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Module 3
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

Overview:

The concept of GAD stems from the realization that unless one understands the
differences between men and women and the way men and women interact then one cannot
work towards ensuring that development instruments achieve the set purpose because one
does not have a clear picture of reality.

Having a gender perspective means to be aware that for cultural, class, legal and/or
other reasons men and women generally have different roles to fulfil, different access to and
control over resources, different needs and priorities and as a result different constraints and
opportunities and bargaining power in the way they relate.

These differences between men and women in a household, community and society
vary according to the area and target group considered. It is therefore necessary to check the
local reality before designing a development tool such as microfinance and related services.

This module highlights the role of gender in development. The purpose of the module
is to introduce students to the major debates in the field of gender and development. It
examines various developments in the concepts of gender and development and how they
have been adopted into theory and practice of feminism and development in general. Thus,
the module fundamentally introduces students to the main critical perspectives to study and
implement development issues and projects from a gender lens.

Objectives:

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

• understanding the role of gender and development;
• discuss the basic concepts of gender mainstreaming;
• discuss the pertinent laws anchored to gender and development;
• recognize the current gender situation and gender concerns in the Philippines; and
• identify focused areas of gender and development.

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Course Materials:

Unit 1: Gender and Development: Definition and Overview

Why Gender?

Gender is a development issue (Momsen, 2010) and development is a gender issue.

The varied modes of and efforts at development across the society pre- and post-globalization
and liberalization have affected women and men differently. Increasingly, with betterment in
technology and modernization of agriculture, traditional livelihood forms have further
exacerbated the status of women in the processes of development today. With restricted (and
many times denied) access to and control over productive resources and increasing exclusion
from newer modes of production, women are being left out of the positive impacts of
development. Unequal gender relations are thus facing newer pressures which are playing
crucial role in the results of development.

Gender relations as the socially constructed form of relations between women and
men are unequal and usually favor men in terms of access to power, resources and status.
Scholars, for long, have been examining the ways in which development processes affect and
are affected by the gender relations in a society. And it has been long established that there
is a strong and significant relationship between women’s status and the level of development
in any society.

The Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act No. 9710) defines Gender and
Development Program (GAD) as the development perspective and process that is
participatory and empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence, respectful of human
rights, supportive of self-determination and actualization of human potentials. It seeks to
achieve gender equality as a fundamental value that should be reflected in development
choices and contends that women are active agents of development, not just passive
recipients of development. GAD focuses on Gender Mainstreaming or 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, programs and
projects in all social, political, civil, and economic spheres so that women and men
benefit equally.

• assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programs in all areas and at all levels

Goal of GAD

As a development approach, GAD seeks to equalize the status and condition of and
relations between women and men by influencing the process and output of policy-
making, planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring, and evaluation so that they

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would deliberately address the gender issues and concerns affecting the full development of
women.

Gender Equity

Gender Equity means giving more opportunities to those who have less and those who
are historically and socially disadvantaged based on their needs for them to operate on a level
playing field. “Focusing on the needs of women does not mean discriminating against men or
putting them at a disadvantage”

UN–CEDAW (United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women) recognized the need to remove the biases against and
provide special attention to women through affirmative action. It is a temporary measure that
will be discontinued when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been
achieved.

How Gender and Development started in the Philippines

Gender and Development was developed in the 1980’s as an alternative to the Women
in Development (WID) approach.

Unlike WID, the GAD approach is not concerned specifically with women, but with the
way in which a society assigns roles, responsibilities, and expectations to both men and
women. GAD applies gender analysis to uncover the ways in which men and women work
together, presenting results in neutral terms of economics and competence.

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 GAD focus primarily on two major frameworks, Gender Roles and Social Relations
Analysis. Gender role focus on social construction of identities within the household, it also
reveals the expectations from ‘maleness and femaleness’ in their relative access to resources.
Social relations analysis exposes the social dimensions of hierarchical power relations
imbedded in social institutions; also it’s determining influence on ‘the relative position of men
and women in society. In an attempt to create gender equality, (denoting women having same
opportunities as men, including ability to participate in the public sphere) GAD policies aim to
redefine traditional gender role
expectations.

