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The Gender ManualA Practical Guide

About DFID

What is Development?International development is about helping people fight poverty.

This means people in rich and poor countries working together to settle conflicts, increaseopportunities for trade, tackle climate change, improve people’s health and their chance to get an education.

It means helping governments in developing countries put their own plans into action. It meansagreeing debt relief, working with international institutions that co-ordinate support, and workingwith non-government organisations and charities to give communities a chance to find their ownways out of poverty.

Why is the UK Government involved?Getting rid of poverty will make for a better world for everybody.

Nearly a billion people, one in six of the world’s population, live in extreme poverty. This meansthey live on less than $1 a day. Ten million children die before their fifth birthday, most of themfrom preventable diseases. More than 113 million children in developing countries do not go to school.

In a world of growing wealth, such levels of human suffering and wasted potential are not onlymorally wrong, they are also against our own interests. We are closer to people in developingcountries than ever before.We trade more and more with people in poor countries, and many ofthe problems which affect us – conflict, international crime, refugees, the trade in illegal drugs andthe spread of diseases – are caused or made worse by poverty in developing countries.

In the last 10 years, Britain has more than doubled its spending on aid to over £5 billion a year. We are now the fourth largest donor in the world.

What is DFID?DFID, the Department for International Development, is the part of the UK Government thatmanages Britain’s aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty.

We work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals – a set of targets agreed by theUnited Nations to halve global poverty by 2015.

DFID works in partnership with governments, civil society, the private sector and others. It alsoworks with multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, United Nations agencies and theEuropean Commission.

DFID works directly in over 150 countries worldwide. Its headquarters are in London and East Kilbride, near Glasgow.

The Gender Manual A practical guide 1

PrefaceIn March 2007, DFID launched a new 3-year Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP) to cover

the period from 2007-2010. The Plan was drawn up in response to findings of the 2006Evaluation1 of DFID’s work in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment.The Evaluation concluded that DFID was having strong impact in the education and healthsectors, and in international discussions and negotiations on issues of gender equality andwomen’s rights. However, outside these areas, DFID programmes were not having the impactthat we would like, particularly given increased recognition by the international community ofthe importance of progress on gender equality to achievement of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). It was clear that DFID needed to be more systematic in ensuring issues of genderequality and women’s rights were integrated in all areas of its work.

The GEAP sets out a comprehensive programme of institutional change across DFID aimedat significantly increasing focus and impact on gender equality and women’s rights in ourdevelopment assistance. In implementing the GEAP, we are committed to bringing about acomprehensive and sustained change in how DFID addresses gender equality issues acrosseverything we do. It is not about improving performance in just one or two additional areas, orabout spending targets - but about putting in place new processes to ensure that, regardless ofarea of work, staff systematically ask the key questions:

Think…. what does this meanfor women and girls

■ Have we counted all womenand men?

■ Have both women and menbeen consulted?

■ Have we invested equally inwomen and men?

■ Do women and girls havea fair share?

■ Do staff have the skills, knowledgeand commitment to makea lasting change?

This Manual is for everyone who worksfor DFID. Promotion of gender equalityand women’s rights is part of theresponsibility of all staff, cutting acrossAdvisory, Administrative and Managerial roles.

The Manual is designed to help non-gender specialists in recognising andaddressing gender equality issues in theirwork. It sets out what everyone needs toknow about:

■ Why DFID is concerned aboutwomen and girls.

■ What all DFID staff need to know.

■ How we can promote genderequality better in our work.

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Contents poverty will not come to an end until women have equal rights with men

2 The Gender Manual A practical guide

Section 1: Introduction to gendermainstreaming

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2 What is the problem? . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3 How does gender equality contribute to poverty reduction? . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.4 What does gender equality mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.5 What are DFID’s policycommitments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.6 What can you do to promotegender equality andwomen’s rights? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1.7 What have we learned? . . . . . . . 16

1.8 Where can you findout more? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Section 2: Mainstreaming gender inthe policy/programme cycle2.1 Promoting gender

equality in new waysof delivering aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.2 Checklists for mainstreaminggender equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Screening Concept Notes for gender equality

Screening Project Memoranda for gender equality

Markers for gender equality

Screening TORs, bids and tendersfor gender equality


Section 3: Tools and guidelines on theprocesses of mainstreaminggender equality3.1 Statistics and analysis . . . . . . . . 26

Gender dimensions of poverty andsocial exclusion

Gender Audits/evaluations

3.2 Voice and accountability . . . . . 30

Women influencing national policy processes

Gender Equality Advocates within government

Women in parliament

Civil Society Women’sOrganisations

Advocacy and lobbying

Women influencing community-level planning

3.3 Policy, action andresources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Gender in logical frameworks

Gender-sensitive indicators

Gender policies and action plans

3.4 Organisational and individual change . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

“Policy evaporation”

Political will and leadership

Gender champions and focal staff

Gender training

Gender equality at work

Section 4:Further information4.1 Sources of further

information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

4.2 Glossary of key terms . . . . . . . . 54

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Introduction to gender mainstreaming

1.1 Introduction

1.2 What is the problem?

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DFID’s commitment to Gender Equality

We recognise that poverty will not come to an end until women have equal rights withmen. Promoting women’s rights will accelerate the progress already made towardspoverty reduction, it will also strengthen the sustainability of these achievements in thelong run. This is not about doing something extra, it is essential to our success.

■ We want the UK to take a lead in promoting gender equality and human rights forwomen and girls, and we will do this by putting women and girls at the heart of allof our work.

■ We will challenge and support our bilateral, multilateral and civil society partners toachieve better outcomes for women and girls.

■ We will consistently raise the importance of women’s rights and gender equality ininternational and national efforts to achieve the MDGs.

■ We will produce and share evidence and data on the links between gender equalityand the MDGs.

■ We will use this evidence to ensure that our programmes and policies achieve thebest possible outcomes for women and girls.

■ We will value, recognise and reward individuals and teams that demonstrateexcellence and best practice in promoting gender equality.

■ We will account for and report on our progress against these commitments and wewill publicise our progress and success to our partners and to the UK public annually.

Decades of international development have made significant differences to the lives of poorwomen and men. But in every area of progress, being female remains a disadvantage. Whetherit is in claiming their right to an equal wage or the right to inherit and own the land theywork on, or in claiming their right to be educated and included in decision-making, womenand girls lose out. In the work place, the market and the home, discrimination not only makeswomen poorer but it adversely affects their dependents and the next generation.


Who is affected?Women who do the same jobs as menbut get paid less.Throughout South Asia, women’s wages rangefrom half to two-thirds of those received by men.In India, the gender wage gap is growing andpersists even amongst educated women and men.1

Women and girls who play a major rolein subsistence but don’t have rights toland or access to credit.In sub Saharan Africa, women produce up to80% of basic foodstuffs, but they receive less than10% of the credit given to their malecounterparts2. In Kenya, only 1% of women ownthe land they and their families farm.3

Girls whose brothers go off to schoolin the morning while they stay athome to look after younger siblings.Of the estimated 780 million people in theworld who are illiterate, nearly 2⁄3 are women.Globally, 75 million primary school agechildren are out of school, of whom over 41million are girls.4

Women and girls who bear the brunt ofconflicts and violence betweencommunities and in wars.Rape and forced pregnancy as a tool of war,retaliation and dominance have been documentedin conflicts around the world. According to a UNreport, an estimated 5,000 women are killed inthe name of “honour” every year.5

Women who die in childbirth.Somewhere every minute a woman dies fromcomplications in pregnancy or childbirth. 99% ofthese deaths are in developing countries.6 Forevery woman who dies, approximately 20 moresuffer injuries, infection and disabilities inpregnancy or childbirth.

Girls who are not hospitalised or takenfor life-saving health treatment wherecost is an issue.In many parts of South Asia, girls and women areless likely to receive costly in-patient treatmentthan their male counterparts, and charges are morelikely to be a barrier.7 In general, Indian girls are61 percent more likely than boys to die betweenthe ages of 1 and 5.8

Women and girls affected by HIV and AIDS.Worldwide, for every 10 young men aged 15-24who are HIV positive, there are 16 young women.9

Women who are excluded fromdecision-making.Women hold only 17% of parliamentary seatsworldwide and only 8% of the world’s cabinetministers are women. In many countries, thefigures are considerably lower. In Egypt, for example, just 2% of MPs are female.10

Women who face barriers to accessservices and decision-makers.Research into public administration in India foundthat women had to wait on average 37% longerthan men to see the same local government official,women of roughly the same income as men were 3times more likely to be queue jumped, and 16%of women reported sexual harassment from localgovernment officials.11

Everywhere there are men and womenseeking to promote greater equality and tochange the laws and traditions that deny womentheir rights, but all too often they are marginalto the centres of power and influence. So theproblem is also one of governance. It is possibleto tackle discrimination – but it requires strongleadership, political will and deep social change.

1 ILO www.ilo.org/ IndiaGender Profile. BRIDGE,IDS Sussex, 2001

2 FAOhttp://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/Women/Sustin-e.htm

3 Land: better access and securerights for poor people.DFID, 2007

4 UNESCO Institute ofStatistics (UIS)http://www.uis.unesco.org

5 In-Depth Study on AllForms of Violence againstWomen: Report of theSecretary-General. UN,2006

6 MDG Progress Report. UN,2005

7 India Gender Profile.BRIDGE, IDS Sussex,2001

8 State of the World’s MothersReport, Save the Children,2008

9 AIDs Epidemic Update.UNAIDS, 2006

10 MDG Progress Report.UN, 2007/ Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm

11 Corbridge, S Gender,Corruption and the State:Tales from Eastern India,2007

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1.3 How does gender equality contribute to poverty reduction?

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Human rights and povertyreduction

Human rights, defined and upheldinternationally, are universal and based on theequal worth and dignity of people – thedenial of rights and opportunities basedpurely on an individual’s sex is unjust andunfair. Internationally agreed human rightsinclude standards of health, education andthe right to a secure livelihood, as well ascivil, political and legal rights.

Poverty will not come to an end untilwomen have equal rights with men.Promoting women’s rights will accelerate theprogress already made towards povertyreduction, and it will also strengthen thesustainability of these achievements in thelong run.

Millennium Development Goal 3

Goal:Promote Gender Equality andEmpower Women.

Target:Eliminate gender disparity in primaryand secondary education preferably by2005 and to all levels of education nolater than 2015.

Indicators:

■ Ratio of girls to boys in primary,secondary and tertiary education.

■ Ratio of literate females to males of15-24 year olds.

■ Share of women in wageemployment in thenon-agricultural sector.

■ Proportion of seats held by womenin national parliament.

Millennium DevelopmentGoals

The aim of UK internationaldevelopment policy is to contribute to theelimination of world poverty. Theempowerment of women and the promotionof gender equality is one of the eightinternationally agreed development goalsdesigned to achieve this.

Research has shown that education for girlsis one of the most effective ways of reducingpoverty, and because of this, the elimination ofgender disparity in education was selected asthe key MDG 3 target to demonstrateprogress. However, education alone is notenough. Progress towards gender equality isdependent on success in tackling inequalitiesbetween women and men in all aspects ofeconomic, political, social and cultural life.

