Gender Planning And The Policy Process

Planning has a central essential legitimacy in addressing social goals. Despite the ideal position of planning is being able to initiate, encourage & strengthen the links between the theory & practice of feminism in its relationship with gender,planning can act against women's interests & thus reinforce the unequal distribution of powers between the sexes, not only within the planning discipline but also in the assumptions & practice in our use of the built environment. This book provides a feminist interpretation of contemporary urban planning. It outlines the gender inequalities which characterize many areas of mainstream planning as well as the assumptions & practices surrounding our use of the built environment. The book incorporates detailed theoretical discussion on the underlying basis & form of women's subordination & applies this discussion to the development & implementation of planning policies. Attention focuses on both the establishment & operation of formal 'women's initiatives' within local government & on the promotion of specific policies aimed at meeitng women's needs within key areas of planning. - Habitat International, December 1994

Gender planning is not an end in itself but a means by which women, through a process of empowerment, can emancipate themselves. Ultimately, its success depends on the capacity of women's organizations to confront subordination and create successful alliances which will provide constructive support in negotiating women's needs at the level of household, civil society, the state and the global system. Gender Planning and Development provides an introduction to an issue of primary importance and constant debate. It will be essential reading for academics, practitioners, undergraduates and trainees in anthropology, development studies, women's studies and social policy.

Planning has a central essential legitimacy in addressing social goals. Despite the ideal position of planning is being able to initiate, encourage & strengthen the links between the theory & practice of feminism in its relationship with gender,planning can act against women's interests & thus reinforce the unequal distribution of powers between the sexes, not only within the planning discipline but also in the assumptions & practice in our use of the built environment. This book provides a feminist interpretation of contemporary urban planning. It outlines the gender inequalities which characterize many areas of mainstream planning as well as the assumptions & practices surrounding our use of the built environment. The book incorporates detailed theoretical discussion on the underlying basis & form of women's subordination & applies this discussion to the development & implementation of planning policies. Attention focuses on both the establishment & operation of formal 'women's initiatives' within local government & on the promotion of specific policies aimed at meeitng women's needs within key areas of planning. - Habitat International, December 1994

In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, Democrats and Republicans were locked in a fierce battle for the female vote. Democrats charged Republicans with waging a “war on women,” while Republicans countered that Democratic policies actually undermined women’s rights. The women of the Senate wielded particular power, planning press conferences, appearing on political programs, and taking to the Senate floor over gender-related issues such as workplace equality and reproductive rights. The first book to examine the impact of gender differences in the Senate, Women in the Club is an eye-opening exploration of how women are influencing policy and politics in this erstwhile male bastion of power. Gender, Michele L. Swers shows, is a fundamental factor for women in the Senate, interacting with both party affiliation and individual ideology to shape priorities on policy. Women, for example, are more active proponents of social welfare and women’s rights. But the effects of gender extend beyond mere policy preferences. Senators also develop their priorities with an eye to managing voter expectations about their expertise and advancing their party’s position on a given issue. The election of women in increasing numbers has also coincided with the evolution of the Senate as a highly partisan institution. The stark differences between the parties on issues pertaining to gender have meant that Democratic and Republican senators often assume very different roles as they reconcile their policy views on gender issues with the desire to act as members of partisan teams championing or defending their party’s record in an effort to reach various groups of voters.

