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Sex |
Identifies the biological differences between men and women, such as women can give birth, and men provide sperm. Sex roles are universal. |
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Gender |
Identifies the social relations between men and women. It refers to the relationship between men and women, boys and girls, and how this is socially constructed. Gender roles are dynamic and change over time. |
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Gender Mainstreaming |
The process of ensuring that women and men have equal access to and control over resources, development benefits and decision-making, at all stages of development process, projects, programs or policy. |
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Gender-blind |
A failure to recognize that gender is an essential determinant of social outcomes impacting on projects and policies. A gender-blind approach assumes gender is not an influencing factor in projects, programs or policy. |
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Gender Awareness |
An understanding that there are socially determined differences between women and men based on learned behavior, which affects access to and control resources. This awareness needs to be applied through gender analysis into projects, programs and policies. |
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Gender Sensitivity |
Encompasses the ability to acknowledge and highlight existing gender differences, issues and inequalities and incorporate these into strategies and actions. |
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Gender Equality |
The result of the absence of discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex in opportunities and the equal allocation of resources or benefits or in access to services. |
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Gender Equity |
Entails the provision of fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men. The concept recognizes that women and men have different needs and power and that these differences should be identified and addressed in a manner that rectifies the imbalances between the sexes. |
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Gender Analysis |
The methodology for collecting and processing information about gender. It provides disaggregated data by sex, and an understanding of the social construction of gender roles, how labor is divided and valued. Gender Analysis is the process of analyzing information in order to ensure development benefits and resources are effectively and equitably targeted to both women and men, and to successfully anticipate and avoid any negative impacts development interventions may have on women or on gender relations. Gender analysis is conducted through a variety of tools and frameworks, including those listed below. |
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Sex-disaggregated data |
For a gender analysis, all data should be separated by sex in order to allow differential impacts on men and women to be measured. |
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Gender Planning |
Refers to the process of planning developmental programs and projects that are gender sensitive and which take into account the impact of differing gender roles and gender needs of women and men in the target community or sector. It involves the selection of appropriate approaches to address not only women and men’s practical needs, but also identifies entry points for challenging unequal relations (i.e., strategic needs) and for enhancing the gender-responsiveness of policy dialogue. |
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Gender Roles |
Learned behaviors in a given society/community, or other special group, that condition which activities, tasks and responsibilities are perceived as male and female. Gender roles are affected by age, class, race, ethnicity, religion and by the geographical, economic and political environment. Changes in gender roles often occur in response to changing economic, natural or political circumstances, including development efforts. |
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Both men and women play multiple roles in society. The gender roles of women can be identified as reproductive, productive and community managing roles, while men’s are categorized as either productive or community politics. Men are able to focus on a particular productive role and play their multiple roles sequentially. Women, in contrast to men, must play their roles simultaneously and balance competing claims on time for each of them. |
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Gender Needs |
Leading on from the fact that women and men have differing roles based on their gender, they will also have differing gender needs. These needs can be classified as either strategic or practical needs. |
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Access and Control |
Productive, reproductive and community roles require the use of resources. In general, women and men have different levels of both access (the opportunity to make use of something) to the resources needed for their work, and control (the ability to define its use and impose that definition on others) over those resources. |
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Resources |
Resources can be economic: such as land or equipment; political: such as representation, leadership and legal structures; social: such as child care, family planning, education; and also time—a critical but often scarce resource. |
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WID and GAD: What Are the Differences? |
Women in Development (WID) and Gender in Development (GAD) are sometimes used interchangeably, but there are some basic differences. The WID approach was developed in the 1970s with the objective of designing actions and policies to integrate women fully into development. The GAD approach was developed in the 1980s with the objective of removing disparities in social, economic and political equality between women and men as a pre-condition for achieving people-centered development. Both approaches are still in use and are applicable in different ways. |
