GHANA HIV&AIDS NETWORK
(GHANET)
SGBV CAPACITY BUILDING
SESSION
23RD DECEMBER, 2013
Outline
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Gender Terms and Definitions
Gender Integration Continuum
Gender Integration into the Program cycle
Gender Terms and Definitions
• Sex refers to the biological and
physiological characteristics that define
men and women.
• Gender refers to the socially constructed
roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes
that a given society considers appropriate
for men and women.
Gender Terms and Definitions
Sex roles are defined by biological
differences between men and women.
For instance, pregnancy and child bearing
are female sex roles that cannot be assumed
by men
Gender roles are social differences between
men and women determined by society. E.g.
most cultures define child rearing as a
female role, although there is no biological
reason why it cannot be done by men.
characteristics of sex and gender roles
Gender identity refers to one’s sense of
oneself as a man, a woman or transgender
Gender Equity is the process of being fair to
women and men.
To ensure fairness, measures must be taken to
compensate for historical and social
disadvantages that prevent women and men
from operating on a level playing field.
Gender Equality is the state or condition that
affords women and men equal enjoyment of
human rights, socially valued goods,
opportunities, and resources.
Gender Sensitivity is the ability to recognize
gender issues, especially women’s distinct
perceptions and interests arising from their
gender roles. Gender sensitivity is the beginning
of gender awareness, where you become more
analytical, and more questioning of gender
disparities.
Sexual rights include the human rights of women
and men to have control over and decide freely
and responsibly on matters related to their
sexuality.
Sexuality is a broad term covering sexual identity
(if you call yourself gay, lesbian or straight), sexual
orientation (who you are attracted to), sexual
behavior (you may describe yourself ‘gay’ but you
are bisexual in your behavior), and sexual
preferences (with older or younger people or a
particular racial group).
Gender stereotyping occurs when certain
characteristics or roles are persistently
attributed to men or women, thereby
creating the belief that these are invariably
linked to gender.
For instance, the perception that all women are weak
and caring and that all men are strong and able to
make important decisions are frequently encountered
gender stereotypes. Gender stereotyping reinforces
gender inequality by portraying assumptions and
conditions that maintain the inequality as biologically
or culturally fixed.
Gender sensitivity is the ability to recognize
gender issues, especially women’s distinct
perceptions and interests arising from their
gender role. Gender sensitivity is the
beginning of gender awareness, where you
become more analytical, and more
questioning of gender disparities.
THANK YOU
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Gender Integration refers to strategies
applied in project/program assessment,
design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation to take gender norms into account
and to compensate for gender-based
inequalities.
Gender Mainstreaming is the process of
incorporating a gender perspective into policies
and administrative functions, as well as into
the institutional culture of an organization.
Integration Continuum
To guide various projects on how to integrate gender
into programs, the IGWG has developed a
conceptual framework known as the Gender
Integration Continuum. This framework
categorizes approaches by how they treat gender
norms and inequities in the design,
implementation, and evaluation of program and
policy.
GENDER INTEGRATION CONTINUUM
Gender Integration into HIV&AIDS
Programming
The programme cycle consists of three main elements:
• planning (design)
• delivery (implementation and management)
• assessment (monitoring and evaluation)
Reasons for mainstreaming gender in the HIV&AIDS programme cycle
 To ensure that the project benefits men and women equitably;
 To address gender-specific challenges for the successful
implementation of the HIV and AIDS project;
 To formulate strategies that ensure the full participation of men and
women; and
 To ensure that the project activities are aligned with women and
men’s needs and conveniences.
THANK YOU
• The gender integration continuum is a tool
for designers and implementers to use in planning
how to integrate gender into their
programs/policies. Under no circumstances should
programs take advantage of existing gender
inequalities in pursuit of health outcomes (“do no
harm!”)
Gender-focused goals, objectives and
expected results
• Increased equal access and control over health services by Children,
women and men, including services for HIV prevention and AIDS care;
• Increase in equal access and control over community and social
support services by women and men, including counselling, mutual
support and income-generation activities;
• Increased and equitable distribution income and employment
opportunities for women and men;
• Decreased workload for women and men;
• Enhanced skills for women and men;
• Improvement and greater equality in the cultural perceptions and the
social and legal status of women and men;
• Better and more equal access to social services (education, health);
• Changing legal frameworks on issues of gender violence, inheritance
and land rights;
• Changing images about women and men;
• Enhance d s elf-image and confidence of women and
members of disadvantaged group s ;
• Politic al and public participation;
• Enhance d participation in public life by women and
disadvantaged group s ;
• Enhanced decision-making at household level by
women;
• Improve d physic al integrity for both women and men;
• Enhance d inter- spousal dialogue on sexuality ;
• Enhance d heath and nutritional status ; and
• Reduction of violence.
Gender-focused inputs
Inputs are the resources – human, material
(including information) and financial – that are
required to facilitate and support the achievement
of the programme’s goals and expected results.
They should be defined within a gender
perspective:
• They should ensure that the needs and concerns
of women and men are considered.
• Roles to be played by women and men as
technical experts, facilitators and advisors should
be looked into.
• Financial resources for activities involving women
and men should be allocated equally.
Gender-focused situational analysis
HIV and AIDS programmes are affected by the socio-cultural, political
and economic context within which they operate. It is important to
understand the opportunities and constraints that may affect the
programme’s ability to address gender relations and inequalities.
Some factors to consider include:
• Macro-economic policies and their impact on different social groups;
• Privatisation of health and education services and impact on
disadvantaged groups, especially women;
• User fees for health care may deter the poor from obtaining
treatment for AIDS-related illnesses; and
• Women tend to be affected more than men because they generally
have less access than men to funds to pay for medical care.
Gender issues in the delivery phase
Programme delivery involves the implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of project activities.
The following are important considerations for gender mainstreaming
in programme implementation:
• Ensure that the implementation plan is clear on how the gender
oriented objectives and expected outputs will be implemented and
monitored.
• Ensure that the programme should sensitize communities,
institutions and policy makers on gender dynamics of HIV and AIDS.
• Consider whether the implementation focus of a programme is on
women’s activities or whether it systematically translates the gender
objectives to activities for involving and benefiting both women and
men in a community or organization.
• Utilize strategies that promote an enabling environment for the
successful implementation of activities with a gender perspective in
the area of AIDS service delivery.
• Conduct activities that support ongoing advocacy work on gender
issues at community, national and international levels.
Gender issues in the monitoring and
evaluation phase
It is important to develop a monitoring and
evaluation plan with gender sensitive indicators
during the planning stages of a programme. This
plan should include procedures for collecting
data that can demonstrate how different groups
have benefited from the programme.
• Develop gender-sensitive monitoring indicators.
• Develop a systematic monitoring plan that can trace the
impact of the implemented activities, both quantitatively
and qualitatively.
• Review monitoring tools to ensure they are able to
collect and analyse the impact of the activities with a
gender focus.
• When developing indicators, make sure that the data to
be collected is disaggregated by sex, age and, if possible,
class.
• Ensure that there are verifiable indicators that focus on
the benefit of the programme to women, men and
youth.
• Make sure that all monitoring data is collected and
reported by sex, age and other significant variables.