GENDER &

DEVELOPMENT
UNIT CODE: CDEV 00112
BY: PHILIP OKELLO
 INTRODUCTION
 Gender and development are considered important areas in
the study of social sector issues in development.
 The historical development of societies has placed women at
distinctively disadvantageous position. Historical studies
reflect that women have played a marginal role in the
development of societies.
 In this lecture, we shall define gender.
 We shall also look at the:
1. key concepts in gender and development.
2. gender issues in development.
3. gender mainstreaming.
4. gender in project and policy cycles
THE RELATIONSHIP OF GENDER
WITH
DEVELOPMENT
 Gender as a concept or category has emerged to
understand the complexities of -women's
subordination in society.
 The word gender does not necessarily refer to women
as a group or class of society. Rather it is used as an
analytical social category to study the problems of
women.
 The theory of development is closely related to
gender because of the large scale exclusion of women
from the process of development
 “ Women and development' is an
inclusive term to signify concept and a
movement whose long term goal is the
well being of society - the community of
men, women and children
Margaret Synder and Mary Tadesse:- African Women

and Development: A History

”
Societies need to see women less as passive recipient of
help, and more as dynamic promoters of social
transformation which is supported by the viewpoint that
the education, employment and ownership rights of women
have a powerful influence on their ability to control their
environment and contribute to economic development.
Amartya Sen
Gender roles can be defined as the behavior and attitudes expected from the
male and female members of a society.
Gender roles may vary from country to country, culture to culture and even in
the same country from region to region depending on the defined perceptions
of people in that society.
For example, in rural societies the gender role of a woman is limited to
household chores because of women's exclusion from the educational
framework,. but in an urban environment, gender roles are defined a bit
differently, since, with better educational opportunities, women get involved
in economic and political activity.
There are multiple factors which determine the gender role in a particular
society or environment.
A theoretical approach to development is important to understand the
evolution of development, thinking and policy.
 Importance of Gender Issues in Development
 In order to achieve any meaningful development deliberate efforts have to be made to
address gender issues. Large gender disparities in basic human rights in resources and
economic opportunities, and in political voice are evident in Kenya.
 Since the mid 1980s there has been a growing consensus that sustainable development
requires an understanding of both women’s and men’s roles and responsibilities within the
community and their relations to each other. This has come to be known as the Gender and
Development (GAD) approach as we have discussed above.
 The main objective of GAD is mainstreaming women’s needs and perspectives into all
activities.
 Mainstreaming acknowledges that all development operations have a gender impact and
do not automatically benefit men and women equally.
 Thus it is necessary to adopt GAD approach for development programs to benefit men
and women, boys and girls for sustainable development
 Gender inequalities hinder development. What types of policies and strategies
promote gender equality and foster more effective development?
 Policymakers have a number of policy instruments to promote gender
equality and development effectiveness. But effective action requires also that
policymakers take account of local realities when designing and
implementing development policies and programs.
 There can be no one-size-fits-all formula for promoting gender equality.
Identifying what works requires consultations with stakeholders both women
and men on key issues and actions.
 Therefore to enhance development effectiveness, gender issues much be an
integral part of policy analysis, design and implementation.
 Engendering Development provides policy makers, development specialists,
and civil society members many valuable lessons and tools for integrating
gender into development work.
 This helps policymakers and members of the development community to
realize their commitment to sustainable development
 Gender
 Gender is the social dimension of being male or female.
 Gender identity is the sense of being male or female, which most
children acquire by the age of three. Gender is not being manly or
feminine. Gender is how you feel inside.
 Gender identity is a person's sense of identification with either the
male or female sex, as manifested in appearance, behavior, and
other aspects of a person's life.
 Assignment 1.
1. Define and discuss the following terms:
 Gender Equality
 Gender Equity
 Gender Inequality
 Gender Discrimination
 Gender Sensitivity
 Gender Awareness
 Gender Analysis
 Gender Mainstreaming
2. Differentiate between Gender Equity versus Gender Equality
3. Discuss the importance of gender issues in development
Gender empowerment and development

 economic participation
 economic opportunity
 political empowerment
 educational attainment
 health and wellbeing
Economic participation

 The economic participation of women in the workforce, in qualitative

terms, is important, not only for lowering the disproportionate levels of
poverty among women, but also as an important step towards raising
household incomes and encouraging economic development in the
countries as a whole.
 The question of gender in the labor market gains importance only when
a perceptible pattern is noticed in terms of treatment of women in the
labor market which is either discriminatory in nature or, places women
in a distinctively disadvantageous position vis-a vis men.
 The reasons for labor market discrimination against women as a
category can be because of the following reasons; internal dynamics of
the labour market; external factors
Economic opportunity

