Topic Guide: Gender

Gender, equality and corruption: What are the linkages? Transparency International, 2014. Policy brief 01/2014 http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/policy_position_01_2014_gender_equality_and_corruption_what_are_the_linkage

Women experience, perceive and suffer from corruption differently than men, reflecting the differences between the genders that are evident in other spheres of life. Women’s social, political and economic roles in a country will condition how they interact with and are vulnerable to specific types of corruption, such as sexual extortion. Making the link between gender and corruption may help to develop a better understanding of corrupt practices and craft more effective strategies to target them. As part of this agenda, focusing on and empowering women must form an important part of the solution. Higher levels of women’s rights and participation in public life are associated with better governance and lower levels of corruption in many countries. Women also are an important source for understanding corruption and designing effective strategies to address the problem that affects their everyday lives.

Survey methodology: Addressing gender equality corruption related risks and vulnerabilities in civil service. UNDP in Central Asia, 2014. http://www.scribd.com/doc/2223...

Central and Eastern Europe have made considerable progress in good governance but not achieved equal opportunities for men and women employed within the civil service. Political and public institutions remain deeply entrenched in patriarchal culture; women play a marginal role in decision-making and public institutions do not provide sufficient incentives to create a female friendly work environment. This survey methodology is designed as a resource for understanding and contribution to current research on gender and corruption within the civil service and as a practical toolkit for implementing a survey on perceptions and experiences of gender, transparency and corruption.

Women and political representation: Handbook on increasing women participation in Georgia. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre, 2014. http://www.coe.int/t/democracy/electoral-assistance/Publications/Handbook-Women-Georgia_en.pdf 

This handbook serves as a tool, rather than offering clear-cut solutions, to the problem of underrepresentation at the local level. It gives information on methods that have been used elsewhere in an attempt to increase women’s participation in the political sphere. Moreover, it focuses on what women need to do and can do themselves. It is the ones most affected who can act on a problem to bring about change. The first part briefly elaborates the theoretical framework of equal participation in decision-making. Part two provides an overview of the relevant international norms and standards in the field of women’s participation in politics. The third part is the main part of this handbook and highlights several good practices that are relevant to the Georgian context as well. This part is subdivided in measures to elect women to public office and measures to ensure women’s political participation.

Handbook on promoting women participation in political parties. OSCE/ODIHR, 2014. http://www.osce.org/odihr/120877?download=true

This handbook on Promoting Women’s Participation in Political Parties encourages political party leaders to support the integration of gender aspects into internal political party decision-making processes. It also seeks to develop the capacity of women politicians to advance their political careers. The key finding that has emerged during the development of this handbook is that internal party reform is critical to women’s advancement. A lack of internal party democracy and transparency, the absence of gender-sensitivity in candidate selection and outreach, as well as the failure to decentralise party decision-making processes, all inhibit women’s opportunities to advance as leaders within parties and as candidates for elected office. To this end, the handbook provides a valuable overview of voluntary measures that political parties can adopt to enhance gender equality within party structures, processes, policies and activities, as a means to provide both women and men equal opportunities to participate meaningfully in the political life of OSCE participating states. 

Gender responsive budgeting portal. UNIFEM, 2010. http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/ju... 

The gender responsive budgeting (GRB) web portal facilitates the exchange of information between academics, practitioners, researchers and activists working on gender budget initiatives. The website provides governments, non-governmental organisations, parliaments and academics with resources for understanding and applying GRB. The portal is the only website exclusively devoted to GRB.

Gender responsive budgets: Issues, good practices and policy options. Villagómez, E.,2004. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin...

This note looks first at the main issues and challenges surrounding the application of gender responsive budgeting including its definition, location (national budgets, special programmes, local authorities, specific policies and actors involved), the issues addressed (for example: healthcare, fiscal policies, social expenditure, and so on), and where it can be applied in terms of the budget cycle (planning, audit and evaluation). The following section makes a brief review of the ongoing initiatives based on an in-depth analysis of initiatives in specific areas of introducing a gender perspective into the budget in a selected number of Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) member countries. However, good practices from the most successful initiatives in a few developing countries are also included. Next, a more systematic discussion of lessons learned and policy options is presented, which could serve as a guideline for new initiatives in ECE member countries.

Gender responsive budgeting in Nordic countries: The Scandinavian experience. Barriers, Results and Opportunities. Schmitz, C. The Nordic Council of Ministers, 2006. http://www.ief.es/documentos/investigacion/seminarios/politica_fiscal_genero/Seminario_Genero_Madrid_14abril_catharina.pdf

This review of the Scandinavian experience with gender responsive budgeting draws a number of lessons. Experience from the Nordic countries of integrating a gender perspective in the budgetary process shows that a comprehensive and tailor-made training programme is needed for officers at different levels, giving them specific training in accordance with their role and responsibility. Proper gender analysis can only be done by people with the relevant expertise, which means that public servants in health, agriculture, environment, and so on, have to be trained in gender analysis methods to do the analysis themselves. The also needs support from gender experts with specific knowledge in policy. This means that gender analysis should be done with competences from policy and gender. There is also a need to develop gender analysis methods as an integrated part of ordinary procedures.

Stopping the abuse of power through sexual exploitation: Naming, shaming and ending sextortion. International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), 2012. http://www.iawj.org/Sextortion.html

Even when laws are in place, relatively few sextortion cases appear to be prosecuted outside the employment context. One reason may be precisely what distinguishes sextortion from other corrupt and abusive conduct, namely that it has both a sexual component and a corruption component. Building on the work of its partners, the IAWJ developed an international Sextortion Toolkit and brochure. The toolkit is intended to raise awareness about sextortion and provide the “tools” – guidance, information, and resources – with which to address a pervasive, but often hidden, form of corruption that degrades its victims and undermines social institutions around the world. It defines the term “sextorsion”, outlines steps to take to address sextortion in a given country, provides guidance about how to assess the adequacy of the existing national and international legal framework for prosecuting sextortion in a country as well as about how to assess whether the institutional framework in a country has the capacity to support successful prosecution of sextortion.

Gender and complaints mechanisms: A handbook for armed forces and ombuds institutions to prevent and respond to gender related discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse. Bastick, M. The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), 2015. http://www.gssrtraining.ch/ima...                                             

This handbook aims to bring together knowledge and experience from NATO, partner and allied armed forces on the prevention of misconduct and handling and monitoring of complaints within armed forces, with particular regard to gender. It is a resource for armed forces, ministries of defence, ombuds institutions and others that manage and oversee armed forces in: (1) establishing a safe and non-discriminatory environment for men and women in the armed forces; (2) dealing with instances and complaints of gender related discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse in the armed forces; and (3) monitoring and overseeing the handling of instances and complaints of gender related discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse in the armed forces.