Integration of Gender and Development Approach on Institutional Programs, Activities, and Projects of Higher Education Institution: An Input to Strategic Development Plan

The purpose of this paper is to determine the GAD-aligned Programs, Projects, and Activities' gender-related mandated functions and integration. To obtain the necessary information on individuals in Higher Education Institutions based on specific traits and standards and clearly define the institution's long-term direction based on the institution's aims and objectives. Gender and Development focus on Gender Mainstreaming, which is a technique that incorporates both gender concerns and practices into the strategy, execution, supervision, and evaluation of guidelines, processes, plans, and activities at all levels, ensuring that both genders benefit equally. The study used a descriptive methodology to measure the extent to which gender-related activities integrated into mainstreaming mandatory functions and perceptions on GAD-aligned PPAs. There is no significant link between mandated outcome based on HEI-moderated (LUC or SUC) Instruction, Research, Extension, and Resource Management and perceived level of integration on the gender-related functions of Gender and Development Programs, Activities, and Projects, and GAD-aligned PPAs in mainstreaming. The mainstream GAD-aligned PPAs at the university do not predict the integration of GAD-related functions. The SUC/LUC category did not affect the relationship between the GAD-aligned PPAs and the level of integration when it approached the identified indicators.

OH MY GAD! A CASE STUDY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT AMONG PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (HEIS)

The advancement towards gender equality had been made clear through the insertion of Gender and Development among the UNDP Goals. At the school level, certain measures had been implemented to answer the call for gender and development. This case study will examine the status of implementation of Gender and Development among private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Tacloban City, Philippines, based on the mandated CHED Memorandum No. 1 s. 2015 on the Implementation of GAD among Higher Learning Institutions. With GAD focal persons as the primary participants, exhaustive data was gathered and analyzed. GAD programs, activities, and projects, program planning, implementation, and evaluation, problems encountered in the implementation, differing school policies were the emerging themes from the data. The study concluded that private HEIs must recognize a sustainable and meaningful GAD program, activities, and projects to be implemented in their respective schools. Keywords: Gender and development; Program implementation; Private HEIs; Philippines

From Women in Development to Gender and Development? A case study of a women's organisation: (AMA) Asociacion de Mujeres de Acosta, San Ignacio de Acosta, Costa Rica

<p>This dissertation documents research conducted with the 'Asociacion de Mujeres de Acosta' (AMA), in a mountainous rural region of Costa Rica, in Central America. AMA was originally set up to counter some negative effects of Costa Rican society, such as 'machismo' and the rural depopulation of women to the capital San Jose. The association implemented a Women In Development (WID) approach, which enabled women to gather and generate an income. The aim of my research is to examine the evolution of AMA since its inception, and to assess its current status in light of international shifts in development policy from WID to Gender And Development (GAD). It provides a rare opportunity to assess an organisation's evolution and its impact on women over a 30-year period. It also enables me to build on Kindon and Odell's earlier research with the organisation in 1990. The research uses qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, a focus group, a questionnaire and field notes, from five months of fieldwork in the community with members of AMA. The key findings show that AMA membership has decreased since its inception in 1980. Compared with results from previous research with AMA in 1990, my findings reveal that AMA has been slow to embrace international policy agendas and continues to adopt a WID approach. AMA does not yet reflect international and national development trends associated with gender and development, particularly in light of some similar organisations in Central and South America. While benefits have accrued to some of AMA members, they do not yet earn a decent wage to satisfy their needs. There are major intergenerational and interscalar issues, which are similar to those identified in 1990. These concerns are associated with power imbalances inside and outside of the association, traditional attitudes towards women due to the culture of 'machismo', and lack of appropriate information and funding sources. These issues appear to be stifling change and raise serious questions about the future sustainability of the association, as well as the relevance of international development policy changes for rural women in associations like AMA. Women of AMA are now looking for new projects and beginning to think about including men in the association. These slow changes, if enacted, may enable the organisation to survive another 30 years.</p>

