Gender and Development: Brief Introduction.
The state
policymakers usually ‘consider’ looking into the disparities and alikeness that
exists in man and woman’s rights, responsibilities, access to and control over
domestic as well as national resources, and voices expressed at the household,
community. It is obvious that men and women often have different priorities,
constraints and preferences with respect to development and can contribute to,
and be affected differently by, developmental process. The differences are not
meant for discriminations and prejudices. If taken into account, women’s
voices also have the power to change the world.
To enhance
effectiveness, these considerations must be addressed in all developmental programs
and interventions. If such considerations are not addressed thoughtfully and
adequately, the developmental programs and interventions can lead not only to
inefficient and unsustainable results, but may also impair existing imbalances.
Understanding gender issues can enable projects to take account of these and
build capacity to deal with inequitable impacts and to ensure
sustainability.
When I talk about Gender Equality herein, I am
referring to a combination of legal equality and equal opportunities including
opportunities to speak out. More often, this is about making better
opportunities in all of these areas for women.
Legally, women’s rights are protected by many
international instruments and laws. The best known is probably the Convention
for Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979) – a UN Treaty adopted
by the General Assembly in 1979. Both MDG and SDG have specific goals
targeting ‘gender equality and empower all women and girls’. In Bhutan, we have
BAOWE, RENEW, NCWC and so on as prominent instrumental organizations which
work against inequalities and women empowerment. The origin of this trend dates
back to a couple of centuries yet we are still in a similar place.
My assumption
is that, it is a result of overly focusing on women empowerment and ignoring
the man’s part in it. So, the behaviour of men needs to be addressed in the
context of gender works. Unless men challenge themselves as to the ways in
which their own behaviour, attitudes and upbringing perpetuate gender
inequality, gender injustice and gender violence, nothing will change. Similarly,
in the developmental process of society, if man’s behaviour and perception don’t
give a heed to accommodate women in it, the latter would lack the opportunities
to voice out.
However, I am
no way undermining the contributions of women to the world so far. Men have
also never neglected the presence of women in the developmental process. Both the genders have been like organs to our bodies. However, women represented
only the not-so-important ones. Women were like skin and hairs while men
acted like brains and hearts. Comparatively, a man took the responsibilities of
state affairs and policy formulation. Therefore, I argue that only a handful of
women have been involved in the decision-making process of major developmental
programs, until recently.
| https://www.sandiegomagazine.com/features/what-san-diego-women-want/article_c988dd2c-d324-5060-af02-ee8bc2a1c9db.html |
And why women should be involved in the developmental process?
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