Christine van Wijk, IRC
3 April 2001
Women's development programmes, integration and mainstreaming -
Gender inequality and institutions
‘Gender’ is a term coined in the 1960's to refer to those differences between
women and men, which are socially constructed, in contrast to the physical
and biological distinctions between them.
Gender relations are the ‘socially, culturally and economically determined
relations between men and women that vary according to phenomena such as
age, kinship affiliation, ethnic group, religion, cast and social class’
(Howard-Borjas, Patricia L., 2001. Gender relations in local plant genetic
resource management and conservation. in Encyclopedia of life support
systems (EOLSS). Paris, UNESCO, forthcoming, p. 1).
Gender Mainstreaming is the process of accessing the implications for
women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies and
programmes in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making
women's
as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the
design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes
in all political, economic and societal spheres, so that women and men
benefit
equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve
gender equality (ECOSOC, 1997, emphasis added).
Gender equality: women and men having the same rights or status (Hannan,
Carolyn, 2000. Promoting equality between women and men in bilateral
development cooperation. Concepts, goals, rationales and institutional
arrangements. Part One. Theory, practice and priorities for change. Lund,
Sweden, Lund University, Dept. of Social and Economic Geography, emphasis
added).
Gender equity. Equity is the “the quality of being fair and reasonable
in a way
that gives equal treatment to everyone” (Collins Cobuild English Dictionary,
pp.
558.HarperCollins Publishers, 1995). Gender equity is the process of being
fair
to women and men. To ensure fairness, measures must often be available
to
compensate for historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and
men from otherwise operating at the same level. Equity leads to
equality.(Gender-Based Analysis: A guide for policy-making, Status of Women
Canada, 1996, emphasis added).
In the water sector, a gender and equity approach at field level strives
for a
more balanced division between women and men in the following areas, with
equity achieved irrespective of age, wealth, ethnicity, caste and religion:
a) the access to information
b) the amount of physical work
c) the division of contributions in time
and cash
d) the degree of decision making
e) the access to resources and
benefits
f) the control over these resources and
benefits
Within implementation and sector support organisations, a gender and equity
approach strives for a balanced mix of women and men in implementation
and
support functions and greater equity in working conditions, opportunities
and
organisational influence and control. (IRC, 2000, Gender and equity policy
paper)
Women's development programmes, integration and
mainstreaming
When development policy makers and workers first ‘discovered’ the
developmental roles of women, they viewed them exclusively in their roles
as
mothers and housekeepers. The resulting ‘welfare projects’ for women aimed
at
making them better housekeepers and mothers through classes in home
economics, nutrition and hygiene and by improving mother and childcare.
Because the economic value of the projects was considered low, they had
a
low priority and were underresourced.
The welfare approach evolved into the efficiency and anti-poverty approach
under the forces of neo-liberalism. Neoliberalism wanted to recover Third
World
debts from loans that the first world had so freely provided (Kabeer, Naila,
1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought.
London/New York, Verso). The free market economy was seen as the most
efficient route to economic and social development for all. At that time,
women
had just been discovered to be underutilized producers (Boserup, Ester,
1970.
Women's role in economic development. London, Allen and Unwin). After
education and training, these women might earn an income and help pay the
debts through their contribution to national productivity.
At the time of the Women in Development approach, a hot debate emerged
on
what was best: separate development projects for women to meet women's
special needs and interests, or integrate women into planning and decision
making of general development projects, so that these projects would meet
women's needs better and become more cost-effective by utilizing women's
resources as well as men's. Integration meant that women took part in all
project activities: planning, design, implementation, maintenance,
management, and evaluation. Gradually it became clear that integrating
women often meant that women bore as great or a greater burden than men,
yet men benefited as much or more from the projects, and that integrating
women in field projects did not change subordinate position of women in
law,
politics and institutions. E.g. in the water sector, women would spend
more
time in planning and maintenance/management, yet their position and work
in
the household would remain the same (triple burden: home, field, community).
While they did the voluntary work in water supply, their legal and political
position remained the same and in implementing agencies, male engineers
and economists were in charge of identification, planning and design and
women came in when main plans were made, for community-level promotion
and hygiene education. Hence the current shift from women's integration
to
gender mainstreaming (see definitions above)
Gender inequality and institutions
Institutions are long established customs, practices, and rules. Gender
institutions are widely accepted patterns of (usually unequal and for women
disadvantageous) relations between women and men, which are so common
that both women and men accept them without questioning as ‘belonging to
our culture’ or ‘God-given, belonging to our religion’ and bring up daughters
and
sons in the same way.
No overt discrimination is needed to keep women in a subordinated position,
when institutions in households and organizations already ensure that such
discrimination takes place. In the household for example, women who would
like to seek work outside, are unable to do so because of the custom and
norm that women do most of the domestic and child care work and look after
parents (also parents of husbands) and men will not or hardly share the
work
on a structural basis. According to Kabeer, men use such mechanisms to
avoid change in the home, at work and in the community. They can hide
between these institutions and do not have to give up established advantages,
but the conflict of interests is there all the same.
Empowerment can be defined as “processes whereby individuals achieve
increasing control of various aspects of their lives and participate in
the
community with diginity”(Mvula Trust, Synthesis report: role of women in
community water and sanitation supply projects, 98/40) Empowerment implies
that women, like men, have more power over their own situation, and can
make
improvements to their lives. Kabeer (op. cit.) distinguishes four conditions
for
people to be able to control their own lives:
1.the capacity to make one's own decisions on issues (‘power to’),
2.the capacity and freedom to put issues on the agenda (‘power over’),
3.the awareness that an issue is an issue (‘power within’) and
4.the power that comes from uniting with others around the same
interests and organizing for concerted action (‘power with’).
Empowerment of women will take place when all four above conditions are
met.
Development programmes can enhance women's empowerment and assist
them to:
a) become aware of their different workloads, positions and needs/interests
(also men to become aware);
b) access resources and control for meeting these needs;
c) act as the competent actors they are , who only need to overcome
certain constraints and are not pathetic, helpless, the weaker sex;
d) build collective awareness and organization.
| .. discovered to be underutilized producers (Boserup, Ester, 1970.
Women's role in
economic development. London, Allen and Unwin). After education and training ... http://www.irc.nl/projects/gemsa/concepts.html |