Feeling Their Way: Four Men Talk About Fatherhood in Valparaiso, Chile

<p>In this study, I explore the experiences and understandings of fatherhood of four men in Valparaiso, Chile, who became fathers between the ages of 16 and 19 and lived geographically, but not emotionally, distant from their children at the time this fieldwork took place. I seek thus to interrogate stereotypes in social discourse, Gender and Development research and many institutions about Latin American fathers in similar situations (Viveros 2001). Given the emotionally-intense nature of this project, I also examine the impacts of emotions and empathy on the relationships that were developed within it, and on researcher and participant subjectivities inside and outside the research process - a topic seldom addressed in social science literature (Bondi 2005). In framing this research, I draw on feminist, poststructural, structurationist and Participatory Action Research epistemologies, as well as ways-of-knowing that are indigenous to the area in which fieldwork took place. Methodologically, I carried out a series of unstructured and semi-structured interviews with each participant, and spent considerable time 'hanging out' with them as well (Kearns 2000). I also interviewed Chilean academics and practitioners working on issues of masculinity and fatherhood, both individually and in a group discussion. Presenting the work, I use stand-alone 'story sections' as well as interpretive chapters. These story sections provide more space than a 'straight' chaptered structure might allow for each man's personal tale to be told. I postulate that all four participants were emotionally compelled to 'father' and found spaces in which to do so, despite "larger stories" (Aitken 2009, 15) about youth, fatherhood and family that constricted their participation in their children's lives (Aguayo & Sadler 2006). Yet, they all remained unsatisfied with the "fathering spaces" (Aitken 2009, 171) that they were able to negotiate, and all felt pain as a result of this. Being recognised and emotionally understood 'as fathers' through empathetic engagement with me within this research process was thus a largely positive and sometimes transformative experience for participants. Such engagement also helped me to navigate concerns about positionality and representation, and reflecting on it later on enabled me to 'process' this emotionally-intense process, and to shift and deepen my analysis. In sum, the study offers an intimate, nuanced perspective on four men's fatherhoods and my experience of working with them, which I hope will contribute to more careful characterisations of men in similar situations in Gender and Development literature, and to scholarship on emotions and empathy in research relationships more generally.</p>

From Women in Development to Gender and Development? A case study of a women's organisation: (AMA) Asociacion de Mujeres de Acosta, San Ignacio de Acosta, Costa Rica

<p>This dissertation documents research conducted with the 'Asociacion de Mujeres de Acosta' (AMA), in a mountainous rural region of Costa Rica, in Central America. AMA was originally set up to counter some negative effects of Costa Rican society, such as 'machismo' and the rural depopulation of women to the capital San Jose. The association implemented a Women In Development (WID) approach, which enabled women to gather and generate an income. The aim of my research is to examine the evolution of AMA since its inception, and to assess its current status in light of international shifts in development policy from WID to Gender And Development (GAD). It provides a rare opportunity to assess an organisation's evolution and its impact on women over a 30-year period. It also enables me to build on Kindon and Odell's earlier research with the organisation in 1990. The research uses qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, a focus group, a questionnaire and field notes, from five months of fieldwork in the community with members of AMA. The key findings show that AMA membership has decreased since its inception in 1980. Compared with results from previous research with AMA in 1990, my findings reveal that AMA has been slow to embrace international policy agendas and continues to adopt a WID approach. AMA does not yet reflect international and national development trends associated with gender and development, particularly in light of some similar organisations in Central and South America. While benefits have accrued to some of AMA members, they do not yet earn a decent wage to satisfy their needs. There are major intergenerational and interscalar issues, which are similar to those identified in 1990. These concerns are associated with power imbalances inside and outside of the association, traditional attitudes towards women due to the culture of 'machismo', and lack of appropriate information and funding sources. These issues appear to be stifling change and raise serious questions about the future sustainability of the association, as well as the relevance of international development policy changes for rural women in associations like AMA. Women of AMA are now looking for new projects and beginning to think about including men in the association. These slow changes, if enacted, may enable the organisation to survive another 30 years.</p>

