Gender Issues
USAID works to integrate gender issues into all of its programs. USAID has incorporated gender requirements into its ADS (USAID's official guidance on policies and operating procedures) and established the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG), which comprises representatives from USAID and numerous other organizations. The main goal of the group is to promote gender equity within family planning, health, and nutrition programs by providing guidance in the areas of research, policy, training, communications, and service delivery.
USAID Resources
- International Women's Day – March 8, 2012
March 8, 2012, marks the 101th anniversary of International Women's Day. The theme this year is, "Empower Rural Women — End Hunger and Poverty." We see this day as an opportunity to focus attention on the continued need to improve women's status and opportunities all over the world.
- 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence – November 25-December 10, 2011
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign provides a forum for speaking up for support services for survivors, calling for greater prevention efforts, pressing for legal and judicial reform, and using international human rights instruments to address the issue.
- Gender-based Violence in Tanzania: an Assessment of Policies, Services, and Promising Interventions - 11/01/08
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a grave reality in the lives of many women in Tanzania. Based on key informant interviews and focus group discussions, this assessment provides a snapshot of the current GBV policy environment, and the state of services for those affected by GBV in Tanzania.
- USAID's Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Program
USAID supports programs that integrate anti-GBV activities and messages into broader health efforts. By addressing GBV, health programs are able to enhance their effectiveness, prevent escalation of violence, and empower GBV victims.
- Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through USAID's Health Programs: A Guide for Health Sector Program Officers – September 2008 [PDF, 1.5MB]
This publication provides USAID program officers with specific recommendations to integrate GBV initiatives into their health sector portfolios.
- Gender-Based Violence
and Reproductive Health & HIV/AIDS: Summary of a
Technical Update – May 1, 2002
This publication summarizes the Technical Update held at USAID on May 1, 2002, a day-long event that drew more than 130 program managers, policymakers, service providers, and trainees.
Additional Resources
- Synchronizing Gender Strategies: A Cooperative Model for Improving Reproductive Health and Transforming Gender Relations – September 2010 [PDF, 524KB]
This paper explores gender integration approaches to sexual and reproductive health programs and policies to demonstrate why it is important to promote gender equality from a relational/harmonized perspective in sexual and reproductive health. It “takes gender transformation to the next step, to what we have communally termed ‘gender synchronization.' By gender synchronization the authors mean working with men and women, boys and girls, in an intentional and mutually reinforcing way that challenges gender norms, catalyzes the achievement of gender equality, and improves health.” This product was developed by the RESPOND Project at EngenderHealth and the BRIDGE Project, at the Population Reference Bureau, in consultation with the Interagency Gender Working Group at USAID.
- Book Discussion: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide - 09/10/09
Empowering women and girls may be our best strategy for fighting poverty, claim Kristof and WuDunn in their new book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which was launched at the Wilson Center. As in the Chinese proverb, “Women hold up half the sky,” empowering women and girls will, the authors argue, unleash “the greatest unexploited economic resource.”
- Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators – October 2008 [PDF, 843KB]
MEASURE Evaluation developed this compendium in collaboration with a technical advisory group of experts. The goal was to develop a set of monitoring and evaluation indicators for program managers, organizations, and policymakers who are working to address violence against women and girls at the individual, community, district/provincial, and national levels in developing countries.
- Sakhi Saheli – Promoting Gender Equity and Empowering Young Women: A Training Manual – April 2008
This training manual will benefit those engaged in programs that aim to involve young women in critical reflection on how gender-normative attitudes and behaviors can result in increasing their vulnerability to HIV and other reproductive health problems.
- Interagency
Gender Working Group (IGWG)
This is a network that USAID and its partner organizations can use to share resources and best practices of health programs as they relate to gender equity.
- Office of Women in Development (WID)
USAID believes strongly that women are key to effective development. WID addresses the many obstacles of poor women in developing nations. Lack of access to appropriate health services, education, and economic opportunities all hinder a woman's chance to live a happy and healthy life. WID has a wide range of programs that work to address these issues and advance the status of women in society.
- Gender, Women, and Health (GWH)
The World Health Organization's GWH program advocates gender equality in health for women and men around the world. GWH brings attention to the ways in which biological and sociocultural factors affect the health of women, men, boys, and girls. The GWH aims to increase knowledge and strengthen the health sector response by gathering evidence, strengthening capacity, and engaging in advocacy.
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