Gender Mainstreaming (Meaning and role and importance)

What is gender main streaming

1. PRINCIPLES,DIMENSIONS &
OBJECTIVES OF GENDER
MAINSTREAMING
UNIT-III

2. GENDER MAINSTREAMING & ITS HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
•Gender mainstreaming is an approach to policy-making that
takes into account both women's and men's interests and
concerns.
•The concept of gender mainstreaming was first introduced at
the 1985 Nairobi World Conference on Women.
•It was established as a strategy in international gender equality
policy through theBeijing Platform for Action, adopted at the
1995 Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in
Beijing, and subsequently adopted as a tool to promote gender
equality at all levels.

3. •In 1998, theCouncil of Europedefined gender mainstreaming
as:
•“The (re)organisation, improvement, development and
evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality
perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all
stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making.

4. DEFINITION:JULY,1997 UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL COUNCIL(ECOSOC)•
"Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of
assessing the implications for women and men of any
planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes,
in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the
concerns and experiences of women as well as of men an
integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of policies and programmesin all political,
economic and societal spheres, so that women and men
benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The
ultimate goal of mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality."

5. •In July 1997, the United Nations Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) defined the concept of gender
mainstreaming as follows:

6. WHAT IS GENDER MAINTREAMING?
•Gender mainstreaming means integrating a gender equality perspective at all stages and
levels of policies, programmesand projects. Women and men have different needs and
living conditions and circumstances, including unequal access to and control over power,
resources, human rights and institutions, including the justice system. The situations of
women and men also differ according to country, region, age, ethnic or social origin, or
other factors. The aim of gender mainstreaming is to take into account these differences
when designing, implementing and evaluating policies, programmesand projects, so that
they benefit both women and men and do not increase inequality but enhance gender
equality. Gender mainstreaming aims to solve –sometimes hidden-gender inequalities. It
is therefore a tool for achieving gender equality.
•

7. •Gender mainstreaming isnotabout:
•
•“Adding women and stirring”: ensuring the equal participation of women and men in
decision making or in different activities is a necessary first step and an objective on its
own. However, the presence of women does not mean that a gender mainstreaming
exercise was undertaken and it does not automatically lead to qualitative change towards
gender equality in a specific policy,programmeor activity.
•Including an introductory paragraph in a document stating that a gender equality
perspective will be integrated or simply mentioning “women and men” without also
taking into account their different situations is not sufficient. The aim is to include a
gender equality perspective throughout the policy measures, documents or programmes.
•”Women” and“men” are not homogeneous groups with single aims and needs: it is
necessary to take into account women and men’s multiple identities in terms of age,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, social status or (dis)ability -to name a few
characteristics.

8. PRINCIPLES OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING
The five principles of gender mainstreaming hold true for all gender
mainstreaming activities and implementation measures.
1. Gender-sensitive language.
2. Gender-specific data collection and analysis.
3. Equal access to and utilisation of services.
4. Women and men are equally involved in decision
making.
5. Equal treatment is integrated into steering processes.

9. 1. Gender-sensitive language
•Texts referring to or addressing both women and men must make women and men equally visible.
•This applies to, amongst others, forms, documents,
•telephone directories, texts on the intranet and the internet, advertising for events, folders, posters
and films.
•Attention must also be paid to a gender-sensitive choice of images when
preparing public relations material.

10. 2. Gender-specific data collection and analysis
•Data must be collected, analysed and presented by
gender. Social dimensions, such as age, ethnicity, income
and level of education should also be reflected where
possible.
•Gender-specific analysis of the initial situation must
provide the basis for all decisions.
•Gender-sensitive statistics:
•Making life’s realities visible

11. 3. Equal access to and utilisation of services
•Services and products must be assessed as to their different effects on women
and men.
•It is important to identify:
•Who uses the services (women or men or both)?
•Who are the clients (women or men or both)?
•Who are the target groups?
•Do women and men have different needs?
•Are the different circumstances of women and men taken into account when
planning and designing services?
•Have all target groups access to the same sources of information?
•Who benefits most?
•Which group would suffer most if they could not use the services offered?
•Are the offices providing the service structurally gendered and barrier free,
(i.e.the waiting areas, lighting, access without steps, signage)?

