GENDER REPONSIVE BUDGETING CONCEPTS

 

Empowerment: The process of building capacities of women and men, boys and girls to exercise control over their own lives. Gives ability to an individual to gain self-confidence and take control of one’s life. It involves giving power to enable someone do something for him/herself, for example, the provision of education and training are some of the ways of achieving empowerment. It is also a process of providing people with an environment that can enable them to develop critical thinking skills and re-activate their minds to re-organize perceptions about themselves and the environment in which they live.

Focus Group Discussions (FGDs): are discussions taking place in small groups usually selected to provide specialized input to data collection, or to develop an idea or subject in depth for later use in interviews, surveys or a large group discussion. Focus groups are often used to define people’s concerns before designing and conducting a survey to quantify their concerns. In the IMBC process, focus groups can be an effective means to identify and understand the special needs of diverse groups, such as the very poor, PLWHA, elderly, peasants, agricultural workers, mothers of young children, youth or villages within a larger community.

 

Gender Analysis: is the process of analysing information disaggregated by gender in order to ensure that developmental benefits and community resources are effectively and equitably targeted to both women and men, and to successfully anticipate and avoid any negative impacts developmental projects may have on women or on gender relations.

 

Gender and Development (GAD): Gender and development refers to the strategy that ensures that developmental activities provide equal opportunities for both women and men. The main goal is to change or redress the inequalities between women and men for sustainable development.

 

Gender and Sex Roles: these are roles that are associated with the sex of a person. These are socially determined and can be changed. They are also culturally defined roles and responsibilities to which men and women are socialized to conform to.

 

Gender and Sex: The term gender refers to the culturally and socially determined characteristics, values, norms, roles, attitudes and beliefs attributed to women and men through socially constructed identities. Gender relationships differ from one social setting to another and can change from time to time. Sex refers to the universal biological differences between women and men – a difference that we are born with.

 

Gender aware:  means recognizing or being aware of the existence of gender and gender differences in society; recognizing that men and women are positioned differently, they have different experiences, different needs, different strengths and skills, and that these need to be considered while planning anything.

 

Gender balance: refers to the number of women versus men employed by agencies in various field and sectors. The presence of a greater number of women than men in an activity does not imply or lead to gender sensitive programming. Nor does it imply that all men are insensitive to gender issues. There is no doubt, however that a more equitable  balance of women and women at all levels in the workplace or in program delivery can create a greater  possibility to discuss and address the differential impact of policies and programs on women and men.

 

Gender Bias: Gender bias occurs when there are gender disparities and differential treatments given to people on the basis of their sex.

 

Gender Blind: This is a conscious or unconscious way of doing or saying things without recognizing or considering differences in position, needs and feelings based on gender. It is not recognized that men and women are positioned differently, have different experiences, different needs, strengths and skills, and that these need to be considered while planning anything.

 

Gender Concern: Concern about disparities which arise from different situations due to gender/status particularly in situations where those that affected do not recognize it as a problem or talk about it.

 

Gender Discrimination: Gender discrimination occurs when one sex is treated either better or worse than the other on the basis of sex.

 

Gender Division of Labour: Gender division of labour refers to the classification and allocation of tasks for women and men in managing domestic and community activities. Gender division of labour inflicts gender stereotyping.

 

Gender Equality: Gender equality refers to equal and fair treatment of women and men members of a community in the provision and access to goods and services required to meet their social needs. It includes fair treatment before the law, the undeniable right to life by each member of the community and equal opportunities to meet basic needs and improve their livelihoods.

 

Gender Equity: Equity is synonymous with fair opportunity in access to social and economic services for both women and men

 

Gender Gap: refers to the quantitative or qualitative difference between women and men in terms of access to social services and control of resources. It is a measure of gender inequality on any socio-economic indicator e.g. literacy levels, income.

 

Gender Issue: a situation when inequality and differences exist between men, women, boys and girls purely on the basis of sex. When a grievance is felt by one sex that their needs are not being met (unfair treatment).

 

Gender Mainstreaming: refers to a commitment to ensure that women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences are integral to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all legislation, policies and programs so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. Gender mainstreaming is integral to all developmental decisions and interventions; it concerns the staffing, procedures and culture of development organizations as well as their programs; and it forms part of the responsibility of all staff.

 

Gender neutral: means the existing inequalities, roles and definitions are not considered.

 

Gender Oppression: Gender oppression is a result of imbalance of power between women and men. Gender oppression occurs when one sex is treated in cruel, harsh manner or made to feel uncomfortable or unhappy in socio-economic and political life.