Gender equality and women’sempowerment are important goals in theirown right, but gender discrimination alsoconstrains progress on all aspects of povertyelimination. The MDGs that are most off-track are those that are most reliant onprogress towards achieving women’s rights.MDG 5 - to reduce maternal mortality by75% between 1990 and 2015 - is the mostoff-track MDG, and progress is closelydependent on improving the status ofwomen and girls. The realisation of rights forwomen and girls has a critical role to play inachievement of all the MDGs.

Investing in women can accelerate growthand overall poverty reduction

Women play a vital role in household foodsecurity and social protection, and tend tospend a higher proportion of their income onfood for the family than men do. Economically


empowered women with equal wages andequal rights to land ownership andinheritance, make real and lasting differencesto their families and communities.

Estimates indicate that:

■ in the Middle East and North Africa,if women’s labour participation hadincreased during the 1990s at the samerate as women’s education, the averagehousehold income would have been25% higher;12

■ Tanzania could increase growth by 1%by removing barriers to womenentrepreneurs;13

■ if India increased the ratio of female tomale workers by 10%, GDP would goup by 8%;14

■ total agricultural outputs in SubSaharan Africa could increase by 6-20% if women’s access to agriculturalinputs was equal to men’s.15

Educated women tend to be betternourished; to marry later; have fewer,healthier, better nourished children; who themselves go to school

■ In Africa, Asia and Latin America,women with 7 or more years ofschooling have between 2 and 3 fewerchildren than women with less than 3years of education.16

■ In Africa, the children of motherswho have spent 5 years in primaryeducation are 40% more likely to livebeyond the age of 5, and an educatedwoman is 50% more likely to have herchildren immunised.17

■ Missing the target for gender parity inprimary and secondary educationcould lower a country’s annual percapita growth rates by 0.1-0.3percentage points.18

Educated women and girls tend to be betterinformed about the risk of HIV, and are more likely and better able tonegotiate safer sex.

■ In Swaziland 2⁄3 of teenage girls inschool are free from HIV, while 2⁄3 ofgirls out of school have HIV.19

Good governanceAlmost everywhere, men predominate in

government bureaucracies, parliaments andcivil society organisations. Male-dominatedsystems of government tend to result inmale biases in decision-making onopportunities, services and resourceallocation. The evidence from across theworld shows that when more womenparticipate in politics, either formally orinformally, their access to services, jobs andeducation – and rights more generally –improves. Good governance, fullyrepresentative of women’s and men’sinterests, is essential for women and men toenjoy equally the benefits of development.

12 Klasen, S and Lamanna,F The impact of genderequality in education andemployment on economicgrowth in the MiddleEast and North Africa(background paper forWorld Bank), 2003

13 Tanzania Gender &Economic GrowthAssessment. IFC et al2007

14 Esteve-Volart, B GenderDiscrimination andGrowth: Theory andEvidence from India,2004

15 Gender Equality and theMDGs. World Bank,2003

16 Population Councilhttp://www.popcouncil.org/gfd/girlseducation.html

17 Girls’ Education: towardsa better future for all.DFID, 2005/UNGEIhttp://www.ungei.org

18 Abu-Ghaida, D andKlasen, S The costs ofmissing the MillenniumDevelopment Goal ongender equity. 2004

19 Girls’ Education: towardsa better future for all.DFID, 2005

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1.4 What does gender equality mean?

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When we talk about “gender”, are we really talking aboutwomen and girls?

Promoting greater gender equality is about transforming women’s and men’s roles,identities and power relations to create a fairer society for all.

Men are as affected by gender roles and expectations as women. There are situations wheremen’s lives and opportunities are adversely affected by gender stereotypes, and where men andboys need targeted support. In some cultures, boys’ education and attainment is underminedby images of manhood which are not associated with doing well in school. Conflicts may besustained by leaders who exploit a sense of powerlessness among men and boys.

■ An estimated 8000 Bosnian men and boys were killed in Srebrenica in 1995, solelybecause they were Muslim and male. It was the largest act of mass murder in Europesince World War 2 and has been classed as an act of genocide by the InternationalCriminal Tribunal in The Hague.

■ In conflicts in Rwanda, DRC and Sierra Leone, local leaders coerced and manipulatedyoung men and boys to take up arms based on distorted ideals of “what a man shouldbe”.

■ In parts of Lesotho, boys are valued more for their ability as herders than for theireducation, and therefore are not encouraged to go to school.

Gender equality is therefore about equality for both men and women, girls and boys.However, gender norms most widely and frequently work to women’s disadvantage. Generallywomen and girls have fewer opportunities, lower status and less power and influence than menand boys – and consequently, progress towards gender equality commonly requirescomplementary actions to promote women’s empowerment and rights.

Does gender equality mean treating women and men in the same way?

Gender equality does not simply or necessarily mean equal numbers of men and women inall activities, nor does it necessarily mean treating men and women exactly the same. It isabout recognising that men and women often have different needs and priorities, face differentand unequal constraints, have different aspirations and contribute to development in differentways. Gender analysis is about recognising these differences and designing interventions withthose differences in mind.


Gender equality and gender equity

DFID draws an important distinctionbetween equality of opportunity andequity of outcomes.

■ Equality of Opportunity.This means that women shouldhave equal rights and entitlementsto human, social, economic andcultural development, and an equalvoice in civic and political life.

■ Equity of Outcomes.This means that the exercise of theserights and entitlements leads tooutcomes which are fair and just.

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1.5 What are DFID’s policy commitments to gender equality and women’s rights?

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UK policy commitmentsDFID has made a number of policy commitments towards gender equality and women’s

rights and is regarded as a leader in the international community for its policy positions onissues such as promoting women’s role in conflict and security, and on sexual and reproductivehealth and rights.

Public Service Agreement No: 29 on International Poverty Reduction (2008-11)

Gender equality is emphasised in the vision statement, delivery strategy and targets.

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/PSA/DFID-PSA-2005-08.pdf

Departmental Strategic Objectives (2008/9-2010/11)

DFID’s first Strategic Objective - to “promote good governance, economic growth, trade and access tobasic services” - includes as one of its indicators: increased access by women and girls to economicopportunities, public services and decision-making.

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/psa-1712.asp

Gender Duty Scheme (2007-2010)

Under the Gender Equality Duty of the 2006 UK Equality Act, public bodies in the UK arerequired to promote equal opportunities between women and men. The 2007-10 Gender DutyScheme sets out DFID’s three overarching Gender Equality Objectives:

■ to mainstream gender equality and women’s empowerment into the full range of policydialogue, programme lending, research and project work;

■ to influence the policy and practice of partners, including multi-lateral organisations, civilsociety and suppliers;

■ to promote gender equality in our employment functions and linkages with the UK public;

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/gender-scheme07-10.pdf

Gender Equality Action Plan (2007-10)

The 2007 Gender Equality Action Plan focuses on DFID’s policies and programming setting outhow DFID will promote gender equality and empower women in its development work.

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/gender-equality-plan-2007.pdf


International policy commitmentsThere is a powerful international framework for the pursuit of gender equality and

women’s rights, embodied in the following international agreements supported by themajority of governments in the countries where DFID is working.

Millennium Development Goals (2000)

The aim of international development policy is to eliminate world poverty. The empowerment ofwomen and the promotion of gender equality is one of the 8 internationally agreed MDGs designedto achieve this.

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995)

The 4th World UN Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 set out a global Platform forAction on gender equality, building on CEDAW and other human rights instruments. This wasreinforced at a Special Session of the UN General Assembly in June 2000 which reviewed progressand proposed actions to accelerate implementation.

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/index.html

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination againstWomen (CEDAW) (1979)

CEDAW, adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, provides the basis for ensuring women’s equalaccess to and equal opportunities in political and public life, as well as in education, health andemployment. Countries that have ratified the Convention are committed to submitting reports every fouryears on measures taken to comply with their obligations.

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm

In addition the UK is bound by EU Gender Equality Legislation. Gender equality hasbeen a fundamental principle of the European Economic Community since its establishmentin 1957. Article 2 of the EC Treaty stipulates that promotion of equality between women andmen constitutes a European Community responsibility, and this is reinforced in numerousArticles and Council Directives.

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1.6 What can you do to promote gender equality and women’s rights?

The right questions to askAll DFID staff have a role to play in

making sure that we take our corporatecommitment to gender equality seriously.This means all staff need to know the rightquestions to ask, and when to call inexpertise. You can start by asking these 5simple questions:

What does this mean for womenand girls ?

■ Have we counted all womenand men?

■ Have both women and menbeen consulted?

■ Have we invested equally inwomen and men?

■ Do women and girls havea fair share?

■ Do staff have the skills,knowledge and commitment to make a lasting change?

DFID’s Gender Equality Framework

These 5 questions are a shorthand versionof DFID’s Gender Equality Framework. The Framework sets out four distinct butinterconnected areas of work that areessential for progress on gender equality andwomen’s rights.

DFID, in common with most governments,donors and civil society organisations, adoptsa “twin-track approach” to promoting genderequality and women’s rights. This means:

■ Mainstreaming gender equalityinto all initiatives ie. givingsystematic attention to gender equalityand women’s rights throughout thelife-span of any initiative: policydialogue, contracting, situationanalysis, policy and programme design,implementation, monitoring andevaluation. At different points of the policy/programme cycle, thismeans considering all of the aspects of the Gender Equality Framework.

■ Targeted initiatives ie. initiativesspecifically designed to address rightsor needs particular to women or meneg. targeted support to girls’ educationor support to former child soldiers. It also means targeted support to oneof the areas of work specified in theGender Equality Framework tosupport wider processes of gendermainstreaming eg. support for thecollection of sex disaggregatedstatistics or support to increasethe representation of womenin parliament.


Gender Equality Framework

Statistics and analysis

Have we counted all women and men?

Do women and girls have a fair share?

Policy, action and resources

Have we invested equallyin women and men?

Voice and Accountability

Have both women andmen been consulted?

Do staff have the knowledge, skills andcommitment to make a lasting change?

Individual and organisational change

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Gender Equality Framework


■ Have we counted all women and men?

■ Do women and girls have a fair share?

Accurate and up-to-date sex disaggregated statistical data, and associated analysis examiningdifferences and inequalities, are the essential starting point for identifying gender-related issuesin any particular context. This information is used to inform policy and programme design,define target groups, develop appropriate indicators, and monitor change.

Voice and Accountability

■ Have both women and men been consulted?

Women will only have equality when they are able to act on their own behalf with a strongvoice to ensure their views are heard and taken into account. This means ensuring theinvolvement of women as well as men in consultation and decision-making at all levels fromnational policy to community-level processes of change. It also means ensuring that womenand men committed to the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights are influencingdecision-making at all levels.


■ Have we invested equally in women and men?

