2nd Regional Technical Meeting MAL/03/P04: South-South

Cooperation Reproductive Health

6 – 7 Apr 2006Crown Princess Hotel, Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN MALAYSIA

by

Rashidah Shuib, Ph DAssoc. Prof and DirectorWomen’s Development Research Centre

(KANITA)Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang

6 Apr 2006

OBJECTIVES

1. Context

2. Definition

3. Issues and Concerns

4. Snippets of Gender Mainstreaming in Malaysia

5. Gaps in Gender Aanalysis

6. Lessons learnt

FOCUS: ASIA-PACIFIC REGION Uneven economic development

Some countries very poor basic primary health care services

Life expectancy of women still low: 50-60yrs(Malaysia: 74)

MMR ranges from 100-800 death per 100,000(Malaysia:20 per 100,000)

Feminisation of HIV/AIDS is a trend Increased Violence Against Women

FOCUS: ASIA-PACIFIC REGION Impact of globalisation & neo-liberal devpt

agenda >>>increasing dependence on

World Bank, USAID, ADB Health sector reforms

Increasing militarism & nat. security

Increasing fundamentalism & conservatism: * Philippines >>the Roman Catholic Church

* Pakistan >> opposition to women’s agenda * India >> increasing Hindu religious fund. Strong patriarchal society.

IMPORTANT RECENT EVENTS:a) 2004 >> ICPD + 10 Countdown 2015 >>> NGO Global Roundtable in London (Sept 2004)

b) 7-10 Sept 2004 >> Beijing + 10 Review >>UNESCAP High-Level Intergovernmental Meeting, Bangkok

>> Technical papers:”Selective examples ofgood initiatives on GM”

>> Little on research

c) Asia-Pacific Women NGO Forum May-June 2004, Bangkok: highlighted major gaps.

d) 2000: Millennium Development Goals (MDG)>> received more attn. fr. governments &

funders e) 2005: >> Review Beijing + 10, Commission on the

Status of Women (CSW) 49th session, New York.

>> 30th anniversary of the 1st World Conference: Gender Equality -

Development – Peace.

FOCUS ON GENDER MAINSTREAMING:

Adoption of Beijing PFA: Governments committed to gender mainstreaming as

an important strategy to empower women & to achieve gender equality.

UN ECOSOC agreed conclusions 1997/2on gender mainstreaming with clear

definition

Gender mainstreaming:

“…Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any areas and at all levels.”

DEFINITION BY ECOSOC

Gender mainstreaming:

“It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programmes in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” (UN ECOSOC, 1997)

DEFINITION BY ECOSOC

a) LACK OF CONCEPTUAL CLARITY: Gender mainstreaming & other

related terms >> vague e.g women’s health & men’s health? >> varied understandings e.g gender sensitive = women specific?>> gender-sensitive research? >> Conceptually not feminist but sociological understanding>> Often used “gender” NOT ”gender equality”

“A lot of what is today called gender mainstreaming is not gender mainstreaming” (Hannan, UNESCAP, Sept 2004, p 13)

b) OPERATIONALISATION IS A PROBLEM

> Unclear goals : Why gender analysis? : What is the motivation?

> Unclear indicators e.g some focus on only increased number of women

> Some decided on men’s health > Need to develop a conceptually clear

Framework for Gender-Sensitive Planning

REQUIRES:

Integration of equality concerns into analysis & formulation of policies to reduce gender inequalities

Women’s interests, needs, experiences contribute to policy definition and overall agenda

REQUIRES:

Women specific initiatives are still necessary

>>>Does Affirmative Action mean Equal Opportunity? Answer is NO!!

c) POLICY DEVELOPMENT:

>>Should be participatory process + input from varied stakeholders

>>Policy also includes laws/legislation/regulation >>need to broaden definition

d) LACK OF TOOLS & RESOURCES:>>gender, women’s health, gender sensitive development for policy makers and academics>> little documentation

e) HEALTH ACADEMIC SETTING ALMOST UNTOUCHED BY GENDER MAINSTREAMING:

>> “Ensure that medical school curricula and other health-care training include gender-

sensitive, comprehensive and mandatory courses on women’s health.” (FCWC, 1995)

>> Progress in the Philippines Malaysia (?)

Structure & Mechanism

• Est. of Ministry of Women, Family & Community Development

• Gender Equality Cabinet Committee chaired by the Prime Minister

• Gender Focal Points >>senior staff in every Ministry>>responsible for Gender Mainstreaming

Const., Policies, Laws : ReviewThose which are discriminatory

• Amendment of the Constitution by adding the word “gender.”

• Domestic Violence Act which still needs to be reviewed

• Guardianship Act

• At least 30% women in decision-making positions

Const., Policies, Laws : Reviewthose which are discriminatory

• Gender impact analysis of laws

• Piloting “GENDER SENSITIVE BUDGETING” in 5 Ministries

• Inclusion of a chapter in the Five-Year Development Plan >> 9th MP to mainstream gender

Mechanisms, Programmes

• Gender Sensitization Training but rather ad hoc: >>>National Blueprint for a Gender Sensitization Programme??