12. 4. Women and men are equally involved
in decision making
•There are binding targets for a balanced gender ratio at all
levels of decision making.
•Measures and strategies geared towards a balanced gender
ratio must be taken at all levels of decision making.
•This is also important when appointing working groups,
project teams, commissions and advisory boards, as well as
when organising events,e.g.when selecting speakers.
•Workplaces must be structurally gendered and barrier free
where possible (e.g.gendered signage, sufficient lighting,
avoiding potentially frightening situations as in poorly
accessible basement archives, access without steps, social
rooms for different occupations).

13. 5. Equal treatment is integrated into steering
processes
•Steering instruments include quality management and gender
budgeting, amongst others. It is important to note that:
•Paying attention to the different circumstances of women and men
enhances
•the success rate,
•effectiveness and
•maximum utilisationof staff and funds.
•All targets related to people are defined in terms of full equality
and the targets attained are therefore presented by gender.
•Controlling routine as a matter of course includes gender-specific
evaluation of results and a systematic steering of the gender ratio,
in other words, the development and implementation of (new and
adapted) targets, strategies and measures.
Publications
In 2010 posters depicting the "most creative" excuses and folders on the principles of gender mainstreaming were published
in support of the campaign"KeineAusreden! Wien istGender Mainstreaming." (no excuses -Vienna is gender mainstreaming).

14. CASE STUDY: Urban Water Supply and
Environmental Improvement in Madhya PRADESH
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29934/gender-mainstreaming-case-studies-
india.pdf
•Urban Water Supply and Environmental Improvement in Madhya
Pradesh—“Project UDAY”—has sought to address the problems of
inadequate urban infrastructure and degradation of the environment in
four cities of Madhya Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India, namely
Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, and Jabalpur.
•Its purpose is to provide basic services of water supply, sanitation, and
garbage collection and disposal in these cities.
•Indirectly, it seeks to promote better living conditions for its citizens—
including the enhancement of sustainable economic growth, with a view to
reducing the vulnerability of people to environmental degradation,
poverty, and natural hazards—and to improve economic opportunities.

15. •Three broad outputs were identified:
(i) urban water supply and environmental improvement;
(ii) a public participation and awareness program, including the
enhancement of community-based inputs for environmental management,
capacity building, and training and livelihoods;
(iii) project implementation assistance via support to the state project
management unit (PMU) and city project implementation units (PIUs) for
relevant activities.
•With respect to assessing interventions relevant to the mainstreaming of
gender concerns, the self-help groups (SHGs), water and sanitation, and
public participation components are significant.

16. •The women’s community group committee (CGC) in the locality of Bhil
Paltan in Indore showed great resolve in addressing problems relating to
health and disease by persuading people to get rid of stagnant water that
was becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Accordingly, most people
readily dug pits and drains around their homes to drain away waste water.
In the case of a few recalcitrant households who did not respond to their
requests, the CGC had to resort to threats when persuasion did not work.
As they put it, “We decided to teach them a lesson! A group of about 20
households just refused to do anything about the wastewater from their
homes, which was becoming dangerous for all of us, as mosquitoes were
breeding. So we sent them a warning letter on the letterhead of our CGC
saying that if they did [sic] not dig a drain within 1 week and get rid of the
water, they would have to face the consequences as we would report them
to the Nagar Nigamaor lodge a report with the police. They refused to
accept our letter, so the CGC members stuck it on their doors. It took a few
days of repeated arguments and discussions before they accepted that this
would benefit them and others in their neighborhood and dug the required
drains in the yards of their homes.” This illustrates the authority that
women CGCs feel empowered to wield and ensure sanitation and health in
their localities.
•Source: Information collected during fieldwork.