Action to promote greater equality between women and men in opportunities, resources,services, and influence, as well as action to address women’s or men’s needs and rights, shouldbe devised on the basis of context-specific statistics and analysis, and a clear understanding ofwomen’s and men’s experiences and priorities. Objectives and actions to promote genderequality need to be explicitly included in policy and project documents and logicalframeworks, backed up with staffing and investment, and monitored and reviewed throughappropriate indicators of change.

Individual and organisational change

■ Do staff have the knowledge, skills and commitment to make a lasting change?

Individual and organisational change is at the heart of instituting gender equality – none ofthe rest happens in a systematic or sustainable way without this. The effective promotion ofgender equality and women’s rights depends critically on the skills, knowledge andcommitment of the staff involved in policy making, planning, management andimplementation. Critical aspects of organisational change are political will and leadership;investment in staff capacity including gender champions; robust systems and procedures; andprogress towards equality at work.



Working in partnership

Strong partnerships are central to cost-effective interventions and sustainable impacton gender equality and women’s rights.DFID is committed to strengtheningengagement with international partnersincluding pushing for more effective UNsupport on gender equality, contributing toEU efforts to strengthen performance ongender equality across member states, andpromoting greater attention to genderequality in the work of internationalinstitutions.

In the countries where DFID works, manypartners have enshrined gender equality andthe rights of women in their legislation,constitutions and policies, and DFID willsupport them, either directly or throughpartnerships with other donors, to make thesecommitments a reality. We will also share ourknowledge and expertise and use this toinform improved interventions.

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1.7 What have we learned?

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Progress towards gender equality and women’s empowermentis possible and it is happening

Decades of international development have made significant differences to the lives of poorpeople. Great progress has been made and women and girls enjoy greater freedom and powerthan ever before. Many partners have enshrined the rights of women in their legislativeframeworks and policies – and helping them to make these commitments a reality has provedto be the best starting point for achieving progress. There is a growing international consensusthat gender equality is a goal that is achievable.

But we have learnt that progress doesn’t happen automatically.

We know that:

■ progress is not dependent on the income level of the society. Some poorer developingcountries outperform much richer countries in the opportunities they afford women.

■ there is no such thing as a gender-neutral policy or programme. In societies wherewomen and men do not enjoy equal influence, opportunities, and resources, thedefault is that policies and programmes reinforce gender inequality unless active stepsare taken to make sure that girls’ and women’s interests are addressed and women areactively involved.

■ policy commitments alone do not create change. Evaluations in all contexts repeatedlyfind failure to translate policy commitment into actions that make a real difference topoor women’s and men’s lives.

■ we have to make change happen, and continually monitor the impact of ourprogrammes to ensure that it does so. This requires sex disaggregated data and analysis,champions of change, targeted action, budgets and staff empowered to implement policy.

■ progress is greatest when there is strong and sustained political will and leadershipensuring that gender equality and women’s rights are taken seriously.


1.8 Where can you find out more?

Bridge

BRIDGE supports gender advocacy and mainstreaming efforts by bridging the gaps between theory,policy and practice with accessible and diverse gender information in print and online.

The gender ‘cutting edge’ packs are especially useful.

http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/

OECD-DAC

DAC work in the area of gender equality is conducted primarily through the Network on GenderEquality (GENDERNET). GENDERNET is the only international forum where gender expertsfrom development co-operation agencies meet to define common approaches in support of gender equality.

www.oecd.org/dac/gender

Siyanda

Siyanda is an on-line database of gender and development materials from around the world. It is alsoan interactive space where gender practitioners can share ideas, experiences and resources.

http://www.siyanda.org

UN Division for the Advancement of Women

The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) advocates the improvement of the status ofwomen of the world, and the achievement of their equality with men –as equal actors, partners, andbeneficiaries of sustainable development, human rights, peace and security.

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/

UNIFEM

UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance toinnovative programmes and strategies to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality.

http://www.unifem.org

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Mainstreaming gender equality in the policy/programme cycle

2.1 Promoting gender equality in the new ways of delivering aid

TWO


Changes in the aidenvironment

DFID is increasingly moving away fromproject and programme-based ways ofproviding development assistance towardsusing budget support mechanisms, wherethis is possible. We are also increasinglyproviding assistance in the context of jointassistance strategies, basket funding andjoint donor/government performanceassessment frameworks.

The UK is also a signatory to the ParisDeclaration which represents anunprecedented level of consensus to reformthe delivery of aid in the context ofsignificant scaling up. These reforms areintended to ‘increase the impact of aid... byreducing poverty and inequality, increasinggrowth, building capacity and acceleratingthe achievement of the MDGs’.20 The ParisDeclaration outlines five overarchingprinciples or partnership commitments–ownership, alignment, harmonisation,managing for development results andmutual accountability. Donors and partnergovernments have agreed on a set ofindicators, targets and a timetable to theimplementation of the Paris Declaration until2010. The goal of the Paris Declaration is tomake aid more effective.

Evidence of impact

Donors and country governments have

focused to date on improvements in aid

delivery to increase the efficiency of financial

and administrative arrangements, such as

public financial management. There is also

evidence that aid reforms have encouraged a

more participatory and coherent approach to

policy making through the Poverty

Reduction Strategy (PRS) process.

However, there are a number of risks

associated with implementing aid through

new modalities which include:

■ excessively narrow dialogue andaccountability mechanisms involvingcentral government ministries anddonors, but often excluding widergovernment institutions and civil society;

■ processes of harmonisation betweendonors which lead to a ‘lowestcommon denominator’ approach ongender issues;

■ threats to the funding of civil societyorganisations in both their advocacyand service delivery roles, as donorsseek to channel resources throughgovernment systems.

The common thread is the potential forthe capture of aid processes by powerfuldonor agencies and interest groups withinnational governments. The concern is thatthese actors are not sensitive to thesignificance of equity and rights issues inachieving development effectiveness and thatthey prioritise other objectives.


Impact on gender equalityand women’s rights

Wider considerations of developmenteffectiveness and social justice, includinggender equality, have yet to be systematicallyincorporated into aid effectivenessmechanisms.21 The default position is thatPRSs, Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs)and Direct Budget Support (DBS) do notaddress women’s rights and gender equality.Any mention of women’s rights or genderequality is the result of targeted and oftencoordinated advocacy by gender advocatesand women’s rights activists withindeveloping country governments, civilsociety and donor organizations.

The following problems are typicallyhighlighted in gender evaluations of national policies:

■ there is insufficient gender-disaggregated analysis of poverty andthis is a barrier to recognising andaddressing gender issues effectively;

■ a few PRSs have addressed genderissues in specific sectors (usually healthand education) with reasonable depth,but the overall coverage is weak;

■ action to promote gender equality -when included - is too often vague,and not backed up with appropriatemonitoring indicators;

■ commitments to gender equality at thenational level are subject to “policyevaporation”;

■ the donor voice in advocating genderequality goals is inconsistent.

20 Paris Declaration on aideffectiveness (para 2).OECD, 2005

21 See the report on’Making aid moreeffective through gender,rights and inclusion:Evidence fromimplementing the ParisDeclaration’.www.oecd.org/dac/gender

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Promoting gender equalityand women’s rights in thenew aid environment

Aid can only be judged effective when itmakes an impact on the lives of poor people.Discrimination on the basis of gender, raceor caste reduces the impact of aid, is costlyand constrains progress towards the MDGs.Gender equality can be integrated into thesenew aid modalities and can also strengthenaid effectiveness outcomes.

The processes of gender mainstreaming inthe context of the new aid environment arethe same as the processes of gendermainstreaming in the context of projects.

Key elements of gendermainstreaming


Sex disaggregated data and genderanalytical information is essential tounderstand gender dimensions of poverty;to formulate policy and action to promoteequality and rights; to monitor theimplementation of policy commitments;and to hold governments to account.

Voice and accountability

Women’s as well as men’s voices need to beheard and to exercise an influence inconsultation processes, policy dialogue,policy formulation, and in activities to holdthe government to account.


Policy commitments and actions are neededto address women’s and men’s needs, andpromote access by both to services, resourcesand opportunities. These need to bebacked up with budgets and appropriateindicators.

Organisational and individualchange

The capacity of staff to plan andimplement in a gender-sensitive way iscritical to success. This requires political will and leadership,champions of change, resources devoted tobuilding staff capacity, and progress towardsgender equality at work.

Emerging lessons

■ Progress on getting commitments togender equality and women’s rightsinto national policy has almostinvariably derived from government,civil society and donor genderadvocates working together.

■ The establishment of common resultsframeworks, either at national orprogramme level, can help buildconsensus and ensure clarity on policypriorities.

■ Basket funding, when implementedwith a results framework can provide auseful opportunity to address genderand equity issues.

■ Social goals in national plans arestrengthened where they areaccompanied by monitoring andevaluation systems using disaggregatedquantitative and qualitative data andanalysis.

■ Civil society organisations can play anactive role throughout the policyprocess to sharpen the focus andaccountability for gender equality,equity and human rights.


Screening Concept Notes forgender sensitivity■ Do the proposed purpose and

objectives seek to promote a fair shareof benefits for women and men,and/or promote women’s rights?

■ Do the principal partners have thecommitment and capacity to manageand implement in a gender-sensitiveway?

■ Will design and appraisal be informedby sex disaggregated statistics and analysis?

■ Will women/women’s organisationsbe consulted during the course ofdesign and appraisal?

Screening Project Memorandafor gender sensitivity

Summary

■ Do the expected outputs andoutcomes seek to promote a fair shareof benefits for women and men,and/or promote women’s rights?

Appraisal

Background

■ Are relevant gender policies referred to?

Approach

■ Have gender considerations influencedthe approach?

■ Are women as well as men included inkey stakeholders?

Social appraisal

■ Are sex disaggregated statistics andanalysis used to outline how the issue

affects women and men includingconstraints to equality?

■ Is the initiative seeking to promote afair share of benefits for women andmen, and/or promote women’s rights?

Institutional appraisal

■ Do the principal partners have the commitment and capacity tomanage and implement in a gender-sensitive way?

■ Does the initiative seek to build andsupport this capacity?

Political appraisal

■ Does the initiative reflect anunderstanding of prevailing attitudestowards gender equality and women’srights, and of the forces for and againstchange?

■ Does it seek to strengthen the voice ofwomen in policy decisions?

Lessons and evaluation

■ Is the initiative informed by anunderstanding of good practice inpromoting gender equality andwomen’s rights?

■ Do indicators provide the basis forassessing whether women and menreceive a fair share of benefits, and/orwomen’s rights have been enhanced?

Implementation

Funding

■ Are activities to promote a fair share ofbenefits for women and men, and/orwomen’s rights, adequately funded,including targeted activities to addressidentified constraints to equal benefit?

2.2 Checklists for mainstreaming gender equality

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Markers for gender equality The promotion of gender equality and

the empowerment of women is one of theeight international agreed MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) that contributeto DFID’s purpose. It links and contributesto the achievement of the other MDGs.When developing a new project, it isimportant to assess DFID’s contributions tospecific MDGs and objectives. There arespecific categories for scoring genderequality as a cross-cutting objective. A valuefor a project’s contribution is recorded as partof the project cycle management based onthe following markers:

Principal – ie. initiatives where thepromotion of gender equality or women’sempowerment is a fundamental objective.

