This How-to Manual for ILO staff on gender mainstreaming is compiled of existing ILO materials on gender and development and is inspired by valuable comments made by ILO staff during the gender training in Manila in January 1998 regarding practical tools for gender mainstreaming. Rather than having to browse through exhaustive, encyclopaedic materials on gender analysis and planning, ILO’s technical and programming staff in the field expressed the need for a short and handy document which they could use in their day-to-day work.
To a great extent, valuable information on concepts and tools is readily available within the ILO. I therefore decided not to write new guidelines for gender mainstreaming. I rather chose to select the most relevant extracts from ILO’s gender training materials and revised, updated and/or summarised them for the purpose of this document.1
The main steps and principles outlined in the first part of this manual serve as the basic framework for technical and programming staff to mainstream gender concerns in their work. Unfortunately, the user may find little information on gender responsive monitoring and evaluation indicators. This is indeed an area that needs further research and I do hope that more concrete tools can be developed in this regard.
The annexes are included for those who wish to have more information on concepts, tools and strategies for gender mainstreaming. Annex I provides basic definitions of certain gender related "buzz words" and concepts such as ‘gender division of labour’, ‘practical and strategic gender needs’ and ‘constraints and opportunities for the integration of gender’. Annex II contains are practical tools for undertaking gender analysis, particularly at the initial planning and design stages, though they may be used at any stage of the programming cycle. One could, for example, copy the four activity profiles and fill them out when designing and planning new project activities or when reviewing ongoing activities. The outcome of these profiles will help staff to develop viable strategies towards the promotion of gender equality in their respective work areas.
Annex III gives a more detailed description of the use, the advantages and the disadvantages of the various design options for gender planning, notably for women specific projects, projects with a women’s component and general projects with gender mainstreamed.
I am particularly grateful to Ms. Anjana Bhushan and Mr. William D. Salter for their valuable comments and suggestions on how this manual should be best put together. I also thank my colleagues for their valuable comments during the gender training which helped me to better select and revise, when appropriate, the relevant ILO materials on gender.
For further information, please contact the South-East Asia and the Pacific Multidisciplinary Advisory Team (SEAPAT) at
Tel: + 63.2.815.2354 or + 63.2.819.3614 and Fax: + 63.2.812.6143
E-mail:
seapat@ilo.org
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Created by SF. Approved by WRB. Last updated on 31 August 1999.