Home⇛International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research⇛vol. 6 no. 10 (2025)

Research Extension Initiatives as Drivers of Women’s Empowerment the Mediating Role of Gender Mainstreaming for Advancing the SDG Agenda 2030 in State Universities and Colleges in Quezon Province

Monica Ivy A. Del Prado

Discipline: Development Studies

 

Abstract:

Research extension initiatives are central to the mandate of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in the Philippines, yet their contri-butions to women’s empowerment and the Sustainable Develop-ment Goals (SDGs) remain underexamined. Existing literature em-phasizes the importance of gender-responsive community pro-grams but provides limited evidence on how gender mainstreaming mediates the link between extension projects and empowerment outcomes. Addressing this gap, this study investigates how SUC-led research extension initiatives drive women’s empowerment in Que-zon Province, with gender mainstreaming as a mediating mecha-nism for advancing the SDG Agenda 2030. This study examines the role of SUC-led research extension initiatives as drivers of women’s empowerment, with gender mainstreaming analyzed as a mediating factor for advancing the SDG Agenda 2030. A mixed-methods design was employed, combining survey responses from 125 women ben-eficiaries with focus group discussions and key informant inter-views involving SUC faculty coordinators, administrators, and com-munity leaders. Findings reveal that extension initiatives signifi-cantly enhanced women’s empowerment by improving livelihood opportunities, leadership participation, and decision-making capac-ity. Importantly, projects that integrated gender-sensitive planning, training, and monitoring reported stronger empowerment out-comes than those where gender concerns were treated as second-ary. Challenges included workload imbalances, limited institutional incentives, and fragmented sustainability reporting frameworks, which constrained the visibility of women faculty’s contributions. The study concludes that gender mainstreaming transforms exten-sion initiatives into vehicles for equity and empowerment. By em-bedding gender-responsive strategies, SUCs can strengthen their dual role in advancing academic innovation and inclusive commu-nity development, offering a replicable model for achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and related goals.



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