Significant – ie. initiatives where the promotion of gender equality orwomen’s empowerment is important, butnot the principal reason for undertaking the initiative.

Non-targeted - ie. initiatives where thepromotion of gender equality or women’sempowerment is not part of the goal orpurpose, or where gender equality andwomen’s empowerment are mentioned onlyvaguely or not at all.

Criteria for eligibility (principal and significant)

Equality between women and men isexplicitly promoted in activitydocumentation (this includes initiativeswhich explicitly seek to benefit women andmen, as well as positive actions to promoteequality between women and men includingwomen-specific or men-specific activities);

AND Gender analysis has been carried out eitherseparately or as an integral part of standard procedures;

AND Gender analysis has been incorporated intoactivity design such that the activity meets(normally at least 4 for a principal marker,less for a significant marker) of the following criteria:

■ gender-sensitive strategies andimplementation plans are incorporatedand reflected in the activity budget;

■ specific means have been designed to help overcome identifiedbarriers to women’s full participationin the activity;

■ specific means have been included to help ensure equitable controlby women and men over the activity output;

■ gender-sensitive indicators includingimpact indicators have been or will be developed for monitoring and evaluation;

■ gender skills are used in design and will be used in implementationand monitoring.

■ gender-sensitive consultation iscarried out at all levels and stages.


Screening TORs, bids andtenders for gender sensitivity

Background

Should include:

■ Existing information on how the issueaffects women and men differently.

■ Information on relevant DFID orpartner organisation policycommitments to gender equality andwomen’s rights.

Objectives

■ Objectives should seek to ensure that women and men receive a fairshare of benefits, and/or promotewomen’s rights.

Scope of work

■ Review of existing literature shouldinclude relevant sex disaggregated dataand gender analysis.

■ Samples for data collection andinterviews should ensure that womenand men of different ages, ethnicities,and socio-economic status etc. arewell represented.

■ Steps should be taken to ensure that interview and data collectionmethodologies enable women andmen to express their experiences and views.

■ Activities should seek to ensurewomen and men are involved indecision-making.

■ Activities should seek to ensure thatwomen and men receive a fair share ofbenefits, and that women’s and men’sneeds and priorities are taken intoaccount and addressed.

■ Activities to promote gender equalityand/or women’s rights should beexplicitly backed up with indicators,and resources.

■ There should be explicit reference to gender issues in any LogicalFramework.

Selection criteria forconsultants/skills requirement

■ Demonstrated knowledge of and skillsin gender analysis, and gender-sensitive planning.

■ Experience in promoting genderequality and women’s rights.

■ Female and male team members.

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Tools and guidelines on theprocesses of mainstreaminggender equality

3.1 Statistics and analysis

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Gender dimensions ofpoverty and social exclusion

Definitions

Sex disaggregated data and gender analysis areboth fundamental to mainstreaming attentionto gender equality.

Sex disaggregated data

Sex disaggregated data is quantitativestatistical information on differencesand inequalities between women andmen. Sex disaggregated data mightreveal, for example, quantitativedifferences between women and menin morbidity and mortality; differencesbetween girls and boys in schoolattendance, retention andachievement; differences between menand women in access to andrepayment of credit; or differencesbetween men and women in voterregistration, participation in electionsand election to office.

Gender analysis

Gender analytical information isqualitative information on genderdifferences and inequalities. Genderanalysis is about understanding culture,e.g. the patterns and norms of whatmen and women, boys and girls doand experience in relation to the issuebeing examined and addressed. Wherepatterns of gender difference andinequality are revealed in sexdisaggregated data, gender analysis isthe process of examining why thedisparities are there, whether they area matter for concern, and how theymight be addressed.

Use of sex disaggregated data andanalysis

The collection of gender analytical informationand sex disaggregated data is not an end initself - it is required for certain specific tasks.These include:

■ making the case for taking genderissues seriously. Champions andadvocates seeking to promoteattention to gender equality andwomen’s rights need relevant, up-to-date, context-specific information ongender differences and inequalities andmen’s and women’s different prioritiesand needs. Advocating gender equalityon the basis of assertion and rhetoric isof limited effectiveness. Sexdisaggregated data is particularlypowerful for advocacy purposes,producing clear statistical evidence ofgender difference and inequality.

■ policy and project planning andreview. Context-specific genderanalytical information and sexdisaggregated data are necessary to:

◆ ensure that women’s as well as men’sexperiences and priorities inform thedevelopment agenda;

◆ devise appropriate actions to promotegreater equality of influence,opportunity, access to resources andservices, including addressing barriersto equality;

◆ devise appropriate actions to addresswomen’s and men’s needs and rights;

◆ monitor the differential impact of policyand project commitments on women andmen and review activities accordingly.


Action to support improved sexdisaggregated statistics and analysis

■ Ensure all data collection systems areroutinely disaggregated by sex.

■ Provide support to National StatisticsAgencies to build capacity and systemsfor sex disaggregated data to informand monitor policy development.

■ Recognise and address the need to gobeyond standard surveys to capturesome aspects of gender difference.

■ Recognise the need to take genderdifferences into consideration in allaspects of surveys includingdefinitions, classifications and datacollection methodologies.

■ Invest resources in building strongrelationships between data providersand data users prior to designingsurveys to improve evidence basedpolicy making.

■ Ensure that sex disaggregated data and gender analysis is integral toprocesses of policy and projectappraisal and monitoring.

Gender and Social ExclusionAnalysis Framework (GSEA)

The GSEA provides a framework foranalysing how social exclusion and genderinequality impacts on poverty reduction, theMDGs, political stability and economicgrowth. It is used as part of the countryplanning process to provide a robust analysison gender inequality and exclusion tocomplement and inform other analyses suchas the Country Governance Analysis (CGA)and Human Rights Assessment (HRA)

Drawing on quantitative and qualitativedata, the GSEA is a critical tool for countryoffices to analyse who is excluded and inwhat way and to integrate this informationinto County Plans and related performanceframeworks. The overall objective of theGSEA is to ensure that all of DFID’s workis grounded in thorough social analysis sothat it can be effective in its aims toeliminate world poverty and take accountof the poorest and most vulnerable peoplein society.

There are four main outputs from a GSEA

■ Evidence to improve understandingof who is excluded, the processesthat cause and perpetuate genderinequality and social exclusion andthe impacts on poverty reductionand the MDGs, economic growthand conflict.

■ An assessment of changes andtrends in gender inequality andsocial exclusion over time.

■ Identification of opportunities,entry points and drivers of change for tackling gender inequality andsocial exclusion.

■ Critical information for the designof DFID’s country programmes.

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Gender Audits and evaluations

Introduction

The terms “gender audit” and “genderevaluation” are used to refer to assessments oforganisational performance on thepromotion of gender equality and women’srights. Typically they are designed toaccomplish one of the following:

■ instigate gender-related analysis andactivity in organisations andprogrammes where gender hasreceived minimal attention.;

■ monitor the implementation of genderequality policy commitments;

■ breathe life into gender-related policycommitments that are floundering intranslation into action and impact;

■ document and disseminate good practice.

There is no standard approach. Mostaudits involve a review of internal systemsand capacity, and an examination ofprogramme planning and implementation ina selection of programmes. Some alsoinclude assessment of gender issues withinthe organisation as a workplace. Most areundertaken as external expert evaluations.Some are facilitated processes of self-assessment, involving staff in analysing andreflecting on their own work and planningfor improved practice.

Lessons on methodology

Key lessons on methodology emerging fromDFID experience are:

■ The value of audits/evaluations lies atleast as much in the process ofconducting them, as in the impact offindings and recommendations.

■ Well-known actions to address well-known problems repeatedly feature inreports, and self-assessment exercisestend to reach similar conclusions tothose reached by external experts.More in-depth/expensiveaudit/evaluation exercises do notnecessarily produce greater insights.

■ Participatory and self assessmentgender equality audits have the benefitof building capacity as they are beingconducted - developing staffunderstanding and engagement as theyanalyse and debate gender issues inrelation to their work.

■ Leadership and systems ofaccountability are essential to progressin implementing recommendationsarising from audits and evaluations.These outweigh issues relating to thedesign of the audit or evaluation(breadth and depth of study, andmethods used) in determining impact.

■ Recent successful experience ofseveral donor organisationssimultaneously conducting genderequality self assessments anddeveloping plans to hold each other toaccount for the implementation ofresulting Action Plans, hasconsiderable potential in the contextof multi-donor partnerships and thenew aid environment.


Gender audit/evaluation framework

The following is a general framework toassist consideration of issues to address.

Policy and Action Plans

■ Is there a gender equality policy?When was it developed? Who wasinvolved in its formulation? What arethe arrangements for implementationand monitoring?

■ To what extent are gender issuesconsidered in other key policies? Whatare the arrangements forimplementation and monitoring? Towhat extent have policy review andevaluation processes considered impacton women and men?

Leadership

■ What is the attitude of seniormanagement staff to gender issues? Who does the management consultwith about gender issues?

■ Which external organisations andpeople have an influence on theorganisation? Do they take gender issues seriously?

■ What are the decision-making bodies?What role do women and men playin decision-making?

Capacity

Gender Focal Staff/gender championsIs there a designated gender unit/staffmember? Since when? What do they do? With whatresources? How effectively?

All staffWhat responsibility do staff have forgender equality issues? What traininghave they received? Have staff been

issued with guidelines on gendermainstreaming? What is their level ofknowledge and skill? Is sensitivity togender issues included in jobdescriptions/assessed atinterview/monitored at appraisals?

OrganisationDoes the organisation have capacity tolearn from past and current activities,and use that learning to inform futureinterventions?

Programming and accountability

■ Is attention to gender issues includedin routine systems and procedures:situation analysis, consultation,planning, budgeting,recruitment/contracting,implementation, monitoring andreview procedures? How and to what effect?

■ Are programmes being implementedto ensure women and men get a fairshare of benefits and are barriers toequality being addressed?

■ Is the organisation, and are staff held toaccount for their gender equality policycommitments. Who by and how?

Partnerships

■ Do partners see DFID as committedto and skilled in gender equality?

■ Does DFID learn from partners andsupport partners to promote genderequality and women’s rights?

Equality ImpactAssessments (EIAs)

In line with UKequalities legislation,DFID is required toconsider the potentialequality impact ongender, disability and raceof all existing, new orrevised policies andprocesses that are relevantto the work that we do inthe UK. Following bestpractice, we also considerother forms of diversity.The Diversity Team hasdeveloped an EqualityImpact Assessmenttoolkit 'Making DiversityWork for Everyone' toimprove the quality ofour polices and processes.It requires individualsand teams in DFID tothink carefully about thelikely impact of theirwork on different groupsof people in the UK andto take steps to ensurethat any negative impactis eliminated. EqualityImpact Assessments workbest if they are startedearly and developed aspart of new or revisedpolicies or processes.

