Chris Coulter, PhD chris.coulter@indevelop.se

ender: what is it?
hris Coulter, PhD
hris.coulter@indevelop.se

So, what is gender?

SEX
Biological differences
between women and men

GENDER
Cultural and social
nterpretation of the biologica
differences between women
and men

Stereotypes

UESTION:
To what extent does our community
conform to traditional gender
stereotypes?
How do these stereotypes affect
children’s lives?
Your life?

ender as process
Something that can change
Something that is done –
as in ”doing gender”

ender
Culture and context
Socialisation
Social and political relations between women and men
Cultural variations
Behaviour and opinions – individuals and organisations
Can affect or strengthen other structural differences such a
age, ethnicity, class, disability etc.

Gender = Women ?

Gender relations

Femininity
&
Masculinity

aspects of gender
Assignment
Role
Identity
Attribution

ssignment
The gender we
are given at
birth, either male or female.
In this aspect our genders are
prescribed by the society in
which we are born

ole
This is the set of behaviours,
mannerisms, and other traits
that society says we should
express as part of our assigned
gender = socialisation

entity
This is what we think our gender
should be at any given time.
Many people do not question their
gender and let their assigned
gender function as their identity

ttribution
This is the gender we assign
people when we first meet
them ans is based on a set of
cues that differentiate from
culture to culture

ender means …
aspects of life that are organized by gender
what it means to an individual to belong to a
gender category
other differences is associated to gender
the different criteria used to differentiate the
genders

tersectionality
ivision of labor
oles and responsibilities
ontrol over resources
thnicity
ulture
ge
ocial class
exual identity

ender Equity
ender Equality

•Gender balance
•Gender mainstreaming
•Gender budgeting
•Targeting

ender mainstreaming
. Welfare
. Access
. Awareness-raising
. Participation
. Control

Gender analysis:
•Quantitative data (statistics)
−Sex disaggregated data
•Qualitative data
•Highlight specific vulnerabilities
•Highlight potential for change
•Always have an empowerment
perspective

•International and national frameworks
•Overall economic situation
•Socio-economic situation
•Socio-cultural cultural situation
•Legal situation and human rights
•Political situation
•Media and IT

Measuring
empowerment

dicators of empowerment
Legal empowerment indicators
Political empowerment indicators
Economic empowerment indicators
Social empowerment indicators

gal empowerment indicators include:
the enforcement of legislation related
to the protection of human rights;
number of cases related to women’s rights heard in local courts, and their
results;
number of cases related to the legal rights of divorced and widowed
women heard in local courts, and results;
the effect of the enforcement of legislation in terms of treatment of
offenders;
increase/decrease in violence against women;
rate at which the number of local justices/ prosecutors/ lawyers who are
women/men is increasing/decreasing;
rate at which the number of women/men in the local police force, by rank
is increasing or decreasing.

olitical empowerment indicators
clude:
• percentage of seats held by women in local councils/ decision-
making bodies;
• percentage of women in decision-making positions in local
government;
• percentage of women in the local civil service;
• percentage of women/men registered as voters/ percentage
of eligible women/men who vote;
• percentage of women in senior/junior decision-making
positions within unions;
• percentage of union members who are women/men;
• number of women who participate in public progress and
political campaigning as compared to the number of men.

ted over time:
• changes in employment/unemployment rates of women and men;
• changes in time use in selected activities, particularly greater
sharing by household members of unpaid housework and child-
care;
• salary/wage differentials between women and men;
• changes in percentage of property owned and controlled by
women and men (land, houses, livestock), across socio-economic
and ethnic groups;
• average household expenditure of female/male households on
education/ health;
• ability to make small or large purchases independently;
• percentage of available credit, financial and technical support
services going to women/men from government/ non-government
sources.

cial empowerment, changes over time of:
numbers of women in local institutions (e.g. women’s associations, incom
generating groups etc.) to project are population, and numbers of women
in positions of power in local institutions;
extent of training or networking among local women, as compared to men
control of women over fertility decisions (e.g. number of children, number
of abortions);
mobility of women within and outside their residential locality, as
compared to men.

ualitative indicators
To what degree are women aware of local politics, and their legal rights?
Are women more or less aware than men? Does this differ by socio-economic
grouping, age or ethnicity? Is this changing over time?
Do women and men perceive that they are becoming more empowered? Why?
Do women perceive that they now have greater economic autonomy? Why?
Are changes taking place in the way in which decisions are made in the
household, and what is the perceived impact of this?
Do women make decisions independentlyently of men in their household? What sort
of decisions are made independently?