Gender Policy

THE MAKING OF A GENDER POLICY: The 1990’s were a period of great rights movement and awakening. Highlights in the history of the time are loaded with rich history that informed and redefined relations from the international fronts, the regional, national and even family relations. For instance, at the international context, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to realignments in the power politics across the globe, closer home the single party era caved in to give way to multiparty democracy, the last of the reigns of colonial hold in Africa crumbled and in homes gender relations took a twist that culminated in the Beijing Conference. Whereas, great strides have been made in the front of educational access, corporate entities and a litany of other areas, the missing link has been the absence of reforms backed by institutional, constitutional and policy guidelines. This state of affairs calls for the formation of gender policies in all organizational, institutional, government and all other areas where gender disparity is meant to be overcome. Such a document is suppose to be a purposeful statement or guide aimed at achieving the envisioned intent of not only the gender equity but also the quality and quantity of that equity. Obtaining a gender policy is meant to be a process that is participatory. This is to facilitate acceptance and cross understanding by the stakeholders as to what exactly is meant to be attained. There is need to dispel affairs of some ‘work place territorial kingpins’ that they may be poised for imminent replacement or condemnation into a same cadre state as the organization grapples with procedures to check imbalances. Coming up with a gender policy begins with an in-depth gender analysis in the organizational organs as reflected at the time. This may include the cadres of:The general assembly The executive board The secretariat i.e. Both the Senior and Support staff. And even at the programme level.

The result of such an analysis gives a pointer to the existence of gender disparity or the absence of it in the organization. Next is the task of trying to identify the possible sources of the disparity. This ensures that the suggested measures as will be contained in the policy wont be synonymous to aimless shooting or a product of unedited adoptions from other outfits whose working realities are way different from the specific organization context. For instance, whereas in one organization the source of the gender disparity could be political unwillingness, the nature of the work/ activities of the organization or prejudices, in most cases its usually the product of historical injustices that have reduced the bargaining power of a specific sex in workplace placement chances. A gender approach to development is justified by the following statistics (true as of 2004): Women form 50% of the global population. They perform 2/3 of the worlds work. They make up 2/3 of the worlds illiterate people. They earn 1/10 of the worlds income. They own less than 1/1000 of the worlds property and They comprise 70% of the worlds poor (people living on less than a dollar per day) Based on the above realities, its obvious that a gender policy needs to have clearly defined goals and objectives that shall aid gender institutionalization on both the institutional and the programme level. This is followed by the formulation of strategies accompanied by indicators and needless to say this calls for baseline data and information database to facilitate real progress. Policy implementation: On the programme circle it’s a common wisdom that unless a programme is implemented then the whole aim is lost altogether. Thus, the gender policy must be implemented – human, time and financial resources committed to the policy

development – must be justified on account of implementation success. The implementation strategies may include:Developing a gender mainstreaming (the changing of gender relationships between men and women in order to achieve more equal sharing of power and responsibility in a mode that benefits both men and women at the workplace or a given social setting) work plan that will systematically guide the organization in operationalizing the gender policy. Developing monitoring and evaluation guidelines for the policy implementation Develop indicators for monitoring gender responsiveness at all levels organization policy and programmes. Mainstreaming gender in project management, monitoring and evaluation. Dissemination of the gender policy, capacity building and assessment of progress towards policy implementation. This stage may be assessment at the: The staff salaries and benefits. Number of inductions at the organization. In service training, staff appraisal, disciplinary and upward mobility. The leaves position (maternity and paternity) The state of sexual harassment at the organization. As long as the organizations life in relation to the policy implementation status, quality and degree remains a goal, gender analysis needs to be used as a tool of unearthing access and impact differentials on programme activities or policies and using the information to devise better strategies for dealing with teething problems or emerging challenges.

Author: Mwalili Samuel. Contextual Reference: Community Based Development Services gender policy document. Have a gender mainstreamed day, wont you?

Copyright© 2008 by Mwalili Samuel Chaku