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Women influencing nationalpolicy processes

Any mention of women’s rights or genderequality in PRSs, SWAPs or DBS tends to bethe result of targeted and often coordinatedadvocacy by gender advocates and women’srights activists within developing countrygovernments, civil society and donororganizations.

The key players involved in promotingattention to gender equality and women’srights are:

■ the National Women’s Machinery (ie.government Ministries orDepartments of Women/Gender);

■ gender Focal Points (government staffin sector ministries includingsometimes the Ministry of Finance, atnational and sometimes at districtlevels, with responsibility for promotingattention to gender equality);

■ civil society women’s organisationsinvolved in policy lobbying, advocacy,research and/or consultation processes;

■ other civil society organisationscommitted to and active in promotinggender equality and women’s rights;

■ donors - specifically gender or socialdevelopment staff with a cross-cuttingmandate to promote gender equalityand women’s rights, and sector staffwith a strong commitment to thepromotion of women’s rights andgender equality.

In many countries, Gender WorkingGroups, Theme Groups and Task Forces areset up with representatives from government,civil society and donor organisations to

influence and review PRS and other policies.Progress on getting commitments to genderequality and women’s rights into nationalpolicy has almost invariably resulted fromgovernment, civil society and donor genderadvocates working together.

Gender Equality Advocates within government

The term “National Women’s Machinery(NWM)” is typically used to refer to unitsor ministries within government with aspecialist remit to focus on women orgender equality. NWMs have a critical roleto play in giving voice to women’s rights inthe context of national government policyand legislation.

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Actionmarked an important international shift inthe role of National Women’s Machineriesaway from implementing projects, tosupporting government-wide mainstreamingof gender equality and women’s rights in allpolicy areas. UNIFEM has played a key rolein helping NWMs make that shift. The roleof NWMs typically includes:

■ recommending measures forimproving gender equality policies;

■ influencing wider policy processes;

■ monitoring the implementation ofgender-related legislation andinternational conventions;

■ capacity building and training.

Worldwide, NWMs commonly faceoperational constraints which aresymptomatic of the problems they areseeking to address. Lack of commitment togender equality within the government as a


whole results in marginalisation and minimalresourcing for NWMs, which in turn limitstheir mandate and capacity to influencegovernment practice.

Lessons

■ In countries and sectors where gendermainstreaming is more accepted andestablished (eg. the health andeducation sectors in some countries insub-Saharan Africa), experiencedemonstrates that gender units withinsectoral ministries are in the bestposition to promote, support andmonitor policy commitments togender equality and women’s rights.

■ In the absence of commitment andcapacity within line ministries, NWMs(however weak and marginal) have acritical role to play in keeping genderequality on the government agenda.

■ Donors have an important role to playin providing direct support to NWMs,and in seeking to influence overallpartner government commitment togender equality, including funding forNWMs and funding for gender focalstaff within line ministries.

Women in representative politics

Policy-making processes associated withthe new aid environment tend to have beendriven by the executive arm of government.There is increasing recognition of theimportance of involving politicians in policymaking - whilst recognising the limitedextent to which politicians in somecountries are accountable to andrepresentative of the people.

Throughout the world, formal politics hasbeen and in many respects continues to bethe domain of men. Nonetheless, everyregion in the world, except for EasternEurope and Central Asia, has seen a slowincrease in the numbers of women in office.In all the countries with more than 30%female representation, there is a governmentenforced affirmative action policy in place.Designated seats for women and all womenquotas on party electoral lists are the mostcommon affirmative action means ofpromoting women’s political participationand are in use in over 80 countries.

Research in industrialised countriesdemonstrates that the presence of morewomen in political bodies does promotegreater sensitivity to gender issues.Research into the impact of women’spolitical representation in developingcountries is not well established, and tosome extent, too few women have been inpower in sufficient numbers for longenough to draw conclusions.

However, whilst assisting women’s accessto office is an important step in ensuring that50% of the population get a better level ofrepresentation in democratic politicalsystems, it is evident that it is only thebeginning of the struggle to bring genderequality into policy-making. The kind ofwomen who become politicians is ofteninfluenced by the design of quota systems;female politicians can be highly diverse inwho and what they represent; and they arenot necessarily interested in promoting agender equality agenda.

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Lessons

■ Positive action measures have resulted insignificant numbers of women gettinginto elected office. Factors found to assistthis include:

◆ political party commitment to increasingwomen’s representation;

◆ positive attitude in the ruling partytowards gender equality andwomen’s rights;

◆ well organised women’s structureswithin parties, linked to a strongwomen’s movement outside parties;

Civil society women’s groups

Women’s activism in civil society, as wellas civil society advocacy for women’s rights,plays an important role in advancing theagenda of gender equality and women’srights. Civil society-based gender equalitychampions are often freer to express theirviews than gender equality championsworking within government. Women’sorganizations have a long history of deliveringimportant services for women. A strongvoice coming from civil society also providesan external base of support and legitimacy forgender champions within governments anddonor organizations, and potentiallystrengthens their arm in pushing for change.

Women are well mobilized in civil societyassociations and movements almosteverywhere – and women’s rights and greatergender equality are the key motivating forcefor many. However, some countries havealso recently seen the growth of conservativeethnic and religious movements, whichattract female as well as male members,whose vision of a better society is focused onmore traditional roles and behaviour.

International and national NGOs also playa significant part in campaigning on women’srights. These are not necessarily women’sorganizations, but professional bodies withstrong policy commitments to gender equalityand women’s rights, and professional staffdedicated to gender advocacy. A bi-product ofthe new aid environment in many countrieshas been the proliferation and expansion ofurban-based civil society organisationsfocusing on policy advocacy funded byinternational donors. These national levelorganisations are not necessarily closely linkedwith and representing the interests of poorwomen and men at community-level, andtheir staff can have more in common withurban-based development professionals ingovernment and donor organisations thanthey have with poor women.

Lessons■ It is important to ensure that pooled

funding for civil society organisationsto influence the government and holdthe government to account:

◆ specifically includes funding forwomen’s organisations;

◆ requires all civil society organisations topay attention to gender equality andwomen’s rights.

■ Special efforts are needed to ensurefunding and support to smaller,community based and activist women’sorganisations, particularly thoseworking with poor women, and thosedirectly representing the interests ofpoor women.

■ funding for targeted service deliverywork is vital for the promotion ofwomen’s rights and gender equality e.g. work on violence against women.


Advocacy and lobbyingstrategies

Persuading those in positions of powerand authority to take gender equality andwomen’s empowerment seriously is key tomaking progress. Gender advocacy requirespatience, persistence and commitment, theability to think strategically, and to takeadvantage of unexpected opportunities.Donors can be in a position to play animportant role in policy advocacy, and inbrokering linkages between gender equalityadvocates in government and in civil society.

Advocacy strategies

Effective advocacy involves: identifyingappropriate “entry points”.These could be:

■ international, national, sectoral ororganisational policy commitments togender equality;

■ new research findings, or analyses ofsex disaggregated data;

■ the support of key individuals inpowerful positions;

■ specific events (elections, internationalconferences, local conferences, issuesin the headlines);

■ new initiatives, or reviews of existing initiatives;

■ research funding;

■ funding for training;

■ developing strategic alliances andrecognising the need for compromise;

■ developing a well argued case fortaking gender issues seriously, drawingon appropriate sex disaggregated dataand gender analysis;

■ moulding arguments into a shape thatfits the goals, culture and proceduresof the targeted organisation or process;

■ using a language that is bold andappealing to policy makers andpractitioners, quite different from thecomplexity of academic gender analysis;

■ making clear, well thought throughand realistic suggestions for change.In constrained circumstances,suggestions for change may have to beconfined to least worst scenarios anddamage control, rather than to a moreambitious concerns with thepromotion of gender equality;

■ anticipating opposing arguments anddeveloping reasonable responses;

■ recognising the importance of smallincremental steps towards the long-term goal of gender equality;

■ revisiting strategies to take account ofwhat has been achieved and learned aswell as to assess new opportunities andchanging circumstances;

■ recognising that gains made towardsthe long-term objective of genderequality cannot be taken for granted.

In individual meetings with people youare seeking to influence, remember: be brief,be clear, be accurate, be persuasive, be timely,be persistent and be grateful!

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Women’s involvement incommunity planning

Issues to address

Traditionally, women are often excludedfrom decision-making at the community-level. A number of factors combine to bringthis about, including traditional attitudesconcerning the role and status of women,and aspects of women’s work burden,knowledge, skills and confidence. Whensteps have been taken to include women incommunity-level decision-making, too oftenwomen become token representatives oncommunity committees with a passive roleand few real responsibilities.

Progress at the community-level ininclusive participatory planning efforts canalso be frustrated by bureaucratic delays orunwilling staff at the local/municipalgovernment level. Women communityrepresentatives can be particularlyvulnerable to being sidelined because oftheir generally lower social, economic andeducational status.

Action to support increasedinvolvement by women

Planning

■ Before taking action to involvewomen in community-level decision-making, it is important tobe fully aware of existing genderroles, structures and attitudes inrelation to decision-making at thecommunity-level.

■ Appropriate and negotiated ways ofstrengthening women’s involvement indecision-making need to be specifiedin planning documents, included in

implementation staff TORs andsupported with necessary funding andcapacaity building.

■ Criteria for monitoring and evaluationof women’s participation must also beestablished. Indicators of effectivenessshould include qualitative as well asquantitative aspects of participation.

Consulting with women

■ Practical measures are needed toensure that project informationreaches women, that they are able toattend meetings and that meetingsprovide a forum in which they canactively participate.

■ Women themselves will often have insights on the best way to work around male dominated power structures.

■ It may be necessary to follow up largemeetings with smaller planninggroups, including key womenrepresentatives, where women’s roles,responsibilities, priorities andconstraints can be elaborated in more detail.

■ Given the limitations on poorwomen’s time, considerable outreachwork and flexibility is required aboutwhen and where to meet.

■ Working with existing women’sNGOs or community organisationsis a way to involve women directly.However, such organisations tend tobe monopolised by more affluentwomen with more free time, andmay exclude poorer sections of the community.


■ Women’s organisations are notnecessarily “gender-sensitive”, in thesense that they may have limitedunderstanding of ideas concerninggender mainstreaming and genderequality. It may be useful to take stepsto strengthen the gender sensitivity ofCBOs and networks.

Activities to gain the support of men

■ Early consultation with men,particularly community leaders, andattempts to promote positive attitudestowards women’s active participation,are important.

■ Men’s negative attitudes to women’sincreased involvement have oftenshifted once the benefits to thecommunity, households, and womenthemselves have been demonstrated.

Promoting women’s active role incommunity-level decision-making

■ Women’s involvement in selectingcandidates is likely to result in a higherand more dynamic level of women’sparticipation.

■ The quality of women’s participationin committees, as well as the quantity,needs to be improved. For womenwho are unused to assuming positionsof authority, training and support inleadership, confidence building andcommunication is important.

Links with local authorities

■ Supporting and training communityrepresentatives to negotiate effectivelyfor gender-sensitive services.

