Digital Document (pdf, doc, ppt, txt, etc.)

Virtually every clinical research report includes basic demographic characteristics about the study participants, such as age, and how many participants were male/men or female/women. Some research articles refer to this latter variable as sex, others refer to it as gender. As one of the first pieces of data reported, the importance of including sex appears undisputed. But what does the sex-gender category really entail, and how should it be reported?

With emerging evidence that both sex and gender have an effect, for instance, on how an individual selects, responds to, metabolizes, and adheres to a particular drug regimen,1 there is an ethical and scientific imperative to report to whom research results apply. This Viewpoint explains the contexts in which sex and gender are relevant and provides suggestions for improving reporting of this characteristic.

Terminology

Two common questions asked by clinical researchers are: (1) Should the sex or gender of the study participants be reported? and (2) What is the correct term for designating males and females or men and women? The answers depend on whether biological or psychosocial factors are under study. Sex and gender are not mutually exclusive. They are integrally related and influence health in different ways. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), sex is considered a biological component, defined via the genetic complement of chromosomes, including cellular and molecular differences.4 Karyotype at birth is nearly equal for 46XX and 46XY. Sex is reflected physiologically by the gonads, sex hormones, external genitalia, and internal reproductive organs. The terms male and female should be used when describing the sex of human participants or other sex-related biological or physiological factors. Descriptions of differences between males and females should carefully refer to “sex differences” rather than “gender differences.”

Gender comprises the social, environmental, cultural, and behavioral factors and choices that influence a person’s self-identity and health. Gender includes gender identity (how individuals and groups perceive and present themselves), gender norms (unspoken rules in the family, workplace, institutional, or global culture that influence individual attitudes and behaviors), and gender relations (the power relations between individuals of different gender identities). At present, there are no agreed-upon, validated tools for assessing gender. A 2-step approach to questioning has been proposed, whereby participants are asked both their sex assigned at birth and their current gender identity.6 Authors should consider appropriate use of the words sex and gender to avoid confusing both terms.

This brief synthesizes research findings, analysis and policy recommendations on creating an alternative gender-responsive macroeconomic agenda.

Macroeconomic policy, including fiscal and monetary policy, is often thought of as gender-neutral. But economic policy choices affect women and men differently because of their different positions in the economy, both market (paid) and non-market (unpaid). For instance, budget cuts that reduce social spending may increase the demands on women’s unpaid household labour, while trade liberalization may negatively affect women’s employment in contexts where they are overrepresented in import-competing sectors, such as agricultural food crops. Yet, macroeconomic policies to date have paid scant attention to these issues and have therefore not been conducive to the achievement of gender equality.

Focusing on goals, measurement and policy instruments, this brief lays out the key problems with current macroeconomic policies and provides building blocks for an alternative macroeconomic agenda that is rights-based and gender-responsive.

NBSAPs Summary Findings

• NBSAPs are key instruments for defining priorities and modalities for effective, efficient and equitable biodiversity management at the national level and across key sectors. As such, they provide important opportunities to recognize and integrate women’s empowerment and gender equality considerations.
• Out of the 254 total NBSAP reports from 174 countries (presented from 1993 to 2016), 143 reports (56% of total documents) from 107 countries (61% of total countries examined) contain at least one gender and/or women keyword.
• With respect to how women and women’s participation are characterized in NBSAPs, the most countries (37% of the 174 Parties included in this analysis) indicate inclusion of women as stakeholders; 27% include reference to women as beneficiaries; 17% refer to women as vulnerable; and the fewest, 4% (seven countries) characterize women as agents of change.

To learn more about the IUCN Global Gender Office’s work in biodiversity, see Biodiversity Policy, Planning & Programming.

To view the factsheet associated with this full report, see Factsheet: Inclusion and characterization of women and gender equality considerations in NBSAPs.

A methodology developed by the IUCN GGO to help implement a gender-responsive analysis for a wide range of partner institutions. Key questions are provided to uncover gender gaps and issues at local, institutional and national levels, as well as gendered differences in the distribution of benefits, risks and opportunities.

A gender-based analysis team must:

• Be aware of the fact that gender construction, and thus, the relations established between women and men, have a historical-cultural character, and are specified through processes associated to particular territories, such as the systems related to production and symbolic and daily appropriation of nature and the environment.

• Conduct the analysis with a clear understanding and expectation of working from a gender perspective from a strategic, collective, and individual point of view. This implies visualization about existing differences between women and men regarding the access, information, control, and distribution of the benefits derived from the resources, based on their own perceptions and assessments about prevailing differences and inequalities. It also implies making visible and recognizing, within a given community, who does what type of work, the levels of participation, existing social systems, the patterns about the use of time, and power relations.

• Obtain accurate information about the social, cultural, environmental, and productive conditions. This information should be acquired through participatory observation techniques, to learn about the working context. The ideal participants would be people with working experience in the region.

• Ensure the adequate time and space needed to conduct the analysis. It is extremely hard to become acquainted with a community’s realities in a short period of time. Moreover, the availability and pace of the participating women and men should also be identified and considered.