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Framework for
Gender policy
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 Over
the time, it was realized that WASSAN should have its Gender
policy formally written, approved and publicized so that it
not only gives direction for the organization in practice, but
also holds the organization accountable. It also comes from
the understanding that, inequality between men and women is
deep rooted and it is manifested in discrimination against
women in different forms. To whatever extent, one might be
sensitive; it needs conscious and continuous efforts to
achieve a balanced environment both at organizational level
and also in work with the partners at field level. Framing a
Gender policy is a commitment towards those efforts. The
overall effort is to provide an enabling environment for women
within the organization, various partners and the communities
with whom we are working and strengthen the gender sensitivity
among all. |
ORGANIZATIONAL VISION:
Entrench participatory processes through network approach that
strengthen Natural Resources Management practices to secure
livelihoods of deprived communities in drought prone areas.
Participatory processes include – capacity building,
institutional development, networking and advocacy |
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Objectives of Gender Policy:
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To explicitly
state the organizational commitment towards gender
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To provide a
direction towards building gender related agenda
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To provide a
framework for effectively integrating gender concerns into
the organizational agenda and policy domain
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To create equal
opportunities and a conducive environment for women and men
at work place
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To promote equal
representation and participation of women in decision making
at the professional/ programmatic and administrative levels.
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ORGANIZATIONAL
VALUES
Equity: Being sensitive and committed to reduce all
forms of discrimination with focus on poor, dalit and women.
Participatory processes: Having faith in peoples
capacities and their institutions
Accountability: Accountability with transparency
Collaboration: Developing synergies through networking
Team work: Striving for quality, innovation and
diversity
Values we cherish:
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Elements of Gender Policy:
What we mean by Gender…
WASSAN understands that gender refers to the attributes and
opportunities associated with being male and female and the
socio-cultural relationships between women and men. These
attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially
constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They
are context specific and changeable. In most societies there are
differences and inequalities between women and men in activities
undertaken, access to and control over resources as well as
decision-making opportunities. Gender is part of the broader
socio-cultural context, which also takes into consideration
factors such as class, race, economic status, ethnic group and
age. WASSAN adopts gender perspective, which means focusing on
both women and men and their relationships with each other and
resources. In addition, it means working with a global perspective
that allows for and appreciates regional diversity. The
organization aims at mainstreaming gender by creating an enabling
working environment that in turn attracts and helps to retain
gender sensitive staff. Since WASSAN is working to strengthen
natural resources management practices to secure livelihoods of
deprived communities it means achieving a better analysis of
patterns of use, knowledge and skills regarding conservation and
sustainable use of natural resources. Only with a gender
perspective can a complete picture of human relationships and
ecosystems be built up. The gender policy is an integral part of
all its organizational policies, programmes and projects and
involves building a culture that understands the issues and
policies, which respect diversity and gender, related concerns. A
mere statement of policy and objectives does not ensure the
concerns relating to addressing the gender. Towards achieving the
above objectives, clear indicators need to be defined to evaluate
and assess the organizations commitment towards gender equity on a
periodic basis.
For
this following systems would be put in place and necessary
strategies would be tried out internally and externally:
at organizational level and at partners level.
At Organizational level:
A)
Staff
composition/representation
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Recruiting adequate women staff and ensuring the balance also at
senior levels; with an objective of achieving a numerical gender
balance in all posts at all levels
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Ensuring equal opportunities among male and female staff for
personal growth, in promotion benefits, training and working
conditions
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Ensuring equitable representation and participation of men and
women in the core group, Board of trustees and in various
functional committees of the organization
B)
Workplace
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Providing a safe and secure workplace for women staff, free from
sexual harassment with a Gender Complaints committee to look
into specific concerns.
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Providing an enabling and friendly work environment where both
men and women enjoy and actively participate in work. This
includes providing flexible working hours and allowing working
from home, wherever possible
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Extending work related concessions and relaxations for women
staff depending upon the situations and requirements; e.g.
providing secure transport facilities when they work late hours;
giving relaxation over travel time for the next day for those in
the field; ensuring security measures along with minimum basic
facilities for women staff traveling in the field.
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Reviewing the organizational structure, functioning, problems in
relation to gender imbalances among staff and the work
environment time to time and taking definite steps to address
the same
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Strategic orientation to staff in the field based programs and
advocacy initiatives towards increasing women’s access, control
and ownership over the natural resources.