■ Training staff in municipal authoritiesto increase their understanding ofgender issues, needs and rights, as wellas their responsibility for deliveringgender-aware responses.

■ Developing activities to increaseinformation to marginalised groups,including women, about the servicesand resources they can expect, e.g.service charters setting out standards of provision.

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Gender in logical frameworksIn the context of projects and

programmes, the project framework agreedbetween the donor and partnergovernment/civil society organisation is thekey document for mainstreaming gender. It fulfils many functions:

■ It provides a structured framework for participatory project design discussions.

■ It presents in summary form theagreed key aspects of the project. It isthe point at which DFID “signs off ”on a project.

■ It is an instrument of accountability.The project management areaccountable for delivering what isspecified in the project framework: theyare not accountable for what is not.

■ It provides the basis for budgeting,marking, and review (includingAnnual Review) processes.

When and if to include gender

Policy and project documentation, whichis typically substantial, is important forplanning, discussion and approval purposes.However, subsequent management,budgeting and review processes focus on theLogical framework summary, which serves asa stand-alone document. Therefore:

■ If gender issues are relevant to thepolicy or project, explicit references arerequired in the Logical Framework.

■ Inclusion of gender issues in Socialand Institutional Annexes or in Socialand Institutional Appraisal sections ofthe Policy/Project documents alone isnot sufficient.

How and where to include gender

The extent to which gender issues areincluded in Logical Frameworks depends onthe motivation, influence and knowledge ofthe people involved in drawing them up. Inmany situations, staff with the motivation toinclude gender equality issues lack theinfluence to put this into practice. In thissituation, it is important to bear in mind thatalmost any mention of gender/women in theLogical Framework is better than nothing –and advocacy activities should be geared tothis end. This ensures that at least someattention is paid to gender issues in processesof management, resource allocation, andmonitoring – and it opens the door toincreasing attention to gender issues inreview processes.

However, where staff are in a position toaddress gender issues more systematically inthe Logical Framework, it is useful to bearthe following points in mind.


Logical Framework table – key issues to consider

Narrative Summary

Goal:

Purpose:

■ Is it clear who theprogramme istargeting?

■ Will women andmen get a fair shareof benefits and/or isthe programmedesigned toempower women?

Outputs:

■ Benefit for women andmen should beconsidered as an aspectof each output.

■ It may be useful tohave one outputspecificallyconcerned withtargeted activities for women.

Activities

■ Promoting a fairshare of benefits forwomen and men willrequire targetedaction to addressexisting constraints toequality eg. capacitybuilding for staff,training for women,targeted services andopportunities.

Verifiable Indicators

Indicators

■ Do indicators ensuremeasurement ofbenefit to womenand men?

■ Are targets forwomen’s and men’saccess to resources/services/opportunitiesrealistic in view ofcurrent inequalitiesand constraints?

■ Do indicators ensuremeasurement ofbenefit to womenand men?

■ Are targets forwomen’s and men’saccess to resources/services/opportunitiesrealistic in view ofcurrent inequalitiesand constraints?

Inputs:

■ Activities to promotegreater equality orpromote women’srights need to bebacked up withbudgets, and staffing.

Means of Verification

Sources of information

■ Is sex disaggregateddata part of theroutine managementinformation system?

■ Are sources ofqualitative data onbenefit to womenand men specified?

■ Is sex disaggregateddata part of theroutine managementinformation system?

■ Are sources ofqualitative data onbenefit to womenand men specified?

Risks and Important Assumptions

Risks

■ Is there likely to beopposition to greatergender equality fromkey stakeholders?Will this underminethe achievement ofthe purpose? If so,include activities tobuild understandingand buy-in, and/oradjust targets?

■ Is there likely to beopposition to greatergender equality fromkey stakeholders?Will this underminethe achievement ofthe outputs? If so,include activities tobuild understandingand buy-in, and/oradjust targets?

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Target groups

■ It should always be clear from theLogical Framework who thepolicy/project is targeting:

◆ This should be clear from the use of sexdisaggregated indicators.

◆ It should be clear which activities andoutputs are targeted to women, whichto men and which to both.

◆ Replacing general terms such as “thepoor” or “poor farmers” with, whereappropriate, “poor men and women”and “poor male and female farmers”makes women as well as men clearlyvisible and avoids misunderstanding.

Purpose and goal

■ The promotion of a fair share ofbenefits for women and men, orwomen’s empowerment, should be anaspect of the purpose and goal of alldevelopment policies/projectsconcerned with impacting on people’slives. This should be reflected inPurpose and Goal Indicators and,where possible, also in the wording ofthe Purpose/Goal statement. See“Gender-Sensitive Indicators”.

■ If a fair share of benefits to men andwomen is part of the goal andpurpose, specific activities/outputs arerequired to address barriers to equalaccess to resources, opportunities,services and/or influence (as identifiedin the Social Appraisal). Theseactivities need to be specified in theLogical framework, and resourced.

Outputs

■ It may be useful to have one outputspecifically concerned with targetedactivities for women. However, it isimportant not to ghettoise women’sactivities within one output with avery small claim on resources and noinfluence on the rest of thepolicy/project. Targeted outputs ofthis kind should complement activitiesto mainstream gender throughout thepolicy/project. Benefit for women aswell as men should be considered as anaspect of each output.

■ It is principally important to includegender in Output indicators, to beclear about the intended beneficiary.See “Gender-Sensitive Indicators”

Activities

■ Working towards a fairer and moreequal share of benefits for women andmen almost always requires targetedactivities to overcome traditionalbarriers to accessing resources,opportunities, services or influence ina fair and equal way.

■ These activities need to be specifiedand backed up with human andfinancial resources. Resourceallocation is directly linked to theactivity line of a Logical Framework.

Gender-sensitive indicators

What are they designed to measure?

Gender-Sensitive Indicators allowmeasurement of benefit to women andmen. Depending on the policy/project, this might include:


■ the impact/effectiveness of activitiesdesigned to promote access for womenand men to new resources,opportunities, services and/or influence;

■ the impact/effectiveness of targetedactivities designed to address needs orrights specific to women or men;

■ the impact/effectiveness of activitiesdesigned to develop gender-awarenessand skills amongst policy making,management and implementation staff;

■ the impact/effectiveness of activities topromote greater gender equality withinthe staffing and organisational culture ofdevelopment organisations eg. theimpact of affirmative action policies.

How do they measure?

Gender-sensitive indicators need tocapture quantitative and qualitative aspects of change.

Quantitative indicators

Quantitative indicators refer to thenumbers and percentages of women and meninvolved in or affected by any particulargroup or activity. Quantitative indicatorsdraw on the sex disaggregated statisticscollected before and during the initiative,and usually include some element of targetsetting. For example:

■ women form at least 33% of watercommittee members by the end ofYear 2;

■ at least 50% of network members havedeveloped a gender policy by the endof Year 3;

■ equality in girls and boys access toprimary education by 2009;

■ 25% increase in number of femalepolice officers by 2010, from abaseline of x%.

This information should be availablethrough routine data systems and records.

Qualitative indicators

Qualitative information refers toperceptions and experiences. Qualitativeinformation is vitally important. It is notenough to know that women areparticipating in an activity: the quality oftheir participation and experience – whetheras members of parliament, as pupils in aprimary school class, or as users of publicservices – is all important.

Qualitative indicators (as well asquantitative indicators relating to visiblechange at the community-level) should bedeveloped in conjunction with beneficiarygroups. In project documents it is legitimateto use in a phrase like “quantitative andqualitative indicators to be developed withbeneficiary groups in first 6 months of theproject”. This creates the space to developindicators in conjunction with beneficiarygroups once they have fully understood thenature of the project. (What changes wouldthey like to see? What will the change looklike? How can it be measured?). Thisprocess should take place using qualitativemethods such as focus group discussions andinformal interviews.

It is only possible to set targets forqualitative change if baseline data is available.This requires baseline surveys: it is highlyunlikely that appropriate baseline data will beavailable from secondary sources. Wherebaseline data is available on experiences andperceptions, targets for qualitative change canbe set. For example:

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■ at least 50% of women participating inwater committees report activeinvolvement in management anddecision-making by the end of Year 2(from a baseline of 10% at the start ofthe project);

■ at least 70% of women respondpositively to evaluation of policehandling of their case in targetedpolice stations by the end of Year 3(from a baseline of 5% average at thestart of the project);

Where baseline data is not available – or is not easily aggregated intonumbers and percentages – it is necessary toresort to general statements ofimprovement. For example:

■ significant improvement in staffknowledge, skills and attitudes onmainstreaming gender equality inparticipating organisations by the endof Year 3 (where each organisationstarts with markedly different levels);

■ significant increase in quantity andimprovement in quality of mediareporting on gender violence;

Information on qualitative indicatorsshould be collected through evaluationsurveys. Depending on the indicator, thesemight be questionnaire surveys reviewingperceptions and experiences of agreedindicators, or participatory methods such asfocus group discussions and case studies.

The greater the degree of existing genderinequality, the more subtle changes are likelyto be. It is important in this context forindicators to recognise the significance of

modest gains and breakthroughs

Gender policies andaction plans

A Gender Equality Policy is a usefulstarting point for gender mainstreaming.

Content

A gender mainstreaming policy usually includes:

Background information

■ Problem/situation analysis, focusingon beneficiary groups. What is theevidence for gender inequality? Whyis it a problem? Relate this to yourown organisational goals. Useappropriate sex disaggregated data andgender analytical information.

■ What is being done (generally) toaddress the issue of gender inequality.Existing/previousgovernment/donor/civil societyorganisation initiatives and approaches.Focus on:

◆ achievements;

◆ challenges;

◆ lessons learned.

■ focus within own organisation.

◆ history in addressing the issue ofgender inequality;

◆ current work and responsibilities;

◆ achievements/challenges/lessonslearned;

◆ ways forward.


Policy commitments

■ Succinct statement of policy rationale(a statement of organisational visionand mission in relation to genderequality. Statements of principle andbelief including words like “webelieve” or “we recognise”). Forexample: “We believe that women andgirls are overrepresented amongst thepoor, marginalised and oppressed, as aresult of the unequal distribution ofpower and resources between womenand men in all societies.”

■ Succinct statement of policycommitments in relation to specifiedareas of work (statements of actionincluding words like “we will”. It ispossible and quite helpful to use alogical framework format for this). Forexample: “We will provide appropriatetraining and support to all staff toensure they have adequate awareness,knowledge and skills with which toconcretely address gender issues intheir work.”

Strategy/action plan

This stipulates how the policy commitmentswill be put into practice. In relation to allpolicy commitments, it is important to specifythe following:

■ objectives;

■ indicators;

■ activities;

■ time frame;

■ designated responsibility;

■ budget.

Lessons

Policy evaporation

All too often, gender mainstreamingpolicies “evaporate” before implementation,and remain paper commitments only. Policiesmust include strategies/action plans withclear procedures and targets as well asdesignated roles and responsibilities forpromotion, implementation, andmonitoring. These should be based on aclear and realistic analysis of theorganisation/department including itsdecision-making structures, incentivesystems, planning routines and history withrespect to gender equality.