Feeling Their Way: Four Men Talk About Fatherhood in Valparaiso, Chile

<p>In this study, I explore the experiences and understandings of fatherhood of four men in Valparaiso, Chile, who became fathers between the ages of 16 and 19 and lived geographically, but not emotionally, distant from their children at the time this fieldwork took place. I seek thus to interrogate stereotypes in social discourse, Gender and Development research and many institutions about Latin American fathers in similar situations (Viveros 2001). Given the emotionally-intense nature of this project, I also examine the impacts of emotions and empathy on the relationships that were developed within it, and on researcher and participant subjectivities inside and outside the research process - a topic seldom addressed in social science literature (Bondi 2005). In framing this research, I draw on feminist, poststructural, structurationist and Participatory Action Research epistemologies, as well as ways-of-knowing that are indigenous to the area in which fieldwork took place. Methodologically, I carried out a series of unstructured and semi-structured interviews with each participant, and spent considerable time 'hanging out' with them as well (Kearns 2000). I also interviewed Chilean academics and practitioners working on issues of masculinity and fatherhood, both individually and in a group discussion. Presenting the work, I use stand-alone 'story sections' as well as interpretive chapters. These story sections provide more space than a 'straight' chaptered structure might allow for each man's personal tale to be told. I postulate that all four participants were emotionally compelled to 'father' and found spaces in which to do so, despite "larger stories" (Aitken 2009, 15) about youth, fatherhood and family that constricted their participation in their children's lives (Aguayo & Sadler 2006). Yet, they all remained unsatisfied with the "fathering spaces" (Aitken 2009, 171) that they were able to negotiate, and all felt pain as a result of this. Being recognised and emotionally understood 'as fathers' through empathetic engagement with me within this research process was thus a largely positive and sometimes transformative experience for participants. Such engagement also helped me to navigate concerns about positionality and representation, and reflecting on it later on enabled me to 'process' this emotionally-intense process, and to shift and deepen my analysis. In sum, the study offers an intimate, nuanced perspective on four men's fatherhoods and my experience of working with them, which I hope will contribute to more careful characterisations of men in similar situations in Gender and Development literature, and to scholarship on emotions and empathy in research relationships more generally.</p>

Enhancing Food Security Through Systematic African Women Empowerment in South Africa

This paper critically argues how the gender and development approach influences food security for women. A critical literature review analysis was conducted using peer-reviewed publications and grey literature from relevant organisations. Sources from 1993 to 2020 were manually selected from Sabinet and Google Scholar using a purposive and snowball approach and 69 articles were analysed. Findings indicated that although the Gender and Development approach is useful in understanding the issue of food security within the South African context, a post-development feminist approach can guide policy frameworks that recognise differences in women when addressing food insecurity, to enhance women empowerment. This paper recommends that gender and food security issues ought to be conceptualised and understood in a multidimensional sense, using various determinants which include consumption, income, poverty and human development. Received: 21 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 October 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021

National Security and Sustainable Development: Exploring the Gender Phenomenon for Better Future

An androcentric bias prevails in the research related to the national security and development. Numerous aspects of national security are under discussions; however, many of the policy makers and the practitioners maintain reservation to include the dimension of gender in the Nepali context. Moreover, there is a meager discussion in the inclusion of gender role in the national security. Therefore, this study explores the phenomenon of the gender in the national security of Nepal by bringing the stories of women who are participating themselves in the security sector. Those women who are involved in the security sector have been facing various social, familial, structural challenges. It has elaborated on how the gender spectacle can be incorporated in the security sector to maintain sustainable development. This article primarily aims at exploring the gender dimension in national security framework for development. This paper is based on a series of semi-structured interviews with the women currently engaged in Nepal’s security agencies as well as the literature of security gender and development concepts. Here, the narrative approach is incorporated to bring such challenges. In this discussion, Bourdeau’s theory of habitus is brought into the discussion with the transformative approach

Spouses of Student Mothers in the United Arab Emirates: Enablers or Constraints to Their Pursuit of Higher Education?

The educational status of Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates has developed rapidly over the last five decades, with females now outnumbering males in higher education institutions. Marriage and motherhood often take place during the years of undergraduate study for women, particularly for those from families who retain Emirati cultural traditions of relatively early marriage and childbearing. This study analyses the role which spouses play in their wives’ pursuit of education, using the theoretical gender and development lens to explore whether a transformation of power relations within the marriage takes place for the growth in female participation in higher education to occur. Spousal behaviours are identified and categorized through the gender and development lens as either enablers or constraints to women’s empowerment and participation in higher education, and potential reasons for these behaviours surrounding gender relations are discussed.