Transcript Document

2nd Regional Technical Meeting
MAL/03/P04: South-South
Cooperation Reproductive Health
6 – 7 Apr 2006
Crown Princess Hotel, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN
MALAYSIA
by
Rashidah Shuib, Ph D
Assoc. Prof and Director
Women’s Development Research Centre
(KANITA)
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang
6 Apr 2006
OBJECTIVES
1. Context
2. Definition
3. Issues and Concerns
4. Snippets of Gender Mainstreaming
in Malaysia
5. Gaps in Gender Aanalysis
6. Lessons learnt
 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
(Malaysia:20 per 100,000)
 Feminisation of HIV/AIDS is a trend
 Increased Violence Against Women
 FOCUS: ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
 Impact of globalisation & neo-liberal devpt
agenda >>>increasing dependence on
World Bank, USAID, ADB
 Health sector reforms
 Increasing militarism & nat. security
 Increasing fundamentalism & conservatism:
* Philippines >>the Roman Catholic Church
* Pakistan >> opposition to women’s agenda
* India >> increasing Hindu religious fund.
 Strong patriarchal society.
 IMPORTANT RECENT EVENTS:
a) 2004 >> ICPD + 10 Countdown 2015 >>> NGO
Global Roundtable in London (Sept 2004)
b) 7-10 Sept 2004 >> Beijing + 10 Review
>>UNESCAP High-Level Intergovernmental
Meeting, Bangkok
>> Technical papers:”Selective examples of
good initiatives on GM”
>> Little on research
c) Asia-Pacific Women NGO Forum May-June 2004,
Bangkok: highlighted major gaps.
d)
2000: Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
>> received more attn. fr. governments &
funders
e) 2005: >> Review Beijing + 10, Commission on the
Status of Women (CSW) 49th session,
New York.
>> 30th anniversary of the 1st World
Conference: Gender Equality Development – Peace.
 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
DEFINITION 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.”
DEFINITION BY ECOSOC
 Gender mainstreaming:
“It is 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 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)
a) LACK OF CONCEPTUAL CLARITY:
 Gender mainstreaming & other related
terms
>> vague e.g women’s health & men’s health?
>> varied understandings e.g gender sensitive =
women specific?
>> gender-sensitive research?
>> Conceptually not feminist but sociological
understanding
>> 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)
b) OPERATIONALISATION IS A PROBLEM
> Unclear goals : Why gender analysis?
: What is the motivation?
> Unclear indicators e.g some focus on
only increased number of women
> Some decided on men’s health
> Need to develop a conceptually clear
Framework for Gender-Sensitive
Planning
REQUIRES:
 Integration of equality concerns into analysis &
formulation of policies to reduce gender
inequalities
 Women’s interests, needs, experiences
contribute to policy definition and overall
agenda
REQUIRES:
 Women specific initiatives are still necessary
>>>Does Affirmative Action mean
Equal Opportunity?
Answer is NO!!
 c) POLICY DEVELOPMENT:
>>Should be participatory process + input
from varied stakeholders
>>Policy also includes
laws/legislation/regulation >>need to
broaden definition
 d) LACK OF TOOLS & RESOURCES:
>>gender, women’s health, gender sensitive
development for policy makers and academics
>> little documentation
e) HEALTH ACADEMIC SETTING ALMOST
UNTOUCHED BY GENDER
MAINSTREAMING:
>> “Ensure that medical school curricula and
other health-care training include gendersensitive, comprehensive and mandatory
courses on women’s health.” (FCWC, 1995)
>> Progress in the Philippines
Malaysia (?)
Structure & Mechanism
• Est. of Ministry of Women, Family &
Community Development
• Gender Equality Cabinet Committee chaired
by the Prime Minister
• Gender Focal Points >>senior staff in
every Ministry>>responsible for Gender
Mainstreaming
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
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 >> 9th MP to mainstream
gender
Mechanisms, Programmes
• Gender Sensitization Training but rather ad
hoc: >>>National Blueprint for a Gender
Sensitization Programme??
• Ministry of Health: >>Gender and Rights
Training for 9 ASEAN countries in Nov 2005
>> Gender and Rights
Training for Malaysian Health Managers 2006
Mechanisms, Programmes
• FFPAM: Women’s 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 >>>interagency
Technical Committee incl. women NGOs
Mechanisms, Programmes
• FFPAM, LPPKN, MOH (UNFPA): SRH
elements in clinics as pilot, incl. integration
of Violence Against Women
Mechanisms, Programmes
• Estb. Gender Disaggregated Information
System (GDIS) to plan and to track gaps.
• Malaysian Advisory and Coordinating
Committee on Reproductive Health>>inter
agency.
 Need conceptual clarity (theoretical &
operational) on:
>> gender analysis?
>> gender-sensitive?
“Gender Analysis is an indispensable
tool for understanding local context”
(CIDA, 1999)
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:
>>access to and control over resources,
>>benefits,
>>decision-making processes




 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)
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)
“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)
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 .
Need gender-sensitive training/capacity
building (refer Beijing POA):
>>awareness raising>>conscientization
>>knowledge building>>capacity building
>>transformation of self & organisations
>>attitudinal change
>>commitment
 Customized sector training according to sectors
& types of work done
 Follow-up must be done + develop new methods
of assessing effectiveness >>short & long term.
e.g diverse, action-oriented & client-friendly
activities on gender mainstreaming (Hannan, 7-10
Sept 2004)
 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.
• 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 & plans>>raise awareness
& garner political will.
 GENDER
MAINSTREAMING
STRUCTURES
 GENDER MAINSTREAMING
PROCESSES
 GENDER MAINSTREAMING MECHANISMS
“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. “
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.
LESSONS
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)
LESSONS LEARNT
• Conceptual clarity is essential
• Clear research principles >> action oriented,
participatory, multistakeholders
• Clear plan for policy impact
• Institutional mechanism has to be
established near the site of power
LESSONS 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 Women’s
Studies in research and input for Ministries
“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.”