manual: women workers' rights and gender equality - International ...

Gender stereotypes
Gender gap
Gender issue, concern or bias
Gender equality
Ideas people have on what men and women are capable of and
what they can do (e.g. women are better housekeepers, men are
better leaders).
The extent of inequality between men and women, for example,
in workload, access to or control over resources or benefits,
education.
Any aspect of gender relations that relates to inequalities or
imbalances between the position of men and women.
or equality between women and men, refers to the equal rights,
responsibilities, opportunities, treatment and valuation of
women and men:
• in employment
• in the relation between work and life
Gender equality does not mean that women and men need to
become identical, but that women’s and men’s rights,
responsibilities and opportunities, the way they are treated and
their work is valued does not depend on whether they are born
male or female.
Gender equality includes:
• the same human and workers’ rights
• equal value and fair distribution of:
- responsibilities and opportunities
- workload, decision making and income.
Equality between women and men leads to a better quality of
life for all. It is both a human rights issue and a precondition for
sustainable people-centered, social and economic
development.
Practical gender needs
Strategic gender needs
Arise from the actual conditions which women and men
experience because of their sex and the gender roles assigned
to them in society. These are often related to women as
mothers, homemakers and providers of basic needs, and are
concerned with inadequacies in living and working conditions,
such as food, water, shelter, income, health care and
employment. For women and men with low income, these
needs are often linked to survival strategies. Addressing them
only perpetuates the disadvantaged position of women or men
in their societies. It does not promote gender equality.
The strategic gender needs of women refer to the subordinate
position of women to men in society, and relate to the
empowerment of women. They vary according to the particular
social, economic and political context in which they are
formulated. Usually they concern equality issues such as
enabling women to have equal access to job opportunities and
training, sharing of family responsibilities, equal pay for work of
equal value, equal rights to land and other assets, prevention of
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