THE KEY STEPS OF GENDER ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATION

There are many approaches to gender analysis of legislation. This guide proposes five steps that can be followed
sequentially:

1. Purpose, Scope and Operation of the Proposed Law

2. Measuring the Impact of the Proposed Law
3. Specific Law Drafting Questions
4. Questions re Administration, Costs, Regulations and Public Education
5. Self-Assessment - The Last Step in Your Analysis

Gender-based analysis should be a common thread woven from beginning to end throughout the entire legislative
process, and not merely an additional section.

In some cases, gender issues are central to the Bill in question and play a major, determining role in its evolution. Other
Bills, at first glance, may appear to be devoid of gender implications. When analyzing proposed legislation it may be
tempting to simply state that the Bill is not likely to have differential gender effects. While gender implications may not
be immediately obvious, they may emerge later.

Therefore, it is always good practice to keep asking the 'gender question' as you analyze legislation. This requires a
familiarity with sex-aggregated quantitative and qualitative data; questioning basic assumptions; and a constant
readiness to test basic assumptions.

Example: Education and the Labour Force.

Using a gender-based analysis helps us to analyze more carefully the full impact of a proposed Law on every segment
of society.

For example, women outnumber men in the labour force, constituting 53%. However, females have a lower
participation rate informal schooling than males. Young women's training and. job prospects generally differ from those
of young men. Women enter the labour market with fewer qualifications and less training than men. The labour force is
largely uneducated and unskilled - 24.4% of the total labour force; 31.6% of the female labour force has not attended
school.

Women are underrepresented in jobs that carry high status, such as the civil service. The professionals, and decision-
making or management positions. Women do, however, dominate pockets of the labour market, in insecure positions
requiring few formal qualifications, such as factory work and street markets. In the retail sector, for example 67% of
shop owners and 77% of stall and market vendors are female.

Article 95 of the Labour Law states that the first workers to be laid off should be those with the fewest professional
qualifications. In practice, this is likely to be women. There are no specific measures to protect women from such
discriminatory treatment.

It is evident from these examples that many legal issues impact young women and young men .differently. These
impacts are identified through gender-based analysis which is a necessary and important part oj legislative analysis.

The Five Steps of Gender-Based Analysis of Legislation:

Step One: Purpose, Scope and Operation of the Proposed Law

In assessing the draft Law's purpose, scope and application, can you identify the groups most likely to be
affected by the proposed Bill? Are we likely to find some specific gender implications? Will women be one of
the groups identified?
When addressing the purpose, scope and operation of a proposed Law is your analysis influenced by your
gender? Your background may influence your vision and prevent you from asking questions and hearing
answers. Legislation must be careful not to reinforce stereotypes and systemic discrimination about women
and men;

Step Two: Measuring the Impact of the Proposed Law

Has the impact of the proposed legislation on different parts of the community been considered? In other
words, who will be affected by the proposed law?

 Will there be significant gender differences in the impacts of the law? To what extent will women be
specifically affected by the proposed law?
What are the factors (cultural, economic, political, legal, socio-economic, etc.) that may affect the gender
impact of the Bill. For example, consider how experiences of women and men will differ geographically, and
are influenced by age, poverty, and disability/ability.
How do you measure the difference in the anticipated impact of the proposed legislation? Would you use sex-
disaggregated date? If so, how do you go about collecting the data?
If sex-disaggregated data is not available what else could you use to find out the impact rate on females and
males?
What types of gender specific information could community groups provide legislative reviewers?
Are there particular community groups whom you might consult for help and information.

Step Three: Specific Questions Regarding Legal Drafting

Article31 of the Constitution states that "Every Khmer citizen shall be equal before the law regardless of
sex" Does the proposed legislation comply with Article 31?
Has the Bill been drafted in clear, plain language?

Step Four: Questions re Administration, Costs, Regulations and Public Education

With respect to the administration of the Law, will women be involved?

