Gender Mainstreaming Research Articles

The Implementation of Gender Mainstreaming Policy in Indonesian Local Government – The Case of Salatiga City 2017-2022

The rise in women’s representation as public officials in Salatiga City is a crucial indicator of democracy. This progress must be accompanied by supportive knowledge about gender mainstreaming (PUG) in policymaking. There are many studies on women's representation, yet few are directed to examine how increasing women's representation as public officials is related to the improvement of gender-responsive development policies. This study uses a qualitative approach with a single instrumental case study in Salatiga City Government 2017-2022. The increase of women’s representation as public policymakers has achieved remarkable achievements nationally as stated in the Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Development Index (IPG) of Salatiga City. However, qualitatively, the understanding of gender- responsive policies that ensure access, participation, control, and benefits has not been owned by the women representatives. Accordingly, despite its rising number, women are still lagging behind men in development. Then, having the fact that the Priority of 2017- 2022’s RPJMD (Regional Medium Development Plan) of Salatiga City is gender mainstreaming, it is found that the formulation of women's involvement in decision- making at the local level is not explicitly mentioned. Although the implementation of PUG has been outlined in PERWALI Regulation No. 5 of 2021, the policy must be carried out by recognizing problems and listening to the voices of local women to ensure that no one is left behind in development.

Fulfillment of women's political rights through mainstreaming gender quotas in Election Supervisory Board

This study examines women's political representation as election supervisors, the rules regarding women's representation in accordance with the regulations of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections have not been able to run well. This study uses qualitative research by making observations in the recruitment process of the Election Supervisory Board of the Republic of Indonesia and the affirmation quota of women as election supervisors in Election Supervisory Board, Yogyakarta Special Region Province. This study aims to see the application of regulations on the general election law on women's representation and its application in the recruitment process of election supervisors that accommodate women's representation. This finding shows that there is still a gap in women's representation in election supervisory institutions where the rules regarding 30 percent female representation have been very clearly regulated. Evaluation of these findings requires a policy of changing regulations that regulate sanctions for non-fulfillment of women's representation as one of the solutions to fulfill women's gender kouta as female supervisors. The conclusion of this study is that there are several factors that hinder the fulfillment of women's political rights such as, a wrong understanding of political gender, the risk of becoming a very large election supervisor, socialization of selection that is not right on target and the competence of prospective candidates who lack knowledge about elections.

UNCOVERING THE PROCESS OF GENDER-RESPONSIVE BUDGETING OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN GORONTALO

This research aims to effectively analyze the gender-responsive budgeting process in the public sector that takes gender interests into account in the Gorontalo Provincial Office of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection. This research uses qualitative methods with a qualitative descriptive approach. The data sources are primary data and secondary data. Data collection techniques include observation, interviews, documentation, and literature research. Data analysis techniques use the following steps: data collection, data reduction, data display, verification, and conclusion. The results showed that there were three gender-responsive activities carried out in Gorontalo, namely increasing women's economic productivity, increasing institutional capacity for gender mainstreaming, and institutional strengthening. The management of gender-responsive budgeting starts with gender-responsive budget planning, budgeting gender-responsive activities, implementing gender-responsive budgeting, and monitoring and evaluating gender-responsive budgeting. Through gender-responsive budgeting, it is expected to make a major contribution to the achievement of women's empowerment goals and realize gender welfare and justice in various fields of development in Gorontalo Province.

Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Political Commitment for Gender Mainstreaming in Bungoma County

Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Political Commitment for Gender Mainstreaming in Bungoma County

Compliance with cocoa quality management practices in Ghana; To what extent are cocoa farmers complying?

