Over the
years, PRIA has carried out activities
in gender mainstreaming with a view
to create and promote a gender friendly
environment within organisations
and to develop a strong gender mainstreaming
thrust in its programmes. PRIA conceived
several strategies which guided
various interventions during this
period.
It
documented gender sensitive
practices and policies in organisations
which formed the basis for future
institutional interventions
in partner organisations and
in other civil society organisations.
It identified,
developed and built capacities
of dedicated gender focal points
and facilitators who could champion
gender mainstreaming in organisations
and programmatic interventions
at all levels.
It facilitated
educational and awareness raising
interventions in the form of
workshops and seminars on gender
sensitisation and sexual harassment
at the workplace.
It generated
new knowledge through participatory
research on gender mainstreaming
in institutions of governance
(with a focus on local governance)
and civil society.
It prepared
customised training modules
and published educational materials
on gender mainstreaming and
sexual harassment for the PRIA
workplace , its partners and
other civil society organisations.
The main item on the agenda
was a manual based on the experiences
of PRIA and its partners, which,
drawing upon the learning from
the workshops conducted in the
past year, dealt with issues
that have been highlighted in
the gender audits previously
conducted by PRIA. The manual
also proposed to provide a wider
learning base through audio-visual
inputs, video films, CDs etc.,
which examined gender issues
from several perspectives and
different situations. The training
manual is called Gender
on the Agenda and was published
in English and Hindi in 2005.
It strengthened institutional
mechanisms by promoting a work
environment free of sexual harassment
through redressal of cases of
sexual harassment within organisations.
In
the year 2006-2007, PRIA's main
focus was to extend internal Gender
Mainstreaming within CSOs, strengthen
the mainstreaming process of partners
and complete the gender audit of
Panchayat study in four states.
Its activities were divided into
two categories:
Gender Mainstreaming
within Organisations
PRIA
started out with gender mainstreaming
of its partners. Since focussing
on internal mainstreaming was not
a priority in these organisations,
efforts made were uneven. For example,
one of the partners showed consistency
in the meetings of the gender awareness
committee, but its governing board
did not approve of having a gender
policy. Yet another partner had
their gender policy in place but
its gender committee remained almost
dormant (almost no formal meeting
ever took place). A third partner
had neither a gender policy nor
a committee formed for gender awareness
or sexual harassment. Furthermore,
women were underrepresented in each
partner organisation's senior level
positions.
The
main concerns identified within
the organisations were-
Active
functioning of the committee formed
for gender awareness/sexual harassment
Gender balance
of staff-especially the representation
of women in senior/decision making
positions rather than grassroot/
field level positions
HR policies-paternity
leave, flexible working hours
During
this period follow up visits to
five Civil Society Organisations
(CSOs) which had previously attended
gender-mainstreaming training, were
made. The CSOs, operating on a very
small scale, did not have significant
staff strength and survived on meagre
funds. These NGOs did not feel the
need of any formal systems and structures.
One view that emerged strongly through
these visits was that since formal
requirements, such as service rules
and HR policies were never mandatory,
the CSOs need not bother to implement
them. To scale up the CSOs for gender
mainstreaming, two-day workshops
for them were conducted in Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh and
Jharkhand. The workshops were designed
to focus on four focal points of
gender mainstreaming- committee
to address sexual harassment, gender
policy, gender sensitive vision
and mission, and gender sensitive
HR policies. At the workshops, where
participation levels were very high,
it was decided that the CSOs would
need further handholding support
or a refresher training programme
to help them adopt the four points
of gender mainstreaming.
Gender
Mainstreaming in Programmes
In
programmes, gender mainstreaming
encompasses issues relating to good
governance and gender auditing.
Good governance cannot be achieved
without the equal stake of women
and men in the governance process.
Hence PRIA is actively involved
in trying to address gender issues
in governance. With this aim PRIA
conducted a study on Women's
leadership: Towards Gender Mainstreaming
in Governance. The study was
organised around the themes of (a)
participation in the functioning
of panchayats and urban local bodies;
(b) gender relations within the
institutional locations of the household,
community and local self-governance,
which either strengthen or inhibit
women's participation in governance;
and,(c) the perceptions about women
elected representatives' (WERs)
performance. The research studied
women elected representatives in
the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttaranchal.
It concluded that the realities
of gender inequality restrict women
elected representatives from wielding
any real power. With no formal educational
qualifications, deficient information,
lack of skills and experience, WERs
are dependent on men both within
the household and the institutions
of local self-governance (LSGs)
in matters relating to governance,
and are accorded a role that is
marginalised. Their sensitisation
through workshops, learning classes,
and greater exposure to governance
are the suggested methods of change.
In
2006-2007, a detailed study involving
gender auditing of Panchayats was
carried out in four states of Haryana,
Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The audit of Panchayat is aimed
towards a better understanding of
political culture, the rules and
norms of grassroots governance,
how much women representatives are
able to adjust with the culture
and rules, how much space for participation
is provided to them, what are the
barriers to their participation
and what level of gender sensitivity
exists among all representatives
of the Gram Panchayat. While the
process of audit was not primarily
meant as the empowering tool in
itself, it definitely had a positive
impact on the women elected representatives.
WERs were able to discuss their
problems, vent their frustrations
and feel legitimised by PRIA's effort
to know more about them.
In
2006-2007 PRIA and its partners
celebrated International Women's
day in 22 locations and nationally
in 12 states ( Rajasthan, Himachal
Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh,
Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh). Over
all 6621 people participated, out
of which almost 6000 were women.
The events comprised discussions,
speeches, group discussions, panel
discussions, open sessions, question
and answer rounds on various issues
of NREGA, RTI, Girl Child Education
and domestic violence. The programes
were enriched by various cultural
activities like songs, dances and
plays.
Women's Leadership
A
major focus of PRIA's interventions
has been to enhance and broaden women's
leaderships in governance institutions.
Thus networks of women leaders(both
from Civil Society and from Panchayats/Municipalities)are
regularly strengthened. Celebrating
International Women's Day is one such
occasion when women's collective presence
becomes visible and collective voice
becomes audible at block and district
levels. These events are now institutionalised
throughout PRIA's field areas in all
the states, and are now jointly organised
with support from Panchayats, district
administration and women's networks
themselves.