 

Gender Relations: This refers to how men and women relate to each other, resulting in manifestations of gender based power especially in decision making in critical household family matters. This comes from the roles that women and men play in society and the impact of their interactions. For instance, the family provides a good example of how gender relations operate in relation to HIV and AIDS. Most often, men are at liberty to go for HTC and even go on to take ARVs without their spouses knowing while women have to let their spouses know. In some cases marriages have broken down where the wife is HIV positive and rarely in cases where the husband is HIV positive.

 

Gender Responsive Budget Analysis:  determines how and to what extent the state policy affects diverse groups of men and women as service consumers, infrastructure users, and taxpayers. It creates a foundation for implementation of the principle of equal opportunities for women and men in all spheres and enables a sustainable development of the society. It also considers the disaggregated data on women and men.

 

Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB): is a tool that aims at integrating gender perspectives in the budgeting process. It should be viewed as an influential element of managerial activities related to development of budgets of different levels, which provides important information to specialists making decisions about allocation of budget funds.

 

Gender Sensitive Budget: a gender sensitive budget is the one that: a) ensures that the needs and interests of women and men from different social groups are addressed; b) is not a separate budget for either women or men. Instead, it brings gender awareness into the policies and budgets of government and other agencies; c) is not about 50% male: 50% female because women and men have different situations, interests and needs. In particular situations women may need more attention than men. For instance, women have extra reproductive health needs because of their childbearing role; d) combines technical knowledge for equitable policymaking with advocacy and organising to engage with powerful interests and institutions; e) recognises the ways in which (mainly) women contribute to the society and economy with their unpaid labour in bearing, rearing and caring for the people in a country.

 

Gender sensitive: means being aware and taking action against existing gender discrimination and inequalities.

 

Gender stereotyping: Gender stereotyping is a way of thinking along socially constructed gender identities that persists in people’s attitudes and practices and is also often reflected in policies and laws of a country or community. Simply put, it is an overgeneralization about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender. Gender stereotypes can have both positive and negative connotations.

 

Violence: violence refers to any act, omission or conduct by means of which physical, sexual or mental suffering is inflicted directly or indirectly, through threat, coercion, or any other means on any person with the purpose of intimidating, punishing, humiliating, maintaining sex stereotyped roles, undermining the security of a person, self-respect or diminishing physical or mental capacities.

 

Gender Based Violence (GBV): physical, mental and emotional abuse inflicted by one sex upon another based mainly on the assumption that the person inflicting the abuse has the right to do so according to socially and is culturally accepted practices and norms.  Examples are a husband correcting a wife or harmful practices such as female genital mutilation to subdue female sexual urge and keep them faithful to their husbands.  In most cases it means violence that is directed against women or that affects women disproportionately.

 

Gender/sex disaggregated data: Gender/sex disaggregated data is provided by sex (men/women; girls/boys) for identifying and highlighting the differences between women and men in all aspects of life.

 

Gender: refers to the culturally and socially determined characteristics, values, norms, roles, attitudes and beliefs attributed to women and men through a socially and culturally constructed identity of women and men in a society. It is an important variable in learning about women and men’s socially constructed options and challenges to handle neoliberalism.

 

Ice Breaker: a brief activity designed to relax, energize and mentally prepare people in meetings. Ice breakers should be social and enjoyable. The best ice breakers stimulate thinking that will help focus the participants on the topic of the meeting, and promote interaction with each other (not the facilitator). Ice breakers should be simple and should not become the main activity of the meeting. An ice breaker is used as part of an introduction whereby participants get familiarized to one another.

 

Intensive Movement Building Cycle (IMBC): refers to an animation methodology within the transformative feminist theory and ideology that involves a combination of participatory action research with grassroots activist groups, establishment and support for local knowledge centres and investigative journalism (IJ). IJ links grassroots activists, through their knowledge centres, with local press journalists. Knowledge centres are hubs for grassroots information sharing, reflection, capacity strengthening, and collective organizing and demanding accountability for social change- an important mechanism for vertical and horizontal linkages and the transformative feminist movement at grassroots level. They have proven vital in the process of engaging with policy and budget processes, the creation of a new Constitution, and demanding more accountability of elected and appointed leaders in both local and central government. Moreover, knowledge centres prepare and implement action plans to address locally identified challenges. The District Gender Festival is the climax of the IMBC at the district level whereby there is sharing among grassroots communities and LGAs. IMBC process also links grassroots communities at national level. Specifically, there are several feedback sessions whereby IMBC findings are presented to parlimentarians, Ministries, media, and CSOs as part of policy engagement to push for gender responsive policies and allocation of resources. Finally, it is important to note that all stages of IMBC are geared at facilitating the process of learning and sharing among various actors such as KCs, LGAs and others. The climax at national level is the Gender Festival.

