Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Focus on gender mainstreaming

minus
plus

The Sultanate’s national strategy to achieve gender equality in all spheres of society including legislation, policies or programmes, has been lauded by global experts in this area.


Oman’s Basic Law and the statutes issued by the Royal Decree 101/1996 guarantee equality among citizens and ensure that they are not discriminated for any reason.


However, various ministries and authorities who attended the five-day workshop organised by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) in association with the UNFPA were urged to hone their skills to contribute towards the implementation of gender mainstreaming in their organisations, workplace and communities.


“This is an attempt to hone the skills of nearly 40 senior officials mainly from the Ministry (MoSD), Omani women Association and other ministries to assess the implications for women and men of any planned action in all areas and at all levels”, a senior official from the MoSD told the Observer.


The workshop, which will get over on Thursday, aims at mainstreaming gender perspective in the process of decision making, equal opportunity in various social segments and the like.


The workshop assessed that gender mainstreaming is something that urges that the impact of all policies and programmes on women and men should be considered at every stage of the policy or programme cycle — from planning to implementation and evaluation.


“Gender mainstreaming strategy aims at making visible the different impacts on or impact of women and men in a given context. It involves the recognition that the gender division of labour and its associated norms, values and ideologies are defined by a complex of power relations which tend to accord to women lesser political voice, social/cultural value, and access to and control over economic resources”, said Gihan Abouzeid who submitted a paper on Gender Mainstreaming.


The training workshop aimed to improve participants’ ability to deal with special interventions for gender equality and mainstreaming of gender equality when designing, implementing and monitoring development interventions.


The five-day sessions also covered practical strategies and skills for mainstreaming gender — including the use of gender planning frameworks; addressing gender issues. Critical analysis of current theory and practice is encouraged throughout the course.


The participants were given sufficient training to differentiate between gender and sex, define gender as socially constructed performances, understand masculinities and femininities, unpack gender stereotypes, and define gender — and sex-based violence.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon