Title: 2nd Regional Technical Meeting MAL/03/P04: South-South Cooperation Reproductive Health 6 – 7 Apr 2006 Crown Princess Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
12nd Regional Technical Meeting MAL/03/P04
South-South Cooperation Reproductive Health6
7 Apr 2006Crown Princess Hotel, Kuala
Lumpur,Malaysia
2GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN MALAYSIA by Rashidah
Shuib, Ph D Assoc. Prof and Director Womens
Development Research Centre (KANITA) Universiti
Sains Malaysia, Penang 6 Apr 2006
3- OBJECTIVES
- 1. Context
- 2. Definition
- 3. Issues and Concerns
- 4. Snippets of Gender Mainstreaming in Malaysia
- Gaps in Gender Aanalysis
- Lessons learnt
4CONTEXT
- FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
- Uneven economic development
- Some countries very poor basic primary
health care services - Life expectancy of women still low 50-60yrs
- (Malaysia 74)
- MMR ranges from 100-800 death per 100,000
- (Malaysia20 per 100,000)
- Feminisation of HIV/AIDS is a trend
- Increased Violence Against Women
5CONTEXT
- FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
- Impact of globalisation neo-liberal devpt
- agenda gtgtgtincreasing dependence on
- World Bank, USAID, ADB
- Health sector reforms
- Increasing militarism nat. security
- Increasing fundamentalism conservatism
- Philippines gtgtthe Roman Catholic Church
- Pakistan gtgt opposition to womens agenda
- India gtgt increasing Hindu religious
fund. - Strong patriarchal society.
6CONTEXT
- IMPORTANT RECENT EVENTS
- a) 2004 gtgt ICPD 10 Countdown 2015 gtgtgt NGO
Global Roundtable in London (Sept 2004) - b) 7-10 Sept 2004 gtgt Beijing 10 Review
gtgtUNESCAP High-Level Intergovernmental
Meeting, Bangkok - gtgt Technical papersSelective examples of
- good initiatives on GM
- gtgt Little on research
- c) Asia-Pacific Women NGO Forum May-June 2004,
Bangkok highlighted major gaps.
7CONTEXT
- 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
- gtgt received more attn. fr. governments
funders -
- e) 2005 gtgt Review Beijing 10, Commission on
the Status of Women (CSW) 49th session,
- New York.
- gtgt 30th anniversary of the 1st World
Conference Gender Equality - Development
Peace. -
8CONTEXT
- FOCUS ON GENDER MAINSTREAMING
- Adoption of Beijing PFA Governments
committed to gender mainstreaming as an
important strategy to empower women to
achieve gender equality. - UN ECOSOC agreed conclusions 1997/2
- on gender mainstreaming with clear definition
-
9DEFINITION BY ECOSOC
- Gender mainstreaming
- Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the
process of assessing the implications for women
and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programmes, in any areas
and at all levels. -
10DEFINITION BY ECOSOC
- Gender mainstreaming
- It is a strategy for making womens as well
as mens concerns and experiences an integral
dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the policies and
programmes in all political, economic, and
societal spheres so that women and men benefit
equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The
ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.
(UN ECOSOC, 1997)
11ISSUES AND CONCERNS
- LACK OF CONCEPTUAL CLARITY
- Gender mainstreaming other related terms
- gtgt vague e.g womens health mens health?
- gtgt varied understandings e.g gender sensitive
women specific? - gtgt gender-sensitive research?
- gtgt Conceptually not feminist but sociological
understanding - gtgt Often used gender NOT gender equality
- A lot of what is today called gender
mainstreaming is not gender mainstreaming
(Hannan, UNESCAP, Sept 2004, p 13)
12ISSUES AND CONCERNS
- b) OPERATIONALISATION IS A PROBLEM
- gt Unclear goals Why gender analysis?
- What is the motivation?
