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This web page looks at different groups on this earth that are pushed out, sucked in, ignored, excluded, included, treated as privileged or treated as inferior.
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Minorities The Minority Rights Group International says
Indigenous people There are many indigenous and tribal groups in the world. At Survival International’s site you can check out which groups are in your own country and what is their situation (for example, Bushmen. The culture of the First Nations of Canada – Inuit and Indian – was largely destroyed by invasion and loss of territory, imported disease, alcohol and the overwhelming weight of American culture. Gradually they are finding ways back. One way is to develop a Sustainable Development Strategy. Another is to establish a National Association of Indigenous Institutes of Higher Learning. The vision of this association is that it will advance, advocate for and support post-secondary, technical, adult and related Indigenous education for the betterment of Indigenous institutions communities and people. Vulnerable children
Working with the Elderly See Helpage International publications.
If you work with the elderly there are ways of involving them in needs assessments and project design and monitoring:
Aging & Disability To be older is often to be excluded and marginalised; to be disabled is to be excluded and marginalised; to be female is often to be excluded and marginalised: see DPI Resources Inclusion (& Exclusion) People working in development are finding that two questions are increasingly important. These are: who is included? And, who is left out? Included in what? Left out of what? Problem analysis: We are faced all the time with problems and we need to understand them. In this process of analysing, have we included all the main actors in the problem?
Developing a good project cycle: We plan, implement and monitor projects that might help the problem. But who are “we”? Have we included all the main actors who are involved? Or are there groups that are invisible, groups that are left outside the door?
Are beneficiaries included as partners?
Do your services exclude or include? Are your Services accessible to all or discouraging to most? Women and Health: There are major issues around the ways that women cannot get access to services, especially Reproductive Health services. Click here for a publication by WHO on the subject (300kb pdf) And there are other less obvious issues like the way that the care of people with AIDS falls on women. Involving men: The rights and roles of women and men are part of one big picture. Efforts to bring women into the mainstream of development now emphasize partnership between women and men – for example in the field of Reproductive Health and AIDS. The result is this collection of case studies:
What other issues need an understanding of both gender and inclusion? Women & Disability: A link that will take you to a list of articles on Women and Disability is here. One that is well-worth reading is “Equity to Women with Disabilities in India”, by Indumathi Rao. She points out that women with disabilities are doubly excluded – because they are women and because they are not fully able. Young people and Adolescents: According to the WHO publication “Adolescent Friendly Health Services” (789kb pdf), adolescents face a world of opportunities and dangers. They are at risk from many things and may find it difficult to get help from services designed for older people in settled relationships.
The author of the WHO document "HIV/AIDS & Adolescents" sees young people both as highly vulnerable and as the group that can learn to protect itself:
What does “gender” mean? Most people are born as girl babies or boy babies. Sex is what you are born with. But from the first hours after birth, boy and girl babies are treated differently, in every culture. As an extreme example, in some cultures girl babies may be killed just after birth because they are seen as an economic burden. Elsewhere, small girls and boys may receive different amounts of food, different patterns of care if they get sick, different types of education. Little boys are encouraged to go out and take risks; little girls are told to keep safe and stay home. Everything that happens after birth is to do with gender, not just sex. Imagine that tomorrow, twins are born into your family, a boy and a girl. What are they likely to achieve and experience in their lives? Do they have equal chances? Of living till their fifth birthday? Of completing secondary school? Of making decisions for themselves - what career to follow – or who to marry? Gender is like class: it decides what any individual can reasonably expect in life. Why is gender important? There are a number of reasons why gender should be seen as a serious issue for everyone. One reason is to do with simple justice and human rights; if half the world’s population receives fewer resources than the other half, something is wrong. If you are a development worker then gender affects every field you work in. You believe that the future for your country will be better if all its possibilities are used. Human potential is a huge resource, which, everywhere, is underused, partly for reasons linked to gender. If you work in health then gender will affect the health history of every male and female, will affect who comes for treatment or takes preventive action. If you work in water and sanitation then gender roles may dictate which people make decisions (where to put the pump) and which do the work (carrying the water pots) – and if these are two separate groups, then there may be problems. Gender, poverty and economic development
Gender and Health There are major issues around the ways that women cannot get access to services. There is a summary in Progress in Human Reproduction Research (pdf). There are other less obvious issues like the way the care of people with AIDS falls on women.
Gender & access to resources
There are many ways in which women may find it difficult to get credit to start micro-enterprises – even though their credit record is often better than men. Or the problem may be getting land, obtaining their rightful inheritance from the dead husband’s family. How is it in your own culture? Gender and education There are a number of reasons why girl children are never sent to school or taken out when they reach puberty. Some countries are actively working to keep girls in school – Bangla Desh is an example. The following document is a workshop looking at girls’ schooling. It points out the important factors affecting attendance such as the distance to the school, the availability of multigrade teaching, toilet facilities and free meals. The child’s family characteristics also play a role: Good Practices Gender and governance The UNIFEM webpage Governance, Peace and Security tells us the following: Women remain under-represented in parliaments, corporate boardrooms, peace negotiations and the many other venues in which decisions are made. UNIFEM programmes promote women's leadership in all sectors. Two key priorities characterize UNIFEM's support for women's leadership... Peace and security: strengthening the gender focus in prevention and early warning mechanisms, improving protection and assistance for women affected by conflict; by making women's and gender perspectives central to peace processes and supporting gender justice in post-conflict peace-building. Women's protection in armed conflict and their centrality to conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace building have become of increasing concern to the international community. Women and girls are among those most affected by the violence and economic instability associated with armed conflict. Yet, when it comes to negotiating peace and facilitating the reconstruction of societies after war, women are grossly underrepresented. Gender justice: women's empowerment and equal participation in leadership and political decision-making position are necessary elements for ensuring that gender equality is integrated into policymaking and constitutional, electoral and judicial reform. Achieving gender justice requires a strong gender focus in electoral, constitutional, legal and judicial frameworks and support to for the ability of women to be actively involved in implementation at the national level. Worldwide, women remain underrepresented in political and decision-making positions, which results in the perpetuation of policies and practices that do not serve the needs of women and men equally. UNIFEM supports a range of programmes to build gender awareness and develop gender equality allies among public servants.
Gender in specific cultures
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