Gender and Development

Session 3

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Introduction

• Gender role stereotyping and consequent subordination of women to men is a deterrent to development

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• Gender issues and concerns are often overlooked in development process

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• It is important for development practitioners to determine practical and strategic needs borne out of a gender analysis so that appropriate interventions will impact and benefit women and men.

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• The GAD approach seeks not only to integrate women into development, but to look for the potential in development initiatives to ... TRANSFORM UNEQUAL GENDER RELATIONS and EMPOWER WOMEN.

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

WHY THE BIG FUSS ABOUT GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT?

So many arguments have been raised about the importance of considering gender in development work.

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Let us look at the most important ones ...

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Philippine Commission on Women

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First...

Development work which does not take into account the needs, interests, and constraints of half of the population…

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RISKS MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH IMPLEMENTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY.

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Second ...

By most measures of relative status (earnings, education, nutrition, decision-making power) women are substantially disadvantaged compared to men, and the gaps are widening.

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HUMAN JUSTICE REQUIRES THAT THE PROCESSES WHICH PERPETUATE THIS DISADVANTAGE BE CHANGED!

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Third ...

Problems begin when confusion on sex and gender find its way into decisions affecting:

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• resource allocation
• assignment of roles and responsibilities
• transactional processes
• problem analysis

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Office of the President

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Because of these, women and men are boxed into situations which constrain their…

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• capacity to do and to be

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…AND hinder their potential to attain a full and satisfying life

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Office of the President

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What are Gender Issues?

These are difficulties that women and men experience as a result of cultural biases - emanating from beliefs, attitudes, values, roles and characteristics attributed by society to women and men

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These biases define what women and men should be, how they would act, what they would do, what they are entitled to

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Office of the President

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What are Gender Issues?

Gender issues affect everybody, men or women, rich or poor, young or old, etc. in all spheres of life.

THEY AFFECT MEN TOO!

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Office of the President

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• Inherently aggressive and violent

• Don’t feel pain or incapable of

experiencing human emotions

• Inherently expressive in their

sexuality

• Don’t need closeness, reassurance,

and attention

Gender Biases Against Men

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Office of the President

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Gender Issues faced by women

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Office of the President

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Gender issues are deterrents

to development. Thus, it is

important to address them in

development planning.

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

GAD is about being faithful to the principle that

Fairness and equity demands that

everyone in society, whether male of

female, has the right to the same

opportunities to achieve a full and

satisfying life.

Why GAD?

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

• GAD is about recognizing that gender biases impede development because:

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- they prevent people from attaining

their full potentials (which will enable

them to become effective contributors to development)

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Further…

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Office of the President

“CAPACITY TO DO” & “CAPACITY TO BE”

• Capacity to do refers to how individuals are able to perform the thing they want to do in pursuit of a better life.

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• Capacity to be gives individuals the opportunity and resources to attain their aspirations for a better life.

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Because, GAD ---�

• Sharpens the focus of development on people

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• Enhances the capacities of women and men to contribute to the attainment of development goals

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• Reduces social inequities that stem from unequal gender relations

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WHY GAD?

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Office of the President

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More importantly,

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a gender-responsive development is crucial in attaining GROWTH with EQUITY

GROWTH, because GAD empowers women to be effective as half of the national producers of goods and services

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EQUITY, because it aims to provide more to those who have less according to needs

WHY GAD ?

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Office of the President

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But why focus more

on women?

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Office of the President

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“Eliminating gender inequalities leads to significant productivity gains, provides large societal benefits and enhances poverty reduction scheme”

-World Bank

Because…

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

First, women are half of the

country’s population. As such, they

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are half of the producers of

economic goods and services

but...

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Office of the President

they are in the invisible and marginalized sector or the so-called non-money economy

- bearing and raising children

- domestic and unpaid economic labor

- subsistence agriculture

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Office of the President

Second, they are already in the

money economy

• informal sector

• wage employment

• trading

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Office of the President

Third, women have unique stakes,

roles and insights to share in order to attain

development objectives, such as in:

• imparting values that have

profound impacts on human

progress and economic

development

• sustaining the environment

• managing population growth

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Office of the President

And most importantly, because

resources and opportunities for

attaining a full and satisfying life are

NOT ALWAYS THE SAME for women

and men. These are determined by:

SEX - child bearing

GENDER - beliefs about what women

CAN’T DO OR SHOULD DO

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

WHAT IS GAD, then?

