Gender and Public Policy

Outline
• Basic Concept of Gender

• Gender in Ethiopia

• Public Policy and Gender

• Gender Mainstreaming

CGAD 2
 Gender

What does gender mean?

Gender: The Concept
 refers to socially learned differences between
males and females
 is socially ascribed roles, responsibilities and
opportunities associated with women and men
 defines femininity and masculinity and their
manifestations.
 defines the power relation between men and
women
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Gender…..
• - Gender is an ideology by which the role of men
and women, their identity, their rights, their
relationship and the do’s and don’t do’s is defined

• - Gender is one of social stratifies such as class,

race, ethnicity, age, ….

• - shapes how resource is distributed in the society,

the entitlement of men and women, and their
ownership rights.

CGAD 5
 Gender…..
Gender explains the differences in the social, economic
and political relations between women and men

Gender varies/ changes, culture to culture, society to

society and historically

Gender is systematically constructed, maintained,

justified and perpetuated in accordance with the
dominant ideology

Gender is constructed; hence, it can be reconstructed

CGAD 6
Gender/ Sex Based Discrimination

• Overt sex discrimination: apparent, visible

( like legal segregation)
• Subtle sex discrimination: visible but often not
noticed because we have internalized sexist
behavior as "normal," "natural“, acceptable, or
customary
• Covert sex discrimination: hidden, clandestine,
and very difficult to document.

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• What is Gender Equality and Equity?

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Gender Equality and Equity

Gender Equality- The concept that all human

beings are free to develop their personal
abilities and make choices without the
limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender
roles or prejudices.

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 Gender Equality Cont…
• Gender equality does not mean that women and men
have to be the same, but their rights, responsibilities
and opportunities will not depend on whether they are
born male or female

• Gender equality means that the different behaviors,

aspirations and needs of women and men are
considered, valued and favored equally.

CGAD 10
Gender Equality Cont…
Gender Equity
 Means equality of outcome/results
 equal chance of reaching the finishing line rather than
only an equal chance at the starting line.
 attempts to remove all the gender obstacles that block
women/men.
 takes into account the different situation of women and
men/ girls and boys come into.

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 Gender in Ethiopia

• The Federal Democratic Government of National Policy

on Women issued in 1993 (referred to as the Women's
Policy)

• primarily aims to institutionalize the political,

economical and social rights of women by creating an
appropriate structure in government offices and
institutions so that the public policies and interventions
are gender-sensitive and can ensure equitable
development for all Ethiopian men and women.

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 National Action Plan for Gender Equality
(NAP-GE) 2006- 2010
Identified gaps
• Poverty and Economic Empowerment
– Agriculture
• limited access to farmland, extension, and productive
resources - credit, labour, oxen and farm implements
• pastoralist – women suffer from poverty,
marginalization, vulnerability
– Formal Employment – gender gap that tends to
widen with increasing professional laden
– Informal Employment – more women participate in
the informal sector. The informality often put them
in disadvantage position
National Action Plan for Gender Equality (NAP-GE)
2006- 2010
• Women and the environment
– disproportionate effect of degradation of natural
resource –forest , water, land ..
• Education and Training
– Gender gap in schooling
• Reproductive Rights, Health and HIV/AIDS
– women’s condition
• Human Rights and Violence

• Leadership and Decision making

• So what is the strategy to address
gender inequality?

• One is through mainstreaming in

public policy

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 Public Policy and Gender

• Policy can simply be defined as ‘a guide for

action with a specific objective’ that can be
solving certain problem or guiding social
change.

• public policy has the same notion but is

typically linked with government.

• ‘public’ ? Who is the public in public policy?

Why focus on policy?
– Policies are not free from gender, rather they are gender
blind (fail to see the difference b/nm men and women)
or gender biased – (overt/covert discrimination)

– The tendency of considering policy making process as

gender neutral results (most often unintentional) biases
in favor of existing inequality

– Dealing with gender issue as a separate agenda by gender

machineries doesn’t bring the intended change, rather gender
should be dealt at policy level since it needs strategic
intervention.

