DILIMAN, Quezon City -- In a landmark move towards promoting gender equality in the farming and fishing sector, the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) recently issued gender mainstreaming guidelines that would foster inclusivity and equal opportunities for all genders.
Known as the DA Administrative Order No. 09, Series of 2023, entitled “Guidelines on Gender Mainstreaming (GM) Strategies for the Agriculture and Fisheries Extension (AFE) System”, the policy document is a product of stakeholder consultations conducted by the ATI through the Policy and Planning Division last August 16 and 30, 2023. Representatives from the DA agencies, state universities and colleges, local government units, and the ATI network participated in which their inputs and recommendations were reviewed and incorporated into the guidelines.
The said document is aligned with the efforts to eradicate gender inequalities in the AF sector such as the imbalance in the distribution of resources, power, and privileges, as well as access to social and economic opportunities.
Specifically, it enumerates key strategies and priorities to support the development and implementation of gender-sensitive AFE-related policies, programs activities, and projects as follows:
- The establishment of a Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Point System (GFPS) to spearhead gender equality initiatives within organizations.
- Development and reinforcement of GAD policies to integrate gender perspectives at all organizational levels.
- Creation of a GAD Sex-Disaggregated Database (SDD) to collect and analyze gender-specific data for informed decision-making.
- Conduct of Gender Analysis to identify and address gender disparities effectively.
- Compliance with GAD planning and budgeting to allocate resources for gender programs and activities.
- Implementation of GAD capacity-building interventions to raise awareness and promote gender-responsive practices.
- Promotion of gender-inclusive language to uphold gender equality in communication.
- Encouragement of collaboration and partnership with other gender advocates for collective action.
- Establishment of an award and recognition system to acknowledge efforts towards gender mainstreaming.
The policy document was approved by DA’s former Senior Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban last October 2023 and it became effective when it was published last January 4, 2024 in the Manila Bulletin.
For more information, the policy document can be accessed through this link: https://www.da.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ao09_s2023.pdf.
