Skills Building For Gender Mainstreaming In Hiv Aids

The impact of gender in fuelling HIV/AIDS has become a fundamental aspect of addressing the pandemic. It is clear that gender plays a pivotal role in how women and men respond to counselling, testing, treatment, care and prevention programmes. This report contains the presentations delivered at the gender and HIV/AIDS-themed sessions held during the 3rd African Conference of the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA), held in Dakar, in October 2005.

Women, especially young women, have increasing infection rates from HIV/AIDS and the death rate among women is now almost as high as men.

Current trends of HIV transmission and prevalence clearly show that the epidemic is fuelled by gender-based vulnerabilities. Close to 60 per cent of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women, and almost 75 per cent of young people living with HIV in southern Africa are female.

The book shows that while gender inequalities in society are driving aspects of the HIV epidemic, democratic learning environments informed by evidence-based policy, implemented with leadership for transforming deeply held values and beliefs regarding sexual behaviour and sexuality can be empowering.

* Shows how development agencies have responded to the need for gender equality at all levels of operation * Scrutinizes the efficacy of gender mainstreaming’s thirty-year history Gender mainstreaming emerged in early gender and development work and gained strength following the 1975 Conference on Women in Mexico City. After three decades of gender and development approaches, and a more recent emphasis on gender mainstreaming, Everywhere/Nowhere presents a timely reflection on the challenges and opportunities development agencies have faced as they attempt to translate gender mainstreaming policies into practice. Reports on gender mainstreaming within development agencies tend to concentrate on technical solutions with little attention to the political changes necessary for transforming the mainstream. Technical solutions (such as quantitative information about the number of female staff members hired or the allocation of a certain amount of resources to gender-related activities) are more frequently reported and more easily measured. An emphasis on technical solutions has resulted in limited impact within organizations and minimal changes to gender inequitable relations. Development agencies and their staff members are, however, finding innovative - or subtle - strategies to transform the mainstream through networking, coalition-building, and leadership initiatives. This book examines these approaches and analyses their contributions to gender mainstreaming.