Society before the Gender

and Development
Gender stereotypes are
generalizations about the
roles of each gender. Gender
roles are generally neither
positive nor negative, they
are simply inaccurate
generalizations of the male
and female attributes. Since
each person has individual
desires, thoughts, and
feelings, regardless of their
gender, these stereotypes
are incredib ly simplistic and do not at all describe the attributes of every person of
each gender.

Unit 2: Gender Mainstreaming

Gender equality as the goal; gender mainstreaming as the strategy.

Gender Mainstreaming or Gender and Development (GAD) mainstreaming is the

major global strategy for ensuring that the government pursues gender equality in all aspects
of the development process to achieve the vision of a gender-responsive society where
women and men equally contribute to and benefit from development. Its importance has been
extensively discussed since governments committed to this concept in the Beijing Platform for
Action during the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in 1995.

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 It endeavors to look more comprehensively at the relationship between men and
women in their access to and control over resources, decision making, and benefits and
rewards within a particular system—it may be an organization, a government or an entire
society.

The process of gender mainstreaming necessitates the transformation of institutional

structures, culture and practices wherein gender concerns become central instead of
remaining as peripheral issues and concerns.

What is the Mainstream?

The “mainstream” is an inter-related set of dominant ideas, values, practices,

institutions and organizations that determine “who gets what” within a society. The ideas and
practices with the mainstream tend to reflect and reinforce each other and thus provide a
rationale for any given allocation of societal resources and opportunities.

Becoming part of the mainstream means:

• women and men have equitable access to resources, including opportunities and
rewards. It implies equal participation in influencing what is valued in shaping options
within society.
• sharing equitably in the benefits of development.
• offers the opportunity to influence who does what in a society, who owns (and can
own) what, who has access to jobs and income, who controls the society’s resources
and institutions, who makes decisions, who sets priorities.

Entry Points of Gender Mainstreaming

GAD mainstreaming requires interventions from different stages of development

planning processes, from planning to programming, budgeting, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation. There are four critical entry points to GAD mainstreaming, namely: policies,
programs and projects, people, and enabling mechanisms. These are not in any order of
importance. A government agency has the option on what entry point to use first. They may
opt to adopt strategies that characterize more than one entry point.

Policies

These refer to the official statements and pronouncements of support for gender
mainstreaming issued by the organization. These may be in the form of department orders,
special orders, administrative orders, memoranda, and executive orders that spell out the
commitment of an organization to pursue gender mainstreaming. It also includes national and
sectoral plans, specific guidelines, manual of implementation and the GAD

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Framework/Strategic Plan. Through these issuances, the organization expresses its
recognition and acceptance of gender mainstreaming as a critical and legitimate concern,
even in broad or general terms.6

People

These refer to the relevant stakeholders who assume the task of gender
mainstreaming. The following are critical to the success of gender mainstreaming: GAD
champions among top management who actively support the gender mainstreaming program;
recognition of GAD Focal Point System and staff members as GAD experts; internal and
external clients who are able to participate in the planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of programs, activities and projects.7

As an entry point, people shares four complementary and distinct roles8:

The Sponsor. “The individual or group who has the power to sanction or legitimize
change.” Sponsors consider the potential changes facing an organization and assess the
changes and opportunities. They decide which changes will happen, communicate the new
priorities to the organization, and provide the proper reinforcement to assure success. They
are also “responsible for creating an environment that enables these changes to be made
on time and within budget.”

In gender mainstreaming, the sponsors are the heads of the organizations. They
express support to gender mainstreaming by issuing policies or installing the necessary
enabling mechanisms such as approving the organization’s GAD Plan and Budget. They also
set the direction of the overall gender mainstreaming efforts of the organization

The Change Agent. “The individual or group who is responsible for actually making
the change. The agent’s success depends on the ability to diagnose potential problems,
develop a plan to deal with these issues, and execute the change effectively.”

The primary change agents are usually the GAD Focal Point System Members
because they facilitate the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the organization.