 

Key Informant Interviews: are conversations with a purpose, but without the constraints of a formal structure. Animators record details of conversations or discussions that they have in the community or elsewhere. Key informant interviews are conducted with carefully selected persons who have key roles in the society/community that is being studied or facilitated to undertake participatory development activities. Key Informant interviews allow for the expression of diverse views that an animator may not have anticipated. They help to build animator’s detailed understanding of the community or a specific situation.

 

Neoliberalism: refers to a strand of capitalism, officially established in late 1970s, ideally embedded on maximization of entrepreneurial freedoms through private property rights, individual liberty, unencumbered markets, free trade and minimum government’s role which unfortunately leads to massive dispossession of the majority of population of their cultural and material wealth. Neoliberal crisis tendencies emanate from emphasis on endless accumulation inherent in neoliberalism leading to increasing levels of poverty and inequality, loss  of human dignities, reduction of social services for the poor, replacing community with individual freedom (Individualism) and overemphasis on personal responsibility.  Neoliberal context promotes government withdrawal from sustainable development strategies with unfettered free markets and trade, expanding and complex marketing system, political pluralism, low taxes for the rich, globalization and commodification to the disadvantage of vulnerable people including women.

 

Oppression: Use of power to maintain an unjust system. This may exist at the level of state, village or household. Women’s oppression refers to male domination used for the suppression of women. Oppression of women at household level is one of the factors fuelling HIV transmission.

 

Participant Observation: here the animator shares the life and activities of the people in the community. By staying in the community, an animator can experience and observe many activities such as preparing food, caring for the family, and income-producing or self-sustaining work and socializing. Participant observation can help the animator develop a stronger understanding of the community, while developing relationships that can help facilitate the process

 

Patriarchy: The ideology of male precedence and domination. It also refers to a situation characterised by current and historic unequal power relations between women and men whereby women are systematically disadvantaged and oppressed. It can also refer to a social system in which men are regarded as the authority within the family and society, and in which power and possessions are passed on from father to son

 

Role playing: refers to a situation whereby community members role play in a discussion or meeting in order to share their experiences and facilitate a better understanding of an issue or situation in the community. To facilitate a role play, an animator creates a scenario and a list of people (characters) involved in it. Then some community members are asked to act out the scenario, based on the characters that have been assigned to them. The role play can be presented in a fishbowl, in which the role play is performed at the centre of a circle so everyone can see. At the conclusion of the role play, community members can comment on what they observed and share ideas about how to deal with the issue or situation. Role plays can also be used to prepare for a future event, such as a meeting with an official or potential partner.

 

Rural Area: a rural area, as understood in the Tanzanian context, refers to villages and small towns/nearby urban centres in which primary production takes place and where populations are found in varying densities. These areas are characterised by a wide range of farm and non-farm activities related to primary and secondary processing, marketing and services.   Social services such as access to water, sanitation, transport, education, health and medical services are generally poorer than in the main urban centres. 

 

Socialization: A systematic and deliberate process through which men and women, boys and girls learn roles, responsibilities, expectations, attributes and attitudes in their society. This process has implications for the personality, position and condition of a person in society.  Negative socialization results in women being oppressed. For example, masculinity implies that it is acceptable for men to have multiple sexual partners. This behaviour is a key driver for HIV transmission.

 

Training: involves presenting a new concept, skill or activity, with examples and/or short practice exercises.

 

Transformative Feminism (TF): is one of the feminists schools of thought  that focuses on linking struggles of women and men with all major forms of exploitation, oppression, human rights violations and discriminations, including male domination, class exploitation, imperial domination, compradorialism, corruption, authoritarianism and dictatorship, racism, ethnicism, fundamentalism, traditionalism, and discrimination on the basis of disability, HIV, age and gender identity. Transformative feminism seeks to build an alternative world based on participatory democracy in economics, politics, culture and ideology.

 

Visioning and dream mapping: Communities working on community development plans should be thinking in broad terms about what they want to accomplish in several areas. Visioning and dream mapping can help the community define their view of the future, several years from now. Step 1: Assemble the community and prepare the room by mounting information gathered in Stage 1 on the walls. Include the community map, access to resources, the institutional diagram and other information gathered that reveals where the community is now and what it may want to change or improve. Step 2: Review key points from the information display and discuss where the community is now. Then brainstorm how the community would like to describe itself in several years. Record and group the ideas. Step 3: Draft a description of the community several years from now. If the community has drawn a community map, it may record its vision of the future on a “dream map,” which should be kept with its community map for future analysis and planning. Step 4: Review the other information that has been collected to see whether anything should be added. Visioning and dream mapping can alternatively be done as the final analytical activity before starting the process of prioritizing projects.