Gender Mainstreaming in the Workplace

The project takes initiatives to promote gender mainstreaming for decent work. The project works with the lead Government consituent which is the Ministry of Labour Relations and Manpower, the Employers Federation of Ceylon and Vocational Training Service Providers to strengthen institutional capacity for the same.

Process

A manual was developed with support from two facilitators through a process that harnessed the expertise of a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders, technical experts and vocational training service providers. The manual takes into consideration the training environment in institutions which offer technical training programmes at diploma and certificate levels and non-formal skills development programmes of shorter duration conducted by both governmental and non-governmental organizations where gender-sensitivity is either meager or non-existent. No structured modules exist to date in the present curricula being used by service providers. Hence a committee of national experts for the provision of vocational training found it fit to include such a module to promote female participation whilst also increasing gender awareness amongst service providers to ensure sustainability.

Collaboration

The shared experiences of World University Services Canada (WUSC) and the ILO have gone into this effort as much as their financial and technical expertise to enrich the content of the manual. Throughout the process of developing the Manual, an attempt was made to make it user-friendly.

Outcome

The outcome envisaged of this handbook is to ensure that both instructors and students in technical education programmes develop the right understanding of gender and maintain an environment where all participants make best use of the programmes offered in vocational training institutions irrespective of their sex.