The Target. “The individual or group who must actually change or those who will
benefit from development.”
The term “target” is used because these people are the focus of the change effort and
play a crucial role in the short- and long-term success of an organization’s gender
mainstreaming efforts.

To increase the likelihood of success, they must be educated to understand the

changes that are expected to accommodate. They must also be involved in the
implementation process. The targets of gender mainstreaming are people in the bureaucracy,
the field workers and the clients of the different organizations. The officials and members of

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the bureaucracy are given GAD capability programs to engage in the gender mainstreaming
efforts.

The Advocate. “The individual or group who wants to achieve change but lacks the
power to sanction it.” The presence of GAD advocates determines the success rate of
sustaining GAD mainstreaming initiatives. The presence of GAD advocates helps lay a solid
foundation built on appreciation of GAD as a rights-based approach to development. Rights-
based approach means achieving a positive transformation of power relations among the
different development actors.

Programs and Projects (PAPs)

These refer to the flagship programs or activities and projects that serve as a strategic
entry point to gender mainstreaming in an organization. It is the most practical entry point
since it involves the actual implementation of the mandate of an organization. PAPs can be
review and issuance of revised GAD policies, application of gender analysis tools, and
conduct of GAD advocacy and regular updating of GAD mechanisms such as the GAD
database.

Enabling Mechanisms

These refer to the systems and mechanisms installed in the organization and the funds
allocated for GAD activities such as the GAD Focal Point System and Knowledge
Management System.

The success of any gender mainstreaming efforts depend, to a large extent, on the
resources allocated and the mechanisms that are institutionalized to implement it.

Enabling mechanisms can be GAD Funds Audit of the Commission on Audit, which
greatly helped in ensuring the institutional compliance to the minimum 5% utilization of the
GAD budgets of government agencies and local government units.

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In the course of implementing gender mainstreaming, an organization may progress through
the following levels:

Level 1: Foundation Formation

This is the initial stage, where the level of gender awareness of an organization is
heightened through raising people’s awareness and generating support for gender
mainstreaming. The challenge at the onset of any change effort is getting people to
understand, appreciate and imbibe the need for change. This level also sets the tone for
appreciating value-added in committing to GAD as one of the priority thrusts of the
organization.

Level 2: Installation of Strategic Mechanisms

This marks the transition of the organization toward gender mainstreaming. Some of
the enabling conditions created and established by top management to support GAD are:

• Putting key people, necessary policies, support structures, systems and mechanisms
in pace to facilitate and sustain gender mainstreaming.

• Initial application of GAD concepts and tools

Level 3: GAD Application

This is the period where GAD-related activities are already institutionalized within the
organization. Interventions are usually based on a strategic GAD agenda that guides GAD
planning and budgeting implementation. The GAD planning and budgeting have become

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more strategic in terms of applying gender analysis in regular programs that result in either
increased attribution of the GAD budget and/or more gender responsive programs

Level 4: Commitment Enhancement and Institutionalization

In this level, the organization has already institutionalized gender mainstreaming and
is focused on sustaining its efforts. It also challenges other organizations to continuously
evaluate and improve their efforts. After all, the long-term goal is to improve the government’s
ability to respond to gender issues and concerns on a sustained basis.

Level 5: Replication and Innovation

When an organization reached this level, it means that GAD has been fully
mainstreamed into its mandate and is being recognized by others as a model in gender
mainstreaming. The GAD Focal Person System members of the organization do not only
serve as internal experts but are also invited by other organizations as GAD technical
assistance providers. GAD-related mechanisms established by the organization are also
certified as learning hubs by national and/or international organizations

Unit 3: Pertinent Laws of Gender and Development in the Philippines

Executive Order No. 273 – Approving and Adopting the Philippine Plan for Gender-
Responsive Development (PPGD) 1995-2025

Executive Order (EO) 273, issued on September 9, 1995 and signed by President
Fidel V. Ramos, adopted the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development IPPGD)
1995-2025. The PPGD 1995-2025 is a 30-year perspective plan that outlines the policies,
strategies, programs and projects that the government must adopt to enable women to
participate in and benefit from national development while EO 273 directs all government
agencies, departments, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities, including government owned
and controlled corporations, at the national level, sub-national and local levels to:

• To take appropriate steps to ensure the full implementation of the policies/strategies

and programs/projects outlined in the Plan;
• To institutionalize Gender and Development (GAD) efforts in government by
incorporating GAD concerns, as spelled out in the Plan, in their planning, programming
and budgeting processes, but specifically to:

1. Include/incorporate GAD concerns in the:

1.1. formulation, assessment and updating of their annual agency plans;
1.2. formulation, assessment and updating of their inputs to the medium/long-
term development plans, and
1.3. preparation of their inputs to sectoral performance assessment reports,
public investment plans and other similar documents.

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 2. Incorporate and reflect GAD concerns in their:
2.1. agency performance commitments contracts indicating key result areas for
GAD as well as in their annual performance report to the President, and
2.2. annual Agency Budget Proposals and work and financial plans

Republic Act No. 8760 – General Appropriations Act (GAA) On Programs/Projects

Related to Gender and Development (GAD)

Section 27:

“All concerned government entities shall submit their GAD plan to the National Commission
on Women for review. They shall likewise submit annual reports to Congress, the Department
of Budget and Management (DBM), National Commission on Women (NCW), indicating the
accomplishments and amounts utilized to implement programs/projects/activities addressing
gendere issues and women empowerment. The evaluaton of agencies utilization of the GAD
budget shall be performance based.”

Republic Act No. 9710 – An Act Providing for the Magna Carta of Women

Section 36: Gender Mainstreaming as a Strategy for Implementing the Magna Carta of
Women

“All government departments, including their attached agencies, offices, bureaus, state
universities and colleges, government owned and controlled coporations, local government
units and all other government instrumentalities shall adopt gender mainstreaming as a
strategy to promote women’s human rights and eliminate gender discrimination in their
systems, structures, policies, programs, processes and procedures.

Section 36-B: Creation and/or Strengthening of the GAD Focal Points (GFP)

“All concerned government agencies and instrumentalities mentioned above shall establish
or strengthen their GAD Focal Point System (GFPS) or a similar GAD mechanism to catalyze
and accelerate gender mainstreaming within the agency.”

In addition to Joint Circular 99-4 issued by the National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA), the DBM and NCRFW, additional sets of guidelines, as deemed necessary, shall be
formulated, for the implementation of GAD-related programs/projects/activities.

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Unit 4: Focused Areas of Gender and Development

Education and GAD

Education improves the quality of life by enabling literate people to promote health,
expand access to paid employment, increase productivity in market and non-market work,
and facilitate social and political participation. As such, it is a basic human right that should
be equally accessible to all.

Why prioritize this sector?

Educating women is imperative because it enables women to participate in the labor

force and allows them to sustain herself and the needs of her family. This stems from the fact
that in modern Filipino families, both husband and wife should engage in productive work to
earn enough for their family’s needs.

Education has been a facilitating factor towards women’s economic empowerment. A

mother’s level of education has been found to create positive educational outcomes for her
children since she is primarily assigned in rearing of children. Educated women build smaller
families, with lower rate of children dying in infancy; hence, surviving children are given better
access to education. Furthermore, educated mothers lead a better-quality life for their
children.

Environment and GAD

The Philippines is the:

• 3rd riskiest country in the world when it comes to natural disasters (2017 World Risk
Report)
• 13th most climate-vulnerable country (2016 Climate Change Vulnerability Index)
• 5th most affected country by weather-related loss events from the period of 1997-
2016 (2018 Global Climate Risk Index)

Why prioritize this sector?

The threat of climate change and other climate hazards is not gender neutral.
Prevailing inequalities, including gender inequalities, are magnified by climate-related events
and often neglected is the fact that it has more devastating effects on women and girls.

Gender-based discrimination in this sector is experienced by women and girls in

different ways: insecure land and tenure rights; lack of access to and control of economic and
natural resources; limited opportunities to participate in environmental decision-making; lack
of access to markets, capital, training and technologies; multiple burden of women being the
primary caregivers of affected family members, additional income earners, and community

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workers; exposure to contracting diseases due to limited reproductive health services and
facilities and unhygienic water and lack of private spaces for personal hygiene needs; and
gender-based violence risks in the form of physical abuse, rape and sexual harassment in
evacuation centers and sexual exploitation in the form of sex trafficking and post-disaster
prostitution.

