I. Official Office Name: Gender and Development Center
Location: Former Admin Building
Co-located at PREXIL Office
II. History
Gender and Development (GAD) refers to the development perspective and process that is participatory and empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence, respectful of human rights and supportive of self-determination and actualization of human potentials of women. Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has actively and purposefully partnered with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) to maximize CHED’s role in promoting the cause of gender equality and women empowerment.
Gender describes socially constructed sex, mainly the norms and ideologies that are regarded as part of behavior and actions of men and women in a society. Men and women tend to be clustered into different sections of society and are therefore likely to have different experiences, knowledge, and values. Integrating gender issues into the development process, when defining policy and developing programmes, means recognizing and taking into consideration that being a man or a woman significantly impact our positions in society, and our ability to participate in programmes or decision making. Gender largely determines our means and resources to make decisions, choices in life and it affects the way we are affected by political processes and social development. By and large, women as compared to men, have command over fewer resources both in terms of political power, economic power, and time.This deficit is global; women in all groups in society tend to be in command of less power, resources and opportunities as compared to men. This is referred to as gender inequality.
These issues were discussed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where a global platform for action to work on women’s empowerment was agreed upon. The discussions gave birth to the concept of gender mainstreaming and it was established as a major global strategy for the promotion of gender equality.
The efforts to integrate gender issues into development policy have about 30 years on its neck. This lead to initiatives specifically targeting women often referred to as ‘women in development’. Unfortunately, these efforts did not bring the expected benefits. They were not sufficient to change the situation for women on the ground and integrate them into the mainstream development process. In addition, other mainstream policy areas and interventions were still operating without taking gender issues into account, they were gender blind.
This means that the situation and relations between men and women needs to be addressed, that is, gender relations. These tend to change over cultures, history and groups therefore a priori assumptions about women’s positions should be avoided and interventions be grounded on evidence-based analysis where men are also concluded.
By adopting the Beijing Platform for Action, the government also committed themselves to establish mechanisms to promote women’s rights and the advancement of women as well as to develop instruments and implementation tools such as legal frameworks, National Action Plans, Gender Strategies, etc.
The women’s and gender movement remains strong and has laid the basis for both the academic discipline to study gender relations in different areas, as well as for changes in public policy. Examples date back from the national movements for women’s right to vote, to more recent achievements relating to equal pay, reproductive health and other family policies aimed at equal opportunities in the labour market for women. These efforts have also shed light on the need to examine roles of me as well. Although policy efforts to facilitate men’s withdrawal from the formal labour market have not been as widely spread as those supporting women to enter it, the awareness is raising and many countries now have policies in place to support men to take parental leave for example.
III. Vision and Mission
Our Vision is of a world where social justice and gender equality prevail and where all women and girls are able to realize their rights free from discrimination.
Mission- Women and men are able to participate equally in all aspects of public and private life in accordance with the provisions of Gender and Development Policies, programs, projects and activities.
IV. Objectives/ Thrusts/ Functions
- to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment on the grounds of sex and
- to promote equality of opportunity between women and men in all of its functions.
V. Organizational Profile
GAD Focal Point System (GFPS)
Chairman- University President
Vice-Chairman- Vice President for Admin
Secretariat- Director, GAD Center
Technical Working Group (TWG)
VP for REXIL
HRMO
Budget Officer
Deans of Colleges
GAD Focal Persons Satellite Campuses
VI. Personnel
PSUPT Rosalinda B. Abellon, PNP (ret)
Composition of GFPS
VII. Contact Details
E-mail address - abellonrosalinda@yahoo.com
Cell phone number- 0919-236-9579 or 0915-466-6485
Telephone number- (035) 225-9400 local 135
PSUPT Rosalinda Abellon, PNP
Director, Gender and Development Center
