Women in Agriculture

Lesson 29 : Gender Sensitization

Gender Mainstream

It refers to a comprehensive strategy that involves both women-oriented programming and the integration of women/gender issues into overall existing programmes, throughout the programme cycle.
On an institutional level, ‘Gender Mainstreaming” means that UNESCO, with the support of its National Commissions, will: forge and strengthen political will to achieve gender equality and equity, at the local, national, regional and global levels, in the areas of education, sciences (natural, social and human), communication and culture, in compliance with international normative instruments, notably the CEDAW and all major instruments relating to UNESCO’s spheres of competence;

• integrate a gender perspective into all phases of its programme cycle, including the analysis, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and projects;
• encourage similar actions in all ministries and departments of governments it co-operates with, including National Commissions, research institutions and the national institutions that are concerned with macroeconomic and development planning, national budgets, personnel policies and management, and legal affairs;
• use, and encouragethe collection of, sex-disaggregated data and gender-sensitive indicators to monitor and reveal how policies, the organization seeks to improve, impact differently on women and men, in due consideration of the fact that not all women and all men experience the same degree and kind of gender-discrimination. Other factors such as race, ethnicity, age, class and disability can aggravate existing gender-based exclusion and discrimination;
• Implement policies and programmes that have explicit gender objectives and seek to redress disparities between women and men on the basis of thorough participatory needs assessments and broad consultations with gender- responsive groups; increase the participation of women in its activities, including in international committees, expert groups and panel discussions, and amplify their voices so UNESCO is equally responding to men’s and women’s realities; support attitudinal changes and strengthen the ability of its staff to integrate a gender perspective in their daily work through the development of appropriate tools and job-based training programmes for all staff (Field Offices and Headquarters) in gender awareness, gender analysis and gender planning;
• Forge links between governments, intergovernmental organizations, regional institutions and non-state-actors (ie. the private sector, civil society non-profit organizations and other stakeholders) to ensure a better use of its resources, increase synergies among initiatives, rationalize the allocation of scarce resources and encourage a collective sense of responsibility for attaining gender objectives.

The Goal and Objectives of Gender Mainstreaming
The ultimate GOAL of UNESCO’s effort to mainstream gender is to strengthen the Organizations ability to create the conditions for women and men alike, from all walks of life, to enjoy human development and security. To build societies where women and men, freed from want and fear, can reach their full human potential and participate, as equals, in the development of their societies, sharing its wealth and benefits on the basis of equality.
From this goal, UNESCO derives the following objectives for its gender-mainstreaming policy

• Promote full and equal education for women and men, girls and boys throughout life; i.e. eliminate gender disparities; achieve gender equality in education - with a focus on life-long learning and basic education - through the provision of gender responsive learning environments and equitable access to appropriate and gender-responsive education programmes for all members of society, in particular to women and girls in difficult conditions
• Encourage the equal access to knowledge and career opportunities in all fields, notably in communication, the arts and cultural industries, science, technology and engineering;
• Encourage and promote women’s creativity and freedom of expression by supporting their cultural activities, research, networking, exchange of information and collective mobilization;
• Support the broad and active participation of women in the media, in information networks and the development of information and communication technologies and support the development and use of lCTs as a resource for the empowerment of women and girls. This is to be accompanied by intensified efforts to encourage more diversified and non-discriminatory portrayals of women and men in the media;
• Promote and protect the human rights and opportunities of all young and adult women and men, boys and girls, through the promotion and further implementation of existing normative instruments, notably the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW);
• Promote the attainment of parity between women and men in decision-making structures, women’s full citizenship and equal participation in policy-making;
• Foster partnership and dialogue between women and men, underlining the long-term gains of social transformation leading to gender- sensitive societies
(notably in the fight against poverty and in the spread of HIV/AIDS)
• As a contribution to the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World, assist in building a culture of peace in the minds of women and men by reinforcing and supporting women’s capacity for leadership and non-violent conflict resolution and prevention, and by promoting the elimination of stereotyped expectations and discriminatory attitudes and behaviours
• Strengthen Member States’ capacities to collect and analyse sex-disaggregated statistical data and develop appropriate gender-sensitive indicators and guidelines in order to improve their ability to monitor progress made towards gender equality and more gender-sensitive societies.

Guiding Principles for Implementation

• Recognition: Gender issues permeate all aspects of international co-operation, its management systems, personnel policies, organizational culture and working methods and the issues it addresses, from policy planning, programming and implementation to evaluation, Acknowledging this fact is necessary to tackle the systemic barriers to gender equalit;
• Diversity and intersection : Policies, progr ammes and projects affect women and men differently but not all women and all men experience the same form of gender-based discrimination and marginalization. Sub-groups of men and sub-groups of women may experience specific gender inequalities that must be acknowledged and documented to be adequately addressed;
• Equality : Gender equality requires the protection and promotion of human rights for all: the rights of young and adult men and women, boys and girls; Equality also implies ensuring equal opportunities;
• Equity: Specific measures that favour the most disadvantaged sex must be designed to eliminate disparities between the sexes, sexist-stereotypes and discrimination. Equity compensates for unequal opportunities and guarantees the fairness of our programmes (equity leads to equality);
• Empowerment and agency : Individual and collective empowerment is central for boys. girls, young and adult women and men to meet their immediate practical needs as well as their long term strategic interests. It begins with consciousness-raising and leads to self-realization. UNESCO must support processes that increase women’s and men’s self-confidence, develop their self-reliance, and help them set their own agendas;
• Participation and parity : Equal participation of young and adult men and women as agents of change in economic, social and political processes is essential to achieving gender equality; Partnership between women and men
• Empowering women does not mean excluding men. It is about establishing partnerships between women and men that empower both sexes. This implies giving an equally pivotal role to men and women in creating more equal societies:
• Social justice: Though gender inequality breeds poverty, anti-poverty measures alone cannot redress gender inequalities. Poverty reduction efforts must be coupled with actions to eliminate gender inequality in order to be truly effective.