CARAGA STAKEHOLDERS JOIN PCW’S WEBINAR ON GENDER ANALYSIS

By Jennifer P. Gaitano

Various stakeholders in Caraga region who are active members of the Regional Gender and Development Committee (RGADC) had actively participated in the 3rd webinar initiated by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) dubbed Gender Analysis: Tools and Praxis on June 23, 2021 via Zoom platform.

Rosena Sanchez, Independent GAD Consultant/PCW GAD Resource Pool Batch 1 Member, and Karen Dagñalan-Dy, Supervising GAD Specialist of PCW were the resource speakers of said webinar.

According to Nharleen Santos-Millar, chief GAD specialist of PCW, this session was focused on gender analysis as a practical process in asking key questions and understanding the differences of men and women in terms of needs and capabilities, roles and responsibilities, and access and control to resources, among others.

“There are various gender analysis tools suitable to the needs of

intended stakeholders, like the 24-hour profiling and its sample applications. Among these tools include the Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF) for institutions/ organizations. This developed by the Philippine Commission on Women to gauge the level of organizational gender-responsiveness of government agencies in the country,” she revealed.

During her discussion, Sanchez shared that gender analysis is a process of asking or investigating key questions of a planning process that will help in: identifying gaps or differences between women and men, girls and boys, taking into consideration social diversity such as age, ethnicity, race, class, education, ability, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression Equality (SOGIE) and other forms of diversity. “It leads us to understanding why these gaps exist and persist, and choosing what actions to take to reduce or eliminate “Through gender analysis, we are able to identify and consider the differential status, needs and capabilities, roles and responsibilities of women and men, as well as their access to and control of resources, constraints, benefits and opportunities. It involves the collection, analysis, utilization and sharing of sex-disaggregated and gender data and other relevant information,” Sanchez added.

Meanwhile, Dy reiterated that Gender Mainstreaming or GAD mainstreaming is the major global strategy for ensuring that the government pursues gender equality in all aspects of the development process to achieve the vision of a gender-responsive society where women and men equally contribute to and benefit from development.

Citing different gender issues, Dy elaborated that this could be client-focused or organizational-focused. “A client-focused gender issues refers to concerns arising from the unequal status of women and men stakeholders of a particular organization including the extent of their disparity over benefits from and contribution to a policy/ program and/or project. An organization-focused gender issue points to the gap/s in the capacity of the organization to integrate a gender dimension in its programs, systems or structure,” she explained.

She further bared that the GMEF is a tool to measure the extent of the gender mainstreaming efforts of organizations, both national government agencies (NGAs) and local government units (LGUs). It is also meant to assist the Gender and Development Focal Point System (GFPS) members in measuring gains and successes, as well as pinpoint areas for improvement in the way they mainstream the gender and development (GAD) perspective in their respective organizations. (JPG/PIA-Caraga)