Gender and Development (GAD) is an approach to development that focuses on understanding and addressing the power dynamics, social roles, and inequalities between genders.
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It shifts the focus from women as beneficiaries of development (as in the Women in Development approach) to analyzing the structural and systemic factors that cause gender inequalities and how development processes can address those inequalities. To support gender-sensitive planning, GAD analytical tools help identify, analyze, and address gender disparities in development processes.
Here are some key GAD analytical tools used in gender planning, with examples of their application:
1. Gender Analysis Framework
- Definition: A tool used to analyze the roles, needs, and resources of men and women in a given context. It focuses on understanding how gender affects people’s access to and control over resources, power dynamics, and the impacts of development policies and projects.
- Components:
- Gender Division of Labor: Examines how work is divided between men and women, both in the household and in the community.
- Access to and Control over Resources: Analyzes who has access to resources (land, credit, technology, etc.) and who controls them.
- Power and Decision-Making: Investigates the role of men and women in decision-making processes at household, community, and institutional levels.
- Needs and Priorities: Identifies the different needs of men and women based on their roles and responsibilities.
- Example: In an agricultural development project, gender analysis might reveal that women do most of the farming work but lack access to land ownership or agricultural credit. This analysis would inform policy interventions that provide women with better access to land and financial resources.
2. Gender Roles Framework
- Definition: This framework looks at the roles of men and women in society and how these roles influence their access to resources, decision-making power, and opportunities. It identifies both productive and reproductive roles and how these shape the experiences of men and women.
- Components:
- Productive Roles: Tasks performed for income generation, such as paid work, entrepreneurship, or farming.
- Reproductive Roles: Unpaid work in the home, such as cooking, child-rearing, and caregiving.
- Community and Political Roles: Participation in social, cultural, and political decision-making processes.
- Example: In a community water management program, gender role analysis might show that while men often handle the construction and maintenance of water systems, women are responsible for fetching water and managing household water use. This insight can lead to planning efforts that involve women more actively in water management decision-making and ensure infrastructure is accessible to them.
3. The Gender Needs Assessment
- Definition: A tool used to identify the practical and strategic needs of men and women. It helps to differentiate between the practical needs (those arising from existing gender roles) and strategic needs (those that address gender inequalities and aim to transform social structures).
- Components:
- Practical Needs: These are basic needs such as access to food, water, healthcare, education, and shelter. These are needs that arise from the existing gender division of labor and social roles.
- Strategic Needs: These are needs aimed at transforming gender inequalities, such as legal rights, access to decision-making, and equal opportunities in the public and private spheres.
- Example: In a rural development project, women might have practical needs for better access to healthcare, while their strategic needs could include securing land rights or participating in community decision-making processes. Addressing both types of needs ensures that development is comprehensive and transformative.
4. The Moser Framework (Gender Planning Framework)
- Definition: This framework, developed by Caroline Moser, is a comprehensive tool that guides gender analysis in planning by examining both the practical and strategic needs of women, as well as the gendered constraints they face.
- Components:
- Women’s Practical Needs: These are immediate needs that arise from the current situation and gender roles (e.g., access to childcare or clean water).
- Women’s Strategic Needs: These are long-term needs that aim at changing women’s position in society, such as legal rights or access to decision-making.
- Gender Needs Matrix: The matrix helps identify how to address both practical and strategic needs.
- Gender Constraints: The framework also helps identify constraints such as limited access to resources, lack of education, or cultural norms that restrict women’s empowerment.
- Example: In a gender-sensitive education policy, the Moser framework could highlight the practical need for more female-friendly school facilities and the strategic need for girls’ education to be prioritized through scholarship programs or awareness campaigns addressing cultural biases.
5. The Harvard Analytical Framework
- Definition: This tool looks at the different roles, responsibilities, and access to resources of men and women in the household and community. It helps to analyze how resources and benefits are distributed between genders.
- Components:
- The Sex Division of Labor: Looks at how work is divided between men and women (both paid and unpaid).
- Access to Resources and Benefits: Analyzes who has access to what resources and who benefits from them.
- Control over Resources: Identifies who has control over resources (e.g., decision-making regarding income, land, and other assets).
- Example: In a project aimed at improving agricultural productivity, this framework might reveal that men have more control over farm income, while women contribute the majority of labor. This could lead to targeted interventions, such as ensuring women have access to credit or a say in how income is spent.
6. The Gender Analysis Matrix (GAM)
- Definition: The Gender Analysis Matrix (GAM) is a visual tool used to identify how different groups of women and men experience various issues. It looks at the impacts of a development project on men and women, their roles, access to resources, and how they are affected by specific changes.
- Components:
- Key Questions: The matrix focuses on questions such as who does what, who has access to resources, and how each gender is affected by the intervention.
- Impacts: It assesses the positive and negative impacts of policies or interventions on men and women.
- Example: In a renewable energy project, the GAM could show that while men benefit from the economic opportunities created by solar energy, women benefit from the time saved on fuel collection. The matrix might also show that women may be disproportionately impacted by the initial cost of accessing solar technology. This information helps tailor interventions for equitable benefits.
7. Participatory Gender Audit
- Definition: A participatory gender audit is a process through which stakeholders, including women, assess how gender-responsive a project, organization, or policy is. It evaluates gender equality goals, implementation strategies, and the outcomes of interventions.
- Components:
- Data Collection: Gathering information from both women and men to assess gender disparities.
- Assessing Institutional Practices: Identifying gender biases in existing practices, policies, and structures.
- Recommendations for Change: Suggesting actions to make the program or organization more gender-sensitive.
- Example: In an NGO project focused on women’s health, a gender audit could help assess how well the program meets the needs of women and men, identifies gaps in service delivery, and proposes improvements in areas like community engagement or health education for women.
Conclusion
GAD analytical tools are essential for identifying gender inequalities and ensuring that development interventions address the specific needs of both men and women. By using these tools, planners can design projects that not only meet immediate needs but also promote long-term gender equity and empowerment. These tools allow for a deeper understanding of the structural causes of gender inequality, making it possible to create policies and programs that promote equality, inclusion, and sustainable development.