Bringing together a diverse team of leading scholars and professionals, this book offers a variety of insights into ongoing gender mainstreaming policies in Europe with a focus on urban/spatial planning. Gender mainstreaming was first legislated for in the European Union with the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 and, although many interesting developments have occurred throughout the decade that followed, there is still much to do in terms of policy, knowledge production, dissemination and education. This work contributes to all three objectives, by advancing the state of knowledge, as well as providing educational and professional tools in the field of gender sensitive planning in Europe. The volume begins by explaining the concept of gender mainstreaming in relation to its origins in the 'second wave' of the women's movement and critiques of planning, architecture, transport planning and other built environment disciplines. It then provides a brief history of how gender mainstreaming was incorporated into European law, before focussing on the theoretical issues and questions that surround the concept of gender mainstreaming as they relate to urban space and the planning of cities and regions, including a discussion of the persistence of inequalities between the sexes in their access to urban space and services. In particular, the division between waged and unwaged work and its impact on the social construction of gender and of the physical built environment is considered. The differences between definitions of feminism and their implications for action in planning and design are also explored, paying regard to the tensions between a feminist vision of a transformation of gender relations and the requirements of gender mainstreaming to accommodate the different needs of women and men in their everyday lives in urban space. Throughout the book, key issues recur, such as the importance of time and space in the experience of urbanism, resistances to change on the part of institutions and social structures, and the importance of networks. Education and training also appear as common themes, as do citizen participation and the structures of governance. The chapters are organised into four sections: concepts, structures, empowerment and spatial quality. Contributors demonstrate a variety of approaches to the intersections of gender, women, cities, and planning, dealing with substantive and procedural issues in planning, at both local and regional scales. They stress the links between environmental sustainability and gender-sensitive urban development. The book concludes by putting forward an outlook for future action.

This Quick Guide is part of the Gender Management System (GMS) resource kit, a series of publications presenting GMS. GMS is an innovative system developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat for gender mainstreaming. The system is a comprehensive network of structures, mechanisms and processes for bringing a gender perspective to bear on all government policies, plans, programmes and projects. The kit consists of a handbook which presents the GMS in detail; sectoral guides to gender mainstreaming in specific sectors; and resource documents to assist the user in gender analysis, monitoring, evaluation and other aspects of gender mainstreaming. Each sectoral guide also has a corresponding Quick Guide - a short, user-friendly publication presenting the essential points. It is designed for policy-makers, planners, field staff and other government personnel involved in gender mainstreaming, as well as for academic users, NGOs, the private sector and others who have a stake in advancing gender equality and equity.

Challenging the traditional treatment of human rights cast in purely legal frameworks, the authors argue that, in order to promote the notion of human rights, its geographies and spatialities must be investigated and be made explicit. A wealth of case studies examine the significance of these components in various countries with multi-cultured societies, and identify ways to integrate human rights issues in planning, development and policy making. The book uses case studies from UK, Israel, Canada, Singapore, USA, Peru, European Union, Australia and the Czech Republic.

Mainstreaming a gender perspective into policies, programmes and projects requires that both women's and men's needs are taken into consideration at all stages of the policy cycle. Gender planning refers to the process of planning and designing the implementation phase of policies, programmes, or projects from a gender perspective, and it takes place in the second stage of the policy cycle. The European Commission defines gender planning as 'an active approach to planning which takes gender as a key variable or criterion and which seeks to incorporate an explicit gender dimension into policy or action'. Integrating a gender perspective into the planning and design of policies, programmes and projects requires, firstly, the recognition of gender gaps and structural gender inequalities that need to be tackled in a given context and, secondly, the definition of gender-policy objectives and the formulation of appropriate approaches and interventions to achieve them. Gender planning stems from the recognition that different groups of women and men have different needs, different levels of access and control over resources, and different opportunities and constraints [3]. Gender planning pays particular attention to unequal gender relations and structural inequalities. It aims to transform unequal gender relations in different policy areas by responding to the needs of women and men and through a more even distribution of resources, actions, responsibilities and power.

Studies of gender and American political life most often focus only on women. This book fills the gap by examining and comparing the roles and behavior of both men and women in political decision-making, public policy, and political institutions. Now updated and expanded, the book presents a full complement of empirical studies of real and imagined gender gaps. New to this edition are chapters on the media, legislative behavior, foreign policy, and the future of the gender dimension in American politics. The book is structured to parallel the typical course on the American political system.

Adopting a critical perspective, this book explores how the concept of gender equality is ‘stretched and bent’ in different ways according to the intervention of policy actors and assesses the consequences of the processes the policy-framing.