Despite the fact that adhering to cocoa quality management practices (QMPs) is crucial to satisfy consumer food safety standards and receive premium cocoa pricing, evidence of cocoa farmers' compliance with these recommended QMPs is scanty in Ghana. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent and antecedents of farmers’ compliance with six QMPs including pest and disease, harvesting and pod storage, pod breaking and bean removal, fermentation, drying, and bagging and storage practices in Ghana. Data from 200 farmers was solicited and analyzed using a compliance index as well as a seemingly unrelated regression (SURE) model to account for cross-correlation effects among six recommended QMPs. The results show an overall index of 2.46, implying that the cocoa farmers moderately comply with the six QMPs. Specifically, compliance levels for fermentation (index = 2.90) and drying (index = 2.92) practices are high, while farmers showed low compliance with bagging and storage practices (index = 1.33). The SURE model exhibits heterogeneous covariates that influence farmers’ compliance across the six QMPs. However, extension access, sex of the farmer, and to some extent awareness of quality management practices, as well as education, are significant determinants of compliance across all six quality management practices. These findings have implications for strengthening the Extension Services Division of COCOBOD and gender mainstreaming of cocoa quality improvement training to address the challenges of women cocoa farmers.

Gender and Climatic Policies in India- A Review of National and State Action Plans on Climate Change

It has been widely argued that the worst sufferers of climate change are poor and marginalized groups, particularly from developing countries (IPCC-AR4, 2007). It has been found that women being the poorest of the poor are even more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as compared to men. Further, women’s greater dependence on natural resources such as forests for fuelwood and fodder, expose them to greater risks associated with climate change. It has also been seen that during natural disasters, women tend to die in far greater proportions as compared to men due to their physical limitations and also during the post-disaster scenario, women become more vulnerable due to their domestic roles, natural resource dependence, and also other societal norms such as a limitation on females’ ability to migrate out after a major climatic disaster. It has been widely highlighted that traditional roles and responsibilities such as collection of water, fuelwood, and fodder make women vulnerable due to extreme events such as flooding and droughts and therefore exacerbate women’s inequalities and oppressions. Therefore, it is imperative to include gender concerns in all policy documents and laws relating to climate change and ensure adequate women's participation to ensure gender equality through climate action. This paper therefore aims to analyze the level of participation of women in climatic policies in India and also find out how the gender concerns are being addressed in India. In another section, key barriers to gender mainstreaming have been identified and the last section deals with key suggestions to engage with gender in the context of climate change in a meaningful manner.

Gender mainstreaming campaign as a casualty of the online gender-based humor: A discourse analysis

Cultivation of gender-based humor in social media encourages contrarian language to gender mainstreaming. Gender-based humor posed threat on how to deliver equitable gender mainstreaming campaigns through online. The goal of this study was to determine how gender-based humor impact gender mainstreaming campaign in sociolinguistic sense. There were 14 participants in the focus group discussion providing collective narratives on proliferation of gender-based humors in social media. The participants were language teachers, Gender and Development (GAD) coordinators, and GAD advocates. Discourse analysis indicated that language use in social media hampers the delivery of gender mainstreaming campaigns. Social characterization and social distinctions were prominent components of the humor language, which then cultivated gender normativity. Gender-based humor perpetuate stereotypes, promote discriminatory practices, and reinforce power imbalances through linguistic means. In larger scale, humor language influences the reproduction of humor culture in social media. Gender mainstreaming slows down because of massive cultivation of social belief systems. The problem lies on how gender stereotypes are normalized in society through language use.

Gender mainstreaming in sweetpotato breeding in Uganda: a case study.

