Gender Approaches

Gender definition

In all societies men and women play different roles, have different needs, and face different constraints. Gender roles differ from the biological roles of men and women, although they may overlap in nearly all societies. Gender roles are socially constructed. They demarcate responsibilities between men and women, social and economic activities, access to resources, and decisionmaking authority. Biological roles are fixed, but gender roles can and do change with social, economic, and technological change. Social factors underlie and support gender-based disparities. These factors include:

•Institutional arrangements that create and reinforce gender-based constraints or, conversely, foster an environment in which gender disparities can be reduced

•The formal legal system that reinforces customs and practice giving women inferior legal status in many countries

•Sociocultural attitudes and ethnic and class/caste-based obligations that determine men’s and women’s roles, responsibilities, and decisionmaking functions

•Religious beliefs and practices that limit women’s mobility, social contact, access to resources, and the types of activities they can pursue.

Gender in the Water and Sanitation sector

It is important to develop and mantain a gendered approach to water and sanitation issues. Due to the gendered divisions of labour in developing countries, women are most often responsible for fetching water. If a water system breaks down, this effects women's workload because they may have to travel further for water or use other means to meet the household’s water and hygiene needs.

It has been underlined in the Principle No. 3 of the Dublin principles (1992) that declares : “Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. This pivotal role of women as providers and users of water and guardians of the living environment has seldom been reflected in institutional arrangements for the development and management of water resources. Acceptance and implementation of this principle require positive policies to address women’s specific needs and to equip and empower women to participate at all levels in water resources programmes, including decision-making and implementation, in ways defined by them".

Since it has been acknowledged that gender plays a role in water supply and sanitation, however in many cases incorporating a gendered approach to water and sanitation translates to including women in formal insitutions for management (Joshi, Lloyd and Fawcett 2003). While equal representation can be an indication of progress, representation cannot be equated with empowerment, voice, or equity in outcomes for women.

Gender approach in project management

Ten "Golden Rules" for a Gender Approach in Drinking Water and Sanitation Programmes:

1. Tailor information to all audiences

2. Gender and poverty analysis

3. Designing and planning WASH programmes

4. Organizations

5. Hygiene education

6. Training and employment

7. Means for improvements

8. Gender-sensitivity and skills

9. Staffing

10. Communication and accountability

Other tools to consult :

•GTZ, 1998. Gender Training Tool Kit. Self-help Fund Project. This toolkit provides guidelines for participatory gender sensitisation training, outlining key concepts in raising gender awareness. The premise upon which the guidelines are based is experiential learning. The toolkit incorporates different techniques, exercises, and games, often utilising handouts, and prompts people to learn by analysing and reflecting on their experience. It includes tools for gender sensitisation, and for gender sensitive project planning. Available at: http://www.siyanda.org/docs_genie/gtz/Gen.trng.fin.doc

•UNDP, 2001. Gender Mainstreaming Learning and Information Packs .Although these Information Packs are meant to be resources for self-training, and for use in workshop situations devoted to gender mainstreaming, they can also be incorporated into workshops on other topics, to strengthen their potential for gender mainstreaming. Each Information Pack contains summary information, along with speaker’s notes, handouts, exercises, further reading and linkages to relevant Internet resources. Available at: http://www.undp.org/women/docs/GM_INFOPACK/GenderAnalysis1.doc

•Beyond Rhetoric: male involvement in gender and development policy and practice. Gender Training with Men. A collection of articles on reflections and pointers on gender training for men. The experiences include many different countries and cultures. Available at: http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/dppc/gender/mandmweb/seminar5.html

•Website of the organisation gender and water : http://www.genderandwater.org/

Gender and Water Governance

It is generally accepted that good water governance will lead to equitable outcomes for men and women, however there is very little acknowledgement that at a local level systems can be adapted in ways that reproduce gendered hierarchies (Boelens and Zwarteveen 2005; Tukai 2005). In addition, a gendered perspective is rarely an integral part of governance discourses even though social institutions play a large role in determining how decisions are made about water.

Social aspects like gender, race, and class shape our relationships with water and with other people who are responsible for making decisions about water, and therefore shape issues like access and control over resources. In discussions of gender and water governance it is often assumed that integrating women into governance processes meets the required gender aspect of governance, but this is not the case. Often times at the interface of formalised institutions and social institutions there are mixed messages with regards to how exactly women (and other marginalised people) are to participate (Singh, 2008). In addition the category of women is not homogeneous and it cannot be assumed that a female representative in a water committee will necessarily speak on behalf of women or in the interests of women.

The issue of gender in water governance is not easily solved. It helps to break governance issues down to look at resources, mechanisms and outcomes, to examine how each portion is gendered and in different ways (Cleaver and Hamada, forthcoming). Examining water governance in this way exposes the pervasiveness of gender as a governing institution, and also the costs of achieving gender equity in water governance.

Text references

Boelens, R. and M. Zwarteveen (2005) Anomalous Water Rights and the Politics of Normalization. Paper presented at the ESRC Seminar Politics, Institutions and Participation.

Cleaver, F. and K. Hamada (Forthcoming) "‘Good’ water governance and gender equity; a troubled relationship." Gender and Development.

Joshi D., M. Lloyd and B. Fawcett (2003) ‘Voices from the Village: An Alternative Paper for the Alternative Water Forum’ Paper presented at conference on the Alternative Water Forum, University of Bradford, 1-2 May, www.splash.bradford.ac.uk/home

Singh, N. (2008) ‘Equitable Gender Participation in local Water Governance: An Insight into Institutional Paradoxes,’ Water Resource Management 22: 925-942.

Tukai R (2005) Gender and Access in Pastoral Communities: Re-evaluating Community Participation and Gender Empowerment. Paper presented at the ESRC Seminar: Access, Poverty and Social Exclusion, ODI, London.