WEEK 7

GENDER ISSUES

OBJECTIVES

1. Learners to demonstrate the ability to define gender concepts.

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 GENDER CONCEPTS
Sex

Sex refers to the biological state of being a male or female. Sex is not equal to gender.

Engendering

Refers to the process of integrating gender considerations and concerns into words, action and assessment

Gender

Gender refers to the social roles allocated respectively to women and to men in particular societies and at
particular times. Such roles, and the differences between them, are conditioned by a variety of political,
economic, ideological and cultural factors and are characterized in most societies by unequal power
relations. Gender is distinguished from sex, which is biologically determined. It is also defined as the
socially and culturally constructed differences between men and women, boys and girls, which give them
unequal value, opportunities and life chances. It also refers to typically masculine and feminine
characteristics, abilities and expectations about how women and men should behave in society. These
characters are time bound and changeable.

Gender blind

Attitudes, behaviours and activities that are socially assigned to each sex learned through socialisation.
Agents of gender socialisation are parents, teacher peers, schools, sports and media. They reinforce
stereotypes.

Gender budget

A budgeting method that analyses the incidence of budgets on men and women and girls and boys. Gender
budgeting entails analyses of revenue and expenditure impacts so as to avoid or correct gender imbalances.

Gender discrimination

Differential treatment to individuals on the grounds of gender.

Gender equality

A situation where women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and potential;
are able to contribute equally to national political, economic, social and cultural development; and benefit
equally from the results. Gender Equality entails that the underlying causes of discrimination are
systematically identified and removed in order to give women and men equal opportunities. The concept
of Gender Equality, as used in this policy framework, takes into account women’s existing subordinate
positions within social relations and aims at the restructuring of society so as to eradicate male domination.
Therefore, equality is understood to include both formal equality and substantive equality; not merely
simple equality to men.

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Gender equity

The fair and just distribution of all means of opportunities and resources between women and men.

Gender Inequality

Gender inequality results from economic, political and educational discrimination against women. Where
women are relegated to the role of care givers, affection and emotional support. While men provide
economic support and decision making which results in male control and dominance over women and
resources leading to gender inequality.

Gender gap

A difference in any aspect of the socio-economic status of women and men, arising from the different social
roles ascribed by society for women and men.

Gender issues

Issues that arise when the relationships between women and men, their roles, privileges, status and positions
are identified and analyzed. Gender issues arise where inequalities and inequities are shown to exist
between people purely on the basis of their being female or male. The fact that gender and gender
differences are socially constructed is itself a primary issue to deal with.

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Gender mainstreaming

Refers to a process that is goal oriented. It recognizes that most institutions consciously or unconsciously
serve the interests of men and encourages institutions to adopt a gender perspective in transforming
themselves. It promotes the full participation of women in decision-making so that women’s needs move
from the margins to the center of development planning and resource allocation.

Gender neutral

The assumption that policies, programs and project interventions do not have a gender dimension and
therefore affect men and women in the same way. In practice, policies intended to be gender neutral can be
gender blind.

Gender perspective

An approach in which the ultimate goal is to create equity and equality between women and men. Such an
approach has a set of tools for and guidelines on how to identify the impact on development of the relations
and roles of women and men.

Gender indicator

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An indicator that captures gender related changes in society over time and in relation to a norm (Beck,
1999).

Gender sensitive

The state of knowledge of the socially constructed differences between women and men, including
differences in their needs, societal roles, as well as to the use of such knowledge to identify and understand
the problems arising from such differences and to act purposefully to address them.

Gender stereotyping

Constant portrayal in the media, the press or in the education system, of women and men occupying certain
roles according to the socially constructed gender division of labor and expectations in behaviour.

Gender training

The provision of formal learning experiences and skills in order to increase gender analysis and awareness
skills, which serve to recognize and address gender issues in the programming process. Training can include
the three dimensions of political: introducing gender concepts and analysis, the professional: providing staff
with “how–to” skills and the personal: challenging an individual’s gender attitudes and stereotypes.

Gender responsive

Refers to a planning process in which programs and policy actions are developed to deal with and counteract
problems, which arise out of socially constructed differences between women and men.

Gender Policy

It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension in the
design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and
social spheres, such that inequality between men and women is not perpetuated.

CHALLENGES OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Advances in law and policy are limited by a number of critical challenges that perpetuate gaps in
implementation, upscaling and accountability, and prevent effective programmatic responses.

1. Sexual harassment, catcalling

Harassment and catcalling on the street are prime examples of how women’s right to walk freely around
their environment is restricted. The normalisation of harassment and inaction of bystanders and authorities
perpetuate this form of discrimination and limit women’s freedom.

2. Gender stereotypes at school and work

Stereotypes are how societies expect people to act based on their gender. For example, girls should stay at
home and help with housework and childcare, should dress modestly and not stay out late at night. People
are often judged by how well they adhere to the gender stereotypes.

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These stereotypes can often bleed out into school and work, where girls are less likely to be encouraged
into science and technology subjects or leadership roles, due to the perceived ‘male nature’ of these pursuits.
Likewise, seemingly positive stereotypes and gender roles such as men being the ‘provider’ or ‘protector’
of the family, put an unnecessary burden on men and boys that could more positively be shared in an equal
partnership.

