Gender and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gender and Politics - Essay Example In 2000, the United Nations approved the millennium declaration, which insisted on gender equality as essential in eradicating poverty and realizing sustainable development. In the millennium development goals (MDGs), gender equality is one goal, and gender perspectives have to be included in the implementation of the other MDG’s. Some of the observation regarding gender and development is that men are largely missing from gender practices and policies (Cornwell 1997, p. 9). In order to achieve gender equality, there must be positive changes in the lives of women as well as men. Development programs must be scrutinized to avoid negative gender outcomes. This paper will discuss the concept of gender and how it has affected development programs in many countries. For the past three decades, people have accepted the gender-based approach to the development programs. Gender analysis and gender training act as key tools in any development process. The concept of gender, which becom es increasingly integrated in development programs, may be highly misunderstood. Most gender oriented programs focus on women since the term gender may be seen as a synonym for â€Å"female† or â€Å"women†. The term gender has also been confused with sex, which means biological characteristics, which makes one either a man or a woman. Female roles may include working on the farms, both on the family foodstuff and the cash crops. On the other hand, men may only be tasked with marketing the cash crop in the market; they control the income obtained from the farms. Women lose control of resources like land, hence become excluded from access to desirable agricultural methods (Momsen 2009, p. 2). Case study In a certain rich coffee-growing nation, the government decided to boost the coffee productio