Phases of Gender Planning in India
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Gender planning in India has evolved over time, moving from a primarily welfare-oriented approach to a more integrated, rights-based approach that emphasizes empowerment, equality, and sustainable development. The phases of gender planning in India can be categorized into several stages, each reflecting the changing priorities and understanding of gender issues within the context of development. These phases are outlined below:
1. Welfare and Women in Development (WID) Phase (1970s to Early 1980s)
Overview: The earliest phase of gender planning in India was centered around the welfare of women. This phase was part of a broader, international movement focused on improving women’s welfare through targeted interventions, usually in the form of social assistance, health, and education programs. The focus was primarily on addressing women’s basic needs without fundamentally altering the gender relations within society.
Key Features:
- Welfare-Oriented: The emphasis was on providing women with services such as health care, education, and social security, focusing mainly on meeting their immediate needs.
- State Responsibility: The government played a central role in offering services and interventions aimed at improving women’s lives.
- Women’s Status: The approach mainly focused on addressing the disadvantages women faced in terms of access to resources, education, and health, without critically questioning the societal structures that perpetuated gender inequality.
Example:
- Programs like the Women’s Development Programme (WDP) were introduced to provide women with skills and knowledge, but often, these programs did not question the broader social structures that limited women’s access to resources and power.
2. Women and Development (WAD) Phase (Mid 1980s to Early 1990s)
Overview: This phase marked a shift from the welfare approach to a more integrated approach, focusing on women’s roles in development. It recognized that development could not be achieved without addressing the socio-economic conditions of women and promoting their active participation in economic and social spheres.
Key Features:
- Women’s Roles in Development: WAD sought to include women in the development process as active agents, not just as beneficiaries of welfare programs. It emphasized the need for women to have equal access to economic resources and opportunities.
- Integration of Gender: This phase began to acknowledge the importance of gender relations in development and aimed at integrating gender perspectives into development policies and projects.
- Economic Empowerment: The focus was on improving women’s access to resources like land, credit, technology, and income-generating opportunities.
Example:
- The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) sought to provide income-generating assets to families, with a particular emphasis on including women in the planning and implementation process, though it still struggled with unequal power relations at the grassroots level.
3. Gender and Development (GAD) Phase (1990s)
Overview: The GAD phase represents a significant shift in the approach to gender planning. This phase emphasized gender equality, power relations, and the need to address the root causes of gender inequality, including patriarchy, unequal distribution of resources, and systemic social discrimination.
Key Features:
- Focus on Gender Power Relations: GAD challenged the traditional focus on women and emphasized the need to understand and address gender power relations. It emphasized the unequal distribution of power, both within households and at the societal level.
- Redistribution of Resources: GAD sought to empower women by focusing not just on increasing women’s participation in development but also on redistributing resources, opportunities, and decision-making power.
- Holistic Development: The GAD approach recognized that women’s empowerment requires systemic changes across all spheres of life—economic, social, cultural, and political.
Example:
- The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001) was framed in this period, focusing on the promotion of gender equality in various sectors, including education, health, employment, and decision-making. It also emphasized laws and policies for women’s protection and empowerment.
4. Rights-Based Gender Planning (Late 1990s to Present)
Overview: This phase emphasizes the empowerment of women through the realization of their human rights and seeks to create a legal and institutional framework that guarantees gender equality. The rights-based approach acknowledges that women’s empowerment is intrinsically linked to their legal rights and access to justice.
Key Features:
- Human Rights Framework: Gender planning under this approach is closely tied to the broader human rights agenda, where gender equality is seen as a fundamental human right.
- Legal and Institutional Reform: There is a greater emphasis on ensuring that women have access to legal protections, including laws against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination. It also includes institutional reforms to address gender-based violence and inequality.
- Participation and Decision-Making: Women’s participation in decision-making, particularly in governance and political processes, is a central element of this phase.
- Sustainable Development: Gender planning in this phase emphasizes sustainable development and environmental justice, acknowledging that women are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and climate change.
Example:
- The Right to Information Act (2005) and the Mahila Samakhya Programme, which aimed to improve women’s access to education and decision-making at the grassroots level, exemplify this approach. These programs focused on ensuring women’s rights and participation in political and social processes.
5. Gender Mainstreaming and Intersectional Approaches (2000s to Present)
Overview: This phase represents the contemporary approach to gender planning, which focuses on integrating gender considerations into all areas of policy and development. It also introduces intersectionality as a key concept, recognizing that gender inequality is often compounded by other forms of discrimination such as caste, class, ethnicity, and disability.
Key Features:
- Gender Mainstreaming: Gender mainstreaming involves integrating gender perspectives into all stages of policy, planning, and program implementation. This ensures that gender equality is considered in every aspect of the development process, from the formulation of policies to the evaluation of outcomes.
- Intersectionality: This approach recognizes that women’s experiences of inequality are shaped by multiple identities and factors such as caste, class, age, and disability. It calls for a more nuanced understanding of how gender intersects with other forms of social stratification.
- Inclusive Development: The focus is on inclusive development that benefits all women, including marginalized and vulnerable groups.
Example:
- The Gender Budgeting initiatives introduced in India in the early 2000s are a key example of gender mainstreaming. This involves analyzing and ensuring that government spending promotes gender equality and addresses the needs of women and other marginalized gender groups. The National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) is another initiative that focuses on integrating gender perspectives into various national schemes.
Conclusion
Gender planning in India has evolved through various phases, each reflecting the changing understanding of gender relations and the need for more comprehensive and inclusive approaches to development. From the welfare approach to gender mainstreaming and rights-based strategies, the focus has gradually shifted towards addressing the root causes of gender inequality, empowering women, and ensuring their active participation in the development process. The current emphasis on intersectionality and gender mainstreaming highlights the need for policies that recognize and address the diverse needs and experiences of women and other marginalized gender groups in the country.