These attitudes limit girls’ power by rendering them less able to help contribute to making the world around
them a better place.

3. Objectification and poor representation

Objectification is when a person is treated as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality
or dignity. It commonly happens in the media where women are photoshopped and airbrushed leading to
much more emphasis and value being put on their external appearance above other capacities. This affects
girls’ body image, their self-esteem and ultimately the value they put on themselves.

However, girls are also often represented poorly in entertainment and the media in ways that reinforce
damaging gender stereotypes and traditional roles. Objectication must be called out and girls must be
encouraged to tell their own stories - ones that reflect their power, potential and diversity.

4. Gender inequality

The historical and multiple forms of inequality that persist between women and men across all societies
enable violence against women and girls to continue in both public and private settings. This discrimination
and the barriers preventing women` and girls from exercising their rights, accessing services and other
opportunities, greatly increase their risks of experiencing violence. Socially-accepted gender norms and
values about what constitute acceptable behavior and interpersonal relationships are instilled since
childhood. For example, in simplified terms, in many societies girls are raised to be more submissive and
to defer to male authority, while boys are taught to be more controlling, dominant and aggressive – also
reflecting traditional gender roles of what is expected of them later in life in terms of becoming a woman
(wife and mother) and what it means to be a man (a virile provider and protector).

How men and women are socialized and the definitions and understandings of womanhood and manhood
establish their positions of relative power and control at home and in society. These same norms governing
gender power relations influence how violence against women and girls is viewed and tolerated in different
contexts. These norms, gender biases and discriminatory attitudes also often permeate the various sectors
within government, whose public officials are likely to hold many of the same views as those in the society
within which they live. Addressing gender inequality is critical across sectors responsible for delivering
justice, social, health and security services to survivors and to those responsible for the education of boys
and girls.

One of the greatest challenges in ending violence against women and girls lies in unraveling how harmful
gender attitudes and roles are deeply ingrained across the fabric of societies, and fostering values of mutual
respect and equality.

5. Impunity

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The lack of state accountability in comprehensively addressing violence against women and girls is a
significant obstacle to ending the problem. Generalized acceptance of violence against women, lack of
political will, inadequate legal protections and enforcement, insufficient resource allocation and/or poor
implementation of national commitments contribute to pervasive impunity. This is particularly evident in
countries and communities with weak justice systems and where customary law practices and more widely-
used informal justice mechanisms may contradict international human rights standards. In such contexts,
access to formal justice for women and girl survivors of violence may be hindered by obstacles such as
gender bias and discriminatory attitudes, social stigma and financial constraints (linked to women’s lower
socio-economic status). Ending impunity requires adequate prosecution and punishment of perpetrators;
equal protection for women under the law and equal access to justice (that holds up to public scrutiny); and
the elimination of attitudes that foster, justify or tolerate violence against women. (AusAID, 2008; UN
General Assembly, 2006)

6. Inadequate human, technical and financial investments

While an increasing number of countries have adopted laws and policies, they are rarely accompanied by
adequate budget allocations, nor the requisite institutional, staffing, infrastructural improvements and other
supports that may be needed at the national and sub-national levels to implement them. Skills and
knowledge on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, including in evidence-based
programming, is often limited, particularly in resource-scarce settings. This is also compounded where high
staff turnover poses additional challenges in retaining a skilled and experienced cadre of individuals. Long-
term and sustained resource investments, including for strengthening expertise and building ‘critical
masses’ of expertise in key areas and sectors, and improvements to remove service delivery bottlenecks are
critical across sectors, in order for governments to deliver on their commitments to ending violence against
women and girls.

7. Weak coordination and monitoring mechanisms at the national level

Addressing violence against women and girls requires a multisectoral approach, involving at a minimum
the health, education, social, legal and security sectors, and strategically, other key sectors such as labour,
migration and urban planning, among others. Unlike stand-alone sectors, there is no ‘natural’ government
entity to take charge of coordination for ending violence against women. In many cases it is the Ministry
of Women’s Affairs or its equivalent, which are often under-resourcedand lacking the institutional and
political influence within government. Other mechanisms and processes, such as sector-wide
approaches (SWAps) and decentralization may pose additional challenges to coordinating and monitoring
the implementation of policies and programmes, where addressing violence against women may not be seen
as a priority. Formal channels of communication and information-sharing between and among government
and non-governmental entities working on this issue are also needed for coordinated, effective responses.

8. Insufficient data and research

Though an area receiving increased attention and investments, statistical data on the scale, nature and
consequences of violence against women and girls remains limited. Quantitative surveys have been
conducted in roughly 100 countries, though there is wide variation in methods, in the size of the population
surveyed, and in the type of information that is collected. Surveys usually do not capture all forms of
violence, nor reflect variations among different groups of women within a given country or other

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disaggregated information that is useful for planning. Population-based surveys (of which there are fewer)
are the most reliable sources of data, but are costly to implement and require technical expertise. Without
regular implementation of such surveys (every five to ten years), progress on reducing the prevalence and
incidence of violence cannot be monitored over time. High impact advocacy messages that are not backed
by hard data also hinder ongoing efforts to ensure policy commitments and investments.

