＜Special Issue: Volunteer and Gender＞ Gender Related Activities in a Public Health Project

Examples from the REACH Program

Abstract

The word gender has often been misinterpreted as pertaining only to women or as reducing men’s rights; however, gender has now become a mainstream development approach. This article, which summarizes the major transformation of concepts in gender from Women in Development to Gender and Development, maintains that in development projects that include a gender perspective, it is important to carefu11y observe the society and culture in the given community and examine the roles of women and men as defined within the society in order to plan a project in which both women and men can equally participate. The article looks at the major international conferences that influenced the formation of gender approaches, such as the Fourth World Conference on Women, after which the term Gender Mainstreaming became a development buzzword. The paper clarifies what gender mainstreaming means in a project setting as well as the characteristics of gender as a cross-cutting area. The author uses examples from Afghanistan, where gender components exist in a public health program funded by the United States Agency for International Development and in the Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment Project, funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.