India has tied up with Japan to train Indian bureaucrats for ‘Gender Mainstreaming’. This is part of the Knowledge Co-creation programme to enhance the capability of the national machinery to disseminate the perspective of gender mainstreaming and gender equality in design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and plans in various fields.
Gender mainstreaming is a public policy concept of assessing the different implications for women and men of any planned policy action, including legislation and programmes, in all areas and levels. Mainstreaming essentially offers a pluralistic approach that values the diversity among both men and women.
Scheduled in Japan in May-July this year, the programme has been designed for Indian officers engaged in planning, implementation and/or evaluation of the gender equality or gender mainstreaming. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked the departments to nominate the officers working related to gender issues and it has also particularly encouraged officials working in the North Eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir.
“Gender mainstreaming is for government officers working for Central policy coordinating units for the advancement of gender quality inside and within the Government. Unlike conventional policies and plans that focus only on women, gender mainstreaming is about analysing and implementing policies and initiatives in all areas from a gender point of view. It has been concluded that empowerment of women is an essential part of gender mainstreaming and strategic goals have been set accordingly,” said a circular by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to DoPT.
Highlighting the need for such a program, JICA has pointed the world is still in the process of exploring, by trial and error, how these policies has to be translated into specific measures, programs and activities. In addition, the significance of this new shift in policy of gender mainstreaming has yet to be widely recognised.