What is GBA+? What is gender? What is the + in GBA+? (Copy)

Sep 27

September 2021

If you are a seasoned impact assessment practitioner, you may well be frustrated by the growing expectations placed on you, without a clear indication of why and how you are supposed to meet those expectations. We get it. On the other hand, if you are a gender studies scholar, or, say, a queer Indigenous youth living in a remote rural community adjacent to a new work camp, you know first-hand just how impactful some natural resource-based industrial activities can be for many people, in ways that are not always addressed, or even acknowledged. We get this too. This is why, recently, NEDIA hosted a virtual Webinar focused on Gender-based Analysis Plus, or GBA+ (you can view the recorded event here). With our deepest gratitude to the contributing knowledge holders to our Webinar, Debra Steinstra, Anya Knechtel, and Mary Boyden, this Blog attempts to synthesize the valuable knowledge and ensuing discussions during that event, to inform future planning and practice of GBA+ in impact assessment in Canada.

What is GBA+ and why do we need to address it?

GBA+ begins with the premise that there are inequalities in the treatment of people on the basis of gender. These inequalities can be deeply rooted in structural power imbalances, and perpetuated through cultural norms, like gendered expectations regarding household roles defining who is the economic provider, and who takes care of the children. They can also be perpetuated informally, in everyday practices, like the types of informal banter that happen on work sites.

These gender inequalities can influence who is impacted by development and how, and therefore a fulsome impact assessment process should identify, acknowledge, and offer strategies to mitigate these inequalities.

The presumption is often that the term “gender-based analysis” refers to differences in equality of opportunity and impact between men and women. These differences are not universal, however: In different cultures, the social roles that men and women play, and the relations between them, can vary markedly. Therefore, attention to context and culture is crucial. But gender-based analysis encompasses more than differences between men and women. The different experiences of women and men are certainly important, but the concept of gender also includes people whose gender identities are non-binary and don’t fit within the categories “men” or “women”. Many people are transgender, for example, meaning they do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. And while gender is not the same thing as sexual orientation, which refers to the people that one is attracted to, the experiences of sexual minorities including lesbian, gay and bi-sexual peoples are included within GBA+.

These differences may seem purely semantic, but they are important. If we were to simply assess the impacts of a proposed project on men compared to women, biologically speaking, two errors may result. First, the assessor may be making presumptions regarding the gender roles and relations between men and women among the different cultural groups affected by a proposed project that are inaccurate. Second, the unique impacts on those individuals who do not identify with the dominant gender roles of masculine men and feminine women will also be overlooked.

Going further, the “+” in GBA+ recognizes that gender interacts with a broader set of social categories. Gender-based analysis inevitably also highlights the ways in which race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, and physical ability intersect with gender, creating a larger set of gendered categories, each of which represents a specific set of capabilities and inequalities. The ‘+’ was added to make this distinction, and ensure that assessment extends beyond attention to women (as a singular category) and their relation to men (as a singular category).

Assessment and Mitigation Methods

All projects should attend to: the gendered distribution of economic opportunities; the potential for disruption of pre-existing gendered family and community roles; the potential for harassment, discrimination and violence toward (particularly black, brown and Indigenous) women, girls, non-binary, and transgender peoples, perpetrated by workers in their families and communities, as a result of the structure of employment.

While the means of doing do will continue to evolve, and will inevitably be context-specific, we have developed the following general guidelines:

Extend social impact assessment beyond aggregate economic, health, and environmental impacts, to evaluate the likely distribution of those benefits and burdens across social categories;
Pursue an intersectional approach to gender analysis;
Prioritize community-led consultation, particularly including marginalized gendered groups;
Mitigation must include plans for addressing gender-based discrimination and violence.
Mitigation must apply an equity (vs equality) approach, seeking to empower those peoples marginalized on the basis of gender.
Proactively develop participatory strategies that counter pre-existing barriers to participation faced by marginalized gender groups.
As with all aspects of impact assessment, respect for the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Providing a comprehensive GBA+ as a component of assessment is a key piece of information pertaining to FPIC.

View our webinar on this topic HERE