Baseline definitions
of key concepts and terms
Gender refers to the roles and
responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families,
our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the
expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of
both women and men (femininity and masculinity). Gender roles and expectations
are learned. They can change over time and they vary within and between
cultures. Systems of social differentiation such as political status, class,
ethnicity, physical and mental disability, age and more, modify gender roles.
The concept of gender is vital because, applied to social analysis, it reveals
how women’s subordination (or men’s domination) is socially constructed. As
such, the subordination can be changed or ended. It is not biologically
predetermined nor is it fixed forever.
Sex describes the biological
differences between men and women, which are universal and
determined at birth.
Gender Analysis is the
collection and analysis of sex-dis-aggregated information. Men and
women both perform different roles. This leads to women and men having
different experience, knowledge, talents and needs. Gender analysis explores
these differences so policies, programmes and projects can identify and meet
the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the
strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men.
Sex-Disaggregated Data is data
that is collected and presented separately on men and women.
Gender Equality means that
women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full
human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social,
cultural and political development.
Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the
similarities and the differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It
is based on women and men being full partners in their home, their community
and their society.
Gender Equity is the
process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures
must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social
disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing
field. Equity is a means. Equality is the result.
Empowerment is about
people -both women and men- taking control over their lives: setting
their own agendas, gaining skills, building self-confidence, solving problems
and developing self-reliance. No one can empower another: only the individual
can empower herself or himself to make choices or to speak out. However,
institutions including international cooperation agencies can support processes
that can nurture self-empowerment of individuals or groups.
Gender Division of Labour is the result of how each society divides work among men and
among women according to what is considered suitable or appropriate to each
gender.
Women in Development (WID) The
WID approach aims to integrate women into the existing
development process by targeting them, often in women -specific activities.
Women are usually passive recipients in WID projects, which often emphasize
making women more efficient producers and increasing their income. Although
many WID projects have improved health, income or resources in the short term,
because they did not transform unequal relationships, a significant number were
not sustainable. A common shortcoming of WID projects is that they do not
consider women’s multiple roles or that they miscalculate the elasticity of women’s
time and labour. An other, is that such projects tend to by blind to men’s
roles and responsibilities in women’s (dis)empowerment.
The biggest difference between WID and GAD is that WID projects
traditionally were not grounded in a comprehensive gender analysis. The GAD
approach is gender-analysis driven.
There is definitely a need for women- specific and men -specific
interventions at times. These complement gender initiatives. Research shows
that the success of both sex-specific and gender activities is directly linked
with the depth of the gender analysis that informs them.
Gender and Development (GAD) The GAD approach focuses on intervening to address unequal
gender relations which prevent inequitable development and which often lock
women out of full participation. GAD seeks to have both women and men
participate, make decisions and share benefits. This approach often aims at
meeting practical needs as well as promoting strategic interests. A successful
GAD approach requires sustained long-term commitment.
Practical Needs refer to
what women (or men) perceive as immediate necessities such as water,
shelter and food.
Strategic (Gender) Interests.
Interventions addressing strategic gender interests focus on fundamental
issues related to women’s (or, less often, men’s) subordination and gender
inequities. Strategic gender interests are long-term, usually not material, and
are often related to structural changes in society regarding women’s status and
equity. They include legislation for equal rights, reproductive choice, and
increased participation in decision-making. The notion of “strategic gender
needs”, first coined in 1985 by Maxine Molyneux, helped develop gender planning
and policy development tools, such as the Moser Framework, which are currently
being used by development institutions around the world.
NB: The purpose of introducing
such distinctions between needs is to alert the programme specialist to the
importance of addressing the structural challenges to women’s empowerment. It is not to lock women’s realities and
experiences into rigid and pre-set notions of what is a strategic need versus
what responds to a practical need. For, in many instances, changes in women’s
practical conditions of life have an effect on power relations between men and
women within the community.
Gender-mainstreaming is a
process rather than a goal. Efforts to integrate gender into existing
institutions of the mainstream have little value for their own sake. We
mainstream gender concerns to achieve gender equality and improve the relevance
of development agendas. Such an approach shows that the costs of women’s
marginalization and gender inequalities are born by all.
UN ECOSOC describes gender mainstreaming as “the process of
assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action,
including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels.
It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences
an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so
that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The
ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality”. (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions
1997/2)
Gender-responsive objectives are programme and project objectives that are non-discriminatory, equally benefit
women and men and aim at correcting gender imbalances.
Literacy Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the ratio of the female to male adult literacy rates which
measures progress towards gender equity in literacy and the level of learning
opportunities available for women in relation to those available to men. It
serves also as a significant indicator of the empowerment of women in society.
References:
- March, C., Smyth I., Mukhopadhyay M., A Guide to Gender-Analysis Frameworks; Oxfam, 1999
- Status of Women Canada, Gender-Based Analysis: A guide for policy-making, 1996
- UNIFEM; Focusing on Women –UNIFEM’s experience in mainstreaming, 1993
- Molyneux, Maxine ‘Mobilisation without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, States and Revolution in Nicargua’; Feminist Studies II, 2, 1985.
- OECD, DAC Source Book on Concepts and Approaches Linked to Gender Equality
Last updated April
2003
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