Presentation by:

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Promoting gender equality, a joint responsibility

• Presentation by
• Dr Maretha de Waal
• Institute for womens and gender studies,
• University of pretoria

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WHAT IS GENDER EQUALITY?

• Equal opportunities resources for women and men
  to participate fully and effectively in society
• Equal rewards, recognition for equal work of
  women and men
• Equal access to and control over assets
• Equal participation in decision-making
• Acknowledgement of the rights of women and men,
  girls and boys

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• The vision of gender equality is based on
• Acknowledgement, acceptance and accommodation of
  DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SEXES, and
• 2. Acknowledgement OF SEXISM AS A SYSTEM OF
  OPPRESSION which has given rise to oppression of
  women and girls across the globe

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What is gender equity?
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ELIMINATE DISADVATAGE
SUFFERED BY MARGINALISED WOMEN OR WOMEN WHO FACE
MULTIPLE BARRIERS TO DEVELOPMENT, TO CREATE AN
ENABLING ENVIRONMENT, TO ENABLE EVERYONE TO
PARTICIPATE EQUALLY? The same question is asked
with reference to other vulnerable groups
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Lawful and unlawful discrimination
Lawful discrimination between the sexes seeks to
provide positive measures to restore imbalances,
to redress the impact of disadvantage, e.g.
Special programmes, special funds, special
opportunities The impact of unlawful
discrimination is hardship, suffering, neglect,
marginalisation, exclusion, violence, abuse
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EXAMPLES OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

• Physical violence
• Sexual violence
• Emotional violence
• Financial violence
• Conducted by
• The state
• Organisations, institutions
• Communities
• Households, family members
• Individuals

• Rape in times of war, corrective rape, marital
  rape, male rape
• Harmful customary and traditional practices
• Female genital mutilation
• Child birth practices
• Taboos during pregnancy
• Circumcision
• Treatment of widows, widowers
• Child abduction for marriage
• Witch-burning
• Trafficking in women and children

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What needs to be done?

• Attitudes, stereotypes, prejudice, ideology,
  value and belief systems, need to change
• cultural and organisational Practices, behaviour
  need to change
• Policies, protocols and laws need to change and
  enable change

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What needs to be done?

• To make households a safe place for women and
  children?
• To make the workplace accessible for women,
  pregnant woman, women from minority groups, women
  who had fewer experiences for skills development?
• To make state institutions non-discriminatory,
  e.g. courts, hospitals, for women who are HIV
  positive?

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Is the gender equality focus on women?

• Women and men experience discrimination and
  gender-based violence, e.g. Rape, exclusion from
  work opportunities, sexual harassment
• Exploitation of women and men are often
  associated with gender stereotypes
• Men are supposed to be strong and able to do
  hard work, not to get sick and not to feel pain,
  not to have emotional bonds - exploitation of
  men on mines hard labour in unhealthy
  conditions military war time inadequate
  health care facilities for men society ignores
  male violence and abuse of alcohol (because it
  contributes to manliness)
• Womens stereotypical role of nurturing,
  including their bodies, fertility and sexuality,
  are often exploited because of the stereotype of
  women as inferior to men, women have to serve
  men, women as symbol of culture, prosperity
• Men are being called upon to support the fight
  against oppression based on gender.

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A joint responsibility

• State, politicians, leaders
• International, regional and national
  organisations
• Communities and groups
• Families and individuals
• Women and men

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A joint responsibility

• International and national oversight?
• State, political accountability?
• Organisational responsibility?
• Individual and group agency?

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EXAMPLE VISION OF SOUTH AFRICAS POLICY
FRAMEWORK FOR WOMENS EMPOWERMENT AND GENDER
EQUALITY
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Design top-down
International standards, benchmarks Regional
targets and timeframes National compliance and
implementation measures Uptake by communities and
groups, culture Individual attitudes, behaviour
change
Change bottom-up
Change bottom-up up
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A joint responsibility...
Oversight Accountability Responsibility Agency
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RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY

• RESPONSIBILITY

• ACCOUNTABILITY

• Custody, care, and safekeeping
• Answerable to someone for something
• Responsibility for performance

• The obligation imposed by law or lawful order or
  regulation on an officer or other person
• Liable to being called to account
• Answerable
• The ultimate responsibility

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Progress of the World's Women 2008-2009 shows
that if commitments to promote gender equality
and women's rights are to be achieved, women must
be able to demand accountability from national
governments, justice and law enforcement systems,
employers and service providers as well as
international institutions. Ines
Alberdi Executive Director, UNIFEM
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(No Transcript)
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One of the most powerful constraints on realizing
gender equality, womens rights and development
is a deficit of accountability to women and men.
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Accountability is a core element of democratic
politics and good governance. In democratic
states, accountability relationships help ensure
that decision-makers and people in positions of
authority / leaders adhere to publicly agreed
standards, norms, and goals. This happens
through two processes power-holders give an
account of what they did with the public trust
and national revenue corrective action is
taken, if necessary, through a process of
enforcement of remedy for instance, by
voting politicians out of office or setting up a
judicial inquiry. Accountability, in other
words, involves assessment of the adequacy of
performance, and the imposition of a corrective
action or remedy in cases of performance
failure. Accountability from a gender
perspective requires that the decisions of public
actors can be assessed by women and men equally.
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Gender-sensitive accountability systems require
not just womens participation, but also
institutional reform to make gender equality one
of the standards against which the performance of
decision-makers is assessed.
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Responsibility