- gt Unclear indicators e.g some focus on
- only increased number of women
- gt Some decided on mens health
- gt Need to develop a conceptually clear
- Framework for Gender-Sensitive
- Planning
13CONCEPTUAL CLARITY
- REQUIRES
- Integration of equality concerns into analysis
formulation of policies to reduce gender
inequalities - Womens interests, needs, experiences contribute
to policy definition and overall agenda
14CONCEPTUAL CLARITY
- REQUIRES
- Women specific initiatives are still necessary
-
- gtgtgtDoes Affirmative Action mean
- Equal Opportunity?
- Answer is NO!!
15ISSUES CONCERNS
- c) POLICY DEVELOPMENT
- gtgtShould be participatory process input
from varied stakeholders - gtgtPolicy also includes
laws/legislation/regulation gtgtneed to - broaden definition
- d) LACK OF TOOLS RESOURCES
- gtgtgender, womens health, gender sensitive
development for policy makers and academics - gtgt little documentation
16ISSUES CONCERNS
- e) HEALTH ACADEMIC SETTING ALMOST UNTOUCHED BY
GENDER MAINSTREAMING - gtgt Ensure that medical school curricula and
- other health-care training include
gender- sensitive, comprehensive and
mandatory - courses on womens health. (FCWC,
1995) - gtgt Progress in the Philippines
-
Malaysia (?) -
17GM IN MALAYSIA
Structure Mechanism
- Est. of Ministry of Women, Family
- Community Development
-
- Gender Equality Cabinet Committee chaired
- by the Prime Minister
- Gender Focal Points gtgtsenior staff in
- every Ministrygtgtresponsible for Gender
- Mainstreaming
18GM IN MALAYSIA
Const., Policies, Laws Review Those which are
discriminatory
- Amendment of the Constitution by adding the
- word gender.
-
- Domestic Violence Act which still needs to
- be reviewed
- Guardianship Act
- At least 30 women in decision-making
- positions
19GM IN MALAYSIA
Const., Policies, Laws Review those which are
discriminatory
- Gender impact analysis of laws
- Piloting GENDER SENSITIVE BUDGETING
- in 5 Ministries
- Inclusion of a chapter in the Five-Year
- Development Plan gtgt 9th MP to mainstream
- gender
-
20GM IN MALAYSIA
Mechanisms, Programmes
- Gender Sensitization Training but rather ad
- hoc gtgtgtNational Blueprint for a Gender
- Sensitization Programme??
- Ministry of Health gtgtGender and Rights
- Training for 9 ASEAN countries in Nov 2005
- gtgt Gender
and Rights - Training for Malaysian Health Managers 2006
21GM IN MALAYSIA
Mechanisms, Programmes
- FFPAM Womens Development Committee
- initiated Gender Sensitization Training for
- state FPAs within SRH
- Ministry of Health Pilot Project Screening
- of Domestic Violence at Primary Health Care
- within Gender Framework gtgtgtinteragency
- Technical Committee incl. women NGOs
22GM IN MALAYSIA
Mechanisms, Programmes
- FFPAM, LPPKN, MOH (UNFPA) SRH
- elements in clinics as pilot, incl.
integration - of Violence Against Women
23GM IN MALAYSIA
Mechanisms, Programmes
- Estb. Gender Disaggregated Information
- System (GDIS) to plan and to track gaps.
- Malaysian Advisory and Coordinating
- Committee on Reproductive Healthgtgtinter
- agency.
241. GAPS IN GENDER ANALYSIS
- Need conceptual clarity (theoretical
operational) on - gtgt gender analysis?
- gtgt gender-sensitive?