In Uganda, sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] is typically a "woman's crop," grown, processed, stored and also mainly consumed by smallholder farmers for food and income. Farmers value sweetpotato for its early maturity, resilience to stresses, and minimal input requirements. However, productivity remains low despite the effort of breeding programs to introduce new varieties. Low uptake of new varieties is partly attributed to previous focus by breeders on agronomic traits and much less on quality traits and the diverse preferences of men and women in sweetpotato value chains. To address this gap, breeders, food scientists, and social scientists (including gender specialists) systematically mainstreamed gender into the breeding program. This multidisciplinary approach, grounded in examining gender roles and their relationship with varietal and trait preferences, integrated important traits into product profiles. Building on earlier efforts of participatory plant breeding and participatory varietal selection, new interventions showed subtle but important gender differences in preferences. For instance, in a study for the RTBFoods project, women prioritized mealiness, sweetness, firmness and non-fibrous boiled roots. These were further subjected to a rigorous gender analysis using the G+ product profile query tool. The breeding pipelines then incorporated these gender-responsive priority quality traits, prompting the development of standard operating procedures to phenotype these traits. Following an all-inclusive approach coupled with training of multidisciplinary teams involving food scientists, breeders, biochemists, gender specialists and social scientists, integration into participatory variety selection in Uganda enabled accentuation of women and men's trait preferences, contributing to clearer breeding targets. The research has positioned sweetpotato breeding to better respond to the varying needs and preferences of the users.

Doing feminism through Chinese online fiction fandom

To explore the connections between Chinese online fiction fandom and feminism, in-depth interviews were conducted with thirty-two Chinese women and nonbinary fans of online fiction. Online fiction fandom is both a counterpublic and an intimate public in which women and nonbinary fans are connected by a common interest, their feminist identities are formed through or emerge through participation in such a public, and their shared values and understanding of feminism create a closer sense of belonging and affective solidarity. Engaging with feminism through online fiction is a form of digital feminism, creating feminist consciousness among online fiction fans through literary and discursive constructs. Women-oriented online fiction has become a space for many young Chinese women and nonbinary people to criticize and challenge patriarchal gender norms and reflect on mainstream gender relations. This space continues to produce educational cultural resources that make feminist learning and practice a work in progress.

A male idol becoming a girl? Nisu fans' sexual fantasy about male stars

The emergent movement of reverse Sue (Nisu) in China refers to the practice of (especially female) fans imagining themselves as having a strong male role to their idols' weak female role. In this process, female fans take on a powerful, active role to protect and look after their male idols in female form. Examining how Nisu fans interact with other types of fans and negotiate a mainstream gender discourse dominated by traditional heterosexual norms reveals how, as a burgeoning subcultural group, female Nisu fans express their subversive potential by seeking the power of an imaginary phallus to defy male hegemony. However, their internal divergence and self-contradiction might weaken this defiance.

Food security and gender equality: an international legal aspect

The article focuses on the issue of gender equality in the field of food security. It is noted that gender inequality is the main cause and consequence of hunger and poverty. It is emphasised that the realisation of the right to food requires overcoming historically and structurally based inequalities that undermine the accessibility, adequacy, sufficiency and sustainability of food systems. The role of the World Food Programme (hereinafter – WFP) is highlighted, under the auspices of which a number of gender policies have been adopted, evolving from a women-centred approach to a focus on gender equality. In particular, the 1996-2001 and 2003-2007 policies define the role and contribution of women in relation to food security and WFP's food assistance mission. WFP Gender Policy 2009 established a framework for further mainstreaming gender into WFP policies, operations and programmes at all levels; it broadened the focus from a commitment to women to gender issues, including the concerns, challenges and responsibilities of women and men. The goal of the WFP Gender Policy 2015-2020 was to enable WFP to integrate gender equality and women's empowerment into all its work and activities to ensure that the different food security and nutrition needs of women, men, girls and boys are met The WFP Gender Policy 2022 ensures that WFP optimises its presence, role and capacity in partnerships to advance gender equality and women's empowerment. Attention is paid to the Voluntary guidelines on gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment in the context of food security and nutrition, endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security. It is stated that the main purpose of the Guidelines is to assist Member States, development partners and other stakeholders in ensuring gender equality and the rights of women and girls, empowering them and giving them a leading role in efforts to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition. The activities of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in this area are also described.