Focus on process and product

The value of a gender mainstreamingpolicy lies at least as much in its formulationas in its existence. The formulation of amainstreaming policy is a golden opportunityto involve as many staff and, whereappropriate, stakeholders external to theorganisation as possible. This processpromotes ownership; enhancesunderstanding and commitment to genderequality issues; ensures that the policy fitswith the organisational culture, structuresand procedures; and substantially increasesthe chance that the policy will beimplemented. In this context:

■ gender policies from other similarorganisations can be used for ideas andinspiration, but shouldn’t be copied orused as blueprints;

■ external consultants often have auseful role to play in facilitating aconsultation and policydevelopment process, but appointinga consultant to write a gender policycarries the risk of underminingownership and effectiveness.

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Policy evaporationSince the early 1990s, many governments,

donor organisations and civil societyorganisations have taken significant steps tomainstream attention to gender equality intheir work. Repeatedly and consistently,evaluations of gender mainstreaming havefound that policy commitments to genderequality “evaporate” in planning andimplementation processes, with the result thatimpact on women’s and men’s lives is verylimited. The following findings are typical:

■ there is a lack of reliable systems andprocedures in place and attention togender equality is not systematic inpolicy-making, planning,implementation and evaluation;

■ high level commitments made bygovernments are often not reflected insectoral policies;

■ there is a general lack of understandingon what mainstreaming entails;

■ there remains a tendency to viewwomen as a sector;

■ gender equality is not systematicallyincluded in the TORs of staff andconsultants;

■ gender-awareness amongst staff is notnecessarily easily translated in policyand planning initiatives: there is a needfor tools;

■ mainstreaming gender equality isoften reduced to a women’scomponent in projects that has a verysmall claim on resources;

■ concern for gender equality can be seenas imposed by donor agencies, leadingto lip service from partner agencies.

The extent to which gender equalitypolicy commitments will be formulated andthen effectively implemented depends on thecommitment, understanding and skills of staffin policy-making, planning andimplementation roles. In most developmentorganisations in the north and south, only asmall minority of staff have the level ofunderstanding, skills and commitment to acteffectively and consistently in line withgender equality policy commitments.

Developing and sustaining staffcommitment, knowledge and skills is a long-term process of organisational change withpolitical and technical dimensions.

The critical factors involved in promotingindividual and organisational change are:

■ Political will and leadership.

■ Gender champions and focal points.

■ Staff capacity.

■ Robust systems and mechanisms ofaccountability.

■ Progress towards gender equality at work.

These are critical to progress withinDFID – but also in partner organisations.


Political will and leadershipThe importance of political will and

leadership to progress on gender equality andwomen’s rights cannot be overstated.Political leaders and senior managers providesignals about the relative priority assigned tovarious issues through making demands onstaff for analysis, information and updates onprogress. When such demands are not made,and when staff are not held accountable foraction on issues of equality, there is littleincentive for action.

Equally, senior management support forthose spearheading gender equality work is akey to success. Mainstreaming gender equalityis a highly sensitive issue and often meets withstaff opposition. Management support plays animportant role in providing gender staff withthe necessary space to try out different and attimes controversial activities.

Demonstrations of leadership

Political leaders and senior managers candemonstrate commitment to gender equalityand women’s rights by:

■ making demands on staff forinformation, ideas, and progress reports;

■ providing recognition to staff forinnovation/achievement related togender equality and women’s rights;

■ integrating gender equality intospeeches and statements on a range ofsubjects and not reserving commentson this theme purely forgender/women-specific occasions;

■ ensuring the allocation of sufficientresources, financial and human, for thepromotion of gender equality;

■ participating in discussions on genderequality issues i.e. opening workshops,chairing panels, sponsoring discussions;

■ providing moral support;

■ supporting policy advocacy anddialogue on gender equality, e.g.raising it in discussions with politiciansand with partner organisations;

■ promoting measures to develop greatergender equality in the staffing andculture of the organisation.

Promoting leadership andmanagement support

Gender advocates and focal points canencourage senior management support through:

■ arranging gender training/briefingspecifically for senior management,with a focus on policy issues;

■ involving senior management ingender policy development, includingdiscussion of implementation andmonitoring strategies;

■ ensuring that senior management rolesand responsibilities in relation to thepromotion of gender equality andwomen’s rights are clearly spelt out ingender mainstreaming policies;

■ developing strategic alliances withwomen’s groups and advocacy groupsoutside the organisation, seeking tohold the organisation to account;

■ where management staff are beingappointed, lobbying for the inclusion ofunderstanding/commitment togender equality in TORs, and inassessment procedures.

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Gender champions andfocal points

Evaluations of gender mainstreamingconsistently conclude that effective gendermainstreaming in any context requires staff -variously referred to as gender focalstaff/change agents/gender“entrepreneurs”/gender advocates/genderchampions - to take responsibility forspearheading, supporting and sustaining genderwork. The role of these staff is not to take fullpersonal responsibility for gender work, but toact as catalysts supporting and promotinggender-related skills and approaches amongstprofessional colleagues. The evidence isoverwhelming that unless there are staff withthis kind of designated responsibility,responsibility for gender equality all too easilybecomes “mainstreamed” out of existence.

In DFID there are two aspects to this role.

Gender champions – There is at least oneSenior Civil Servant (SCS) gender championin each of DFID’s ten divisions. In somedivisions, there are also gender champions atdepartmental and country office level. Theirrole is not to be gender experts – but tochampion the gender equality and women’srights agenda, work on establishing the rightenabling environment, direct resources towardsinitiatives to build capacity and increaseimpact, and provide senior support for stafffocusing on technical aspects of the genderequality agenda.

Social Development Advisers – provide theanalytical and technical expertise to supportcolleagues and partners to address genderequality and women’s rights in their work.

In partner governments, gender equalityand women’s rights tends to be championed bygender focal points.

Gender focal points

The effectiveness of gender focal points,particularly those based in sectoral andregional ministries and projectimplementation teams, has often proveddisappointing, at least partly becauseexpectations of what they might achieve canbe unrealistically high. Gender focal pointscommonly face the following constraints:

■ lack of clarity about their rolesand responsibilities;

■ lack of management support;

■ no additional time/resources allocatedto their gender focal point role;

■ women staff members selected as focalpoints on the basis of their sex ratherthan their commitment to the issues;

■ relatively junior staff members selectedas focal points but lacking theauthority and seniority to undertakethis role effectively. The potential forintroducing change from below in anorganisation accustomed tohierarchical top down forms ofdecision-making is inevitably limited;

■ huge demands on their personal andprofessional initiative and resilience;

■ many existing gender analysismethodologies and training packagesare oriented to data gathering/analysisat the community/project level. A lotof this is not directly relevant togender focal points operating at apolicy level.


Promoting effectiveness

Positive focal point experiences,associated with promoting tangible changeand sustaining momentum, are stronglyrelated to supportive management, scope andresources for developing and implementingpolicy and activities, and adequate support.Donors have an important role to play infacilitating the effectiveness of gender focalpoints both in partner organisations and inproject implementation teams.

■ Recognise the importance ofleadership and management support toenable focal points work in an effectiveway – and look into ways of promotingand supporting this.

■ Focal point TORs: terms of referencefor gender focal points should beclearly spelt out, and, if appropriate,developed in conjunction with seniormanagers and gender focal pointsthemselves. TORs should realisticallybear in mind the time and resourcesthat will be available to individual focalpoints, and confirm the role of thegender focal point as a catalyst.

■ Capacity-building: this could includetraining (in gender mainstreaming andadvocacy skills),mentoring, links toprofessional networks, participation in workshops.

■ Professional and personal support:through backstopping support andinvolvement in networks.

Gender Training

What is gender training?

In-service gender training emerged in the mid1980s to “teach” development policy makers,planners and implementation staff to see andtake account of the differential impact ofdevelopment interventions on men and women.This kind of gender training commonly involves:

■ raising participants’ awareness of thedifferent and unequal roles andresponsibilities of women and men inany particular context;

■ looking at ways that developmentinterventions affect, and are affectedby, differences and inequalitiesbetween women and men;

■ equipping participants with knowledgeand skills to understand genderdifferences and inequalities in thecontext of their work, and to plan andimplement policies, programmes andprojects to promote gender equality.

Pitfalls in gender training

Good gender training can promote a morepositive climate of opinion to facilitate genderequitable work, and develop staff confidenceand skills. Poor gender training not only failsto promote gender equitable practice, it canprovoke a backlash to hard-won progress. Toomuch gender training provokes resistanceand/or is ineffectual because:

■ it is formulaic;

■ it is dislocated from the needs ofthe group;

■ it says more about the trainer than thetrainees: it is “too academic”, it is “toofeminist”, it regurgitates what the trainerlearnt on a training of trainer course.

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“Best practice” in gender training:the context

Gender training is most effective whenused as part of a broader strategy forinfluencing the climate of opinion within anorganisation for promoting gender equitablepractice. Complementary activities include:

■ follow up discussion andfeedback workshops;

■ participatory gender policydevelopment with clear, measurableand achievable objectives;

■ promoting leadership and seniormanagement support;

■ ensuring staff have back-up accessto gender expertise and toprofessional support;

■ inclusion of attention to genderequality issues in personnel appraisals;

■ forming internal gender networks andcommittees/working with externaladvisory/consultative groups;

■ establishing earmarked funds forpilot initiative;s

■ active monitoring of gender policy implementation.

“Best practice” in gender training:the content

Gender training works most effectively when:

It is learner centred

All training should be based on an analysisof the participants and their needs. It isimportant to allow trainers sufficientpreparation time to conduct some form ofLearning Needs Analysis prior to the

training. The more homogenous the groupof participants, the more the training can betailored to their specific needs, the moreeffective it will be.

It uses participatory methods

Effective training uses participatorymethods such as case studies, brainstorming,and problem solving to allow participants toactively engage with the subject matter, andlearn by doing. Choice of methods willdepend on the topic, the group, the trainerand practical factors. It is important to usecountry, culturally and sectorally specific casematerial directly relevant to thecircumstances in which participants live andwork. The participants’ own policies,projects, experiences, observations anddeliberations should be the principalmaterials for discussion.

It introduces skills as well as awareness

Effective training is based on anunderstanding of the participants own jobresponsibilities, an understanding of wherethey fit in their organisational structure and anunderstanding of their organisational systemsand procedures. It should help participants toidentify and discuss their own opportunitiesand constraints to develop a gender equalityperspective, and encourage the development(and follow up) of personal action plans.

The trainer has credibility withthe participants

The trainer needs to have knowledge,understanding and status appropriate to thegroup. In all circumstances trainers need toadopt a non-threatening approach allowingdiscussion and exploration of differentviewpoints. It is often best for externalconsultants to work with internal gender staffin order to ensure the relevance of the trainingto the organisation.


Training is followed up

Competence development is a process notan event. Training needs to be followed upwith discussion workshops, more tailoredtraining and/or on-the job support.