GAD is a major advance in development theory and practice.

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It has grown out of attempts to understand both the ongoing inequality between women and men and the failure of countless development and women’s projects.

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GAD is about recognizing

that gender biases impede development

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Office of the President

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WHAT IS GAD, then?

GAD is a development perspective that recognizes the different roles, interests and needs of women and men

It reflects a change in focus from women and their exclusion from development initiatives to the RELATIONS OF INEQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN

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Office of the President

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In the processes of developing, budgeting, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programs, projects and services, particularly in

government agencies.

AND DELIBERATELY ADDRESSES THEM…

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Office of the President

Everyone who believes in the vision of

attaining a full and satisfying life for all

has an obligation to help pursue GAD

WHY US ?

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Gender issues affect all of us. But

instead of solving them, we all

contribute to their perpetuation.

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Office of the President

We are mandated by international

treaties/commitments, laws and policies

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We are custodians of peoples’ trust and

resources. We have the power,

knowledge, skills and resources to make

development work for everybody

WHY US ?

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Legal Mandates

• 1987 Constitution
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• Beijing Platform for Action
• Millennium Development Goals
• Republic Act 7192 (Women in Development and Nation-building Act)

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

Legal Mandates

• Executive Order No. 273 (Approving and Adopting the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development, 1995-2025)
• General Appropriations Act
• Republic Act 9710 (Magna Carta of Women Act of 2009)
• DBM-NEDA-PCW Joint Circular 2004-1 and 2012-01
• DILG- DBM- NEDA – PCW Joint Memorandum Circular 2013-01

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

RA 9710: Magna Carta of Women

• IRR - RULE VI INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS

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GAD programs

addressing gender

issues and concerns

shall be designed

and implemented

based on the mandate

of NGAs and LGUs”

(Sec 36.a)

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“ All agencies, offices, bureaus, SUCs,

GOCCs, LGUs and other government

instrumentalities shall formulate

their annual GAD plans, programs

and budgets within the context of

their mandates”

(Sec 37 A.1.a MCW IRR)

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

� RA 9710: Magna Carta of Women

• At least five percent (5%) of the total agency or LGU budget appropriations shall correspond to activities supporting GAD Plans and Programs

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• The head of agency or LCE shall ensure that GAD Plans, Programs, and activities are provided with adequate resources

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• The GAD Budget shall be drawn from the following budget items: maintenance and other operating expenses, capital outlay, and personnel services- subject to specific guidelines on GAD Planning and Budgeting that may be issued by appropriate oversight agencies

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Office of the President

DBM-NEDA-PCW �Joint Circular 2012-01

Guidelines for the Preparation of Annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plan and Budget and Accomplishment Report to Implement the Magna Carta of Women

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• Prescribed new format of GPB and GAD AR for national government agencies, SUCs and GOCCs
• Introduced the idea of attribution using the HGDG
• Instituted submission to and review of GPB and GAD AR by central offices.

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

DILG-DBM-NEDA-PCW �Joint Memorandum Circular 2013-01

Guidelines on the Localization of Magna Carta of Women

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• Prescribed new format of GPB and GAD AR for LGUs
• Instituted submission to and review of GPB and GAD AR by local and regional DILG
• LGU GAD FP, database, GAD Code, Mainstreaming GAD in CDP

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Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

A. Personal

• check personal gender biases
• look at everyone and deal with them

as human, not as women/men, male/

female, girls/boys

• critique books of young children
• examine assignment of roles at home

and correct gendered patterns

Where do we go from here ?

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

B. Organizational

• desegregate data by sex
• attain balance in various positions

(esp. top and decision-making

positions)

• stop gender discrimination in

recruitment, hiring, training, promotion

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Where do we go from here ?

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

B. Organizational

• make spaces for disadvantaged men

and women

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• treat each one as equals; demolish

hierarchical social transactions

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• adopt a GAD plan of action (review

content of training programs; develop

tools, conduct GRP, participate

in inter-agency activities on

GAD, etc.)

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Where do we go from here ?

Philippine Commission on Women

Office of the President

• Advocacy!
• Building basis of unity- working for the common good
• Coalition – trust building and transparency
• Sharing power and control
• Commitment, Consistency

and Continuity

• Celebrate our Success!

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Where do we go from here ?

B. Organizational

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Office of the President

May the Filipino Women and the future generations reap our efforts for gender equality!

Thank you for Listening

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Office of the President