Why gender matters - Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining ...

Background reader
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The fact that women and men
have different roles has important
implications for policy makers and
serious consequences for women.
It means that the majority, if not
all the work that women do may
be made invisible and rendered
unrecognised as work either by
men in the community or by
those planners whose job it is to
assess different needs within low
income communities. In contrast,
the majority of men’s work is
valued, either directly through paid
remuneration, or indirectly through
status and political power. While
the tendency is to see women’s and
men’s needs as similar, the reality
of their lives shows a very different
situation.
Why gender tends to
emphasise women
There have been many debates,
which continue today, about
women in development. Essentially,
many of the debates come back
to whether it is best to focus on
“women” or “gender” or both in
the development process. The
women in development (WID)
approach began with an uncritical
view of existing social structures
and focused on how women could
be better integrated into existing
development initiatives. WID tended
to focus on small, women specific
projects that were “added” on to
mainstream development efforts.
But these projects were generally
not successful in improving the
circumstances of large numbers of
women, and in some cases even led
to their further marginalisation. Plus,
focusing exclusively on women’s
(economically) productive roles
instead of also considering their
reproductive roles, failed to address
systemic causes of gender inequality.
The WID approach also tended to
view women as passive recipients of
development assistance, rather than
active agents in transforming their
own realities.
By contrast, the “gender and
development” (GAD) approach –
which forms the basis of the Beijing
Platform of Action (see Section 4) –
seeks to integrate gender awareness
into mainstream development
efforts such that they address
problems of gender inequality
at the same time as they seek to
achieve their other objectives. The
GAD approach seeks to address
inequalities by focusing less on
providing equal treatment for men
and women and more on taking
whatever steps are necessary to
ensure equal outcomes (since equal
representation and treatment does
not always result in equal outcomes).
It recognises that improving
the status of women cannot be
understood as a separate, isolated
issue and can only be achieved by
taking into account the status of
both genders.
When integrating gender into
community work in mining, it
should not be assumed that there
is no longer any need for women
specific activities or targeted
programmes. Where women have
been denied opportunities or access
to resources, targeted initiatives
may be required.
Gender equality and equity
Gender inequality is a feature
of most societies. Inequality can
be experienced in different ways
because it is caused by factors other
than gender alone.
Gender equality is often considered
a “women’s issue” because it
is women who tend to suffer
disproportionately from gender
inequality. However, gender is
not solely a women’s issue. If only
women are involved in discussing
and addressing gender inequality,
solutions will not work. Moreover,
gender inequality can also affect
men in profound ways.
Broadly speaking, gender “equality”
can either be formal or substantive
equality. “Formal” equality is aimed
at formally attributing women with
the same rights and opportunities
as men, for example, equality
before the law, within policies
and procedures. Formal equality
is important, but does not always
guarantee equal outcomes for
women and men. For example,
even if an operation achieved
equal female employment, issues
of discrimination may still persist.
“Substantive” equality focuses
on equality of outcomes – that
is, outcomes in reality rather
than only on paper. It is aimed at
valuing women’s contributions to
society whilst recognising that such
contributions may be different to
those of men.