Understanding Gender

Dr. Paramita MajumdarSenior Consultant, Gender Budgeting

Ministry of Women and Child Development Gender Resource Centre, Government of Bihar

6 August, 2016

Exercise: Roles and Responsibilities

• Brainstorm:–What do men do in your society?–What do women do in your society?–Only list activities, not professions or traits

Exercise: Who Controls?

Resources/Decision regardingAccess Control

Male Female Male Female

Land

Bank Account Car      

Jewellery

Cash

Exercise: Whose Issue?

Issue Men Women Both

Controlling sales of guns      

Providing free pre-natal care      

Criminalizing gender-based violence

Supporting development of small businesses

Understanding Gender• Gender refers to the socially constructed relationships between men and

women.• These relationships change over time, space and circumstances.• Each institution has its own gender culture, that is relationships between

women and men. • For instance, many Organisations interpret gender issues as issues only

concerning women. This results in only women being sent to represent the institution at gender forums – resulting in the marginalisation of gender issues as women’s issues. Thus it is vital to make sure of male participation.

Activity – What is the gender culture of your Department? Compare with any other institution.

List the gender similarities and differences & Identify the reasons

Understanding Sex

The term 'sex' refers to biological differences between men and women. Thus, a person is a male or female regardless of their race, class, age or ethnicity.

Activity - How do University perpetuate or transform the importance of sex in the pursuit of knowledge? For example, you can look at which

academic fields are popularised for male as opposed to female students and vice-versa. Use your institution to illustrate your responses.

Gender Stereotype• Stereotypes produce behaviour patterns that conform to

expectations – traditional roles• Stereotypes stand in the way of our perceptions of reality and

social change e.g defence• In education institutions, stereotypes result in certain fields being

reserved for certain group. For example, scientific and technical fields for men. In workplaces, managers and directors are men, secretaries and personal assistants are women

• Gender stereotypes inhibit women from realizing their full potential

• Stereotypes have a strong influence in decision-making about distribution of valued resources such as funding for research for lecturers

Gender Sensitivity • Gender sensitivity is the translation of awareness into practices,

which result in changes in the perceptions, plans and activities of institutions and organizations.

• A gender aware institution is not necessarily a gender sensitive one because awareness might not necessarily generate any will or resolve to act on the basis of the gender awareness. In fact, it is possible for gender awareness to generate resistance, obstruction and other practices that make gendering an institution difficult.

• In attempting to make institutions more gender sensitive, gender policies are usually developed in order to guide action and ensure that the stated objectives of the policy are realised.

WHAT IS THE STATED GENDER POLICY OF YOUR DEPARTMENT?

Gender inequalities: e.g. BBBP- reduce program effectiveness and waste resources- Inhibit growth and development- limit opportunities and potential

Costs of Gender Discrimination

What are gender commitments in the Indian context ?

Public Expenditure Programmes

Constitutional Provisions

Legal Framework

Policies

Constitutional Mandate

Article 14 Equal Rights and Opportunities in Political Economic and Social Spheres

Article 15 Prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex

Article 15(3) Enables affirmative discrimination in favour of women

Article 39 Equal means of livelihood and equal pay for equal work

Article 42 Just and Humane conditions of work and maternity relief

Article 51(A)(e) Fundamental Duty to renounce practices, derogatory to dignity of women

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Key Legislations with a Gender perspective

• The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and

Redressal) Act, 2013 • Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2010• National Employment Guarantee Act 2006• Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005• The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976• Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961• Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (amended Bill 2016 approved by Rajya Sabha)

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Institutional Mechanism – Creating Spaces for Gender Equality

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State

District

Block

Village

• District Collector

• Development Officer/ PO

• Anganwadi Worker

National

State• State Commission for Women

Gender Mainstreaming• Concept introduced in the UN Third World Conference on Women in

Nairobi, 1985. Further developed in the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing,1995

• Gender mainstreaming is a systematic inclusion of both women’s and men’s concerns, experiences and needs. 

• It is a process of consistently incorporating sensitivity to gender differences in governance, decision-making, policy, needs analysis, institutional offices and mechanisms, planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in institutions so as to create an organisation that is gender equitable

• Mainstreaming gender necessitates that gender perspectives become part of the normal perspective of an organization without its having to resort to special vehicles, units or offices that isolate and marginalize these issues.

How to mainstream gender?• Effective gender mainstreaming should be context-and content-oriented. This

means a much more qualitative analysis over and beyond the quantitative presentation.

• Pre-requisites for context and content analysis - Profiling generally provides a quantitative picture of the status of men and

women in the employment circle at university.  Gender analysis is an essential first step of collecting and analysing sex-

disaggregated information in order to understand gender differences and how these differences may have an effect on policies' effectiveness. 

Gender audit is an evaluation process aimed at figuring out whether set policies or interventions are doing that which they are meant to be doing. It is an Institution’s self-assessment, monitoring and evaluation of interventions with the broad aim diagnosis and transformation.

• Gender-sensitive indicators compare the situation of one sex with the other. The emphasis is on the gap between women and men, rather than on the actual level for one or the other

• Women-specific indicators record the absolute position of women at particular points in time

Indicators

majumdarparamita@gmail.com