Taking advocacy upstream with interventions to eliminate violence against women

Violence against women, particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence, is a major public and clinical health problem and a violation of women's human rights. Globally, one in three women experiences physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, mostly by an intimate partner. This is a stark reminder of the scale of gender inequality and discrimination against women. The 16 days of activism against violence against women runs from 25th November to 10th December 2023 and seeks to address upstream prevention interventions to zero violence against women. Violence and abuse adversely affect the physical, emotional, and mental health and well-being of women, children, and communities. Vulnerabilities include poverty, dispossession, wars and conflicts, persistent gender inequalities, harmful cultural practices, illiteracy, infectious diseases, infertility, natural and humanitarian crises, substance abuse, and addiction. Perpetrations are often by intimate partners or others and may take overlapping forms, including physical, sexual, and emotional violence, control, and neglect. For some, they pay the ultimate price of death. For individuals that survive, it causes injury, reproductive health problems, harm from drug abuse and addiction, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm, and suicidal ideation or acts. During pregnancy, it may lead to miscarriage, induced abortion, stillbirth, low birth weight, preterm delivery, and aggravated violence. Unfortunately, imprints in the children born into this environment may carry on this vice in their later years, contributing to social delinquency. For communities and society, it leads to a lack of urgency, limited participation, and loss of economic productivity. We must do more in the quest for 50-50 gender equality by 2030! A mind-shift and action toward prevention and health promotion of zero violence against women require upstream evidence-based interventions, including promotion of women disclosure with access to interventions for survivors and planning subsequent averting mechanisms with intergeneration long-term follow-up. Normative environments and their implementation require regular review, gender mainstreaming, and the upholding of human rights. In addition, embracing these practices in multisector policies is necessary to eliminate harmful cultural practices such as forced marriages and female genital mutilation and cutting. There is also a need to eliminate violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking, sexual, technologically driven violations, and other types of exploitation. Placing increased attention on displaced communities during war and conflicts, crises, and among migrant populations, valuing unpaid care, and promoting shared domestic responsibilities are necessary. The provision of universal access, effective coverage, promotion, protection, and fulfillment of sexual and reproductive rights are also required. Eradication of obstetric violence is possible through respectful, ethical, and professional care for girls and women within a supportive health system.

Gender Mainstreaming in Indonesia’s Bilateral International Development Cooperation

Gender mainstreaming is an important subject to be mindful of in the Indonesian government’s development cooperation with bilateral development partners. Gender conflict is one of the obstacles that countries face when executing national and international development programs. Indonesia is one of the countries that uses a gender mainstreaming technique to incorporate gender problems into development initiatives. The establishment of a gender mainstreaming strategy (PUG) is vital in developing policies, particularly in carrying out bilateral development cooperation. This is significant for Indonesia as an endeavor to decrease inequality in the country, but Indonesia’s weak PUG is one of the country’s impediments to fulfilling national interests. One of the strategies undertaken by Indonesia to integrate gender mainstreaming into international development is through the Triangular South-South Cooperation Forum in order to form a strategic partnership with Afghanistan and Germany. Afghanistan is seen as a potential bilateral partner with aligned interests in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. Given that it is not only Indonesia that has national interests, the second-party countries must also have interests and conditions that are not always mutually agreed upon and might be detrimental to Indonesia. Therefore, the dynamics of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Afghanistan are interesting to identify, considering that GIZ, as the German representative, is present as a mediator bridging the partnership. Thus, this study aims to explain the strategy for gender mainstreaming in Indonesia’s international development cooperation with bilateral partners, which is also equipped with an analysis of the constraints that affect the outcome of the cooperation.

