Review 3 final 2 - TAU - National Treasury

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TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | SIMULTANEOUS MAINSTREAMING OF GENDER AND DISABILITY SIMULTANEOUS MAINSTREAMING OF GENDER AND DISABILITY: A GOVERNANCE PERSPECTIVE Summary This article locates gender and disability equality within a typology of mainstreaming, intersectionality and transformation, and maps these approaches to governance imperatives and implementation challenges. Outlining the required commitment to leadership and accountability, it suggests that, if augmented by good governance, this transformative model of mainstreaming is best placed to respond to the increasingly important demands of diversity. Introduction Gender and disability mainstreaming is a political process that alters the balance of power; it is inherently complex and resistance comes in many forms. 1 Power is challenged not only because mainstreaming promotes women and persons with disabilities as decision makers, but also because it supports their collective action in redefining agendas. Political will within organisations, as well as ability of implementers of gender and disability policies, affect the degree to which gender and disability priorities are mainstreamed in an organisation. 2 However, a paradox exists in the amount of information and expertise available for institutionalising gender mainstreaming, apparent institutional acceptance through policy directives, and the outcomes achieved. A similar situation is emerging in respect of disability mainstreaming. This raises deeper questions about the usefulness of mainstreaming as a strategy, giving rise to questions of governance and obligatory compliance to implement commitments of the State to eradicate inequality and discrimination based on gender and disability. Identity Equality and Approaches to Mainstreaming Different models of identity equality exist. These include models based on sameness (equal opportunities or equal treatment), on difference (special programmes) and on transformation. This can also be described as “the equal treatment perspective”, “the women’s perspective”, and “the gender perspective”, respectively. These perspectives are complementary rather than mutually exclusive approaches, and can be conceptualized as components of a “three-legged stool”, in that they are interconnected and each needs the other. 3 30 page Enabling change for development
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | SIMULTANEOUS MAINSTREAMING OF GENDER AND DISABILITY In his seminal work, Jahan (1995:13) categorises mainstreaming approaches as ‘integrationist’, ‘agendasetting’ or ‘transformative’. The integrationist approach involves broadening the dominant paradigm to fit women ‘in’ without directly challenging power structures. The agenda-setting approach emphasises the transformative power of gender mainstreaming whereby women start to affect and alter the direction of the mainstream, rather than be submerged by or integrated into it. 4 It is generally accepted that mainstreaming will only truly address the logic of inequality when it enables transformation of structures and relations. 5 Gender mainstreaming was adopted by the UN as the key methodology for achieving gender equality following the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995. This was endorsed by the Platform for Action (PFA) and outlined as the approach that government, UN and other actors should take in the implementation of the PFA. It is defined as: the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is gender equality. 6 This definition is a compromise between a number of different perspectives and agendas. The result is inherent tensions and paradoxes that make gender mainstreaming simultaneously potentially transforming and potentially problematic. The definition has been adopted and adjusted for disability mainstreaming. A relationship exists between gender, race and other aspects of identity, including disability, that are sources of systematic discrimination. An intersectional approach to analyzing the disempowerment of marginalized women attempts to capture the consequences of the interaction between two or more forms of subordination. It addresses the manner in which racism, patriarchy, class oppression and other discriminatory systems, including those based on disability, create inequalities that structure the relative positions of women, men and persons with disabilities. In the Public Service of the Government of South Africa, the vision of gender and disability mainstreaming is that it offers transformation which involves neither the assimilation of women into men’s ways, nor the maintenance of a dualism between women and men, but rather something new, a positive form of melding, which becomes the mainstream. This vision of the mainstream encapsulates and gives effect to the constitutional vision of human dignity, freedom and equality, based on acknowledgement, acceptance and accommodation of difference and diversity: A society in which women and men are free to realize their full potential and to participate as equal partners in creating a just and prosperous society for all. 7 Gender and disability management in the Public Service: Governance Imperatives and challenges Simultaneous mainstreaming of gender and disability is an essentially contested concept and practice. Not only are there many different definitions of gender and disability mainstreaming, but also considerable page 31 Enabling change for development
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Review 3 final 2 - TAU - National Treasury

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