Local Legislators' Toolkit - The Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng ...

Gender equalityGender equality, as a key to development, means the equal empowerment and participationof women, men and other subgroups of society, i.e. homosexuals, in all spheres of publicand private life: political, economic, social and cultural. It means giving women, men andother discriminated subgroups in society equal rights and the same opportunities toparticipate fully in the development of their communities and societies and to achieve selffulfillment.6 <strong>The</strong>se rights include:• economic, social and political rights, e.g. to own land and property, to manage abusiness, to exercise reproductive rights;• control over productive and financial resources, e.g. education, training opportunities,land; and• the voice or power to influence how resources, e.g. funds and investments, in thehome, the community and country are allocated and used.<strong>Local</strong> legislation promotes gender equality if local laws and guidelines enacted ensure thatneeds of women, men and other subgroups are considered and addressed. <strong>The</strong>se interestsand needs can often be different, requiring different approaches and services. It isimportant for gender concerns to be mainstreamed or taken into account in variousgovernment activities— planning, budgeting, legislation, and service delivery - to attaindevelopment. For instance, women generally play the leading role in householdmanagement, often the ones securing basic services such as health services, water, amongothers, for the family. In formulating an ordinance increasing the appropriations for healthservices, women’s special needs including their reproductive roles, should be considered.<strong>The</strong>y should be given easy and timely access and adequate information to all types ofservices to enable them to exercise their reproductive rights freely. Legislators must be ableto ensure that adequate funds are allocated for reproductive health services and that theseservices equally benefit both women and men.<strong>Local</strong> legislation can promote gender equality and development by providing the policyframework to guide all the planning and policymaking efforts of the LGU in ensuring thatwomen, men and other discriminated subgroups equally contribute to and benefit from the6 DILG, NCRFW, WIN and UNICEF. Moving Forward with GAD, A Handbook on Gender andDevelopment for the Sanggunian Committee on Women and Family.14