Gender Mainstreaming
Facilitator: Dr Tina Adusah-Karikari
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Organisational Culture
• “Culture” is a set of socially-defined norms for behavior,
art, beliefs, institutions and all other aspects of a given
population that shapes its identity.
• “Organizational culture” is the environment of the
organization—how it perceives, thinks, feels about, and
responds to situations affecting its purpose, program,
and the way it is run.
• Organizational culture is based on the history, important
ideas, experiences, traditions, and language shared by
members of the organization (CEDPA, 2006).
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Why Mainstream Gender at the
Workplace?
Organizations consist of people working together.
Individuals offer different perceptions, learning
experiences and attitudes to their working world.
 Differences between individuals on the basis of
personality or gender can be a source of
developing creativity or root of conflict and
frustration.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Why Manage Gender at the Workplace?
A good manager must recognize individual
potential and harness talent to achieve
organizational goals.
In many cases, however, emphasis is placed on
outcomes or results rather than the people.
 It is important that managers recognize the
many commonplace stereotypes about women
and men employees that exist within the
organisation.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Gender Policies
 Gender blind policies recognise no distinction between the sexes. It
assumes that development benefits can be shared by all.
 Gender neutral policy recognises and protects the interest of both
men and women and leaves the redistribution of resources and
responsibilities unchanged.
 Gender specific policy: meet targeted needs of women or men
within the existing redistribution of resources and responsibilities.
 Gender redistributive policy refers to interventions intended to
transform existing distribution of resources and responsibilities to
create balanced gender relationship.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

• Are there specific policies, laws/procedures
in your organization:? State them
• Are they gender sensitive or blind?
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• Gender analysis is the systematic gathering and
examining information on gender differences and
social relations in order to identify understand and
redress inequalities based on gender
BPA L 400 G & Dev

What is
Gender Mainstreaming?
Gender Mainstreaming is a process to
ensure that both men and women have
equal access to and control over
resources, decision-making, and
benefits at all stages of the
development process and projects.
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Overview of Gender Mainstreaming
• Gender Mainstreaming is:
“…. 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”. (Economic and Social Council
for 1997, UN.)
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TAKE NOTE!
BPA L 400 G & Dev
A gender-mainstreaming approach
does not look at women in isolation,
but instead assesses the situation of
women and men – both as actors in
the development process, and as its
beneficiaries.

Overview of Gender Mainstreaming
• It is a commitment to ensure that women’s as well as
men’s concerns and experiences are integral to the
design, implementation, M&E of all legislation, policies
and programmes so that women and men benefit
equally and inequality is not perpetuated.
• It represents an attempt by gender advocates to build on
the successes of the past and address some
challenges.
• Gender mainstreaming uses available resources in a
way that ensures the greatest benefit for all (men,
women, girls and boys).
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Essence of mainstreaming
• Mainstreaming can reveal a need for changes
in goals, strategies and actions to ensure that
both women and men can influence, participate
in and benefit from development processes.
• This may lead to changes in organizations –
structures, procedures and cultures – to create
organizational environments which are
conducive to the promotion of gender equality.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

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What is the mainstream?
• Inter-related set of dominant ideas and development
directions, and decisions or actions taken in
accordance with them:
• Ideas - theories and assumptions
• Practices – decisions and actions
• These ideas and practices determine who gets what;
Provide rationale for allocation of resources

BPA L 400 G & Dev
What is being mainstreamed?
• The legitimacy of gender equality as a fundamental
value that should be reflected in development
choices and institutional practices:
- Gender equality is recognised as not just a
‘women’s issue’ but a societal one
- Gender equality goals influence mainstream
economic and social policies that deliver major
resources

BPA L 400 G & Dev
WHY GENDER MAINSTREAMING?
• Shift in understanding of the Problem
• Recognition that Gender Equality is integral to
development goals
• Realization that previous approaches were not
resulting in real change in the position of
women and gender equality

What does it mean to be part of the
mainstream?
• Having equitable access to society’s resources,
including socially valued rewards and
opportunities
• Equal participation in influencing what is
valued, shaping development directions, and
distributing opportunities
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Who is responsible for mainstreaming?
Everybody, including
• The political/administrative head of
institution,
• Professional staff
• Auxiliary staff
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Who is responsible for gender
mainstreaming
GM
Political
Heads
Professional
Staff
Auxiliary
Staff
Administrative
Heads
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Basic Principles for Mainstreaming
Gender
Analysis / understanding of the history, context, rational,
ideology and implications of gender equality in
organisations at all levels.
Ensuring that adequate accountability mechanisms for
monitoring progress is established in MDAs and MMDAs.
Ensuring the identification of issues and problems across all
area(s) of activity should be such that gender differences and
disparities can be Diagnosed
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G &
Dev

