Autonomisation / Enabling / Empowerment
Empowerment implies that a person, a woman or a man, manages to take control of his/her life: he/she sets his/her own personal agenda, acquires skills (or manages to get these skills and knowledge recognized), improves his/her self confidence, finds solutions to problems and develops his/her autonomy. It is both a process and a result. Empowerment has resulted in an expansion of women’s capacity to make strategic choices for their lives in a context where this capacity used to be refused to them.
Gender based analysis
It is a method of collecting, analysing and assessing information disaggregated by sex, the goal of which is to establish at the conception, execution, following up and evaluation stages of projects the political, economic and social involvement of men and women, at all levels, in order for both sexes to benefit equally and fairly from development.
Gender and development approach (GED)
It is a global approach taking into consideration social relations as a whole in a community and more specifically relations between men and women, in order to turn them into more equal relations for a sustainable human development.
Mainstreaming women in development approach (IFD)
It is an approach that aims to mainstream women in the existing development process encouraging their participation in projects of development and creating projects specifically for them, in order to improve their life conditions.
Participatory approach
It is an approach that targets development, according to which concerned populations take an active part. Interventions in participatory approach contribute to reinforcing the capacity of individuals to take charge of and organise themselves.
B
C
CEDAW Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (in French: CEDEF) : outcome of 30 years of work of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Convention was adopted by the UN on December 18th 1979 and entered into force on September 3rd 1981 after it was ratified by 20 countries. CEDAW constitutes the most complete international agreement on women’s rights and a major tool of international law in matters of gender equality.
D
Human Development
The first report on human development published by UNDP (1990) defines it as follows: “human development has two sides: formation of human capabilities _ such as improved health, knowledge and skills _ and the use that people make of their acquired capabilities _ for leisure, productive purposes or being active in cultural, social and political affairs. If the scales of human development do not finely balance the two sides, considerable human frustration may result”.
Discrimination
Discrimination is a different treatment to the disadvantage of an individual or group of individuals because of physical, cultural or ideological differences.
Discrimination against women
The phrase “discrimination against women” targets all forms of distinction, exclusion or restriction based on gender that has as effect or goal to compromise or destroy the recognition, use or exercise by women, whatever their marital status, and on the basis of equality between man and woman, of human rights and basic freedoms in political, economic, social, cultural and civil areas or any other area. To invoke human rights (To invoke human rights/ Guide of international procedures).
Double standard
It is a prejudice that assumes some behaviour is accepted for one gender and unacceptable for the other and vice versa.
E
Equality
Women and men have the same status and enjoy the same conditions to fully benefit from their human rights and the same aptitudes to contribute to the national, political, social and cultural development and to gain from the results. (ACDI, 1998).
Equity
Will to organise social cooperation according to principles that take into consideration the potential disparities between members of the same society, in order to ensure the access to resources and equal participation of all to development.
F
Factors of influence
They are elements likely to have an impact on a given situation. The factors of influence can be socio-cultural, economic, political, environmental, demographic, legal, religious, cultural etc. They can have a positive or negative impact on the results of development actions.
G
Gender Gap Index
The Gender Gap Index examines the gap between men and women in four main areas: participation in the economy, schooling level, political empowerment and finally health and life expectancy. The index is calculated according to a well-determined mathematics formula based on different variables of the four mentioned areas. (GENDER GAP REPORT).
Gender Gap
Gender gap indicates the difference in opinions or attitudes between men and women concerning a number of public and private issues.
Gender Balance
Equality between men and women is no longer considered as a result of democracy but as a prior and incontrovertible condition to development and democracy. This change of vision determines, consequently, a diversity of approaches/ tools/strategies concerning the issue of the political participation of women. The focus passes from lack of resources and willingness to mechanisms that exclude woman from the political sphere preventing them from obtaining an equal part in positions of power. (IDEA- the Arab quota Report: Selected case studies).
Gender
The notion of gender refers to the social differences and relations between men and women that vary from one culture to another, one society and one era to another. The term “gender” is not a substitute to the term “sex”, which exclusively refers to the biological differences between men and women. For instance, statistical data disaggregated by sex. The term gender is used to analyse roles, responsibilities, constraints, opportunities and needs of women and men in all areas of society. Relations of gender teach us about the behaviour in a society, a community or a given social group. They condition activities, tasks and responsibilities perceived as masculine or feminine. We distinguish gender roles by age, social class, race, ethnic group, religion as well as geographical, economic and political environment.
Governance
The first essays of political sciences talked about the concept of “governability” that placed the “order” and the “law” at the core of development. Since the end of the cold war, the concept of governance has been substituted to that of “governability”. It is defined as the reshaping or the reinventing of public management, in the large sense of the term, to face new development challenges in the era of globalisation. International organisations equipped themselves with their own definitions of governance: the UNDP for example links governance to sustainable development and management in the public sector, whereas banks of development focus on economic and social aspects of governance. Generally speaking, governance encompasses both mechanisms of exercise of power and decision-making as well as the way citizens participate in decision-making.
I
I
Indicator of women’s participation (IWP)
It is a composite indicator for which variables have been chosen especially to measure the relative participation of men and women in the spheres of political and economic activities. Its value is the sum of three variables: participation in life and economic decisions, participation in life and political decisions and control on economic resources. (UNDP).
Human Development
The first report on human development published by UNDP (1990) defines it as follows: “human development has two sides: formation of human capabilities _ such as improved health, knowledge and skills _ and the use that people make of their acquired capabilities _ for leisure, productive purposes or being active in cultural, social and political affairs. If the scales of human development do not finely balance the two sides, considerable human frustration may result”.
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K
L
M
Mainstreaming
Is the taking into consideration of the gender dimension and the different needs of men and women in the elaboration of programs and policies in the process of decision-making and institutions management, in order to foster equal practices.
N
O
P
Political participation
The actions led by citizens in order to influence the choice of public policies, public affairs administration, or the choice of political leaders at national and local levels.
Advocacy
Advocacy is a set of planned actions implemented by a group of persons, in order to persuade an institution or persons to modify policies and behaviours.
Platform of Beijing Action
Adopted in 1995 during the 4th International conference for women, held in Beijing, the platform designates 12 priority areas of intervention that require particular attention and action of the international community, governments and civil society. Each one of these areas of intervention comprises clearly expressed recommendations and goals. By adopting this large action program, signatory governments have been committed to act to improve women’s situation.
Q
R
Productive role of women
Women’s productive role is mainly defined according to remunerated job.
Community Role of women
Women’s community role covers social or economic services that women offer to the community (environmental resources, water, wood…). This political function (of leader) is associated with the job (productive role) and is even sometimes remunerated (salary or indemnity), hence the subtle difference between political role and community role.
Reproductive Role of women
The reproductive role comprises all functions and responsibilities related to non-remunerated work of spouse and mother. This role does not only concern biological aspects, but also taking charge of persons living in the family home. Its goal is family members’ well-being.
Political role of women
Women’s political role covers participation of women in political life (NGOs, Parties, Parliaments, Governments…). This 4th role should be clearly differentiated from participation in community life, emphasising the decision-making aspect of political life.
S
Public sector
Public sector is the part of the economy that is not held by private capitals, because it comes under the authority of the State or the collectivities. It encompasses national administration, local authorities, national industries and public companies.
Sex
This term reflects biological characters that define human beings as men and women. These sets of biological characters do not necessarily exclude themselves mutually as some individuals have biological characters from both sexes, but these are the factors that usually differentiate men and women. (OMS)
Civil society
Individuals and groups, organized or not, that act in a concerted way, in social, political and economic areas, and to which rules and formal or informal laws are applied to.