 Traditionally as well as culturally, the role assigned to women in many

societies deprives them of economic opportunity. In most of the society,
women are vested with the responsibility of bearing, rearing and caring
of children.
 This prevents them from participating in employment opportunities in
the private sector, as well as in the public sector the women's right to
land is considerably lower, particularly in Asian countries.
 This has resulted in women's poor access to credit, and their restricted
say in household decision making. The right to land is an essential
component of economic empowerment of women.
Political Empowerment

 Three places where women have always been excluded, these are
military, religion, and politics, and it is in the political arena that they
have the least access.
 Women's political empowerment means equitable representation of
women in the decision making structure. Women are poorly represented
in democratic institutions.
 The Inter-Parliamentary Union report has envisaged an average of only
15.6 percent of women representation in the combine Houses of
Parliament.
 The participation of women in political institutions is probably the most
significant indicator of women's contribution in development process.
Educational attainment

 Education is one of the fundamental prerequisites for empowering women.

 Education helps in reducing infant and maternal mortality. The importance
of education in general and literacy, in particular, is greater for women.
 However, women still constitute two-thirds of the world's illiterate
population.
 Educational empowerment of women will
1. enhance self-esteem and self confidence of women
2. develop the ability to think critically
3. enable women to make informed choices in areas like education,
employment and health
“To awaken the people, it is
women who must be awakened;
once she is on the move, the village
moves and the nation moves".

Jawaharlal Nehru
Health and wellbeing

 The World Health Organization (WHO) expects that every mother

maintains good health, learns the art of child care, has normal delivery,
and bears healthy children.
 A healthy mother is required for the wellbeing of a family. Women are
not in a better position as compared to men in health and wellbeing
because of biological reasons.
THE GENDER DEVELOPMENT
INDEX
 Kenya scored 80.6 out of 100 on the Women, Business and the Law 2021
index and ranked 95 out of 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report
2021, with an overall score of 0.692.
 Overall, these scores remain consistent from the previous year though the
lived realities for women and girls is markedly different, particularly in terms
of the statistics based on age, marital status, and geographical location.
 COVID significantly increased inequalities between men and women in
education attainment, health outcomes, representation in parliament, and
participation in the labor market.
 Kenya’s gender equality commitments regarding the advancement of gender
equality, women, and girl’s empowerment are enshrined in the Constitution of
Kenya, legal and policy environment and outlined in the gender machinery’s
mandates.
THE GENDER DEVELOPMENT
INDEX

 The GDI was developed in 1995 by UNDP to consider gender disparity on

overall human development of a nation.
 Young women and adolescent girls are the most vulnerable group in Kenya.
 They are particularly vulnerable to poverty especially at the household and
community level exacerbated by gender-based violence, harmful cultural
attitudes, and beliefs.
 Limited control over benefits from land and other resources limits women’s
participation in the economy, particularly as producers and market actors.
 Women’s unequal and unpaid care work limits women’s contribution to and
benefits from productive activities, their mobility, and access to market
resources.
 THE GENDER DEVELOPMENT
INDEX
 The three areas which are used to measure human capabilities for HDI are life
expectancy to measure longevity, educational attainment or literacy level to represent
level of knowledge, an appropriately adjusted real GDP per capita to ensure a decent
standard of living
 For the purpose of calculating GDI, the above indices are adjusted to find out the
gender based results which explain the level of gender inequality prevailing in a
country.
 The GDI is designed to evaluate the achievement of women along each of the
following three components life expectancy at birth, illiteracy level standard of living
reflected in income level of women
 A higher life expectancy for male than a female indicates that there is perceptible
disparity existing in the society,
 Measuremens of GBI using this indicator categorically points out the level of gender
inequality in a country.
 Similarly, the educational attainment level or literacy rate determines the access to
education.
 Gender Empowerment Measure

