Gender and Equity

The Himalayas are home to people from a variety of ethnic groups with different cultures, religions, and social structures. Like anywhere else, being a woman or a man determines a person’s role, access to resources, status, and relationships. The gender roles can differ greatly from one region to another depending on the dominant culture within which people live. 

Gender

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles held by women and men in a specific society, including their responsibilities, behaviours, and attitudes towards each other. Even if the roles sometimes seem ‘natural’, they have been learned and could be different from one society to another, as well as changing over time.

Living in a mountain environment means having to deal with daily challenges. The steep slopes increase the burden of collecting water, firewood, and fodder, making them heavier and more dangerous to carry. Women’s workloads become overwhelming with the combination of household chores, childcare, and other daily work activities. Their mobility is restricted making social infrastructure and government services, including the opportunity to get an education, inaccessible for most; as such the literacy level is generally very low. These inequalities are further increased by health problems, poverty, vulnerability to violence, and conflicts. Although many of these issues are similar to the ones women in the lowlands face; mountain women’s conditions are made worse by the fragile, harsh environment, and the fact that they belong to already marginalised communities.

Equity

Equity refers to the concept of fairness and involves access to equal opportunities and basic capacity development. To ensure equity, it is necessary to recognise that some groups have been disadvantaged and even though the rules do not specifically discriminate some people, they could in practice induce some forms of discrimination when social inequalities are overlooked. As a result equity could call for special measures such as affirmative action to compensate for the disadvantages. Equity is an essential element for equality.

Equality means that all people – whatever their sex, caste, ethnicity, religion, age, marital status, physical condition, or lifestyle – receive the same treatment, the same opportunities, the same recognition, the same respect, and have the same rights and the same status.

Himalayan women know how to maximise the use of the natural resources of the fragile mountain ecosystem. Their knowledge also contributes to the survival and care of their families and to their adaptation in extreme situations. However, despite their tremendous contributions to household wellbeing and community development, their knowledge and skills are still not acknowledged and valued. 
Experiences have shown that gender inequalities obstruct the achievement of sustainable mountain development. ICIMOD is addressing these issues by promoting equity; the development of basic capacities, and equal opportunities for women and men, particularly for those from marginalised groups. A gender perspective acknowledges the fact that difficulties faced by women and men are not only caused by a lack of material resources, but also by people’s status and relationships. Mainstreaming gender perspective in development and environment programmes contributes to acknowledging both women’s and men’s capacities and constraints, identifying and analysing the causes of gender inequalities, addressing both women’s and men’s needs, and challenge the causes of inequalities.

FACTS ON RURAL WOMEN
(extracted from http://www.rural-womens-day.org/)

  • Rural women, mainly farmers, are at least 1.6 billion and represent more than a quarter of the total world population.
  • Women produce on average more than half of all the food that is grown: up to 8O per cent in Africa, 6O per cent in Asia, between 3O and 4O per cent in Latin America and Western countries.
  •  Women own only 2 per cent of the land, and receive only one per cent of all agricultural credit.
  •  Only 5 per cent of all agricultural extension resources are directed to women.
  •  Women represent two third of all illiterate people.
  •  The number of rural women living in poverty has doubled since 197O.

If you want to know more about women’s role in food production consult the site of Women Watch: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/idrw/

In the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, women play a critical role in mountain livelihoods: yet, their contribution in food production remains invisible. Few programmes proposing new livelihood options and food security are targeting women as farmers. But it will not be possible to address the food crisis without involving women in the strategies, particularly in the mountains. We can all play a role in raising the awareness of the policy makers, starting with our partners, of the importance of addressing gender issues in mountain development if we want to achieve food security and improve mountain people’s wellbeing.

DG'S MESSAGES
Downloads

Downloads
MESSAGES 2010
GENDER DIGESTS

Links

Links
Women's Worlds 2011