GENDER GLOSSARY
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Gender 1) gender Resources: From: Merrill-Sands, D., Holvino, and Cumming. Working With Diversity. Working Paper No. 11, Center for Gender in Organizations, SIMMONS Graduate School of Management, MA, USA: 2000. |
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Gender analysis · used to assess the different roles, responsibilities, needs and interests of men and women
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Gender and Development (GAD) and Women in Development (WID)
Gender and Development (GAD) and Women in Development (WID)
· GAD is a critical approach to development intended to challenge the structures and processes that reinforce gender inequality
· the GAD approach uses gender analysis as a key methodology to identifying gender and other social hierarchies
· it evolved as a result of the weaknesses of the Women in Development or WID approach
· volumes have been written on the failures of WID; here briefly -
· its focus on women's material situation did not lead to improvements women's social and economic power;
· it tended to view women in isolation from men and the other social relations that determine women's subordination
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Gender based violence Violence against women is any act of gender based violence that results in, physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or private life. Resources: United Nations General Assembly, 1993, cited in Maclean, H., et. al. (2004). Globalization, gender and health: Research-to-policy interface. Unpublished manuscript. A working paper prepared for the African online discussion forum, "Globalization, Gender & Health" (January 26-February 10, 2004). Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Gender and Health. |
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Gender Blind Person, policy, or an institution that does not recognize that gender is an essential determinant of the life choices available to us in society. (based on Parker 1993:74)
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Gender budgets
A variety of processes and tools that attempt to assess the impact of government budgets, mainly at the national level, on different groups of men and women, through recognizing the ways in which gender relations underpin society and the economy. Gender or women’s budget initiatives are not separate budgets for women. They include analysis of gender-targeted allocations, such as special programmes targeting women; they disaggregate by gender the impact of mainstream spending across all sectors and services; and they review equal opportunity policies and allocations within government services.
Resources:
Ames et al, cited in Maclean, H., et. al. (2004). Globalization, gender and health: Research-to-policy interface. Unpublished manuscript. A working paper prepared for the African online discussion forum, "Globalization, Gender & Health" (January 26-February 10, 2004). Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Gender and Health.
Gender Discrimination
Treating one person less favourably than another on the basis of that person’s gender. For example, paying a woman less money than a man for work of the same value is gender discrimination.
Resources:
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Gender Division of Labour · learned behaviour in a given society/community that conditions the division of labour in the productions systems in other words, which activities, tasks and responsibilities are perceived as male and female
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Gender equality · when women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and potential to contribute to national, political, economic, social and cultural development and to benefit equally from the results
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Gender equity
the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, measures must often be available to compensate for historical and social
disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. (Status of Women Canada, 1996)
· Equity strategies are about a process to eventually attain equality. Equity is the means; equality is the targeted result.
Gender Inequality
· there are not just gender differences there are fundamental gender inequalities
· no matter where in the world you were born you will generally have greater choices, opportunities and resources if you were born male
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Gender Mainstreaming An organisational strategy to bring a gender perspective to all aspects of an institution’s policy and activities, through building gender capacity and accountability. Resources: Gender and Development, Concepts and Definitions Bridge Institute of Development Studies Available online: http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/re55.pdf |
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Gender Needs Shared and prioritized needs identified by women that arise from their common experience as a gender. Resources: Gender and Development, Concepts and Definitions Bridge Institute of Development Studies Available online: http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/re55.pdf |
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Gender oppression · This means the undervaluing of what is seen as feminine. · Gender oppression can be experienced by women and men. · However, since patriarchal norms dominate our society all women experience gender oppression to a greater or lesser degree. Resources: from: Doing the Gender Boogie: Power, Participation and Economic Justice, A popular education and action guide, Debbie Culbertson, editor, Ten Days for World Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1995. |
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Gender Planning A planning approach that recognizes that because women and men play different roles in society they often have different needs. (Moser 1993:230)
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Gender Roles · learned behaviour in a given society/community that conditions the division of labour in the productions systems in other words, which activities, tasks and responsibilities are perceived as male and female
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Gender sensitivity
· Gender sensitivity means to be aware that there are both biological and gender difference between women and men. Also that women and men in different parts of the world have been gendered in different ways.
· Gender oppression does not operate in isolation but is affected by other systems of oppression such as colour, class, culture and age, of both oppressor and the oppressed. We assume that effective learning takes place when teachers are aware of the needs, issues and realities of learners.
· Gender sensitivity means building in a critical edge to counter the gender oppression that we've been socialised into.
Resources:
from: Doing the Gender Boogie: Power, Participation and Economic Justice, A popular education and action guide, Debbie Culbertson, editor, Ten Days for World Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1995.