Gender Analysis is an indispensable tool for
understanding local context (CIDA, 1999)
25GENDER ANALYSIS
- Useful in project design
- Identifies constraints and facilitating factors
- Should be used throughout the project cycle
- Info on differential perspectives, roles, needs
(practical and strategic) of men and women - Relations between men and women pertaining to
- gtgtaccess to and control over resources,
- gtgtbenefits,
- gtgtdecision-making processes
26GENDER ANALYSIS
- Potential differential impact of programme or
interventions - Social and cultural constraints, opportunities
and entry points for promoting gender equality - Institutional capacity to program for gender
equality - Differences among men and women, diversity of
circumstances, social relationships, status etc - (CIDA, 1999, p 17)
27GENDER ANALYSIS
- GOOD PRACTICES IN GENDER ANALYSIS
- Places people front and centre
- Requires skilled professionals
- Involves local experts with solid background in
gender equity issues - Involves significant numbers of women and/key
women members of partner organizations. - (WID GE Performance Review Best Practices
Study, CIDA, 1996)
28GENDER ANALYSIS
- As gender analysis is the main tool to ensure
that gender concerns are mainstreamed, there
needs to be a consensus on the rationale, and the
definition and components of a gender analysis
among policy planners and implementers so that
they are able to incorporate gender analysis in a
wide variety of sectors and at different stages
of project cycles. - (ESCAP Technical papers Sept 2004)
292. INCREASE LEVEL OF AWARENESS
- How can the level of awareness of gender issues
be raised among opinion leaders, health
policy-makers and policy implementers? - Status Very little sustained,
- gender-sensitive
health sector - training
- in Asia-Pacific .
302. INCREASE LEVEL OF AWARENESS
- Need gender-sensitive training/capacity building
(refer Beijing POA) - gtgtawareness raisinggtgtconscientization
- gtgtknowledge buildinggtgtcapacity building
- gtgttransformation of self organisations
- gtgtattitudinal change
-
- gtgtcommitment
312. INCREASE LEVEL OF AWARENESS
- Customized sector training according to sectors
types of work done - Follow-up must be done develop new methods of
assessing effectiveness gtgtshort long term. - e.g diverse, action-oriented client-friendly
activities on gender mainstreaming (Hannan, 7-10
Sept 2004)
32 2. INCREASE LEVEL OF AWARENESS
- Established Gender Units Gender Focal Points
- clear mandates,
- strategically located linked,
- well resourced and supported
- Develop and disseminate more tools, information
resources on gender - analysis.
33 2. INCREASE LEVEL OF AWARENESS
- Exploit use of internationally agreed documents
- e.g CEDAW, MDGs, Beijing PFA, ICPD POA etc
- to raise awareness at national level
- Hold dialogues/discussions on national
- development policies plansgtgtraise awareness
- garner political will.
34 3. SUCCESSFUL INST. ARRGT.
- GENDER MAINSTREAMING
- STRUCTURES
- GENDER MAINSTREAMING
- PROCESSES
- GENDER MAINSTREAMING MECHANISMS
-
35LESSONS LEARNT
- Success in gender mainstreaming is largely about
strategic positioning, some serendipity and
opportunism, and above all good analysis that
links the significance of gender analysis to the
wider economic debate.
36LESSONS LEARNT
- Mainstreaming gender analysis has been extremely
difficult to implement when there has been no
requirement for it to be undertaken as part of
the policy analysis process.
37LESSONS LEARNT
LESSONS LEARNT
- Small steps have been taken, but hardly
mainstreaming in a complete sense. The presence
of a department whose main task is gender
analysis is not mainstreaming. That will only
occur when everyone does gender analysis as an
essential part of policy analysis and the
capacity to do it exists across government.
(Lawrence, 2000)
38LESSONS LEARNT
- Conceptual clarity is essential
- Clear research principles gtgt action oriented,
participatory, multistakeholders - Clear plan for policy impact
- Institutional mechanism has to be established
near the site of power
39LESSONS LEARNT
- Political commitment of governments
- Gender specialists who are competent
- Gender budget, sustained gender training
- Evaluation feedback an integral component
- POLICY ADVOCACY RESEARCH BASED MONITORING
- Evidence based advocacy
- Strengthen Centres in Gender and Womens Studies
in research and input for Ministries
40- Gender Mainstreaming needs to be promoted and
institutionalised to ensure gender responsive
implementation of policies and plans. - Gender mainstreaming involves the process of
transformation - Gender mainstreaming must end in
- Gender Equality.