Women empowerment in agriculture and its effect on household food security: evidence from Gamo Zone of Southern Ethiopia

BackgroundWomen empowerment and food security are supposed to be two mutually reinforcing goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda of the United Nations. However, the measurement of women’s empowerment and its relationship with household food security in the agricultural context is too limited, especially in Ethiopia. The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of women’s empowerment in agriculture on household food security in the Gamo zone of Ethiopia.MethodsCross-sectional data were collected from 385 dual-adult households, selected through a multistage random sampling procedure from two districts—Chencha and Kucha of Gamo zone in Ethiopia. The data were collected on the sample households’ demographic, socioeconomic, women empowerment, food consumption and livelihood activities—crop production, livestock holding and off-farm participation by interviewing both primary male and female decision-makers from each household. Household food security was measured using Calorie Availability, Household Food Consumption and Dietary Diversity Score, while women’s empowerment in agriculture was measured using the Abbreviated Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Ordinary Least Square, Two-Stage Least Square, Poisson and Instrumental Variable Poisson regression were used as analytical models.ResultsOur study shows that increases in women’s empowerment are positively and significantly associated with all food security indicators—adult equivalent calorie availability, household-level food consumption and dietary diversity. The result also shows that food security is positively related to the proportion of adult household members, age and education of primary female, landholding size, crop diversification, food crop production, the number of dairy cows owned and off-farm participation. However, food security is negatively related to household size.ConclusionThe implication of the finding is that stakeholders should give due attention to promoting women’s empowerment and eliminating the gender gap in agriculture through appropriate gender mainstreaming intervention in dual-adult households. Food security programmes could also gain from prioritizing female education and promoting agricultural diversification (crop and livestock) and off-farm income diversification strategies as valuable investments to improve household food security. This study is the first application of the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index in Ethiopia as a predictor to household food security, and contributes to the women’s empowerment–household food security nexus literature in developing countries.

Karakteristik Capaian Index Pemberdayaan Gender di Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta dalam Pembangunan Masyarakat Berbasis Gender 2021

Yogyakarta Special Region Province is the region with the best Gender Empowerment Index (IDG) compared to other provinces in Indonesia. The figures for the Human Development Index (HDI), Gender Development Index (IPG), Gender Empowerment Index (IDG) for the Yogyakarta Special Region Province as a whole are higher than the national scale. The Gender Empowerment Index is an achievement or indicator to measure the implementation of gender justice and equality based on political and economic participation; women need to be empowered so that gender mainstreaming must be the benchmark in every human empowerment program. Gender mainstreaming is a series of strategies for integrating gender perspectives in development and development. Yogyakarta Special Region Province as a province that received the Anugerah Parahita Ekapraya (APE) award three times in 2016, 2018 and 2021; This indicates that the Yogyakarta Special Region Province is good at gender empowerment through gender mainstreaming. Good women's empowerment in each Regency/City region in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province needs to be reviewed at the characteristics of each region to ensure equitable development and gender empowerment. The regional characteristics of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province have differences in development and empowerment, Gunung Kidul Regency in this case is still lagging behind in terms of Expected Years of Schooling and Average Years of Schooling, apart from that, Bantul Regency is still lagging behind in terms of women's participation in parliament. Regency/City areas in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province have different characteristics in the Gender Empowerment Index, equitable development and gender empowerment in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province are not yet evenly distributed.

Implementation of Gender and Ecology Mainstreaming Policies at Sekolah Penggerak and Eco Green Schools in Surabaya: Ecofeminism Study

This research aims to discuss the implementation of gender and ecology mainstreaming policies in Sekolah penggerak in elementary schools and eco-green schools in Surabaya through an ecofeminist approach. This research uses a qualitative multi-case study approach, with the research subjects being four schools, namely SD Negeri 2 Benowo, SD Muhammadiyah 4 Surabaya, SD Al Khairiyah Surabaya, and SD Kristen Kalam Kudus Surabaya. The research results show that schools with the Adiwiyata or similar labels can better implement ecological awareness programs such as green and eco-green schools. They adopt programs such as hydroponics, recycling, and zero-waste healthy canteens and integrate them into the curriculum with relevant themes. Apart from that, these schools also apply the principles of gender-oriented, child-friendly schools. This research examines how gender mainstreaming and ecology are practised in schools. Both in the form of policies, learning design and related infrastructure. The results of this research illustrate that although there has been progress in implementing gender mainstreaming and ecology policies in schools, further efforts are still needed to increase students' understanding and awareness of these issues. In some aspects, gender and ecological approaches still seem symbolic and insubstantial.

