analysis aims to achieve equity, rather than equality.
Gender equality is based on the premise that women and men should be treated in the same way. This fails to recognise that equal treatment will not produce equitable results, because women and men have different life experiences.
Gender equity takes into consideration the differences in women's and men's lives and recognises that different approaches may be needed to produce outcomes that are equitable.
Gender analysis provides a basis for robust analysis of the differences between women's and men's lives, and this removes the possibility of analysis being based on incorrect assumptions and stereotypes.
Source: Ministry of Women's Affairs, New Zealand in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/what-is.html
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