17. DIMENSIONS OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING
•The goal of implementing gender mainstreaming is to ensure an output
and outcome that contributes to gender equality. To achieve this, the
internal mechanisms of an institution will have to be adjusted within a
process of organisationaldevelopment. This means there is an internal
dimension of gender mainstreaming (organisationaland personnel
development) as well an external dimension (service provision).
•it is therefore useful to distinguish between three different but related
dimensions of organisationalchange, namely the
•a) structural
•b) personnel
•c) output
•Changes within the structural and personnel dimensions are a
precondition for achieving working results that correspond to the objective
of gender equality.

18. Structural dimension
•This dimension refers to the visible and invisible objectives,
rules and procedures that an organisationfollows. Some
organisationsexpress their goals in a mission statement.
Tackling the structural aspect of an institution means gender
equality is mainstreamed into the management and the
procedures of an institution.
•This dimension also addresses the organisationalculture,
including underlying, tacit beliefs and rules. Theexecutive
staffof an institution are the most relevant stakeholder group in
terms of the structural dimension of change.

19. Personnel dimension
•Personnel development (with human resources units as
responsible actors) will accordingly follow a policy of human
resources management which is in line with the gender equality
objectives of the organisation–for example giving incentives in
performance assessment or staff competency development. A
second aspect of human resources management is achieving
equal opportunities for female and male staff within an
institution.

20. OUTPUT DIMENSION
•If the process of institutional transformation within these two
areas is successful, the output of an organisationwill reflect the
gender equality objectives of an institution.
•Mainstreaming gender issues in the structural and the
personnel dimension of an organisationis a precondition for a
gender‐sensitive output and outcome. Gender mainstreaming in
the dimension of output means that the working results and
“products” of an organisationvisibly and measurably contribute
to gender equality.
•With regard to output, theoperative staffof an institution are
the relevant stakeholder group.

21. OBJECTIVES OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING
•Gender mainstreaming wants to contribute towards a
gender-sensitive society where solidarity, opportunities
and responsibilities are shared by women and men in
equal measure. Everyone is to enjoy the life they
determine in accordance with their individual skills, their
needs and their desires.
•Once this is achieved equality, instead of being treated as
an aside, will be a natural element of all processes and
measures. Women and men will no longer be seen as a
uniform group of human beings, but will have their social,
ethnic and age differences taken into account.

22. General equality objectives include:
•Equal career opportunities for women and men
•Fair distribution of unpaid and paid work among women and men,
wages and salaries that women and men can live on independently
•Equality of women and men with regard to political representation
and participation
•Enhancement of gender roles and standards for women and men,
elimination of restricting standards
•Same personal freedoms for women and men, protection against all
forms of aggression
•Identifying users of public services and their different expectations
increases the chances for politicians and administration staff to
really address people’s concerns. It allows them to reconcile public
services and projects with citizens’ needs, while raising planning
accuracy, quality and success of services.

23. CONCLUSION
•Gender mainstreaming is a long term strategy that goes hand-in hand with
specific policies for the advancement of women
•
•When properly addressed and implemented, gender mainstreaming is a
transformative approach with a great potential for social change. It is a long term
strategy: every step counts towards this change of approach, but it will require
some time until it is fully and automatically integrated into policy-making.
•There is wide consensus about the effectiveness of a dual approach towards
gender equality, combining gender mainstreaming and specific measures for the
advancement of women, to ensure better policy making and better use of
resources. Such dual approach is also implemented in the UN2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development, which includes a stand-alone goal on gender equality
and the empowerment of women and girls (SDG 5), as well as gender-sensitive
targets in other goals.
•
•Gender mainstreaming is a strategy pursued to achieve gender equality in
society based on equal structures, settings and conditions for both
women and men. Women and men are to enjoy the life they themselves
determine.

24. •MPEd.III/gender-mainstreaming-case-studies-india.pdf
•MPEd.III\qrcode_www.adb.org.png
•https://www.gcedclearinghouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/190
353eng.pdf
•https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/e65237.pdf