Industrial Attachement Report

Gender is a concept that refers to the social and cultural constructs that each society assigns to behaviors, characteristics and values attributed to men and women, reinforced by symbols, laws and regulations, institutions, and perceptions. The basis of these constructs lies behind the idea that they are natural or intrinsic, and therefore, unalterable. On the contrary, gender constructs are shaped by ideological, historical, religious, ethnic, economic and cultural determinants. These are then translated into social, economic and political inequities; where men’s activities and their gender attributes are perceived as essentially superior to women’sas argued by Van Marle, Karin (2006),

Gender Planning as argued by UNIFEM (1993), it is the technical and political processes and procedures necessary to implement gender-sensitive policy and practice. The purpose of gender planning is to ensure gender-sensitive policy outcomes through a systematic and inclusive process. If gender policy has transformatory goals, then gender planning as a process will necessarily be a political one, involving consultation with and participation of different stakeholders. The gender planning tools include gender roles identification; gender needs assessment, and the collection of disaggregated data at the household level. The gender planning procedures involve the diagnosis of the gender problem, formulation of gender objectives, procedures for monitoring and evaluation, gender-based consultation and participation, and identification of an entry strategy. The final aspect, practice, identifies the need to institutionalise gender planning, and to operationalise this through recognised procedures. Building capacity amongst planners is necessary to ensure policy is transformed into practice with the minimum of dilution.

The technical and political processes and procedures necessary to implement gender-sensitive policy and practice, the purpose of gender planning is to ensure...