• Implementing organisations
• Oversight organisations
• Government officials
• TO
• MAINSTREAM GENDER EQUALITY

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ECOSOC DEFINITION OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING Mains
treaming a gender perspective is the process of
assessing the implications for women and men of
any planned action, including legislation,
policies or programmes, in any area and at all
levels. It is a strategy for making womens as
well as mens concerns and experiences an
integral dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the policies and
programmes in all political, economic and
societal spheres so that women and men benefit
equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The
ultimate goal is to achieve gender
equality. E.1997.L.30.Para.4. Adopted by ECOSOC
17.7.97
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What is gender mainstreaming?

• Integrating what is marginal (womens and mens
  gender issues) into the mainstream of
  consideration
• Weaving issues of gender equality into the
  consciousness and actions of all individuals and
  organisational policies, programmes, projects
• Analysing the impact of all institutions,
  policies, plans, programmes , projects, budgets,
  decisions, actions on women and men, girls and
  boys AND correcting impact that yields
  disparities
• PLANNING CHECKING CORRECTING

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GENDER MAINSTREAMING

• Gender analysis

• Gender planning

• Assess differential needs, perspectives ,
  concerns of women and men
• Assess the impact of policies, programmes,
  procedures on women and men
• Identify opportunities for discrimination

• Plan for equity meeting the differential needs
  of women and men
• Plan for equal outcomes (benefits, access,
  control) of policies, programmes and procedures
  for women and men
• Close gaps to prevent discrimination

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WARNING!! Gender
equality can only be achieved when it is
recognised that gender inequalities are
consequences originating from norms and values of
a whole community, and is not seen as a womans
problem. It is a societal problem that is
affecting the whole society and all its members,
and is not a problem linked to any specific group
or individuals.
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AGENCY, AUTHORITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

• RIGHTS HOLDERS

• DUTY BEARERS

• Agency voice, choice, e.g. Collective action,
  demands for change, voting behaviour, complaints
  systems, service charters
• Note also that women (and men) may engage in
  voting, party politics, public audits and
  judicial processes, without a view to assessing
  the impact of public decisions on womens rights.
  

• Formal public duty
• Normative foundations for accountability
• National constitutions
• Global agreements on human rights
• Note also social power of traditional
  accountability mechanisms

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Accountability cannot result from demand-side
pressures alone. It is the responsibility of
national governments and of international
institutions to improve the supply of
accountability. This implies gender-responsive
changes in the mandates, practices, and cultures
of these institutions to ensure they are
instructed and motivated to respond to women's
needs and face consequences for failing to
promote women's rights.
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Accountability from a women's rights perspective
exists when women are able to get explanations
from those in power for actions that affect them,
and can set in motion corrective actions when
those responsible fail to promote their rights...
Accountability from a gender perspective
applies to different contexts in which
accountability systems determine women's access
to resources and power, including politics,
public services, labour, consumer and trade
markets, justice systems, and international aid
and security institutions.
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Standard-setting / benchmarking

• International Bill of Rights
• CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
  of Discrimination Against Women) International
  Bill of Womens Rights
• CEDAW Optional Protocol (petitions from
  individuals)
• Also other conventions, declarations and
  standards (e.g. ILO) Regional human rights
  conventions

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Rights-based framework
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• International human rights and humanitarian law
  concerning the conduct of war have for a long
  time failed women. Though rules limiting the
  conduct of hostilities have existed in various
  forms for as long as conflicts themselves,
  violence against and exploitation of women have
  been implicitly tolerated or, at worst,
  encouraged.
• The mass rapes of the Balkan wars and of Rwanda
  have changed this climate of impunity. The last
  fifteen years have seen a rapid growth in the
  international law relating to conflict, including
  the recognition of rape as a crime against
  humanity, a war crime and, in certain
  circumstances, an element of genocide.
• This has been an important breakthrough for
  womens rights, and indeed, for building
  accountability systems for post-conflict
  societies. But efforts to end impunity by
  prosecuting perpetrators occur after the event
  we must prevent rather than redress.
• The better way is to promote democratic
  governance, access to justice and human rights.
  We must recognize the critical link between the
  rule of law and poverty eradication, human rights
  and sustainable development. Durable peace cannot
  be built on injustice.
• Justice for women is at long last emerging from
  the shadow of history to take its rightful place
  at the heart of the international rule of law.
• Navanethem Pillay
• High Commissioner of Human Rights

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A JOINT RESPONSIBILITY

• SURVIVAL
• NUTRITION
• FOOD SECURITY
• HOUSING
• SAFETY AND PROTECTION
• SCHOOLING AND EDUCATION
• HEALTH CARE
• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

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A JOINT RESPONSIBLITY

• JUSTICE
• EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
• FAIR TREATMENT
• NON-DISCRIMINATION
• NO VIOLENCE
• PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF RIGHTS
• REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO DEVELOPMENT

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A JOINT RESPONSIBILITY

• The current reality
• Sexism
• Stereotypes
• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• Inequality
• Violence
• Abuse
• Misogyny

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SUMMARY