Patricia Marie F.

Palencia BSN II – Sec A

N203 – MCHN (Lec)

Gender and Development (GAD)

It is obvious that women play significant roles in much of the world’s economic activities.
However, they were not beneficiaries of their efforts and moreover favorable opportunities were not
created for them. When it comes to Gender and Development, it is wide and has a lot of inclusions. In the
webinar about Gender and Development (GAD), the speaker talked and discussed about Gender, Gender
Analysis, Gender and Development (GAD), GAD Focal Point System, Gender Equality, Gender
Mainstreaming, Gender-Responsive Curricular Program, Women’s Empowerment, Violence Against
Women, and more. It focuses on gendered stereotypes and how to look past them. You study how
political situations affect women and people's view of women, how history affects the view of women,
how nationality affects the view of women. Gender and Development (GAD) refers to the development
perspective and process that are participatory and empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence,
respectful of human rights, supporting of self-determination and actualization of human potential.
According to UNESOCO, gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are
created in the family, society, and culture. The concept of gender is vital because, applied to social
analysis; it recalls how women’s subordination or men’s domination is socially constructed. Gender is not
biologically predetermined nor is it fixed forever.

In Gender and Development, I learned that to understand a situation most accurately; it is

essential that you try to see it through the view of the person being affected and try to put away your own
norms and values. It focuses on breaking down the binary system that is prevalent in most societies
worldwide. It focuses on gendered stereotypes and how to look past them. You study how political
situations affect women and people's view of women, how history affects the view of women, how
nationality affects the view of women. In addition, the ways that gender serves as a central organizing
feature in all societies. By examine the ways in which women's and men's roles in society have been
constructed and by consider the ways these roles have changed and continue to transform on personal,
political, and transnational levels. I learned to question the gendered structure of the world. I learned that
both women and men have their own specific problems depending on where they live, how they view
themselves, how others view them, etc. What is the norm in one culture may not be the norm in another.
Just because we are women doesn't mean we're all the same. It seeks to achieve gender equality as a
fundamental value that should be reflected in development choices; and seeks to transform society’s
social, economic, and political structures and questions the validity of the gender roles ascribed to women
and men. Women’s Empowerment is also included which refers to the provision, availability, and
accessibility of opportunities, services, and observance of human rights which enable women to actively
participate and contribute to the political, economic, social, and cultural development of the nation as well
as those which shall provide them equal access to ownership, management, and control of production, and
of material and informational resources and benefits in the family, community, and society.

Gender and Development will keep me informed about, and sensitive to, issues of concern to
women, including social roles and status, sexuality, labor, representation, and equity. We are faced with
these issues in our everyday lives. Although gender is often the first step of analysis the roles of man and
women in the society, I also enjoyed learning about the importance of intersectional analysis - in other
words, the study of women's lives is not complete unless attention is paid not only to the impact of gender
on our lives, but also the impact of sexuality, race, class, age, ability, nationality, religion, and so on.