Gender, Sexuality & Advocacy
www.letgirlslead.org © 2014 Public Health Institute
Why does Gender Matter?
• Gender describes the social roles and relations
between men and women in society
• Gender changes with time and is different in other
cultures, depending on the context
• Gender affects all aspects of life: economic, political,
and social—at all levels: family, community, and
nation
2
Why does Gender Matter?
• Gender prescribes what we expect men and women
to do, and how we expect them to act
• Gender is about how power is used and shared
3
Why does Sexuality Matter?
• Every human being has a sexuality, and sexuality has
many different forms
• Sexuality defines the kind of relationships we seek and
how we establish our circles of friends and family
• Sexuality determines how we are seen, treated, and
judged by our employers, employees, peers, and family
4
Why does Sexuality Matter?
• Sexualities that are not sanctioned by society are
punished or silenced
• Healthy sexuality = healthy person!
Discuss in Pairs:
• What options did our
grandmothers and grandfathers
have regarding their education,
getting a job, type of job, age of
marriage, whether they married,
whether they had children,
number of children, etc.?
• What options do you and your
siblings have regarding your
education, getting a job, type of
job, age of marriage, etc.?
6
Discuss in Pairs:
• Are there any differences?
What has changed?
Compare what a women can
expect in a Guatemalan or
Honduran culture vs. an
European or American
culture
• What do Esther’s and Alex’s
stories teach us about sex,
gender, and sexuality?
7
Gender in Advocacy


Gender is linked to time and context—it can change
Gender determines what is expected, allowed, and
valued in a woman or a man, a boy or a girl, within a
given context
8
Gender in Advocacy
There are differences and inequalities between
young men and women, which often put women
at a disadvantage regarding:
• The responsibilities they are given
• The activities they perform
• Access to and control over resources
• Decision-making opportunities
9
Impact of Gender and Sexuality Power
Inequalities
• Underrepresentation of
adolescent girls in schools
and educational
attainment
• Higher rates of adolescent
girls held back and
dropping out of school
• Social attitudes that
undervalue education for
women
10
Impact of Gender and Sexuality Power
Inequalities
• Girls bear a disproportionate burden of household
duties at the expense of their education
• Trans women experience violence and abuse on a
regular basis
• The suicide rate of LGBTIQ youth is nearly 50%
higher than that of heterosexual youth
“The only one discriminated
against should be VIOLENCE”
11
Impact of Gender Power Inequalities
• Lack of, or limited access to, reproductive rights
• Increasing number of HIV infection in young and
adolescent women.
• High incidence of HIV and AIDS among sexual minorities
12
Impact of Gender Power Inequalities
• Extremely limited
employment opportunities
for trans women
• LGBTIQ youth who face
discrimination from health
workers, schools, and their
families and larger
communities
“proud to be trans”
13
Impact of Gender Power Inequalities





Early marriages and unwanted
pregnancies
Lack of vocational skills in teenage
girls
Teenage girls’ vulnerability to
violence, including sexual abuse
Subjection of teenage girls to
harmful cultural practices
Subjection to child trafficking and
child labor
14
Why Gender-Based Advocacy?
To ensure equal rights, responsibilities, and
opportunities for adolescent boys and girls
Equality does not mean that men and women are
the same, but that …
Responsibilities and opportunities for adolescent boys and
girls do not depend on whether they were born male or
female
15
What Does Gender-Based Advocacy Do?
It fights the causes of gender inequality, such as:
• The low status of women and sexual/gender
minorities
• Laws that put women and sexual and gender
minorities at disadvantage
• Patriarchal attitudes
16
What Does Gender-Based Advocacy
Entail?
Bringing people’s perceptions, experience,
knowledge, and interests towards building policies,
planning, and decision making
Achieving the realization of human rights and social
justice for all, regardless of age, gender, or sexual
orientation
Ensuring the effective achievement of other social
and economic goals
17
What Does Gender-Based Advocacy
Entail?
• Assessing the implications for all genders, ages,
and sexual orientations of every planned action,
including laws, policies, and programs, at all levels
and in all areas
• Ensuring that the interests, needs, and priorities of
men and women both adolescent and adult are
taken into consideration in any action aimed at
influencing policies
Elements of Gender-Based
Advocacy
Observing how gender affects everybody’s lives,
roles, and opportunities
Helping guide the design, implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation of all social and political
programs
Making sure young men and women benefit equally
and that inequality does not prevail
Elements of Gender-Based Advocacy
The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality
Advocacy is not a matter of women’s or
adolescent girls’ rights, but should appeal to and
involve everybody, regardless of gender identity or
age
A gender analysis may need to intersect with
other social indicators, such as class, age, and
religion, to address issues of multiple forms of
discrimination
20
Elements of Gender-Based Advocacy
• Disaggregated data (qualitative and quantitative)
is essential to identify strategies to eliminate
inequalities
• Different tendencies, patterns, and levels of
participation
• Underlying causes for the observed differences in
data
21
Elements of Gender-Based Advocacy
• Considering gender factors when
conducting a situation analysis
• Ensuring a policy of information
on gender matters (at the macro
level)
• Ensuring that when policies are
implemented, gender
considerations are made
22
Questions for Reflection
• Who, what, whom?
• Who does what?
• Who owns what?
• Why is it so?
• Where does it happen: at
home/in private, or in public?
23
Best Practices
• Include specific gender goals in an intervention
• Base strategies on a gender analysis
• Gender analysis need not stand alone
• Incorporate gender analysis in other stages such as
situation profiling, as needed
Best Practices
• Move beyond gender parity to equality in
participation
• Partner with others to ensure a holistic approach
• Incorporate participative approaches in analysis,
formulation of strategies, and action
25
Common Challenges
• Lack of gender-disaggregated data
• Lack of gender-based information
• Limited political will
• Cultural resistance
• Misconceptions: gender is synonymous with women
26
More to come!
www.letgirlslead.org ©
2014
Public Health Institute