Current Conditions: Gender
USAID promotes gender equity and incorporates a cross-cutting gender component in all activities. The mission’s overall goal of reducing poverty in Bangladesh addresses critical gender issues in the following areas: fertility and family health, agribusiness and small business, environment, energy, food security and disaster management, democracy and governance, and education.
Reducing Gender Disparities through USAID's Programs
USAID’s programs emphasize activities that reduce gender disparities in the following ways:
Health
- Family planning promotion encourages couples to discuss together the
planning and spacing of pregnancies.
- The award-winning Adolescent Reproductive Health project targets both
girls and boys in an effort to increase reproductive knowledge, life
skills and use of health services.
- Men and women in high-risk groups for HIV/AIDS and STIs are targeted. Services
are provided to increase links between prevention and care and promote
knowledge of health rights.
- Reproductive health service programs teach clinic and other staff about
gender-related barriers and address gender sensitivity in providing
health services.
Enterprise Development
- USAID-assisted enterprises employ women as a significant portion
of the workforce and promote opportunities for them to manage and
lead businesses. Activities work with women entrepreneurs in small
and medium enterprises to increase product demand by creating linkages
within certain sub-sectors.
- USAID educates women in business and financial management and provides
skill development training. The program also assists women’s
business associations to increase their managerial capacity.
- The Greater Access to Trade Expansion (GATE) project will help to
integrate gender equity into Bangladesh trade capacity activities
to further promote women’s participation in economic growth.
Energy and Environment
- Environment sector projects have strong gender components and address
issues relevant to both women and men in natural resource management.
- In renewable energy, USAID has helped to develop and support a solar
power program which focuses on women and increasingly relies on women’s
entrepreneurial skills for its successful execution.
- The grid-based rural electrification program in Bangladesh, which
USAID helped design and has since supported, has provided significant
socio-economic benefits. Women, in particular, have benefited in many
ways.
To read more about gender initiatives in the energy sector, click
here.
Food Security and Disaster Management
- Food security activities focus on the different social roles of men
and women to enhance household food security and increase women’s
access to local markets. The program also works with local community
leaders to address the needs and interests of women.
- USAID disaster management activities address the specific needs of
women when providing emergency relief.
- Women actively participate in local level disaster management committees
and disaster mitigation training incorporates a module which recognizes
gender differences in order to improve emergency response efforts.
Democracy and Governance
- Women participants learn about the political process and how to participate
and get their voices and issues heard.
- USAID supports the new Women’s Studies department at Dhaka University
through assistance with curriculum development, research and workshops.
- Projects attempt to reduce violence against women through research,
curriculum design, and educational materials. Other efforts help civil
society develop effective strategies to report on and reduce domestic
violence and influence public policies.
- Anti-trafficking activities address trafficking of both women and
men. They train practitioners in prevention, capacity building, networking,
research and protection to stop trafficking.
- USAID aims to improve working conditions for women by educating them
about their basic rights as an employee. To ensure compliance to labor
laws, especially in the ready-made garment industry, legal support
services are provided for women employees.
Education
- Girls and disadvantaged groups are targeted in education. Pre-school
programs, community learning activities to teach early childhood care,
and basic education increase primary school access and achievement for
girls, children with disabilities, and other disadvantaged students.
Gender Plan of Action
USAID/Bangladesh has a strong Gender Plan of Action, mission gender
team, and full-time Gender Advisor to achieve the goal of mainstreaming
gender into all aspects of the mission. Given the pervasive nature
of gender inequities, it makes sense to integrate gender concerns
into the Mission’s programs across-the-board. Focusing on one
specific, gender-led objective would not be as effective. Following
are some of the regular activities under the plan:
- Publish quarterly newsletter focusing on gender issues
- Conduct monthly seminars on gender related issues
- Organize gender orientation for mission staff
Gender Team
The USAID Gender Team is led by a Gender Advisor and the members of
the team come from every office in the mission: technical teams, financial
management, contracts, human resources, and IT. Members provide guidance
to the mission on increasing understanding of gender issues; designing
gender sensitive activities; and implementing, monitoring, and evaluating
gender-related activities. The team has also developed a Gender Plan
of Action and Gender Team Charter outlining the roles and responsibilities
of the team members, based on recommendations from the mission gender
audit in 2003.
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