The term “gender” refers to social relationships as defined by society for men and women. These roles and relationships change as time and place have changed. These relationships are also variable within the different social institutions.

Roles

This means the roles carried out by both sexes as predefined by society for males and females. These roles are oftentimes associated with a set of behaviors that express prevailing societal values. It also defines the degree of both sexes adherence to the norms while performing their roles through a level of social acceptance. These roles can vary, for example: The productive role, which is associated with work carried out by women and men in exchange for a monetary compensation - either in cash or in-kind. It includes work with the aim of producing commodities that can be exchanged have a value, and can be sold in the market, such as domestic products that have a real value (can be sold and consumed).

Gender Mainstreaming (Promotion of Women Participation)

The Gender Unit in the PWP pays a great deal of attention to the promotion of women participation in the identification of priority subprojects in target areas. This is manifested in the PWP’s action to establish a gender unit in April 2017, and the appointment of a gender coordinator in the unit, aiming at:-

• Coordination and actions for the inclusion of women priorities in subprojects implemented by the PWP;
• Assists in the implementation of subprojects to serve women;
• Engaging women in all stages of the project’s lifecycle.
• Ensure sustainability of subprojects through the promotion of community participation (including women) in the different stages of the project’s lifecycle;
• Creation of  as many work opportunities as possible for skilled and unskilled labor.

Social mobilization teams have been deployed to the local communities to meet with women, listen to their hardships, identify their concerns and needs, and the projects that meet their priorities and preferences. In doing so, the PWP succeeded in ensuring women participation in the identification of needed projects to be implemented in various communities - this process starts with the field survey and needs assessments in a community. Major achievements have been made in this aspect, most important are:-

• A female consultant has been appointed to work at promoting community participation of women – in the identification of subprojects. The main responsibilities are solely to ensure that women are consulted on their needs and priorities, selection of sites for the subprojects to be implemented, and actions associated with access and safety.
• 380 subprojects have been identified in 22 governorates, with the participation of women in nearly 80% of the subprojects offered in tenders until now.
• More than 359 women community councils have been formed, with the participation of 18,700 women in the selection and identification of priority subproject.- Efforts are continuing to engage women as workers during subprojects implementation. Many contractors have expressed a willingness to engage women from local communities in appropriate activities during the implementation phase. Field data reporting forms show that 1,456 women have taken part in construction activities at an average daily wage of YER 1,400.
• Female consultant engineers participate in various supervision activities over construction works. Until now, 355 female consultants have been engaged .
• During the identification of subprojects, women mobilization teams participate in awareness raising activities on the cholera outbreak by distributing various awareness materials (brochures and stickers) to village women. More than 38,000 various awareness materials have been distributed up to date. The PWP is now publishing an awareness newsletter to educate women on the cholera outbreak.

Relationship between Women and Objectives of the PWP

The activation of women participation in the development process has become an objective pursued by the PWP in the ground. This stems from the fact that the PWP recognizes the standing of women, as they represent 50% of Yemeni society, and to ensure the attainment of the objectives pursued by PWP, such as:-

• Ensuring the sustainability of projects by promoting community participation (including women) in all stages of the projects lifecycle.
• The creation of as much work as possible for skilled and unskilled labor.
• Provision of basic services for the most needy segments of society, especially women.

Mechanisms for Strengthening Community Participation for Women:

The PWP, through the Gender Unit, adopted an innovative mechanism to ensure the promotion of women participation based on:-

• Participation in the identification of priority needs for women.
• Participation in the selection of subprojects to be implemented.
• Establishing women committees and associations.
• Action to increase awareness.
• Linking women communities to governmental and non-governmental institutions.
• Increase linkages and cohesiveness among beneficiaries.
• Participation in training and project implementation.
• An action plan for operations, maintenance, and monitoring and evaluation.

Measures

In alignment with the PWP’s strategy, which aims at strengthening women participation, a number of procedures have been implemented to ensure the achievement of this objective, most important are:-

• Amending the PWP’s manual to serve women.
• Production of a field manual that ensures inclusion of women priorities in subprojects.
• Engaging women in the beneficiaries committees.
• Engaging women in all stages of the project lifecycle.
• Give priority to women engineers to supervise women-oriented subprojects.
• Stipulation that contractors would provide appropriate job opportunities to poor women during the implementation of subprojects.
• Raising of issues relevant to the needs of women and recommendations produced during consultations with women to the Project Management Unit – for study and inclusion in future planning.
• Introduction of the tasks and responsibilities of the gender coordinator to the PMU and branch directors to ensure cooperation and joint actions.