Are there gender concern with regards to the implementation and compliance costs of the proposed Law?
How will the public be educated regarding the Law? Given the high illiteracy rate among women in Cambodia,
what methods will be used to disseminate the information?
With respect to monitoring the legislation. Will gender specific' concerns be reviewed?

STEP Five: Self-Assessment - The Last Step ill Your Analysis

Have you integrated questions concerning gender throughout the analysis?

Have all gender implications been identified in the Bill?
What official 'and community information was used 'to in your gender analysis?
Have you continued to ask the "gender question" at every stage of your analysis?

CONCLUSION

This guide establishes the use of gender as a primary element of every approach to legislative analysis. It outlines a
framework and methodology to assist in analyzing proposed legislation from a gender perspective.

It is presented as a step in building a more sector-specific gender analysis framework, and in developing well-
researched background documentation that incorporates gender-disaggregated data.

Legislation- can change gender relations. The challenge is to create the questions and formulate the analytical
procedures that will produce solutions to support gender equality.

 Gender Analysis

Defining Gender:

Refer to Rule of Law Question #8: Page 10 of Document #1 - states:

"Has the impact of the proposed legislation on different parts of the community been considered? In particular, what is
the impact on human and constitutional rights? Women? Children? The poor? Small and medium-sized businesses?

This question makes reference to possible discrepancies with the impact of the law - which leads to the fundamental
question of gender equality.

1. What do we mean by the concept "gender"?

2. Gender refers to a social identity formed around biological males and females;
3. Although biological sex differences are set, the roles and responsibilities assigned to males and females change
over time within a society, as well as varying across different societies;
4. Gender is an important component of individual identity, the sense of belonging to one sex, group of people,
nationality;
5. Gender relations form part of a broader set of social relations in a given society, and are essentially relations of
power between men and women;
6. It is not the physical factor that determines the power held by a person, but the social factor - society
determines the power;
7. Gender relations vary according to social groups and other factors, such as age, ethnicity, disability and class;
8. They also vary over time;
9. Gender relations determine an individual's access to material and nonmaterial resources, the ability to control
one's body, life and one's decision-making capabilities;
10. Gender relations are characterized by a complex combination of cooperation, conflict, and inequality, which
extends from the household to institutions of society, such as one's community, markets and the state;
11. We all know that in many societies women maybe responsible for managing the household, running the family
farm, but often they don't enjoy equal property rights with their husbands. This is what gender rights is all
about in practice;
12. Gender relations are often seen to be fixed, a natural reflection of society, part of the culture, however, gender
relations are not fixed or set;
13. They change and can be changed alongside other developments in society;
14. For example, in many Asian cultures, women centuries ago had more rights than they have today;
15. In my country, Canada, my daughter takes for granted her equal rights vis-a-vis her brother - my son and
daughter simply see themselves as equal persons, socially and legally. This was not the case, however, when
my mother was growing up.

What is Gender Analysis:

1. Gender analysis has developed over the past 25 years as a means to address the unequal power relations
between men and women which results in women's inferior economic, social, political, and legal positions to
men;
2. Such unequal power relations prevents equitable and sustainable development in any society;
3. How do we use gender analysis?
a. First, the use of gender analysis assumes that there is a common commitment to gender equity - each
person should be treated equally;
b. To reach such an ideal of equal treatment, we need to question how gender relations create differences in
the relative position of men and women in social processes;
c. For example, do women and men receive the same wages for the same job.
4. Laws will affect men and women differently;
5. These differences need to be looked at critically, they need to be anticipated and accounted for if you wish to
fulfill the aim of gender equity or the equal rights of all citizens;
6. When policies and laws are proposed, we need to keep in mind gender inequity;
7. We need to question whether policies are going to affect men and women differently:
a. what will be the impact of such a policy on the various groups in society;
b. specifically, will proposed legislation affect women and children in the same way as it will men?
8. These are the types of questions that need to be asked, this what we mean by gender analysis.