CGAD 17
Gender Mainstreaming in policy

GM is centering a gender perspective into all

stages of design, implementation, and monitoring
and evaluation of policies -in all political,
economic and societal spheres so that women and
men can contribute to and benefit from equally.

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GM in Policy
Gender mainstreaming is the (re)organisation,
improvement, development and evaluation of
policy processes, so that a gender equality
perspective is incorporated in all policies at all
levels and at all stages, by the actors normally
involved in policy-making”

(Council of Europe 1998: 15).

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GM in Policy ……
• GM is not an end (goal) per se but a strategy or a
means to achieve the goal of GENDER EQUALITY

• The ultimate aim or goal of mainstreaming is to ensure

that women can participate on an equal basis with men,
have equal rights and have an equal voice and influence
in the decisions that affect their lives

• A clear definition of GE should be set

• Consider other forms of inequalities such as class,

ethnicity, age, locality
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 GM in Policy
GM is not a substitute to other GE instruments

• Equal treatment in legislation -focused on providing

equal access, and correcting existing inequalities in
legislation

• Specific or targeted gender equality policy: aims at

creating conditions that will result in equality in
outcome, to counterbalance the unequal starting
positions of men and women in most societies.

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GM in public policy
• Since policy is all about identifying problem (among
many) and proposing alternative solution (among
others), in this process , the following questions are
important

– What the issue becomes a policy agenda?

– Who decides? Who is included and who is excluded?

• A decision to incorporate gender in policy also should

be justified.
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Why Gender Matters in Public policy?

• The justification can broadly be classified into

two as:
– ‘Justice’ and ‘Moral’ arguments (i.e. gender
equality as a goal in itself – Intrinsic value).

– ‘Instrumentalist’ arguments
(i.e. gender equality as necessary for other
development goals)

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Why Gender ......
Justice and Moral Argument

 often called as intrinsic values

 stress the value of democratic principles and basic
human rights, which demand gender equality for its
own sake.
 can be used to argue for equal representation and
participation of both sexes in various contexts,
premised on the basic notion of their shared human
rights.
 Gender inequity needs to be redressed intrinsically
for its own sake. CGAD 24
Why Gender ......
Instrumentalist Argument

Include
1. Efficiency and Sustainability argument

2. Credibility and Accountability argument

3. Chain-reaction argument

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Why Gender …
1. Efficiency and Sustainability Argument
• Equal inclusion of men and women in all aspects of
development and society pays off for the country as a
whole.

• Nations cannot afford to ignore the contributions and

capacities of both men and women in all spheres.

• Otherwise, the country will ultimately suffer in the

medium and long term development that make any
economic growth unsustainable.

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Why Gender …
2. Credibility and Accountability argument
• women and men each make up half of the population, any
policy that does not recognize and address both genders
equally will be ultimately flawed, and will thus have no
credibility.

• In democratic states, governments must be accountable to

the population and must consider the interests of all its
members – both men and women.

• A failure to address social justice or gender equality issues

is also a failure of governments to be accountable to all
citizens.
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Why Gender …
3. Chain-reaction argument
• Gender equality can in fact produce a “chain reaction” of
benefits, just as the effects of gender inequality can be
passed on from individuals to families and communities.

• The “chain reaction” argument highlights how sound the

investment in gender equality in brining medium and
long-term benefits that will ripple through society,
strengthening the nation as a whole.

– Girls’ Education – impacts

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Why Gender ......
• Basing policy on instrumentalist arguments is not
necessarily bad.

• BUT instrumentalist arguments are not necessarily a strong

basis for policies which benefit women rather than
continuing to see them as a means to an end.

• Short term ‘quick fix’ policies/projects which do not

address underlying inequalities may not therefore lead to
long term sustainable policies which fulfill the other goals
either.

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GM is an Approach/Strategy to ensure:
• that all government’s efforts consider and address the
experiences, needs, and priorities of men & women at
all stages

• that State development outcomes benefit women &

men equally

• that gender disparities are not continued or made

worse

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