Seven out of ten ever-married women in Bangladesh experience some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
Gender-based violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality and continues to be one of the most notable human rights violations within all societies. Patriarchy and structural factors at multiple levels within our societies, prevent women and girls from gaining access to equal opportunities and realising their dreams. Both women and men experience gender-based violence but the majority of victims are women and girls. Working with men and boys is part of the solution to bring about gender transformative change in our society.
BRAC’s integrated gender transformative approach strengthens the voice, choice and space for women and girls to combat violence and eliminate all forms of gender discrimination with the active engagement of men and boys. BRAC works for transforming socio-cultural gender norms; building capacity of staff and stakeholders; creating a supportive working environment; advocating for gender equality and gender justice at all level through gender mainstreaming.
IMPACT
1.845 million people reached through awareness efforts on violence against women, children and prevention of child marriage across 7 districts in 2018.
91,286 adolescent girls reached through awareness efforts on health, nutrition, reproductive and sexual health issues across 94 Upazilas in 2018.
23,019 pre-primary and primary students, across 914 schools, orientated on good touch/bad touch (child sexual abuse) in 2018.
The challenge for BRAC is to sustain the gains made in gender equality while also tackling other inequalities; as the lives and work of women in poor households in Bangladesh are shaped not only by patriarchal gender norms but also by class interests, corporate practices and economic policies.
The approach facilitates locally-led problem solving and adaptation to addressing discriminatory gender norms. It starts with problems or issues rather than ready-made solutions, lending itself well to contemporary calls for approaches to development that prioritize learning and adaptation.
WHAT WE DO
End violence against women and children
Work with sectoral programmes (like health, education, microfinance, skills) and enterprises (BRAC Dairy and Food Product, Aarong, Ayesha Abed Foundation) in addressing gender based violence and influence policies for social change
Challenge discriminatory social norms
Engage with men and boys to reduce violence against women, to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality
Increase women’s participation in paid work and public domain
Reduce and prevent violence and sexual harassment in workplaces and public spheres
Ensure workplace safety and equality
Establish a conducive legal and regulatory environment to promote women’s active participation
HOW WE DO IT
Gender mainstreaming within BRAC
Ensure a strong gender perspective at every stage of the programme life cycle; initiate action learning projects that address gender issues that can be upscaled and replicated.
Strengthen organisational systems and culture
Provide tailor-made gender training to staff; strengthen gender-responsive organisational policies, procedures and systems; , facilitate implementation of Sexual Harassment Elimination Policy; promote women’s leadership and ensure gender responsive field offices.
Monitoring systems and knowledge management
Work to establish gender responsive robust monitoring system and knowledge management for capturing results and lessons learned for wider dissemination for programmatic change
Policy advocacy and partnership
Influence gender-related policies through regular, collaborative initiatives with government, non-government organisations, networks and alliances.
Gender-responsive learning material
Develop gender responsive human centered learning materials for promoting gender equality within BRAC and programme outreach.
Innovation
Pilot innovative initiatives for testing gender transformative approaches and addressing emerging pertinent issues in nontraditional sectors
WHY IT WORKS
Global and national priorities
Setting our sights on change everywhere and aligning our work with international efforts and the SDGs Goal 5. Focus on current gender equality issues that affecting girls, boys, women, men and their intersections
Using gender equality to achieve targets towards a broader goal
Using gender transformational approaches to address structural issues in order to reach BRAC’s 5th strategic priorities
Prioritising women leadership
Ensuring equal opportunities for women at all levels across the organisation and promoting women’s leadership through different foras and platforms
Social transformation
Targeting underlying causes of gender inequalities at the family, community and national level
Creating ambassadors
Creating change agents among women and men, girls and boys to transform society
