![]() This requires addressing both the condition, as well as the position, of women and men in society. ![]() The purpose of gender mainstreaming is to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in population and development activities. It is therefore a means to an end, not an end in itself a process, not a goal. Gender mainstreaming is a strategy for integrating gender concerns in the analysis, formulation and monitoring of policies, programmes and projects. Programme design and implementation should endeavour to address either or both of these factors. When women are constrained from reaching their full potential, that potential is lost to society as a whole. This pattern of inequality is a constraint to the progress of any society because it limits the opportunities of one-half of its population. Moreover, women are systematically under-represented in decision-making processes that shape their societies and their own lives. Universally, there are clear patterns of women’s inferior access to resources and opportunities. Second, there is systemic inequality between men and women. First, there are differences between the roles of men and women, differences that demand different approaches. Taking gender concerns into account when designing and implementing population and development programmes therefore is important for two reasons. Why is it important to take gender concerns into account in programme design and implementation? Achieving gender equality requires women’s empowerment to ensure that decision-making at private and public levels, and access to resources are no longer weighted in men’s favour, so that both women and men can fully participate as equal partners in productive and reproductive life. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. Where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. What is the difference between gender equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment? But the fact that gender attributes are socially constructed means that they are also amenable to change in ways that can make a society more just and equitable. Gender attributes and characteristics, encompassing, inter alia, the roles that men and women play and the expectations placed upon them, vary widely among societies and change over time. ![]() Gender thus differs from sex in that it is social and cultural in nature rather than biological. Relations between men and women, whether in the family, the workplace or the public sphere, also reflect understandings of the talents, characteristics and behaviour appropriate to women and to men. Men and women face different expectations about how they should dress, behave or work. In most societies, being a man or a woman is not simply a matter of different biological and physical characteristics. The term gender refers to the economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female.
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