Using the Flipped Classroom Model to Prevent Sexual Violence in Special Needs Children

The Flipped Classroom learning is designed to develop a future learning model for Special Needs Children (SNC). This article investigates students' perceptions of the impact of learning transitions on the prevention and handling of sexual violence in integrated children with disabilities using gender mainstreaming principles and teacher beliefs. This research utilizes a mixed methods approach within a concurrent design structure that combines primary research using quantitative surveys with semi-structured qualitative interviews. The delivery of sex abuse material through traditional methods such as lectures or tutorials is replaced with flipped Classroom learning through instructional videos. This study found that the transition was generally well-received by students with SNC in inclusive schools. Engaged students tended to perform well in the flipped Classroom learning environment. However, scaffolding in the form of teacher beliefs and gender mainstreaming to prepare students for the transition to flipped Classroom learning is key to promoting knowledge acquisition, performance, engagement, collaboration, and overall positive student experiences.

The status of women’s empowerment in the aquaculture sector in Kenya

PurposeWomen’s empowerment remains a key development challenge in Kenya. The purpose of this study is to attempt to understand the status of women’s empowerment and the key contributors to their disempowerment in Kenya’s aquaculture sector.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey was conducted on 534 male and female fish farmers from 300 households drawn from six counties in Kenya (Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii, Kiambu, Meru and Nyeri). The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) was adapted to Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Fisheries and Aquaculture Index (A-WEFI) to suit the aquaculture and fisheries sub-sector. The adapted A-WEFI was then used to estimate and the status of women’s and men’s using five domains of empowerment (5DE) and a gender parity index (GPI). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Cramer’s V and sensitivity analysis as test statistics.FindingsAbout 86% of the men and 80% of the women were classified as empowered. The mean score of the 5DE was 0.93 and 0.95 for women and men, respectively. In addition, 82% of the households achieved gender parity, suggesting that for such households, empowerment of men was no greater than that of women. Overall, the results suggest no major differences between the empowerment of women and men. Findings suggest areas of improvement in empowerment: when observed separately, women report lack of agency in production, resource, time-use and allocation and leadership.Originality/valueThis paper adapts the A-WEAI to the fisheries and aquaculture context, in bid to bridge the gap in standard women’s empowerment measurement methods in this area. Also, there are limited empirical studies on the multifaceted empowerment of women in aquaculture in Kenya. The findings are meant to serve as a point of reference for policymakers, as they develop gender-responsive intervention programmes, and in implementing gender mainstreaming in Kenya.

Off the Bench and on the Team: Operational Gender Mainstreaming

Off the Bench and on the Team: Operational Gender Mainstreaming

A Critical Analysis of the Prosecution of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence at the International Criminal Court

The prosecution of crimes of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) has remained a challenging issue for international criminal justice. Given that in the past, crimes of sexual violence within the context of international armed conflict were not considered substantive crimes. This is evidenced in the non-prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes at the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals despite the incontrovertible utilisation of the "comfort women system" in Tokyo during World War II. However, with the emergence of the International Criminal Court(ICC), there seems to be a reasonable but piecemeal progression of the investigation and prosecution of SGBV. Although, previous studies have reported that investigating and gathering evidence for SGBV is a continuing concern within the jurisprudence of the ICC. The recently decided cases at the Court especially demonstrate a development and dynamics in the prosecution of SGBV at the ICC. By employing a doctrinal research method, I spotlight the nuances and hurdles of sexualised crimes within the ICC. The author recommends gender mainstreaming in the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence in order to fill the gap.