Keeping those gender gains

When the first objective of genderisation has been achieved, and the personal and institutional promises have been made to integrate women s and gender perspectives into development policies and practices, that is when the real work begins. How do you turn commitments into action, how do you institutionalise them? The overall issues are complex especially in a rural context: some, when isolated, are relatively simple, such as the disaggregation of data to have statistics broken down between male and female on, for example, land rights, labour inputs, working hours and financial management. Others involve legislative changes and, hardest of all, they all involve a change of culture and attitude by every individual. The latest issue of the Gender, Society and Development series of the Netherlands Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Institutionalizing Gender Equality features vivid, hands-on descriptions of how change is being adopted in a cotton development board of Mali, an agricultural research institute in Kenya, as well as a rural development body in Nepal and an NGO in Nicaragua. A rich index, bibliography and resource list emphasise the networking nature of the book. This is the real right stuff , all the more persuasive because it shows how change can take hold and take over. NB: the book was developed by KIT; to increase circulation it is co-published with Oxfam, who will distribute it worldwide, except to continental EU. Institutionalizing Gender Equality. Commitment, policy and practice, a global source book A co-publication of the KIT Press, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam and Oxfam Publications, Oxford. 2001. 174 pp. ISBN 0 85598 459 7 (Oxfam edition) GBP 12.95 Euro 21 Oxfam Publications 274 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DZ, UK Fax: + 44 1865 312 600 Email: publish@oxfam.org.ukInstitutionalizing Gender Equality. Commitment, policy and practice, a global source book A co-publication of the KIT Press, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam and Oxfam Publications, Oxford. 2001. 174 pp. ISBN 0 85598 459 7 (Oxfam edition) GBP 12.9