I mainstream gender issues but I'm not a gender specialist
05:20, 31 March 2009
.. Posted in Development, Relief and Advocacy Efforts.. Link
As I say on my web site and in various cover letters for proposals and job applications, I have a demonstrated commitment to gender issues in my work. That means that, particularly when I'm working on a project relating to development and aid, I think about and look for how women's concerns and needs will be identified and addressed throughout the activity, how their participation will be encouraged throughout the activity, not just as an add-on later.
My commitment isn't just because I'm female; it's also because women and girls are hugely and disproportionately affected by poverty, war, violence and natural disasters, as a mountain of data shows. There is much work to be done to address these tremendous disparities. Men are one wing of the bird, and women are the other -- and a bird with one wing cannot fly.
What does this commitment look like for someone working in communications? For instance, if you say in a report, "the majority of the community expressed support for this project," I'll ask in my edits how many of the "majority" were women and how their feedback was gathered. If you draft a proposal for a public event or project, I'll ask how women and girls will be targeted and accommodated to participate in it (as appropriate; maybe it's specifically focused on men, and that's okay, provided justification for such is detailed). If you say in your evaluation report that the community technology center is always full with young people using the computers and attending the workshops, I'll ask what percentage of users were girls. I look for the gender breakdown for any references to community, participants, students, patients, attendees and leaders in reports, and if I don't see it, I ask for it. I also let community field workers know that they have to systematically collect relevant data/information regarding women's participation just as they collect overall information.
(You can also read details of my gender-focused/gender-inclusive work.)
I've annoyed many fellow development and aid workers when I ask gender-related questions about their field work and push for gender-related data. Once, in Afghanistan, a colleague (not an Afghan) smirked, "It's not your place to ask these questions. You're not the gender specialist."
Indeed, I'm not the -- nor a -- gender specialist: I've no degree in gender issues or women's studies, I have never designed nor conducted a gender awareness-raising training, and I have no scholarly idea how to forecast the likely impact of a development activity on women and girls. I could never, say, identify steps to facilitate women’s participation in a farm producers’ organization in Africa to give them access to services and markets. Nope, I'm not a gender specialist (nor an agricultural specialist, for that matter).
But you shouldn't have to be a gender specialist to mainstream women's issues in your aid and development work. Why is the gender specialist the only staff person who goes to gender-related meetings outside the organization, for instance? Why is the gender specialist the only staff member who is asked to write a report about how women's issues are being addresses by a project -- as an annex to the main report written by someone else? To truly mainstream gender, shouldn't a project manager who is not a gender specialist be at gender-focused trainings every now and again? Shouldn't every staff member in a development organization have to show how he or she addresses the concerns of women and girls in their work, and if not, say explicitly why not? Shouldn't every staff member be held accountable for what they do -- or don't do -- to address the needs of women and girls in their aid and development work?
If you aren't asking how your aid and development project is addressing the needs of women and girls, then it's probably not addressing the needs of women and girls. You don't have to be a gender specialist to have a commitment to helping women and girls in your work. If your organization has a gender adviser, go have a chat with her (or, perhaps him) about how the needs of women and girls can be addressed in your work. Build a partnership with that person and involve the gender specialist in what you do. If you don't have a gender specialist on board, start reading -- there's great information out there that can help you quickly incorporate a gender focus in your aid and development work, no matter what your work is.
