By Jimeina Einzel Papera and Margaret Anne Quisido
Gender and Development (GAD) Office of the Municipality of Los Baños conducted an intensive seminar-workshop on GAD Database Generation earlier, still as part of the Women’s Month celebration, at the Los Baños Municipal Building.
BAO administrative officer Joan Vale starts off by talking about the different GAD concepts and gender sensitivity.
“Isa sa major flagship programs ng ating mahal na mayor ang GAD or Gender and Development sa Los Banos. At sabi nga ito ay isang batas, kailangan ilocalize sa LGU down to the barangay kaya ito [GAD database] po ang magiging baseline natin ng pagpagtiyak at pagsikap po natin sa disparity ng babae at lalaki sa ating bayan,” said GAD officer Karen Mercado on why database generation is needed in LGUs.
(One of the major flagship programs of our mayor is GAD or Gender and Development in Los Banos. It is said to be a law that needs to be localized in LGU down to the barangay level that is why this [GAD database] will be our baseline to ensure the disparity of men and women in our municipality,” said GAD officer Karen Mercado on why database generation is needed in LGUs.)
Mercado, then, introduced Joan Vale and Prof. Amelia Bello as her fellow “GADvocates” from UPLB.
Vale, from UPLB BAO, served as the resource speaker in the seminar. It was divided into three modules: basic GAD concepts, gender sensitivity and the database generation itself.
In her talk about the GAD concepts and gender sensitivity, she tackled the different concepts involved in gender and development such as the difference between sex and gender, the different gender stereotypes and gender roles, and how they cause discrimination.
“Hindi siya battle of the sexes, inaachieve lang natin what should also be given to women, as well as to men,” said Vale.
(It’s not battle of the sexes. We are achieving what should also be given to women, as well as to men.)
GAD officer Karen Mercado gives her introductory speech for the seminar-workshop.
After tackling gender sensitivity, a workshop on the GAD database, which contains information and statistics about sex disaggregated data or data that has been collected and presented separately on men and women, was held.
In an interview with GAD officer Karen Mercado, she said that the GAD database generation aims to establish the disparity between men and women that the community planners and policymakers will use to provide an objective planning and fair distributions of interventions in Los Baños.
She added that through the GAD database, information about the inequalities between men and women will be just one click away, and this will make it easier to show and decide what needs to be done in order to provide equity and equality for all genders.
According to Vale, these initiatives are held to achieve the ultimate goal of having gender equity and equality.