9. Limited attention to neglected groups and issues

Insufficient attention has been paid to certain forms of violence, to certain groups of women or to particular
contexts, and their costs and consequences. This is due in part to the absence of data and analyses that can
help develop understanding of how violence differs for different parts of the population in different
situations. These will vary by country and region, but include:

• Femicide

• Violence against marginalized or excluded groups, such as indigenous women, domestic workers,
women in detention and migrant workers (UN General Assembly, 2006)

• Sexual violence and rape within marriage and as experienced by adolescent girls and young women
in all contexts

• The intersections between violence against women and HIV and AIDS

• Violence and sexual harassment in public spaces such as public transport, marketplaces, cities,
schools, farm fields and other common locales

• Political violence directed at women during elections, vying for public office or in high-level
decision-making positions

• Violence in conflict, post-conflict and emergency settings

• Primary prevention (efforts to stop violence before it occurs by working with strategic groups such
as men, adolescents or children who have witnessed abuse).

These issues and contexts are often missing, neglected or low-profile in advocacy, policy and programming.
Consequently, identification and development of effective programme strategies and approaches has been
hindered or slow.

10. Dearth of evaluations and evidence to guide programmes

Related to the neglect and underfunding for many years in addressing violence against women, the field is
characterized by few evaluations and therefore by a dearth of knowledge on proven approaches that can
guide policies and programmes. While a great deal of know-how has been accumulated, from an evidence-
based approach, it is challenging to identify promising or good practices and effective strategies for
prevention and response in the absence of a more robust body of evaluation findings. To date, initiatives
have rarely included adequate resources for conducting baseline assessments, or putting in place appropriate
monitoring and evaluation frameworks and activities. This makes it impossible to determine the correlation
between the programme interventions and the changes observed.

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Where evaluations and assessments have been conducted, they often vary greatly in methodology and
rigour, scale and scope (e.g., focused on only one sub-group of women or men, or in one location), making
it difficult to draw conclusions that are transferrable for adaptation to other socially and regionally diverse
settings. These factors limit broader understanding of successful approaches and the actual impact of
programmes, and prevent the identification of practices that could be upscaled or adapted for
implementation in different country contexts.

11. Limited scope and coverage of services and interventions

In most countries, especially considering the magnitude of the numbers affected, services for survivors are
very limited in scope and reach. This is linked to the low priority and insufficient investments made in
addressing the problem. Where services do exist, they are often concentrated in urban centres or larger
cities, and are unlikely to be comprehensive, perhaps focused in one or a few sectors and lacking the
coordination and referral capacities required. Many services to date (especially safe houses/shelters, legal
aid and other supports) are provided by non-governmental and women’s organizations, who are lacking
resources and are only able to reach small numbers of the population. In addition, existing approaches may
not reach especially vulnerable and at-risk groups such as adolescent girls, migrant, indigenous or other
groups of women in the population for which mainstream outreach efforts will be inadequate. Also limited
is the existence of effective primary prevention programmes, resulting from underinvestment in this area
and the fact that most interventions have focused on supporting survivors after abuse has already occurred.

12. Low demand for services by survivors

There are many reasons why women and girls may not seek services, some personal and some a result of
the systematic discrimination that they face from the institutions and communities that surround them. Some
of these factors include:

• The fear of stigma and judgment they may face from service providers, community members and
their families and friends;

• The negative attitudes and poor quality of care provided by service providers (in particular, those
that are the first point of contact - health and police);

• Limited knowledge of their legal rights, the resources and services available to them, and the
existence of other recourse mechanisms;

• Inability to access services for lack of transportation, time or money;

• Restricted mobility;

• Restricted decision-making within the household;

• The fear of retribution by an abusive partner (especially where police capacity is low and orders of
protection are not closely monitored);

• Financial dependence on the husband, partner or family together with non-existent income
opportunities or alternatives;

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 • Intimidation and hesitation to engage with a complex legal system and processes that are not
gender-sensitive and may re-victimize them; and,

• The fear of losing custody of children.

13. Fragmentation of efforts

Without a strong national multisectoral plan, coordinating body and formal mechanisms of collaboration
and information-sharing, most interventions are planned and implemented in isolation from one another.
As a result, there are severe gaps in the overall approach to ending violence against women and girls,
including incomplete and unevenly distributed services; ad-hoc prevention efforts that are independent from
response efforts; and law and policy that is disconnected from the realities on the ground. Fragmented
efforts at the local level mean survivors may not have access to comprehensive services and may be required
to travel long distances and to multiple locations to receive them, requiring them to repeat their story time
and again and putting the burden of coordinating and tracking their medical, police and legal files on their
own shoulders. Fragmented efforts also mean that administrative data is not likely systematized, affecting
the ability to have accurate, consistent records that shed light on the nature and scale of the problem; on
which responses are working and which need reworking; and makes it difficult to integrate findings into
larger multi-stakeholder policy and programming frameworks.

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