TRAINING WORKSHOP ON SUSTAINABLE SANITATION AND INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM), Kigali, 1st -5th December 2008 Gender Mainstreaming in Sanitation, Water Supply and Hygiene and IWRM Introduction to Gender concepts By: Cécile Ndjebet Gender Trainer/GWA

Course outline Gender historical background The concept of Gender Other gender related concepts

Course objectives  Understand how the concept of Gender was developed  Have common understanding of gender concept and other gender-related concepts  Share personal experiences on Gender mainstreaming in our work

Gender Historical background  1946: The United Nations established the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to monitor the situation of women and to promote women's rights.  1960s: Women’s movement demand for more rights  1970s :  Mexico 1975 first world conference on women  1975 women international year declared by the UN  : women decade declared by the UN  Women in development (WID) approach evolved as an attempt to meet the demands of the women’s movement and the Decade for Women  This approach views women in isolation, making resources more directly available to them as a means facilitating their involvement.

 1980s: A new approach evolved, the Gender and development (GAD) approach  GAD offers an alternative and potentially more powerful position shifting away from the WID approach and the marginalisation of women-only programmes.  GAD starts from the premise that women have always participated in development but from an unequal and unacknowledged position.  In adopting a GAD perspective the motivation for intervention is to work toward equity and respect for the human rights of all people  The two world conferences of the UN Decade for Women organised : 1980 (Copenhagen), and 1985 (Nairobi) - were important mobilizing and awareness-raising events

 1990s:  Fourth World Conference on Women was held in 1995 in Beijing: evaluate the achievements to date and plan the way forward  The resulting Beijing Platform for Action was a strong statement signed by the majority of governments in the world.  The platform for Action served as an impetus for government action and a monitoring tool for NGOs to follow the extent to which their governments were following through on their national commitments.  These conferences have created valuable opportunities for organizing influencing policy making locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally.  2000: Beijing +5  To measure the progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform of Action. An international meeting was convened in New York in June 2000 to discuss national achievements and constraints

The concept of Gender  Gender:  Refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships between women and men; girls and boys.  These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes.  They are context/ time-specific and changeable.  Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a women or a man in a given context.

 Gender refers to culturally and socially constructed roles, responsibilities privileges, relations and expectations of women men girls and boys  In most societies there are differences and inequalities between women and men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, access to and control over resources, as well as decision-making opportunities.  Gender is part of the broader socio-cultural context:  Gender is institutionalized by the family, the community, norms, the State, … through education systems, political and economic systems, legislation, culture and traditions.  Gender is perpetuated through the religion, the culture, norms and traditions, …  Gender is different from Sex

Understanding Gender  The concept of gender to be understood clearly as a cross- cutting socio-cultural variable.  Gender systems are established in different socio-cultural contexts which determine what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman/man and girl/boy in these specific contexts. Gender refers to both women and men, and the relations between them.

Gender-related concepts  Gender equality Equal rights and opportunities for women, men, girls and boys in all sectors, political, social, legal and economic.  promotion of gender equality does not mean than women and men will become the same.  has to do with equal weight in planning and decision-making.  Gender Equity. Just treatment, balanced recognition and appreciation of both women's and men's potential.  Is a matter of social justice  Gender Roles These are the different tasks, responsibilities and expectations the society has defined and allocated to men and women, girls and boys. They are not necessarily determined by biological make up and therefore they change with time and according to the situation.

⁻Reproductive role Child bearing and rearing responsibilities for both men and women. These are often borne more heavily by women ⁻Community/social role ⁻Productive/economic role  Practical gender needs (PGNs) Those needs which are related to satisfying both men's women's girls and boys basic material needs for their day to day survival such as food, water, clothing and shelter.  PGNs are linked to the ‘condition’ of women’s lives, their immediate environment, workload and responsibilities that exist in the society of which they are part.  Strategic gender needs (SGNs) Needs that are related to changing the situation of marginalized people, especially women and girls to reach social equality. These include leadership and control over resources  SGNs refer to improvements in women’s disadvantaged ‘position’ in society relative to men in terms of labour, power and control.

 Sex This is a biological make up of male and female.  Gender Awareness Recognition that women and men perform different roles in society and therefore have different needs which must be recognized  Gender Sensitivity Being aware that women and men perform different roles and have different needs which must be planned for accordingly.  Gender Analysis Critical examination of issues affecting both women and men within a given situation or policy.

Empowerment A process through which men, women, boys and girls acquire knowledge, skills and willingness to critically analyze their situation and take appropriate action to change the status quo of women and other marginalised groups in society  The empowerment of women concerns women gaining power and control over their own lives.  It involves awareness-raising, building self-confidence, expansion of choices, increased access to and control over resources and actions to transform the structures and institutions which reinforce and perpetuate gender discrimination and inequality.

 Conscientisation Is a level of empowerment which concerns the individual person's understanding of the development process in terms of structural inequality;  the realization by women and men that their problems do not derive so much from their own personal inadequacies but instead they are being subjected to a social system of institutional discrimination against them.  Conscientisation involves awareness and understanding of the difference between sex roles and gender roles and that gender roles are socially created and therefore can be changed to promote equality.

 Gender Discrimination A difference in treatment of people based entirely on their being male or female. This difference contributes to structural inequality in society  Gender Stereotyping The assigning of roles, tasks and responsibilities to a particular gender on the basis of preconceived prejudices  Feminism A way of perceiving or interpreting a social situation from perspective of women and other marginalised groups in society. It further involved taking concrete action to remedy social inequalities  Gender Balance This is an ideal situation where women and men boys and girls live harmoniously enjoying equal opportunities and have mutual respect for each other

 Gender and development (GAD)approach  Gender and development (GAD) was a response to WID approach criticisms of 1970s-1980s  GAD recognizes that women, poor men and other disadvantaged groups are the victims of social structures that impact them negatively.  GAD ultimate goal is to create equitable and sustainable development with women and men as decision-makers through empowering these groups to create social transformation with a gender perspective.  It proposes taking into account the different practical and strategic needs of women and men at all stages of a project cycle, this involves gender mainstreaming.

 GAD theory asserts that women improve their position relative to men in ways that will benefit the whole community.  GAD seeks to ensure that all decisions concerning development be reached through the local, equitable participation of women and men in the development process.  GAD asserts that gender is a cross-sectoral and social concern.  Gender and Development has replaced the Women in Development (WID) approach in most recent development literature but has yet to be broadly implemented!

 Gender Mainstreaming Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Agreed Conclusions 1997/2 provided a clear definition of the mainstreaming strategy as: “… 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. 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 programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”

 Gender mainstreaming is about addressing gender issues in all development policies and projected programmes irrespective of sector or type of project. – Mainstreaming is therefore the very opposite of a policy strategy of segregating gender issues into separate "women's projects" – The term mainstreaming is used by those who see women's development as being essentially concerned with women's participation and empowerment to address the issues of gender inequality. – From this perspective the mainstreaming of gender issues entails the transformation of the development process.