BASIC PRINCIPLES CONT’D
Identifying that gender is not an “individual or
women’s issue” but societal and has
implications for men as well as women.
Commitment to equality
Organizational/institutional structures and
mechanisms in place to enhance gender
mainstreaming to ensure day to day support for
gender related initiatives and commitment
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L 400
G &
Dev

BASIC PRINCIPLES CONT’D
• Work with other collaborators in gender work both local
and International bodies eg:, UN Agencies etc.
 Strategic presence of National Machinery – Ministry of
Gender, Children, Social Protection and Gender Desk
Officers in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to
provide back stopping and to support gender
mainstreaming initiatives.
 Logistical resources including budget lines, office space
and required equipment BPA
L 400
G &
Dev

BASIC PRINCIPLES CONT’D
 The adoption of gender mainstreaming policies and the
formulation of specific mainstreaming strategies for all
programmes and sectors.
 Making gender issues an integral part of the organisation
with enough budget / or resource allocation for it.
 Human resource allocations - including training,
recruitment, budget allocation etc. should consider the
needs of men and women.
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L 400
G &
Dev

Entry Points for Gender Mainstreaming
• Institutional Level
• Policy Level
• Programs/Projects Level
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Importance of Gender
Mainstreaming
 Gender analyses provides the basis of gender
mainstreaming.
 Before any project, decisions and plans are made on
gender mainstreaming, there is the need to analyse the
the gender equality situation and identify the expected
results. It is thus a mandatory process of gender
mainstreaming activities
 It enhances the development of appropriate responses to
address inequalities and meet the diverse needs of
different categories of people.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

 Helps to identify any inequalities which might impede the
impact of projects ensuring optimal contribution/impact of
projects
 Help to develop appropriate tools and technical capabilities
 help planners design more efficient projects and improve
overall productivity
 Maps activities and resources of men and women in a
community and highlight the differences
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A Strategy for
Gender Mainstreaming
• Clear Policy
• Assessment of past Performance
• Action Plan
• Effective Partnerships
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What is Gender Analysis?
• Gender Analysis is the process of analyzing information
in order to ensure that development benefits and
resources are effectively and equitably targeted to both
women and men, and to successfully anticipate and avoid
any negative impacts development interventions may
have on women or gender relations.
• “A methodology for collecting and processing information
about gender. It provides disaggregated data by sex, and
an understanding of the social construction of gender
roles, and how labor is divided and valued.” (UNDP)
• Gender Analysis is conducted through a variety of tools
and frameworks.
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Gender Analyses
 Gender Analysis is a systematic
process used to highlight the
differences between women, men,
girls and boys in terms of distribution
of power, privileges, resources, and
limitations in a particular context.
 It provides information on gender
differences in relation to their division
of labour, roles and responsibilities,
relative conditions of living and
positions in society.
 It also looks at how gender is
expressed in a particular context,
including norms relating to sexuality
and identity.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

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When Do You Conduct a
Gender Analysis?
• Gender Analysis should be undertaken at
all stages of a program/project cycle,
including:
• Identification of the project or
activity;
• Planning or design of the activity;
• Implementation; and
• Monitoring and evaluation.
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Two key questions
• 1. How will the varied roles and status of women and men within
the household, community, workplace, etc. affect the work to be
undertaken?
• This question ensures that the differences in the roles and status
of women and men are examined and any inequalities or
differences that will limit the goals of a project or activity are
considered in the project or activity design.
•
2. How will the intended results of the work affect women and
men differently?
• This question considers the possible effect of a project or
activity results on women and men so that the design is attuned
to ensure equitable and sustainable impact.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Variables
• age
• Social class
• Ethnicity
• Culture
• race
• religion and other ideologies
• geographical environment
• economic environment
• political environment
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Principles of Gender Analyses
• Be very specific
• It is difficult if not impossible to de everything. Be specific with the responses you want
• Critically examine what has been done previously
• Look at what has been done by Government, NGOs etc
• It should be based on relevance and usefulness
• Include the perspectives of both sexes
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Principles, cont’d
• Inclusive
• Discuss with women and men in the countries and/or
communities where the project will be implemented
to solicit their perceptions of whether the project will
result in equal outcomes for men and women and to
reveal gender issues that may not have been
considered in the initial stages of project design.
• Make each group visible
• -important to use gendered language
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Framework for gender analysis
 Whilst the focus of this module is not on the framework of
gender analyses, it is significant to indicated that many
frameworks are available for gender analyses depending on
various factors including the contexts and goals of your
project/activity
 The Harvard Framework was developed to gather data
mainly at the community and household level. It enhances
information organisation and can be adopted in many
situations. This framework has four main components: the
activity profile, access and control profile, influencing
factors and checklist. The concentration for this section will
be on the first two
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Gender Analysis
The activity profile is a tool which answers a key
question in gender analyses: Who does what?
The access and resource control profile identifies who
owns which resources to conduct the task in the
Activity profile.
The access and resource control profile looks at who
actually controls the resources and not simply who has
access to the resources. The key question here is, Who
has access and control over which resources?
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Gender Analysis
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Key Questions in Conducting a
Gender Analysis
• Who does what? Are the roles, responsibilities, and
priorities of men and women, both within and outside the
household, different?
• Who owns what? Who controls what? Who has
access to what? Are there differences among women
and men?
• If there are differentials in the above two areas, what
are the institutional, economic, and social factors that
underlie, support, or influence them?
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An activity profile for an agricultural project
Activity Women Girls Me
n
Boys
Productive activity
Ploughing the land
Weeding
Preparation of Seedling
Sowing
Harvesting
Animal breeding
Transplanting
Hoeing
Income generating
activity
Household chores
Collecting firewood
Collecting water
Feeding cattle
Marketing farm proceeds
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Activity Wome
n
Girls Men Boys
Household activities
Cooking
Caring for the child
Caring for the sick
Socio-political
activities
Participation in
meetings
Participation in
weddings
Participation funerals
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Access and control profile
Access
Women Men
Control
Women Men
Resources
Land
Bulls and bullocks
Equipment
Labour
Education /training
Other
Benefit
Education
Ownership of
properties
Political power
Prestige
Access to credit
Possession of
money from sale of BPA L 400 G & Dev

