1. Session 2.2:
Planning for access and inclusion: Gender
Educational Tools and Response in Emergencies/ Disasters
and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Education
Chengdu 25-28 November 2010
2. Session objectives
After this session, you will be able to
Understand what gender is and why gender
sensitivity is important in education
Understand how gender roles are affected in
emergencies (conflicts and natural disasters)
Describe what is meant by access and inclusion
with regard to gender
Assess the feasibility of various gender-based
strategies for ensuring access
3. What is Gender…?
“Refers to the socially constructed roles, responsibilities and
identities for women and men and how these are valued in society.
They are culture-specific and they change over time. Gender
identities define how women and men are expected to think and
act. These behaviours are learned in the family, schools, religious
teaching, and the media….Since gender roles, responsibilities and
identities are socially learned, they can also be changed. Gender is a
main aspect of an individual wider identity along with race, age,
sexuality, religious and social status, etc.”
(from Gender Equality in and through Education,
INEE Pocket Guide to Gender, 2010)
4. Gender as a personal issue
Reflect on one positive or negative
experience of how gender has had an
impact on your life or learning
5. Education For All (EFA) Goals relating to
Gender
Goal 5
Eliminating gender disparities in primary
and secondary education by 2005, and
achieving gender equality in education by
2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full
and equal access to and achievement in
basic education of good quality
6. Current status of EFA gender goals
In 2001, 57% of the out-of-school primary age children
worldwide were girls (60% in Arab and Asian countries).
In 2005, 59 out of 181 countries had achieved gender
parity for both primary and secondary education. Of
these, only:
7 in East Asia and the Pacific
2 in sub-Saharan Africa
2 in the Arab States
2 in South and West Asia
118 countries (2/3) had achieved gender parity for
primary education
Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008
7. Education in emergencies
Strive for gender responsive education in
emergency situations and crisis contexts
Male and female learners of all ages have
access to high-quality relevant and protective
educational opportunities
8. Key Principles of Gender Equality
Gender dynamics impact on education
Gender is not just about girls
Gender-responsive education is protective
Disaggregated data is non-negotiable
Involve both male and female learners in
working towards gender equality
Anyone can champion gender equality in
education
10. ADAPT and ACT – C
ADAPT and ACT Collectively to ensure gender equality
Analyse gender differences
Design services to meet the needs of all
Access for women, girls, boys and men is provided equally
Participate equally ensure gender balance
Train women and men equally
and
Address GBV in education and humanitarian emergency efforts
Collect, analyse and report sex- and age-disaggregated data
Target actions based on a gender analysis.
Collectively coordinate actions with all partners
Source: IASC Gender in Humanitarian Settings Guide
Refer to Access and inclusion.
Is there 100% inclusion, who is out, what is realistic? 80% who is out? Why are they out? Women tends to be excluded – a global fact. Therefore gender is important.
Gender roles are
Socially construed roles
Culture specific
Change over time
Learned
Can also be changed
Main aspect of peoples identities (ethnicity, age, sexuality, religion, social status)
How does gender make a difference in education?
Sanitary needs
Different views on what it means to become an adult – different priorities
Gender always considered to be about women. When I had a gender presentation earlier, colleagues said it was good that I had the presentation because I was a man. Gender is not just about women…
Did you get a job / not get a job because you are a man / woman? – even in Norway this happens, in some private jobs, women in early 30s who has no children do sometimes not get jobs because it is believed that they will want to get children, which will be expensive for the employer.
Are salaries the same?
Since we all have experienced the realities of gender, we can all act to promote gender equality in and through education.
Gender equality in education is one of the six education for all goals endorsed by 164 governments at the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000. As a first step to achieving equality, they set the target of 2005 to achieve gender parity (equal enrolment levels for boys and girls) in primary and secondary education.
How would the participants describe full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. Some examples from the group, and stress that equality refers to equality of opportunities and equality of outcomes, e.g girls transition to higher levels of education at the same rate as boys.
Equality – number and quality.
Opportunity
In the learning process – boys and girls get same attention and treatment form teachers
Outcomes – academic achievements, diplomas, duration of school career, access to higher education
External results – job opportunities, same earnings for the same jobs
We have all experienced the impact on gender in our lives
Gender focus is part of our work and is important when we provide education during
Emergency preparedness
Response
Recovery
Gender roles tend to be exacerbated during emergencies and conflicts
Extra domestic roles for girls
Boys and sometimes girls are recruited into fighting forces
Young men in refugee camps with few opportunities for employment and education
Poverty and prostitution
Emergencies impact men, women, girls and boys differently
Different risks – men and women
Respond differently
Different capacities to respond to effects of crises
DISCUSSION: Men may see themselves as the protector of the families – in Pakistan many men stayed behind to protect their houses during the floods
– GBV, in conflicts
– Young men may be seen as possible collaborators with rebels and targeted by security forces.
– Women (and boys) recruited for sexual purposes
In crises and emergencies:
Gender responsiveness – to ensure access to quality, relevant and protective education
Can provide unexpected opportunities if we look for them
DISCUSSION: Sri Lanka and Nepal, women / girls with the LTTE and Maoists (promised to remove gender inequality) were empowered, much more outspoken when they returned to their local communities – held speeches, talked about women rights, provoked discussions and anger sometimes.
Pocket guide based on 7 key principles (page 8 and onwards)
1) gender roles often change during emergencies,
1) gender analysis helps us understand how gender roles have changed
3) Gender mainstreaming helps better target assistance
5) Children and learners know better what excludes their peers from education (when working with children / gender issues in the communities to find out why e.g girls don’t show up for education)
Gender equality in education – what does it mean:
Addresses the different needs of boys and girls
Ensures their enrolment, participation and achievement in learning
Involves restructuring the culture, policies and practices in education to meet different needs
Gender responsive education:
Addresses gender based barriers – so both girls and boys can learn
Respect differences based on gender – and age, language, disability, religion as part of learners identity
Enables education structures, methodologies and systems to be sensitive
Ensures gender parity in education – strategy to advance gender equality in society
Continuously evolves – to eradicate gender based discrimination
Gender cannot be seen as a separate or additional piece of work in education programming. It has to be included in regular education work to ensure the right to quality and protective education.
Use gender lens when planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating
1 lens: Participation, needs and capacities of girls and women
2 lens: Participation, needs and capacities of boys and men
Look through both to get the full picture
The checklist, will help us to remember to look through both lenses
"ADAPT and ACT Collectively" framework comes from the IASC Gender in Humanitarian Settings Guide
Checklist: helps education professionals to take gender equality into account in education programming
Help us put on a gender lens when we work
The order in which to conduct each step varies according to context, though it is important to put into life all the points during the lifetime of a programme.
All domains of an education response should be analysed using the gender lens.
MS can be used to examine which areas of our programming that can be improved to ensure that we include all learners
Men's voices are stronger than women's (Foundational Standards)
Girls work home and are prevented to go to school; no segregated toilets; cost is too high to send girls to school – boys prioritised
Curriculum raising gender issues; gender awareness training; teacher asks boys more than girls in class
Men / women get higher salaries; promotions
More money allocated to specific men / women dominated education