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Gender subordination Gender subordination is a social system in which people are socialised into accepting sets of beliefs. These beliefs hold that women are inferior to men. The power relations attached to these ideas give men power than women in society. Resources: from: Doing the Gender Boogie: Power, Participation and Economic Justice, A popular education and action guide, Debbie Culbertson, editor, Ten Days for World Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1995. |
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Gender Training A facilitated process of developing awareness and capacity on gender issues, to bring about personal or organisational change for gender equality. Resources: Gender and Development, Concepts and Definitions Bridge Institute of Development Studies Available online: http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/re55.pdf |
Gender/Sex disaggregated data
Statistical information that differentiates between men and women; for example, ‘number of people in the labour force’. This allows one to see where there are gender gaps.
Resources:
Ames et al, cited in Maclean, H., et. al. (2004). Globalization, gender and health: Research-to-policy interface. Unpublished manuscript. A working paper prepared for the African online discussion forum, "Globalization, Gender & Health" (January 26-February 10, 2004). Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Gender and Health.
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General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
GATT stands for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It is an international treaty setting out rules for international trade. From 1947 to 1994, the GATT was the primary agreement for negotiating lower customs and decreased trade barriers, i.e. trade liberalization.
In 1994, the GATT was revised and incorporated into a more comprehensive set of trade agreements called the Uruguay Round Agreements. Since 1995, the updated GATT has become the umbrella agreement for trade in goods. It has annexes dealing with specific sectors such as agriculture and textiles, and with specific issues such as product standards. The Uruguay Round Agreements, including the GATT, are administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The text of the GATT spells out important trade rules, including the Most Favoured Nation, National Treatment, and nondiscrimination principles.
Resources:
To learn more about the GATS visit www.wto.org.
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
GATS stands for the General Agreement on Trade in Services. It is an international treaty setting out rules for international trade in services. The GATS covers trade in all types of services, including health care and education.
The GATS is part of the Uruguay Round Agreements, and is one of the most important trade agreements administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The GATS came into force in January 1995, and commits states to negotiate on and progressively liberalize trade in services.
Like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the GATS is governed by the general trade principles of Most Favoured Nation, National Treatment, and Nondiscrimination. Apart from these general obligations, the extent of a member's commitment to liberalization of trade in services is largely dependent on the specific obligations it undertakes through its Schedule of Specific Commitments. States are not yet required to undertake liberalization in all sectors.
Resources:
To learn more about the GATS visit www.wto.org.
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General Comments (to Human Rights Treaties) General Comments are issued by various Committees that oversee human rights treaties. General Comments are not binding. In the end, the text of the treaty is the only legally binding obligation upon a state. However, General Comments provide guidance as to the proper interpretation of a specific provision or provisions of the treaty and/or clear up uncertainties regarding the legal text of the treaty. Resources: All of the General Comments up to 2001 can be found at http://193.194.138.190/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/HRI.GEN.1.Rev.5.En?OpenDocument |
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Feminine Feminine means having qualities seen as suitable to a women in a particular culture at a particular time. Resources: from: Doing the Gender Boogie: Power, Participation and Economic Justice, A popular education and action guide, Debbie Culbertson, editor, Ten Days for World Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1995. |
Feminism
Feminism is a movement aimed at critiqueing and debunking patriarchal structures which promote male power and privilege. Its ideology is based on the principles of gender equality and social justice. It seeks to transform the world by mobilization and resistance to women’s oppression and advancing alternative ideals of justice and anti-sexism.
Feminism can also be understood by looking at the aspects or characteristics usually associated with the term.
Through advocacy of social, political, cultural and economic rights for women, feminists work to improve social, political, cultural and economic rights for women by appealing to various governments, institutions and agencies. Appeals can take many forms, such as; petitions, protests, marches, legal actions, academic research and writing, women’s organizations (like AWID), etc. When advocacy for women’s rights becomes organized and the numbers of participants working toward similar goals increases, advocacy takes on the shape of a movement. The women’s liberation movement, for example, was formed by women who adopted the idea that women were oppressed in the same way that colonized people were, therefore women needed to be freed from oppression, not just given equal rights.
Feminism also requires an understanding or recognition that rights of women should be equal to men. However, interpretations of what equality means differs across cultures, races, religions, ages, and genders. There is a tendency for hegemonic feminism to occupy positions within feminist discourses that can ignore or mistake those expressed by feminists from the ‘south’. One of the challenges feminism faces are differences in feminist ideologies. Feminism is a multiple term and thus should be conceptualized as plural, in other words, Feminisms. Below is an example of some different conceptions of feminism.
The following are different types of feminism:
Equal rights feminism; Maternal feminism; Lesbian feminism; Womanism; Feminist Orientalism
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Feminist ideologies Various theories about the origins of the inequality between the sexes. Although each assumes such inequality is unjust and should be changed, each offers a different set of ideas about its origins, how it can be eliminated and what kind of society should be established in its place. Resources: Vickers, Jill (1997) Reinventing Political Science: A Feminist Approach, |
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Masculine Having qualities that are seen as appropriate to men in a particular time and place. Resources: from: Doing the Gender Boogie: Power, Participation and Economic Justice, A popular education and action guide, Debbie Culbertson, editor, Ten Days for World Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1995. |