Commissioning gender training

In commissioning gender training, it isimportant to be aware of best practice in boththe context and content of gender training andto ensure, as far as possible, that this isfollowed. To promote effectiveness:

Work alongside external gendertraining consultants

■ it is preferable for external gendertrainers to work alongside staffresponsible for promoting attention togender mainstreaming within theorganisation in order to ensure therelevance of the training to theorganisational culture, structures andprocedures, and to ensure that thetraining complements and reinforcesother mainstreaming initiatives

If possible, use a team of trainers ratherthan an individual trainer

■ training is often conducted mosteffectively by teams rather thanindividuals. This is partly becausegender training can be extremelychallenging and tiring, and co-facilitators can give each other supportand feedback. It is also because, inmoving from “one size fits all” totraining tailored to the needs of theparticipants, it is unlikely that onetrainer will have all the knowledge andskills required. Co-training is also away of building training capacity.

Factors to consider in selecting trainers

■ gender trainers have different areas ofexpertise as well as different styles andapproaches to training, i.e. they do notall do the same job in the same way.Find out all you can about theapproach of different gender trainersfrom people who have experiencedworking with them. It is important tothink about the credibility of thetrainer/s with the group

◆ It is important for at least one trainer tocome from the same area and ethnicgroup as the majority of the participants.

◆ Male gender trainers can stop genderbeing seen as a woman’s issue, andpromote the credibility of gendermainstreaming in mixed and/or largelymale groups.

◆ Trainers with highly developed theoreticalunderstanding of gender analysis may beappropriate to promote credibility withhighly educated and policymaking groups,but a very academic approach is likely tohave limited impact on skills and practicalapplication.

◆ Trainers with practical and appliedexperience of mainstreaming gender inparticular sectors can work well withsector-specific groups.

◆ Trainers with an overtly radical/feministapproach can work well with groupsalready committed to mainstreaminggender equality and/or women’s groups.

■ Always allow time and resources forLearning Needs Analysis and fortrainers to develop appropriate andtailored training materials.

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Gender equality at workDFID is committed to promoting gender

equality at work, both internally, and withpartner organisations. This means eliminatingunlawful discrimination and harassment inDFID employment practices and activelypromoting gender equality within the DFIDworkforce. DFID’s approach to promotinggender equality within the workforce is setout in the Gender Duty Scheme andassociated Action Plan.

“To be credible in urging partners to takeaction to reduce gender inequality anddiscrimination, we need to demonstrate ourown commitment to gender equality withinDFID, in terms of workplace policy and thesignals that we give to staff about theseriousness with which the organisationviews the issue.”

(DFID Gender Duty Scheme 2007)

Actions include:

■ Increasing the representation ofwomen in senior and middlemanagement. The CrossingThresholds mentoring programme isproviding mentoring and coachingover a 12 month period for women inthe feeder grade to the senior civilservice.

■ E-learning modules to help staffunderstand the background to equalityand diversity legislation and theirresponsibilities.

■ Production of a training DVDcontaining a mixture of legislation,interactive programmes and thought-provoking cases studies.

■ The development of DiversityPrinciples to integrate diversity intothe identification, design,implementation and evaluation oftraining, and to ensure diversity issuesare considered in drafting terms ofreference and choosing consultants.

■ Analysing data on the life of a DFIDemployee, covering areas includingworkforce profile, recruitment,promotions, training, redundancy, staffin need of development, discipline,grievance and leavers.

■ Undertaking an Equal Pay audit (2008).

We have met the target forwomen in the SCS set at 37% in2008. Promoting gender equalitywill be one of the criteria onwhich DFID’s Senior CivilServants’ performance will beevaluated in 2008-9.


Equal opportunities at work: issues to consider

Equality in not only important within theDFID workforce. Progress towards equalopportunities within the workforce of partnergovernments and civil society organisations iscentral to good governance, and to thepromotion of gender equality and women’srights in wider society. Issues to consider inidentifying ways of supporting equalopportunities within partner governments andorganisations include:

■ Does the organisation keep sexdisaggregated statistics on recruitment,promotion, career development and wages?

■ Does the culture of the organisationdiscriminate against women or men?(information flow; communicationnetworks; decision-making; attitudetowards male/female staff;incidence/perceptions of sexual harassment).

■ Does the organisation have an EqualOpportunities policy or equivalentdirective? What does this policy cover?

■ What initiatives have been taken topromote greater equality inrecruitment, promotion, careerdevelopment, and/or wages, and towhat effect?

■ What initiatives have been taken to combat discrimination and harassment?

■ Does the organisation create a safeand practical environment for womenand men – consider issues liketransport arrangements, workinghours, travel commitments, child-care responsibilities?

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Further Information

4.1 Sources of further information

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General sources

Bridge

BRIDGE supports gender advocacy and mainstreaming efforts by bridging the gapsbetween theory, policy and practice with accessible and diverse gender information in printand online.

The gender ‘cutting edge’ packs are especially useful.

http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/

OECD-DAC

DAC work in the area of gender equality is conducted primarily through the Network onGender Equality (GENDERNET). GENDERNET is the only international forum wheregender experts from development co-operation agencies meet to define common approachesin support of gender equality.

www.oecd.org/dac/gender

Siyanda

Siyanda is an on-line database of gender and development materials from around the world.It is also an interactive space where gender practitioners can share ideas, experiences and resources.

http://www.siyanda.org

UN Division for the Advancement of Women

The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) advocates the improvement of the status of women of the world, and the achievement of their equality with men –as equalactors, partners, and beneficiaries of sustainable development, human rights, peace and security.

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/

UNIFEM

UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technicalassistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women’s empowerment andgender equality.

http://www.unifem.org


Related DFID policy documents and resourcesGeneralGender Equality Action Plan (2007)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/gender-equality-plan-2007.pdf

First progress report (2008)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/first-progress-report14July.pdf

Gender Equality: at the heart of development (2007)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/gender-equality.pdf

Gender Duty Scheme (2007)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/gender-scheme07-10.pdf

Climate changeGender and climate change: mapping the linkages (2008) (BRIDGE for DFID)http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/Climate_Change_DFID.pdf

Economic growthGender equality and growth: evidence and action (2008) – see PRD Growth Teampage on Insight

GovernanceGovernance, development and democratic politics (2007) http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/governance.pdf

Gender and tradeGender and trade website http://www.genderandtrade.org/

Fighting HIV and AIDsStrategy paper: Achieving Universal Access (2008)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/achieving-universal-access.pdf

Girls’ educationStrategy paper: Girls’ education: towards a better future for all(2005)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/education/girls-education-full-final.pdf

Improving maternal healthStrategy paper: Reducing maternal deaths – evidence and action(2004). http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/maternal-deaths-strategy.pdf

Third progress report (2008)http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/maternal-health-strategy-report3.pdf

Sexual and reproductive health and rightsPosition paper: Sexual and reproductive health and rights http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/sexualreprohealthrights.pdf

See also PRD’s Gender Equality page on DFID Insight.

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Further Information

4.2 Glossary of key terms

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Discrimination

The special treatment of individuals orgroups that contravenes the justice principlethat all people should be treated as equals.

Empowerment

Empowerment means individualsacquiring the power to think and act freely,exercise choice and to fulfil their potential asfull and equal members of society.

Gender analysis

Gender analysis is the process of analysingthe ways in which women’s and men’s orboys’ and girls’ experiences differ. It oftendraws on sex disaggregated data, and analysesthe causes and consequences of genderdifference and inequality.

Gender-aware/gender-sensitive

Gender-aware and gender-sensitive areterms used to refer to policies andprogrammes that do take into accountdifference and inequality between womenand men.

Gender-blind

Gender blind is a term used to refer topolicies and programmes that have failed totake difference and inequality betweenwomen and men into account.

Gender budget

The term gender budget refers to genderanalysis of all or part of the governmentbudget, either to plan or to assess the extentto which government expenditure willbenefit each sex equally, and/or meet theirrespective needs.

Gender equality and gender equity

DFID draws a distinction betweenequality of opportunity and equity ofoutcomes. Equality of opportunity meansthat women and men should have equalrights and entitlements to human, social,economic and cultural development, and anequal voice in civil and political life. Genderequity means that the exercise of these rightsand entitlements should lead to outcomeswhich are fair and just. This distinction isimportant because it underlines the rights ofwomen to define for themselves theobjectives of development and to seekoutcomes which are not necessarily identicalto those sought and enjoyed by men.Equality does not mean that everyone has tobe the same. Diversity enriches human lifeand should be a cause for celebration not abasis for discrimination.

Gender mainstreaming

Mainstreaming gender equality meansensuring that women’s and men’s (or boysand girls’) concerns and experiences areintegral to the design, implementation,monitoring and evaluation of all legislation,policies and programmes, with the aim ofmaking sure inequality is not perpetuated,women’s and men’s different rights and needsare recognised and addressed, and womenand men share benefits – with the overall aimof promoting gender equality.


Gender-neutral

Gender-neutral is used to refer to policiesand programmes that are seen to impactequally and in the same way on women andmen. In reality, because gender difference isintrinsic to human life, no policy orprogramme that impacts on people isgender-neutral.

Social Exclusion

This term describes a situation where agroup or groups of people, distinguished bytheir social identity, race, caste, religion,physical attribute, age or gender are excludedfrom participation in the normal activities oftheir society and unable to assert their rights.

Sex disaggregated data

Sex disaggregated data is statisticalinformation separating out male and femaleoutcomes. Disaggregation of data makesgender differences visible.

Sex and Gender

Differences between men and women areboth biologically and socially determined.Sex differences are based on biology. Genderdifferences are socially defined and differbetween countries and cultures. This meansthat they are not fixed and can be changed.


AcknowledgementsThe Equity and Rights Team in DFID are particularly grateful to Helen Derbyshire whosework forms the basis for this manual. We are also grateful to colleagues in DFID, especiallySushila Zeitlyn for their useful comments and inputs.

Sudan

credit:Martin Adler / Panos

India

credit:Chris Stowers / Panos

India

credit:Robert Wallis / Panos

Malawi

credit:Giacomo Pirozzi / Panos

Djibouti


Malawi


Guinea


Malawi

credit:Mikkel Ostergard / Panos

Malawi

credit:Abby Trayler-Smith/ Panos

Moldovia


Bangladesh

credit:G.M.B Akash / Panos

Malawi

credit:Jenny Matthews / Panos

Lahore

credit:DFID

Guatemala

credit:DFID

credit:DFID

credit:DFID

credit:DFID

Ethiopia

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Ethiopia

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Bangladesh

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Afghanistan

credit:DFID

Mali

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Kenya

credit:DFID

Kenya

credit:DFID

Nigeria

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Lesotho

credit:DFID

Nepal

credit:DFID

Image Credits

© Crown copyright 2008

Copyright in the typographical arrangement and design rests with the Crown. This publication (excluding the logo) may be reproducedfree of charge in any format or medium provided that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The materialmust be acknowledged as Crown copyright with the title and source of the publication specified.

Published by the Department for International Development. Printed in the UK, 2008, on recycled paper containing 80% recycled fibreand 20% totally chlorine free virgin pulp.

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