Results of the staff survey on gender awareness and capacity development for gender mainstreaming at ICRAF

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1 Why do men and women at ICRAF differ in their views about gender, their perceived relevance of gender, capacity to implement gender analysis, and their views towards gender in the organization? Results of the staff survey on gender awareness and capacity development for gender mainstreaming at ICRAF Report on Findings Part 2 February 23, 2014 In addition to our report on findings of the staff gender survey circulated in December 2013, we analyzed some data by gender and region, revealing interesting results. Here, we raised some questions needing further reflection by male and female staff. Key Findings I. Female staff showed higher level of awareness on the importance of addressing gender and more interest in developing their capacity to do so. However, they also informed feeling less confident than men on their capacity to address gender issues. II. There are important regional differences regarding awareness level, understanding of gender concepts and gender-trained staff. These differences should be addressed when offering support to gender mainstreaming in each region. III. The results suggest that the regions with most urgency for training on gender are Latin America, South Asia and West and Central Africa. These trainings should focus on gender analysis methods and tools. IV. Regarding organizational environment for gender mainstreaming, more males believe that there is balance on employment and promotion opportunities and equitable assignment of salaries in ICRAF while more females think otherwise. This could imply higher job satisfaction for male than female staff. I. Perceived relevance of gender issues Regarding relevance of addressing gender, female respondents find it more relevant compared to their male counterparts. About 70% of females and 58% of males considered addressing gender very important for the quality of their work; and while 7% of the latter believe it is not an important issue, only 2% of the females agree with them. Will the other half of male population become more interested in addressing gender in their work or in the workplace? The results by region on the same question show some interesting differences as shown in the figure below. Respondents stationed in Southern Africa and the Headquarters show the highest awareness levels while respondents in Latin America and East Asia show the lowest.

2 About 64% of the total staff considered the contribution of their work bringing about gender equality as positive, whereas only 25% respondents from Latin America and 29% from East Asia did so. This data however needs further interpretation---it is true that responses to this question are influenced by the type of projects the regions are implementing. Nonetheless, majority of respondents in these regions consider their work as gender-neutral. It is worth nothing that about 90% of respondents in South Asia consider their contribution positive.

3 II. Self-assessment of gender mainstreaming capacities On self-assessment on the level of understanding of gender related concepts, Southern Africa region showed the highest average (57%) of respondents that understand the concepts and are also able to apply them into their work. Respondents from East Asia region had the lowest (29%). South Asia office had the highest average of respondents that understand the concepts but are not able to apply them into their work (45%), although they thought that their work already contributes to gender equality. Those in West and Central Africa and Latin America reported the highest average for respondents with no understanding of gender related concepts, 25% and 24% respectively. For the same issue, differences among males and females were not significant; 52% of male respondents informed that they understand gender related concepts and are able to apply them, in comparison to 45% of their female counterparts. Interestingly, more women find gender relevance in their work, yet a good proportion of them do not understand gender concepts--? Could it be that the proportion of men who find gender relevant, are the ones that understand gender concepts and are able to apply them? Note that about half of the male population in ICRAF remains less interested on gender issues than females.

4 III. Training and capacity development needs As shown in the figure below, 92% of respondents from the South Asia office never received training on gender; neither have 83% of respondents from Latin America and 82% in headquarters. Our plan to conduct a gender training in Latin America this year, justifies this finding. These results seem to relate with the high number of respondents that reported to have no understanding of gender related concepts in both Latin America and West and Central Africa, confirming the need for gender training in both regions. Noticeably, most of the trainings received were on basic gender concepts and women empowerment, and much less on methods and tools for gender analysis. In general, the majority of staff feels somewhat confident when addressing gender issues in their work. This tendency does not change when observing the results of each region individually, even in regions with a low percentage of gender-trained staff. However females reported feeling to some extent less confident than their male counterparts. As shown in the figure below, the number of males who feel very confident is more than twice as much as the number of females, while the number of females who do not feel confident is higher than males. Why is this so? Is having confidence a gender issue too? Why do more men feel more confident to address gender equality issues than women? Are these the men that find gender issues relevant? This is a very interesting result that needs follow up.

5 More than 70% of respondents in Southern Africa, Latin America, South Asia, West and Central Africa and the Headquarters in Nairobi informed that they would need a training to improve their confidence in addressing gender issues in their work. Also, most respondents across regions informed that they believe they could benefit from training to mainstream gender in their work, with the exception of East Asia where only 35% respondents believe they could. On the same question, 89% of female respondents responded positively, which is 10% higher than males. Could this be that more males are less interested in addressing gender, confident on what they already know, or find gender less relevant? IV. Gender in the organizational culture As illustrated in the figure below, the perception of male and female staff about the organizational environment in relation to gender differ only in particular issues----while 66% of male respondents agree with the statement that there is balance on the employment and promotion opportunities between men and women, only 43% of female respondents do. Male respondents also tend to agree more with the statement that salaries are equitably assigned (60%) while only 42% of females agree with the same statement. Finally, 83% of male respondents agree that ICRAF accepts and values women leadership; while for female respondents the percentage is 66%. This is difference is significant------does this mean higher job satisfaction for men than women?

6 The perceptions of respondents across regions were also similar, with some few exceptions: 41% of respondents from Latin America disagree with the statement that in ICRAF, social factors including gender are considered primary issues, while the average for staff that disagree with the same statement was only 17%; Also, only 25% respondents from Latin America agreed that ICRAF encourages and rewards work on gender equality, whereas the general average was 51%. This explains why gender is always put on the side. Respondents from Southeast Asia office differed positively from the average on their perception regarding the assignment of salaries: 77% of respondents from the region agreed with this while 52% was the general average.