 Empowerment of women involves the improvements of their status in the family,

community, and society. It ensures women's accessibility to modern development
facilities Gender and Development and extends their participation in social,
economic and the political process, and decision making.
 GEM has emerged as an important indicator of women's empowerment in a
community. GEM helps immensely in highlighting the deficiencies in policies and
their Implementation.
Components of GEM
According to the Employment Paper, 2003104, of the International Labour
Office,Geneva, the Gender Empowerment Measure has three components
 the share of women in earned income
 the relative weight of women among administrators and professional workers
 share of women in parliamentary seats.
 Gender Empowerment Measure
Factors Affecting GEM
There are multiple factors which may affect the GEM score of a country. Some of the
factors which may affect GEM are given below.
 Social structure of a country - a patriarchal social system may not permit higher
role for women in decision making process. Muslim countries have perennially
encountered lower participation of women in the economic and political process.
 Historical settings - if there is relative deprivation of women vis-8-vis men it may
take longer to alter the historical setting in a country.
 Literacy rate - lower literacy rates for women could result in their exclusion from
control over resources and in the decision making process.
 Level of urbanization - typically urban societies extend greater roles for women at
all levels. Rural societies are closed societies with limited resources as well as
decision making opportunities; whatever is available is concentrated with men.
 GENDER ADVERSARIES
 The two main adversaries are:
i) missing women
 'Missing women' reflect the gender disparities of any society. The higher performing gender is
favoured, whereas the gender with low performance is neglected. This leads to further
additions to the missing women. Discrimination against women can begin early in life.
 Parental selection, female infanticide or abandonment, childhood sexual exploitation, genital
mutilation, and limited access to adequate nutrition and health care; all affect the number of
girls, in some parts of the world who survive into adulthood.
 These factors combined with limited access to education, early marriage and early child-
bearing affect the health and wellbeing of girls, and can have lasting effects throughout their
lives. Some of the causes of missing women are;
 patrilocal exogamy
 economic value
 patriarchal society
 poverty
 GENDER ADVERSARIES
i) missing women
 Patrilocal exogamy:
whereby sons remain with the origin or parental household and contribute to joint
income, while daughters migrate from their households to move into their husband's
parental household.
Investment in sons, in terms of education and share in property, seems to pay off,
whereas investment in girls is seen as wasteful expenditure.
 Economic Value:
although women do the majority of work, they do not share equally in income,
earnings and wealth.
Discrimination against women in earnings, employment, access to credit and capital
accumulation mechanism, and private social benefit systems also affects the economic
wellbeing of their children and other house hold members.
 GENDER ADVERSARIES
missing women
 Patriarchal Society:
one important reason for declining sex ratio is a patriarchal society. The desire for
male heirs of property is another reason for discrimination against daughters.
 Poverty:
the situation of women becomes worse for those living in poverty. The
disproportionate burden of family limits access to education, training and participation
in paid employment. Women are forced to enter informal unorganised employment,
thus, leading to exploitation - economically, physically and mentally.
Declining sex ratio: The declining sex-ratio is one of the reasons of which foeticide
is a cause of concern. Many girl children are missing before they are born.
 GENDER ADVERSARIES
ii) Violence against Women
 Despite the protections guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on
Human Rights and the convention on the rights of the child, gender
discrimination and violence against women and girls persists everywhere
and is a growing phenomenon in many parts of the world.
 Despite promises in the convention to end all forms of discrimination
against women, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium
Development Goals, girls continue to be exploited by individuals and
victimized by laws that fail to adequately protect them.
 Forms of Violence
Gender based violence both reflects and reinforces inequities between men
and
women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its
victims.
 Witchcraft: sometimes a woman living in a village is alleged to be a witch and the cause of
mishaps in the village. She is tortured and sometimes killed. Low education and superstition
leads to such practices.
 Exploitation at the workplace, in schools, and at home: This kind of exploitation is
seldom reported as the culprit is a known person. The crime against women is done either
by colleagues, boss, teacher, or some relative. Social stigma ‘ and inability to prove the
crime of a trusted person leads the victim to suffer in silence.
 Rape: This is among the most common crimes against women. All rape cases are not
reported to police. Laws are not victim-friendly rape victims. Many times, culprits are either
close relatives, friends, or known persons. I
 Blackmail: with the development of technology, women have become more prone to
blackmail. The use of spy cameras and conversion of these into CDs and DVDs have made
blackmailing more convenient. I
 Sex determination: another disadvantage of technology is sex determination. The
deteriorating sex ratio is due to sex determination. Recent research shows that missing
women are more in rich northern Indian states compared to the south, and in poor States.
 I Selling of Girls: girl children are sold for a petty amount of money, and sometimes, they
are sold under the guise of marriage also. Many of them end up as prostitutes or bar girls.
The selling of girls as domestic help or sex workers is also driven by poverty of the family, I
 Other forms of violence: these include forcing girls into prostitution and honour killings.
Honour killing is killing females if they revolt against their families or relatives wishes and
decide to marry into other castes or religions.
Assignment 2

 Give 6 explanations why gender empowerment is

important 6mks
 Women everywhere face disparities, discuss those
disparities? 6mks
 Discuss three components of GEM 3mks