Good Practices:  Gender Mainstreaming

in Actions Against Child Labour

Good Practices:  Gender Mainstreaming

in Actions Against Child Labour

• Gender is an important factor around which child labour is organised and needs are met

• If gender equality issues are ignored, life is often unintentionally made harder for women and girls

• Can’t be seen as an ‘add-on’ factor• Needs to be embedded as a core element

e.g. addressed in the design phase of studies

Gender and work to combat child labour

Gender and work to combat child labour

• First time collected and documented• Covers wide range of areas, e.g HIV/AIDS/ Art /

football / CDW/ CSEC /trafficking / IPEC procedures / research techniques/statistics/

• Often people don’t realise they are actually mainstreaming gender in their work

Good practices: gender mainstreaming in actions against child labour

Good practices: gender mainstreaming in actions against child labour

• Gender and culture –good practices within the context

• Difficulties in measuring good practice

• Good practice in both gender mainstreaming and actions against child labour

• Collecting suggestions from ILO – short time

Challenges…Challenges…

• Reading reports vs talking to people

• Review of IPEC’s Framework and Process for Identifying, Dissemination and Using GPs in child labour - excellent

• Reviewed GPs in GM from other dev agencies• Comparison of criteria for what constitutes a GP in

GM• Investigation of different formats for presenting GPs

MethodologyMethodology

• Adaptation of the definitions, levels of good practice and criteria from IPEC

• Draft definition of GP in gender mainstreaming and in actions against child labour

• ‘Flyer’ introducing report & inviting IPEC staff to propose GPs

Methodology contd..Methodology contd..

• Collection of suggestions• Desk review of many

documents• Interviews with staff

Methodology contd..Methodology contd..

• Any practice that works well in terms of actions against child labour while implementing the ILO strategy of gender mainstreaming (whether fully or in part)

• A GP may have implications for gender mainstreaming practice at any level

• Can represent any type of practice, small or large, however has to have been tried and worked (either fully or in part)

• Doesn’t have to be a project, can be policy level activity, or specific focus as part of an activity

What is a good practice in gender mainstreaming for ILO/IPEC?

What is a good practice in gender mainstreaming for ILO/IPEC?

Gender mainstreaming UN definition

“…the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels.

It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”

ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions, 1997/2

7 criteria from Evaluation

1. Innovative or creative

2. Effectiveness/impact

3. Replicability

4. Sustainability

5. Relevance

6. Responsive and ethical

7. Efficiency and implementation

How to determine what makes a practice good?How to determine what makes a practice good?

in termsof Gender

Mainstreaming

3 Levels of good practice3 Levels of good practice

1. Innovative practices

2. Successfully demonstrated

practices

3. Replicated good practices

Aspect that may need further

revision

• Approach taken in GP?• Level of good practice?• Geography?• Whether it was a policy, institutional, field level

focus?• Whether the emphasis was on positive action?

protective measures? or girl or boy specific activities?

Categorizing the good practices?Categorizing the good practices?

1. Carrying out a gender analysis of a situation to identify inequalities

2. Carrying out gender-specific actions e.g. targeting girls or women exclusively, men, boys, …Starting a process of institutional change within IPEC /partner organisations – procedures

3. Giving girls/women a greater voice by increasing their participation to ensure their perspectives are heard

4 pronged approach to bring gender issues into the mainstream in all IPEC policies, programmes and activities

4 pronged approach to bring gender issues into the mainstream in all IPEC policies, programmes and activities

1. Carrying out a gender analysis of a situation to identify inequalities

2. Carrying out gender-specific actions e.g. targeting girls or women exclusively, men, boys, …

1. Carrying out a gender analysis of a situation to identify inequalities

2. Carrying out gender-specific actions e.g. targeting girls or women exclusively, men, boys, …

3. Starting a process of institutional change within IPEC /partner organisations – procedures

4. Giving girls/women a greater voice by increasing their participation to ensure their perspectives are heard

3. Starting a process of institutional change within IPEC /partner organisations – procedures

4. Giving girls/women a greater voice by increasing their participation to ensure their perspectives are heard

4 pronged approach to bring gender issues into the mainstream in all IPEC policies,

programmes and activities

4 pronged approach to bring gender issues into the mainstream in all IPEC policies,

programmes and activities

……….Taking each one of these 4 approaches…………….……….Taking each one of these 4 approaches…………….

…….categorised the Good Practices

Two national surveys

1. - child labour Turkey

2. - S. Africa CDW

3. Good Practice Report on CSE in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,

Zambia

– GA to understand root causes of poverty, GA to find out who exactly is being sexually exploited, when & where

4. Rapid Assessment in Jamaica clearly disaggregated children engaged in prostitution

Gender analysis – 4 GPsGender analysis – 4 GPs

3. HIV/AIDs review – brought out the need to focus on sexual demand and male behaviour – S.Af. Tanzania, Zambia

4. Focus on child domestic workers – thematic eval. Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan, Philippines

Gender-specific actions – 4 GPsGender-specific actions – 4 GPs

1. Art rehabilitation for working st. girls St. Petersburg

2. Vocational training for girls involved in rural/domestic labour E. Turkey

IPEC can be considered both in terms of:

its internal structure with

respect to gender

sensitivity

gender sensitivity in the projects

and programmes of

IPEC and partners

Institutional change category Institutional change category

1. IPEC Review

2. Practical guide

3. Design of project documents

Process of institutional change within IPEC / partner organisations & procedures – 6 GPs

Process of institutional change within IPEC / partner organisations & procedures – 6 GPs

4. Global child labour estimates5. Integrating gender into

thematic evaluation on trafficking /sexual exploitation Thailand, Philippines, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua

6. Main’SCREAM’ing gender ILO stop child labour initiative

1. How girls engaged in prostitution describe their situation –Tanzania

2. Red card to child labour Mali

Giving girls/women a greater voice by increasing their participation – 6 GPsGiving girls/women a greater voice by increasing their participation – 6 GPs

3. Participatory approach in the Mekong trafficking project

4. Provision of ‘information homes’ to combat trafficking – Yunnan Province

5. National stakeholder consultation on the TBP Nepal

6. Gender equality awareness raising exercise – coffee industry Guatemala

• Having a coherent policy on gender equality and gender mainstreaming

• Having a consistent approach• Ensuring gender mainstreaming is explicitly treated

within the organisation• Knowing who is responsible • Ensuring personnel have the skills necessary to

mainstream gender concerns

Finally….some summary points on mainstreaming a gender perspective in organisations (adapted from Hannan-Andersson, 1999)

Finally….some summary points on mainstreaming a gender perspective in organisations (adapted from Hannan-Andersson, 1999)