Gender, sexuality must be incorporated in dev agenda
Sunday, 29 July 2007
The neglected issues of gender, sexuality and reproductive rights should be incorporated in the mainstream development agenda for faster socio-economic development of the country, an international conference was told Saturday, reports BSS.
"Gender and sexuality should be in mainstream development programme for balanced and quick development," Mushtaque R Chowdhury, Dean of James P. Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University, said at the inaugural session of a three-day international conference that began here.
JPGSPH organised the conference at the BRAC Centre, where more than 130 national and international participants are assembled to discuss and share research findings, programme developments and barriers in the fields of gender and sexuality.
Mushtaque Chowdhury said there should be clear inclusion of gender and reproductive health issues at the very beginning of a programme design so that these things get due priority to be addressed.
The issues, he said, now have become more important in the context of Bangladesh, where things are moving towards positive direction but much more attention is needed for women empowerment, public health and family planning.
Dina Siddiqi of the University of Pennsylvania said gender and sexuality had always been projected in a negative way, which adversely contributed to the development of the sectors. By tradition, she said, the women are projected as stereotyped, while men are perpetrators and transgenders are an ignored species.
"This negative approach should be stopped globally and the male should be involved more in the drive against women exploitation and discrimination," she said, adding gender and sexuality do not always necessarily mean rape, violence and acts of sex. It is more than a physical issue, she said.
Susan Jolly of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, said the common impression over sexuality has nothing to do with the development. But the research and field experiences show that gender and sexuality has always been a development issue, she said, adding these critical issues are still dealt in hidden, heteronormative and negative ways.
"Gender and sexuality should be in mainstream development programme for balanced and quick development," Mushtaque R Chowdhury, Dean of James P. Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University, said at the inaugural session of a three-day international conference that began here.
JPGSPH organised the conference at the BRAC Centre, where more than 130 national and international participants are assembled to discuss and share research findings, programme developments and barriers in the fields of gender and sexuality.
Mushtaque Chowdhury said there should be clear inclusion of gender and reproductive health issues at the very beginning of a programme design so that these things get due priority to be addressed.
The issues, he said, now have become more important in the context of Bangladesh, where things are moving towards positive direction but much more attention is needed for women empowerment, public health and family planning.
Dina Siddiqi of the University of Pennsylvania said gender and sexuality had always been projected in a negative way, which adversely contributed to the development of the sectors. By tradition, she said, the women are projected as stereotyped, while men are perpetrators and transgenders are an ignored species.
"This negative approach should be stopped globally and the male should be involved more in the drive against women exploitation and discrimination," she said, adding gender and sexuality do not always necessarily mean rape, violence and acts of sex. It is more than a physical issue, she said.
Susan Jolly of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, said the common impression over sexuality has nothing to do with the development. But the research and field experiences show that gender and sexuality has always been a development issue, she said, adding these critical issues are still dealt in hidden, heteronormative and negative ways.