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Mainstreaming Gender in development Policies and Programmes 2007 Haifa Abu Ghazaleh Regional Programme Director UNIFEM. IAEG Meeting on Gender and MDGs in the Arab Region Cairo, 10-11 September 2007. The concept.
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Mainstreaming Gender in development Policies and Programmes 2007 Haifa Abu Ghazaleh Regional Programme Director UNIFEM IAEG Meeting on Gender and MDGs in the Arab Region Cairo, 10-11 September 2007
The concept • Gender mainstreaming occurred on 1985 Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi. The idea has been developed in the United Nations development community. The idea was formally featured in 1995 on the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Most definitions conform to the UN Economic and Social Council formally defined concept:
Gender mainstreaming *is 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 *Is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality
Mainstreaming *Maistreaming is not an end in itself but a strategy, an approach, a means to achieve the goal of gender equality. *Mainstreaming involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all activities - policy development, research, advocacy/ dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, and planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes and projects
Mainstreaming Gender in Policies Mainstreaming is a way of ensuring that policy and decision-making take account of men’s and women’s different interests and needs. The aim is for policy to make a genuinely sustainable contribution to equality between men and women, rather than unintentionally increasing inequality in some unforeseen way.
Mainstreaming Gender in Policies • Gender mainstreaming decision-making on policy measures and priorities has to be organised and documented in such a way as to do justice to the differences between men and women. • Gender mainstreaming process and its outcome shows that great care has been taken in dealing with men’s and women’s specific opportunities, obligations and rights.
The importance of Gender Mainstreaming Throughout the world, women suffer disadvantage. There are differences from country to country and region to region, because disadvantage is caused by cultural, historical and social factors. Nonetheless ,agreements have been made – by, for instance, the UN member states - on improving the position of women and on the efforts governments and non-governmental, private and multilateral organizations must make towards this goal.
Gendermainstreaming should lead to changes * A policy need to be gender aware if it is to address/ reduce gender inequalities otherwise policies would actually reinforce further oppression/ discrimination. *Through policy-making and implementation ,Gender mainstreaming should lead to changes in the structure of the mainstream. * In other words, policy must respond promptly to changes in requirements, interests, and perceptions with regard to men’s and women’s social roles, and promote equality.
Gendermainstreaming should lead to changes * It should not have Unintentional side effects which worsen the position of women Through policy-making and implementation, * Gender mainstreaming requires sound knowledge – gender expertise – on the way in which the differences between men’s and women’s power positions manifest themselves in society side effects which worsen the position of women.
Why Gender Mainstreaming • Recognition of the need for a combined strategy to address women empowerment issues including selected focus of channeling assistance to women, as a target group, to a more mainstreaming approach of promoting gender equality as a development goal
Why Gender Mainstreaming *Ensure that the needs of both are taken on board during policy development, implementation – M and E. *The need of collective process of articulating a shared vision sustainable human development and translating it into reality (through policy, programmes and budgets) hence the need for the effective participation of both women and men.
Why Gender Mainstreaming • It is a commitment to ensure concerns and experiences of both women and men are integral to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all legislation, policies and programmes • It concerns the staffing, procedures, programmes and culture of development organizations
Why Gender Mainstreaming • It advances women to reach their developmental potential since programs and policies will be analyzed from the perspectives of men and women. • Recognizes gender equality as critical to the achievement of other development goals including poverty reduction
Why Gender Mainstreaming • It minimizes negative impacts by ensuring that needs and concerns are addressed. • It ensures development programs and policies are people centered and sustain the effects of development
CHALLENGES FOR MAINSTREAMING GENDER IN POLICY FORMULATION / PROGRMMES / STRATEGIES • Limited adoption of gender mainstreaming approach from the beginning of policy processes i.e. from situation / problem analysis, prioritization / policy choices, implementation, M and E and impact tracking.
CHALLENGES FOR MAINSTREAMING GENDER IN POLICY FORMULATION / PROGRMMES / STRATEGIES • Limited and uncoordinated institutional mechanism for gender mainstreaming at national / Sectoral levels. • Information and knowledge gaps: Lack of Gender Disaggregated data in most of the Government sectors and Departments such as Health and Education.
CHALLENGES FOR MAINSTREAMING GENDER IN POLICY FORMULATION / PROGRMMES / STRATEGIES • Lack of technical backstopping to support on gender mainstreaming efforts at various levels. • Unsustainable institutional gender capacity including conceptual clarity on gender mainstreaming (skills, systems, tools, accountability) for effective implementation and monitoring . • Difficulty in developing tangible gender indicators because most of the gender indicators are qualitative.
OPPORTUNITIES • Availability of gender disaggregated data in some sectors / research. • Collaborative efforts between Government and CSOs working towards improving the interpretation of various policies such as poverty , education , health and legal frameworks. • Capacity / skills building to staff from sectors / programmes / projects for gender mainstreaming and advocacy in the country.
RECOMMENDATION *For effective mainstreaming of Gender in development policies, the following are recommended: *Capacity building / strengthening of various actors involved in development policies / programmes and strategies on gender issues, monitoring and evaluation
RECOMMENDATION • Lobby for adequate budget and funds both from the government and development partners. • Gender activities should be properly funded just as any mainstream activity.
RECOMMENDATION Development programmes / Polices to build gender and pro-poor priorities in a mainstreamed and interlinked way e.g. all strategies with gender approaches to link to: Violence issues; Good governance, HIV/AIDS, etc.
