Gender product

1. Module 3: Gender Mainstreaming in
Organizational Structure and Practice

3.  What is the attitude of the planners to gender
issues?
 How effectively do you think gender
considerations would be incorporated into
their project?
 How gender sensitive do you think these
planners are?

4.  Concept was first proposed at the 1985 Third
World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya
and generally promoted by the United Nations
development community.
 Formally featured at the Fourth World Conference
on Women in Beijing, China (1995) and was cited
in the Beijing Platform for Action as: “without the
active participation of women and the
incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels
of decision-making, the goals of equality,
development and peace cannot be achieved.”

5. Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of
assessing the implications for women and men of any
planned action, including legislation, policies or
programs, 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 programs in all political and societal spheres so
that women and men benefit equally and inequality is
not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender
equality.”
Source: United Nations. "Report of the Economic and Social Council
for 1997". A/52/3.18 September 1997.

6.  Seeks to redress gender imbalances while
ensuring gender issues take a prominent
position in the analysis of the situation as
well as designing a response that will meet
the needs of all stakeholders, male or female.
 When gender issues are in the mainstream,
they are central to what the organization is
trying to do. When pushed to the edge, they
become marginal.

7.  efficiency and effectiveness,
 good governance,
 social justice, and
 improving not only women’s position, but
everyone’s.

8.  As a process: assessing the implications for
women and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programs in all areas and
at all levels, and
 as 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
programs in all political, economic and societal
spheres so that women and men benefit equally
and inequality is not perpetuated”.

9.  Mainstreaming has been seen as not an end
in itself but a strategy, an approach, a means
to achieve the goal of gender equality.
 Gender mainstreaming involves ensuring that
gender perspectives and attention to the goal
of gender equality are central to all activities;
 The objective is not to reinforce binary
oppositions or to place men in a subordinate
role.

10.  GM is given as an objective of most
development organizations, yet there is little
consensus concerning how to achieve it.
 Usually becomes more an issue of ensuring
that issues affecting women are covered in
projects and policies while issues facing
males are submerged or missing altogether.
 Need to be conscious efforts to integrate the
situations and needs of both sexes.

11.  institutional level in which the policy and
operations are mainstreamed; and
 individual level where the policy
implementation is taking place, ensuring the
concerns, inclusion and a ‘level playing
ground’ for both male and female
stakeholders

12.  Responsibility for implementing the
mainstreaming strategy is system-wide and rests
at the highest levels within agencies.
 Adequate accountability mechanisms for
monitoring progress need to be established
 Need initial identification of issues and problems
across all areas of activity so gender
differences/disparities can be diagnosed
 That issues or problems are gender-neutral
should never be assumed without investigation.
*Source: International Labour Organization (2002) Gender Equality Tool

13.  Gender analysis should always be carried out.
 Political will and allocation of adequate resources for
mainstreaming are needed.
 Mainstreaming does not replace the need for targeted,
women-specific policies and programs, nor does it do away
with the need for gender units or focal points/persons.
Mainstreaming is not about adding a ‘woman’s component’ into
an existing activity. It goes beyond increasing women’s
participation. It means bringing the experience, knowledge
and interests of women and men to bear on the
organizational agenda. It may require changes in goals,
strategies and actions so that both women and men can
influence, participate in and benefit from activities and
structure.
*Source: International Labour Organization (2002) Gender Equality Tool

14.  Commitment to the goal of gender
mainstreaming
 Encourage participation of all stakeholders
 Follow-through from rhetoric to practice
 Staff and other stakeholders are
knowledgeable about gender and how it
applies to their position and role
 Cooperation across groups

15.  Know that change takes time
 Approach gender-mainstreaming rationally
 Recognize that both males and females can
be gender-sensitive or insensitive
 Establish gender-related targets and develop
gender-sensitive indicators, and
 Promote gender-sensitive capacity building
accessible to women

16. 1. Gender-sensitive language
 Texts referring to or addressing both women
and men must make women and men equally
visible in documents, advertising, posters,
films, messages on internet, etc.
 Attention paid to gender-sensitive choice of
images when preparing public relations
materials
*Source: City of Vienna Press and Information Services (www.wien.gv.at)

17. 2. Gender-specific data collection and
analysis:
 Data must be collected, analysed and
presented by gender (disaggregated by sex),
including social dimensions
 Gender-specific analysis of the initial
situation must provide the basis for all
decisions.

18. 3. Equal access to and utilization of
services and products
 Services and products must be assessed as to
their different effects on women and men
• Who uses the services (women or men or both?)
• Who are the target groups?
• Do women and men have different needs?
• Does everyone have access to the same information?
• Who benefits most?

19. 4. Women and men are equally
involved in decision-making
 Is there balanced gender ratio at all levels of
decision making?
 Balanced gender ratio when appointing working
groups, project teams, advisory boards?
 Workplaces must be structurally gendered and
barrier free: must ‘feel safe’ for both women and
men, good lighting, easily accessible, etc.

20. 5. Equal treatment is integrated into
steering processes
Such processes as quality management, gender
policy making and budgeting should pay attention
to the different circumstances of women and men
that enhance the success rate, effectiveness and
maximum utilization of staff and funds.
May require development and implementation of
new/adapted targets, strategies and measures.

21.  EIGE (2017) suggests a four-stage cycle for
integrating gender:
1. Define: determine the precise policy needs that
should be addressed
2. Plan: identify objectives and appropriate
approaches to achieve them
3. Implement (act): carry out the plan ensuring all
involved are adequately aware of gender goals
and actions with capacity building carried out
where necessary
4. Check: monitoring must be carried out to find
any gaps or problems with evaluation during or
after intervention to assess impact.

22.  Social and Cultural Restrictions for Females:
 Lack of Information on Gender :
 Small Proportion of Women in Relevant
Professions and Positions of Authority:
 Low Institutional Capacity:
 Inadequate Gender-Specific Data

23.  Idea for the AWARD Fellowship program rose
from identifying the gender gap in field of
agricultural research and development.
 The plan was to find a way to promote African
women scientists in their professional
development to reduce the gender disparity and
strengthen their research and leadership skills.
 AWARD has enacted the Fellow/Mentor program
for many years, giving many female scientists a
‘push’ in their careers.
 M&E is effective in tracking progress and making
adjustments where necessary.

25.  1.Who are the stakeholders of IITA?
 2.What kind of consultations need to take
place and with what groups?
 •Have exhaustive ways been sought to
include the perspectives of all groups of male
and female stakeholders?
 3.What are the expected impacts (positive
and negative) of IITA on each group of
stakeholders?

26.  How are the needs of men and women
reflected in the organizational structure?
 Who has been consulted, if anyone to ensure
gender concerns have been integrated into
the organizational design?
 How was the consultation done to facilitate
inputs from men and women of different
levels and from the different localities?

27.  Is the organization based on an
understanding of gender differences among
the target group(s)?
 Have gender-sensitive indicators been
identified to clarify objectives and facilitate
monitoring? How will objectives for gender
equality and women’s participation be
pursued in the organization? Have specific
strategies been identified?

28.  Have obstacles that may hinder equal
participation of men and women in the
organizational activities been identified?
 Does the organizational management
structure provide the necessary expertise on
gender and diversity?
 Have the budgetary implications of diversity
and gender been considered?