This sector focuses on addressing and eliminating the prevailing inequalities that exist
for women and girls in the areas of biodiversity, climate change and disasters, and other
environment-related areas through the adoption of international strategies: Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action (BPfA), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among others, and
strategic actions aligned with the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE)
indicators of concerned sectoral bodies. It is also endeavored to ensure the promotion of
women as agents of change and leaders in the environmental arena, as well as the equal
participation of women and men in decision-making at all levels on environmental issues.

Access to Justice and GAD

The Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, specifically on Chapter 6: Pursuing Swift

and Fair Administration of Justice underscores some issues and challenges of this sector that
still need to be addressed. These are as follows:

• fragmentation of the justice system.

• backlogs in resolving cases and delays in case development procedures continue to
increase, and penal facilities are occupied way beyond capacity.
• lack of public awareness, trust and investor confidence underscores the people’s low
appreciation of the country’s justice system.
• limited resources of relevant agencies cause inefficiency and slow delivery of justice

Why prioritize this sector?

Access to justice is a fundamental right and an essential factor for women’s

empowerment and gender equality, especially for the vulnerable and the marginalized sectors
including women and girls. Addressing the promotion and protection of women’s human rights
in the pursuit of access to justice should be a paramount goal of every Filipino. However,
discriminatory justice systems can undermine this women’s human rights and when such
systems cannot ensure equal access to justice for all, the vulnerable and marginalized like
women and girls become even more disadvantaged, and their human rights are placed at risk.

Access to justice initiatives should be geared towards one ultimate goal – to empower
the vulnerable and marginalized women and bring them to the sense of “justice” they request
and demand.

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 The women victims of violence are the ones who often experience various difficulties
and barriers in accessing justice. The 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey shows
that 1 in 5 women or 20% has ever experienced emotional violence, 14% has ever
experienced physical violence, and 5% has ever experienced sexual violence by their current
or most recent husband or partner.

Data from the Department of Justice in 2017 alone revealed that violence against
women and their children has 16,343 cases with 675 convictions, rape has 10,892 cases with
1,759 convictions, and human trafficking has 426 cases with 39 convictions. Reports gathered
by the Philippine National Police from 2004 to 2017 showed a drastic increase in violence
against women cases – the highest percentage reported was violence against women and
their children accounting to more than 85% of the cases. Other cases such as rape and acts
of lasciviousness were also alarmingly high. Gender-based violence against women continues
to be one of the most prevalent social problems in the country and the impact of the justice
system to these women victims poses specific challenges.

ASSESSMENTS

Task 1:
1. Discuss awareness campaign, activities, and implementation of programs/projects of
Gender and Development in your:
1.1. Community
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1.2. School
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1.3. At home
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 2. How important is institutionalizing Gender and Development?
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3. In the present era where GAD has been given spotlight, what do you think is still
lacking in the implementation or mainstreaming of GAD.
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Task 2

Instructions: From the three focused areas of Gender and Development namely GAD and
Education, GAD and Environment, and GAD and Access to Justice, select one area, create
or come up with an artwork based on your own interpretation and representation. Provide a
short caption or narrative why you have come up with that artwork.

Note: Any medium is allowed. Just make sure to create an artwork that you can attach in this
module for submission purposes.

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 REFERENCES

Gender and Social Work. Retrieved from

http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000032SW/P001714/M021053/
ET/150910255316-GADIntroduction-Text.pdf

Integrating a Gender Perspective in Microfinance in ACP countries. Retrieved from

https://www.gdrc.org/icm/wind/binns-3.html

Philippine Commission on Women. Retrieved from https://pcw.gov.ph/

RA 9262: Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. Retrieved from
http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2004/ra_9262_2004.html

RA 9710: Magna Carta of Women. Retrieved from

http://pcw.gov.ph/sites/default/files/documents/laws/republic_act_9710.pdf

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