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Placing Gender in
existing committees :A woman employee who has put in 3 months
of service after confirmation shall be entitled for 4 months
of Maternity Leave on full pay and under probation, she will
be eligible for leave without pay for the same length of
period.
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Men employees when their spouses have children
shall be entitled for 30 days of leave either immediately
after child birth or fifteen days before child birth and
fifteen days after child birth for primary parenting and child
nurturing. In case of miscarriage / abortion, women staff can
avail 2 weeks of Maternity Leave with full pay and spouses are
entitled for one week’s leave.
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Making efforts to develop infrastructure for
childcare facilities in the office premises in order to ensure
that the parents can bring their children in circumstances in
which the child cannot be taken.
In the field
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Furthering deliberate and intense efforts to
promote participation of women and their collectives in
various aspects of natural resource management.
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Facilitating participation and even
representation of women in various institutional structures
created for the management of natural resources like
committees, user groups etc.
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Analysis of gender disaggregated roles and work
patterns, and make special efforts to reduce the work load of
women
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Extending constant orientation of field-level
partners on gender perspectives in NRM as part of long-term
gender goals like formal recognition of women’s rights over
resources like land, assets etc.
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Ensuring equal wages to equal work for both men
and women in the works as part of the programs, where WASSAN
is directly or indirectly involved either as an anchor of the
program or as a facilitating support service provider.
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Making special efforts to constantly identify
vulnerable women and provide them the necessary support and
guidance
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Sensitizing the men and mobilizing their
support towards gender balance
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Building awareness and sensitivity by
processing information and publishing communication material
in diverse media to appeal different strata of people in our
functional domain.
C)
Staff capacity building
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Facilitating staff capacity building processes and trainings to
enhance perspectives and conceptual clarity on Gender issues
(for all the staff members). It will be an important
component of the induction programme
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Ensuring that all trainings (internal and external) facilitated
by the organization are gender-sensitive.- a) training
content/methodology/mode of facilitation b) logistics part
-time/location of venue/crèche facilities/other
logistics/first-aid kit
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Conducting Gender trainings for both men and women; and ensuring
participation of women in all the field level meetings and
trainings
D)
Organizational policies and systems
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Making all HR systems and policies gender-sensitive and
responsive, and integrating gender indicators into staff
performance appraisal systems.
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Incorporating and explicitly mentioning gender sensitivity as an
essential element in the tasks/job profiles in all terms of
reference, including TORs for external consultants.
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Ensuring that the conceptual clarity and sensitivity on gender
issues will be one of the important selection criteria in
recruitment processes and capacity building efforts of staff
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Initiating and building the advocacy around gender balance and
making efforts to integrate gender concerns into the scaling up
and mainstream developmental programs
E)
Staff benefits
Arrangements should be
made for recording all information and open access for reviewing
the performance of tasks mentioned at organizational level
regularly in different forums from staff meetings to Annual
meetings.
Networking:
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WASSAN would proactively make several efforts in promoting
gender concerns in the work with partners. It involves extending
support to partners in organizing training programs, conducting
gender studies, preparing resource material, providing
documentation support etc.
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WASSAN would extend support to partner organisations in
developing their own gender policies, strategies and programs
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WASSAN would further strengthen linkages with the Gender desk of
Centre for World Solidarity (CWS) to work on various women
issues. Participation and contribution to the common platforms
like Synergy group of women employees of all Solidarity
Institutions will further help the organization.
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Sharing Gender reports with our network members and partner
organizations and also facilitating similar process within the
partner organizations to promote gender sensitivity
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Associating with networks and organisations working on this
agenda like AP women’s network
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Supporting and expressing solidarity with partners at field
level in taking up issues of discrimination or harassment
against women
Note: This
is a policy statement, which outlines WASSAN’s sensitivity towards
Gender and its operational framework to address the related
concerns. The exact operational procedures would have to be
worked out in detail for all the above outlined statements in a
consultative process; internally involving all the staff with
possible external facilitation support. The idea of
formulating gender policy for the organization started some time
back. There were initial rounds of internal discussions within the
team. Later a preliminary workshop on evolving the policy was
anchored by HIDF Bangalore where the entire staff was involved.
Various staff concerns relating to gender were discussed and small
teams were formed to work on various heads of the policy.
The Gender policy of WASSAN is an outcome of collective efforts of
WASSAN team especially Vanaja, Ramesh and Ch Ravi who worked in
collaboration with the Human and Institutional Development Forum (HIDF
) Ban galore. We sincerely acknowledge their contribution.
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