In the next three days, we will hear how including mainstreaming gender in development strategies is a step in the right direction. But first, let us clarify something. Gender does not mean woman. Thus, mainstreaming gender is not solely a woman issue. Men and women alike are concerned by this, which means that women are given the same rights as men but also that men are given the same rights as women.
Taboos have to be broken on both sides.
Policies and strategies need to take into account the local realities and the different and some times conflicting needs of women and men. They need to also be based on critical analyses of the political economy of class, markets, and work processes. For example, the incorporation of women in the labour market is not necessarily sufficient to allow them to escape poverty. Another important element to take into account would be not to overlook the fact that using the household as the centre of analysis may not be sufficient but that analyses need to go down to the level of men and women within the household. Income and consumption at the level of household is not always equally distributed.