• Ministry of Health: >>Gender and Rights Training for 9 ASEAN countries in Nov 2005 >> Gender and Rights Training for Malaysian Health Managers 2006

Mechanisms, Programmes

• FFPAM: Women’s Development Committee initiated Gender Sensitization Training for state FPAs within SRH

• Ministry of Health: Pilot Project: Screening of Domestic Violence at Primary Health Care within Gender Framework >>>interagency Technical Committee incl. women NGOs

Mechanisms, Programmes

• FFPAM, LPPKN, MOH (UNFPA): SRH elements in clinics as pilot, incl. integration of Violence Against Women

Mechanisms, Programmes

• Estb. Gender Disaggregated Information System (GDIS) to plan and to track gaps.

• Malaysian Advisory and Coordinating Committee on Reproductive Health>>inter agency.

Need conceptual clarity (theoretical & operational) on:>> gender analysis?>> gender-sensitive?

“Gender Analysis is an indispensable tool for understanding local context”

(CIDA, 1999)

Useful in project design Identifies constraints and facilitating factors Should be used throughout the project cycle Info on differential perspectives, roles,

needs (practical and strategic) of men and women

Relations between men and women pertaining to:

>>access to and control over resources, >>benefits, >>decision-making processes

Potential differential impact of programme or interventions

Social and cultural constraints, opportunities and entry points for promoting gender equality

Institutional capacity to program for gender equality

Differences among men and women, diversity of circumstances, social relationships, status etc (CIDA, 1999, p 17)

GOOD PRACTICES IN GENDER ANALYSIS: Places people front and centre Requires skilled professionals Involves local experts with solid background in

gender equity issues Involves significant numbers of women

and/key women members of partner organizations.

(WID & GE Performance Review: Best Practices Study, CIDA, 1996)

“As gender analysis is the main tool to ensure that gender concerns are mainstreamed, there needs to be a consensus on the rationale, and the definition and components of a gender analysis among policy planners and implementers so that they are able to incorporate gender analysis in a wide variety of sectors and at different stages of project cycles.”

(ESCAP Technical papers Sept 2004)

How can the level of awareness of gender issues be raised among opinion leaders, health policy-makers and policy implementers?

Status: Very little sustained, gender-sensitive health

sector training

in Asia-Pacific .

Need gender-sensitive training/capacity building (refer Beijing POA):

>>awareness raising>>conscientization

>>knowledge building>>capacity building

>>transformation of self & organisations

>>attitudinal change

>>commitment

Customized sector training according to sectors & types of work done

Follow-up must be done + develop new methods of assessing effectiveness >>short & long term.e.g diverse, action-oriented & client-friendly activities on gender mainstreaming (Hannan, 7-10 Sept 2004)

Established Gender Units & Gender Focal Points:

clear mandates, strategically located & linked, well resourced and supported

Develop and disseminate more tools, information & resources on gender

analysis.

• Exploit use of internationally agreed documents e.g CEDAW, MDGs, Beijing PFA, ICPD POA etc to raise awareness at national level

• Hold dialogues/discussions on national development policies & plans>>raise awareness & garner political will.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING STRUCTURES

GENDER MAINSTREAMING PROCESSES

GENDER MAINSTREAMING MECHANISMS

“Success in gender mainstreaming is largely about strategic positioning, some serendipity and opportunism, and above all good analysis that links the significance of gender analysis to the wider economic debate. “

Mainstreaming gender analysis has been extremely difficult to implement when there has been no requirement for it to be undertaken as part of the policy analysis process.

Small steps have been taken, but hardly mainstreaming in a complete sense. The presence of a department whose main task is gender analysis is not mainstreaming. That will only occur when everyone does gender analysis as an essential part of policy analysis and the capacity to do it exists across government.” (Lawrence, 2000)

LESSONS LEARNTLESSONS LEARNT

LESSONS LEARNT

• Conceptual clarity is essential

• Clear research principles >> action oriented, participatory, multistakeholders

• Clear plan for policy impact

• Institutional mechanism has to be established near the site of power

LESSONS LEARNT• Political commitment of governments

• Gender specialists who are competent

• Gender budget, sustained gender training

• Evaluation & feedback an integral component

• POLICY ADVOCACY & RESEARCH BASED MONITORING

Evidence based advocacy Strengthen Centres in Gender and Women’s

Studies in research and input for Ministries

“Gender Mainstreaming needs to be promoted and institutionalised to ensure gender responsive implementation of policies and plans.”

“ Gender mainstreaming involves the process of transformation”

“ Gender mainstreaming must end in Gender Equality.”