Female, male, sustainable - genanet - Leitstelle GENDER ...

5
PROFILE
Gender, Sustainability, Gender Mainstreaming
While the term sex is used to describe the biological
distinctions between men and women,
gender describes the socially and culturally constructed,
historically developed, societal roles of
women and men. “Gender identity begins with
the knowledge and the consciousness of belonging
to one particular sex and not the other.
Gender roles describe the observable behaviour
exhibited towards society, the roles that people
play, especially in interaction with others.”
(Ralph Stoller)
The term sustainability first appeared in 1713,
in connection with forest preservation, which
was threatened by excessive clearing and industrialization.
In 1987, the Brundtland-Report
defined sustainability as a form of development
fulfilling the needs of today’s generation without
limiting the possibilities of future generations
to fulfil their needs. Agenda 21, agreed
in of 1992, builds on this definition, describing
sustainability as an overall concept for a
durable form of development that provides
solutions for present and future environmental
problems. The key idea in this context is to give
equal consideration to ecological, social and
economic aspects.
The term gender mainstreaming describes a
strategy for achieving gender equality at all
levels of society. While the term was introduced
1995 at the 4th UN Conference for Women in
Beijing, the concept became publicly known
through the Amsterdam Treaty, which declared
gender mainstreaming as an official strategy
of EU policies for gender equity.