Why a gender lens?

MCC has adopted the goal of using gender as a lens to look at overseas program work. MCC's commitment to gender is rooted in our faith. As Christians, we affirm that all people are created in the divine image, and that women and men, girls and boys, are equally valued and loved by God. As children of God, we are all called to do God's work.

Looking at MCC overseas programs through the lens of gender means that we will become aware of the different roles of men and women in the contexts in which we work, consciously focusing on the relationships between men and women and asking how our decisions and our actions will impact both women and men in each setting. This will help us to better understand the contexts and communities in which we work, and to hear all voices in those communities. It will help us ensure that our involvements contribute to greater justice and participation for those who are marginalized.

What do we mean by gender?

Gender refers to the roles of women and men in a given culture, and their relationship to each other. In most societies, women and men have different roles, which result in their having different needs and interests. Awareness of these differences helps us understand the relative position of women and men in a society, in the division of responsibilities and resources, benefits and rights, power and privilege.

A gender perspective assumes that the roles of women and men are interdependent, so that one doesn't change without changing the other. Roles of women and men will look different in different places and cultures, and over time. They are affected by context, and by which women and men we are talking about (class, age, caste, religion, ethnicity, etc).

A gender guide

The following set of questions is designed to be used by MCC overseas programs and workers in thinking about our work. The questions help us to understand the context in which we work, and to make decisions which take gender into account in all of our involvements, regardless of whether or not some involvements target only men or only women. They will guide program planning and provide a focus for discussion and reflection within MCC and in our relationships with local partners and advisors.

In asking these questions, we need to be aware of how the information is obtained and from whom. Consultation with both men and women representing a diversity of perspectives is essential to gain a full picture. References to men and women should be read to include boys and girls, as appropriate.

A. WHO DOES WHAT WORK (paid and unpaid)?

Categories of work:

• Production of goods and services for subsistence and trade, wage earning

• Care and maintenance of the household and its members

• Work on behalf of the community, including involvement in political organizations, places of worship, community associations

1. What work do women and girls do in your setting? What work do men and boys do?

2. How would you categorize the work of women and men, girls and boys?

3. a) Does MCC's involvement have an impact on the workload of women? Of men?

b) How do the workloads of women and men affect how MCC can be involved?

4. How does MCC's involvement affect the existing division of labor--Reinforce? Change existing patterns positively or negatively?

B. ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OVER RESOURCES AND BENEFITS

Resources can include economic resources such as land, equipment, tools, labor, money, credit and skills; and political resources such as education, information, leadership, representative organizations, public-sphere experience, confidence, credibility. Time is also a resource.

Benefits can include food, clothing, shelter, cash and income, asset ownership, education, training, improved health, political power, status, and opportunities to pursue new interests.

Context

1. What resources do women and men each have access to (ability to use)?

2. What resources do they each have control over (ability to decide how they will be used)?

3. What benefits do women and men each receive from work and from the use of resources?

4. What benefits do they each have control over?

MCC involvement

5. How does MCC's involvement take into account women's and men's access to and control of resources and benefits?

6. Are the benefits of our involvement in the community fairly distributed among women and men? If not, is there good reason for this?

7. How does our MCC involvement address any unequal sharing of resources?

C. PRACTICAL NEEDS AND STRATEGIC INTERESTS

Practical needs refer to inadequacies in general living conditions and lack of resources such as clean water, shelter, food, health care, income and education.

Strategic interests arise out of an awareness of the relative status of women to men within the community and are concerned with empowerment. Strategic interests may include legal rights, equal wages, protections from domestic violence, increased decision-making, and control over assets, income, production and fertility.

Context

1. What practical needs have women and men identified?

2. What strategic interests have been identified?

MCC involvement

3. How will MCC's activities address the practical needs of women and of men?

4. How and to what extent does MCC's involvement address strategic interests within the community?

a) Does our involvement have any impact on the roles of women and men? Do we contribute to the development of more equitable roles between women and men?

b) Does MCC's involvement promote the ability of both women and men to participate fully as agents of change?

5. How can we help to create opportunities for women and men to articulate their practical and strategic needs?

D. INFLUENCING FACTORS

Influencing factors can include:

• socio-cultural, e.g. changing traditional life styles
• economic, e.g. structural adjustment policies
• political, e.g. new policies, change in government, war
• environmental, e.g. drought
• demographic, e.g. migration, urbanization
• legal, e.g. changes in ownership or suffrage laws
• educational, e.g. changes in access to education
• international, e.g. influence of western culture, int'l trade
• religious, e.g. rise of fundamentalism

Context

1. What key factors--past, present, and future--influence and change the relationships between men and women in the community?

2. What myths, stories, proverbs, beliefs or religious practices define gender roles in the community?

a. How are these cultural and religious factors perceived by women and men, girls and boys, in the community?

b. How are these cultural and religious beliefs changing or evolving?

MCC involvement

3. How do these influencing factors affect the way MCC can be involved with men and women in the community?

4. Do our own beliefs and cultural practices marginalize any women and/or men we work and live with?

E. LEVELS OF PROJECT PARTICIPATION

Presence does not necessarily mean participation. Participation involves being able to make one's views known and to make decisions and influence development activities.

1. Whose initiative is it for MCC to be involved in a given setting or project? Have women and men been consulted separately regarding the needs and priorities of the community? Who do these women and men represent in the community?

2. In projects where both are involved, do women and men participate equally in planning, managing, implementing, and evaluating projects and programs? Do they share equally in the benefits?

3. If projects are gender-specific (women-only or men-only), are benefits equal to those that participants might receive if they were of the opposite sex? Do these gender-specific initiatives enable participants to be full partners with other groups in collaborative community development?

4. Do we look at the negative and positive impact on both men and women of each of MCC's involvements (regardless of whether or not the involvement targets only men or only women)?

1. What is the nature of women's and men's participation in the MCC program?

a) Are the differing experiences and perspectives of men and women both represented within the MCC program? What perspectives are missing? How can they be incorporated?

b) Do we as MCC workers model healthy, mutually respectful relationships between men and women?

2. How can we sensitively encourage discussion that enables men and women in the communities or partner agencies we work with to address gender oppression and discrimination?

3. What groups or efforts in the region are already working to build just and equitable relationships between men and women? How can we work with them to link communities, NGOs and individuals, and create forums for discussion and learning?

Peace Office
Gender and Development Project
September 1998