IT WAS only probably a few years ago when we began encountering the term GAD in organizations particularly government institutions. The term GAD, which is an acronym for Gender and Development, embodies the various programs and projects aimed at establishing equal opportunities for development for both genders. For a long time, we were fixed at the term "sex" to refer to the physical qualities that determine a person as to being male or female. However, with the emergence of GAD policies, the term gender has been used to "refer(s) to the specific set of characteristics that identifies the social behavior of women and men and the relationship between them. Gender alludes not simply to women or men but to the relationship between them and the way it is socially constructed."
This pertains to the bygone era wherein society has given so much power and domination for men, that women became submissive and helpless members of the society. This structure which has resulted to the so-called "gender biases" has stripped women off their rights to suffrage not only until late 19th century that women were allowed to exercise their right to vote. For a long era, women were also not allowed to occupy key roles in any type of organization especially government units. It is believed that since these predispositions occur in the society, people especially women are curtailed to achieve their full potentials, thus resulting to the impediment of development.
The Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex defines GAD as an "approach (which) focuses on the socially constructed basis of differences between men and women and emphasizes the need to challenge existing gender roles and relations." Promoting gender equality and empowering women is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, and the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
Here in the Philippines, the Constitution also provides legal basis for promoting equality between men and women as provided in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Article II, Sec. 14: "The state recognizes the role of women in nation building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men." Various laws and executive orders have been approved such as RA 7192 of 1992 -- Women in Development and Nation Building Act, Executive Order 273 of 1995 -- Approving and adopting the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development for 1995 to 2025, and RA 9710 of 2009 or the Magna Carta of Women.
In 2012, a Joint Circular was issued by the Philippine Commission on Women, National Economic and Development Authority, and the Department of Budget and Management which provides the Guidelines for the Preparation of Annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and Budgets and Accomplishment Reports to Implement the Magna Carta of Women to all heads of executive departments, agencies, bureaus, offices, state universities and colleges, government owned and/or controlled corporations, legislative and judiciary branches, constitutional bodies, other government instrumentalities and all others concerned.
GAD has been implemented to emphasize that the opportunity for development is equally given to all. Both men and women must be given the right and freedom to realize their full human rights and potentials to contribute to development and nation building, and at the same time benefit from the positive consequences that arise from these.