How Do You Conduct a
Gender Analysis?
• Collect relevant data;
• Identify relevant gender issues; and
• Integrate relevant gender considerations
into planning, design and implementation
of a proposed development intervention.
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What Information Do You Need for a
Gender Analysis?
• Collection of Relevant Data: Sex–disaggregated
information for analysis (What is the current situation?)
• Identification of Relevant Gender Issues: Understand
the institutional, economic, social, and political contexts
(What are the differentials and what are the constraints?)
• Integration of Gender Considerations into Design and
Implementation of a Proposed Intervention: Understand
the priorities and needs of both men and women affected
by the project (what do they need/want?)
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Indicators for Gender Mainstreaming
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A gender policy in place, used and reported on
regularly
Periodic briefing on gender and reported regularly
Gender base statistics data in place, updated and
reported regularly
Programme (s) to support national efforts in gender
equality activities
Specific sets of indicators in place for tracking
progress on gender equality activities.
Gender and gender mainstreaming training and
capacity building activities, planned and implemented
periodically
•.

BENEFITS OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING
• Concerns of men, women, girls as well as boys are
taken into consideration.
• Women’s and men’s participation and contribution
towards development at the local level is
considered; and
• It changes the unequal power and gender relations
between men and women, reduce poverty and
create the basis for sustainable development of
society.
BPA L 400 G & Dev

Criteria for Good and Gender-Sensitive
Governance
• Participation
• Transparency
• Legitimacy
• Effectiveness
– Appointment of Gender Focal Persons: To coordinate,
facilitate and monitor all the processes of equality / equity
promotion by overseeing activities, mobilising resources
and being a catalysts for change within and outside the
organisations at all levels.
•
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• Networking: Connect people - individual
professionals and groups together as they
integrate gender into their responsibilities and
strategize to promote gender mainstreaming in
their organisations and communities’
programmes.
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Challenges to gender mainstreaming
– Lack/limited political will at the Decentralized Level
– Lack of a clear gender mainstreaming (GM) policy
or strategy
– Inability to implement a coherent and consistent GM
strategy
– Lack of capacity at the decentralized levels
– Frequent transfers of trained staff
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CONT’D
• Lack of sex disaggregated data for gender analysis
• Lack of appropriate personnel at the lower levels
• Socio – cultural factors (inheritance, traditional and
religious beliefs etc)
• Inability to hold local government and government
agencies accountable for non performance in
mainstreaming gender
• Limited support for Gender champion i.e.
GDOs/GFPs
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SOME INDICATORS OF ACTION ON GENDER
MAINSTREAMING
• A gender mainstreaming strategy in place and used,
reported upon regularly
• A gender mainstreaming brief kit prepared
• A gender profile for organisation or institution in
place
• Gender mainstreaming training and capacity building
activities, planned and completed

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INDICATORS cont’d
• A mechanism for networking with like-minded
institutions in place
• Specific sets of indicators for tracking progress on
gender equality(including equity), gender-sensitive
policies and changes in gender relations over time, in
place and in use.

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Mainstreaming Approaches summary
• Gender Policies
• Gender Audit to reveal gaps
• Capacity building, resource allocation, training and
information dissemination
• Responsibility allocation
• Accountability systems; actual/potential capacity,
induction and performance appraisal
• Use of internal and external experts

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Summary cont’d
• Programmatic, institutional and personal guideline
on accepted standards
• Affirmative action, numerical strength and
stereotype elimination
• Gender responsive human resource policies
• Mechanisms for sustainability
• Documenting experiences and lessons
• Building alliances
• Leading by example