Report No 55

Gender and Development: Concepts and Definitions

Prepared for the Department for International Development (DFID)for its gender mainstreaming intranet resource

by Hazel Reeves and Sally BadenFebruary 2000

BRIDGE (development - gender)Institute of Development StudiesUniversity of SussexBrighton BN1 9RE, UKTel: +44 (0) 1273 606261Fax: +44 (0) 1273 621202Email: bridge@ids.ac.ukWebsite: http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge/

© Institute of Development StudiesISBN 1 85864 381 3

Contents

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1

2. Quick Definitions................................................................................................... 2

3. Detailed Explanations and Further Reading....................................................... 4Culture ..................................................................................................................... 4Gender Analysis ...................................................................................................... 6Gender Discrimination ............................................................................................. 7Gender Division of Labour....................................................................................... 8Gender Equality and Equity................................................................................... 10Gender Mainstreaming .......................................................................................... 12Gender Needs ....................................................................................................... 14Gender Planning.................................................................................................... 16Gender Relations................................................................................................... 18Gender Training..................................................................................................... 20Gender Violence.................................................................................................... 22Intra-household Resource Distribution .................................................................. 24National Machineries for Women .......................................................................... 26Patriarchy .............................................................................................................. 28Sex and Gender .................................................................................................... 30Social Justice ........................................................................................................ 31WID/GAD............................................................................................................... 33Women's Empowerment........................................................................................ 35Women's Human Rights........................................................................................ 37

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1. Introduction

Selected concepts central to Gender and Development thinking are explained here.These are intended to help you explore some of the key ideas and issues in Genderand Development and their implications for policy and practice. The succinctexplanations here are neither comprehensive nor definitive. Readers are advised toconsult the recommended readings for more detailed discussions.

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2. Quick Definitions

Culture The distinctive patterns of ideas, beliefs, and normswhich characterise the way of life and relations of asociety or group within a society

Gender Analysis The systematic gathering and examination ofinformation on gender differences and social relations inorder to identify, understand and redress inequitiesbased on gender

Gender Discrimination The systematic, unfavourable treatment of individualson the basis of their gender, which denies them rights,opportunities or resources

Gender Division of Labour The socially determined ideas and practices which define what roles and activities are deemedappropriate for women and men

Gender Equality and Equity Gender equality denotes women having the sameopportunities in life as men, including the ability toparticipate in the public sphere

Gender equity denotes the equivalence in life outcomesfor women and men, recognising their different needsand interests, and requiring a redistribution of powerand resources

Gender Mainstreaming An organisational strategy to bring a gender perspectiveto all aspects of an institution’s policy and activities,through building gender capacity and accountability

Gender Needs Shared and prioritised needs identified by women thatarise from their common experiences as a gender

Gender Planning The technical and political processes and proceduresnecessary to implement gender-sensitive policy

Gender Relations Hierarchical relations of power between women andmen that tend to disadvantage women

Gender Training A facilitated process of developing awareness andcapacity on gender issues, to bring about personal ororganisational change for gender equality

Gender Violence Any act or threat by men or male-dominated institutions,that inflicts physical, sexual, or psychological harm on awoman or girl because of their gender

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Intra-household ResourceDistribution

The dynamics of how different resources that aregenerated within or which come into the household, areaccessed and controlled by its members

National Machineries forWomen

Agencies with a mandate for the advancement ofwomen established within and by governments forintegrating gender concerns in development policy andplanning

Patriarchy Systemic societal structures that institutionalise malephysical, social and economic power over women

Sex and Gender Sex refers to the biological characteristics thatcategorise someone as either female or male; whereasgender refers to the socially determined ideas andpractices of what it is to be female or male

Social Justice Fairness and equity as a right for all in the outcomes ofdevelopment, through processes of socialtransformation

WID/GAD The WID (or Women in Development) approach calls forgreater attention to women in development policy andpractice, and emphasises the need to integrate theminto the development process

In contrast, the GAD (or Gender and Development)approach focuses on the socially constructed basis ofdifferences between men and women and emphasisesthe need to challenge existing gender roles andrelations

Women’s Empowerment A ‘bottom-up’ process of transforming gender powerrelations, through individuals or groups developingawareness of women’s subordination and building theircapacity to challenge it

Women’s Human Rights The recognition that women’s rights are human rightsand that women experience injustices solely because oftheir gender

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3. Detailed Explanations and Further Reading

CULTURE

“We talk about povertyacross societies, and no-one raises anyproblems. We talk aboutgender subordinationacross societies, andpeople cry culturalimperialism!”(White, 1993:9)

See also: FAQ ‘Whatright have we to interferein other people’scultures?’

Further reading

The distinctive patterns of ideas, beliefs, and norms whichcharacterise the way of life and relations of a society or groupwithin a society

Culturally determined gender ideologies define rights andresponsibilities and what is ‘appropriate’ behaviour for women andmen. They also influence access to and control over resources,and participation in decision-making. These gender ideologiesoften reinforce male power and the idea of women’s inferiority.Culture is sometimes interpreted narrowly as ‘custom’ or‘tradition’, and assumed to be natural and unchangeable. Despitethese assumptions, culture is fluid and enduring.

Dominant cultures reinforce the position of those with economic,political and social power, and therefore tend to reinforce malepower. Globalisation also has implications for the diffusion ofculture, particularly of western culture.

The defence of ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ is often used by men tojustify practices that constrain women’s life chances andoutcomes. Interventions to challenge power imbalances proposedby local women’s organisations or NGOs are often deniedlegitimacy, or where an international agency is involved,denounced as ‘western’ interference or ‘cultural imperialism’.Many within the international development community also remainresistant to goals of gender equity because they perceive theseas interfering with the most intimate domain in society. Somewomen have themselves defended ideas of ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’in order to hold on to what little power they have, or as a form ofresistance. For example, before the revolution in Iran, womentook up the veil to show resistance to the processes ofwesternisation that the country was experiencing.

Nevertheless, there are real issues of concern for local women’sgroups when externally initiated interventions are tainted bycolonial attitudes. In the past, women were often seen as ‘victims’that needed protection. Male colonisers, however well intentioned,perpetuated this paternalistic idea to justify their colonialdomination. More recently, certain western feminists have alsocolluded in this notion, giving overwhelming priority to such issuesas veiling, arranged marriages, and female genital mutilation, atthe expense of other perhaps more immediate concerns.Southern feminists challenge this idea of women as ‘victims’.They want to set their own agendas - which may implyredistributive action or tackling poverty - and gain support forthese from western feminists.

Development Assistance Committee (DAC), 1998, ‘Gender,Equality and Culture’, in DAC Source Book on Concepts andApproaches linked to Gender Equality, OECD, Paris

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Mohanty, C. (1991) ‘Under Western Eyes. Feminist Scholarshipand Colonial Discourse’ in Mohanty, C., Russo, A. and L. Torres(eds.), 1991, Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism,Bloomington, Indiana University Press

Moore, H. 1994, A Passion for Difference, Cambridge, Polity

Oxfam, 1995, ‘Women and Culture,’ Gender and Development,Oxfam Journal, Vol.3, No.1, February, Oxfam, Oxford

Nussbaum, M., and Glover, J., 1995, Women, Culture andDevelopment: A Study of Human Capabilities, Clarendon Press,Oxford

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GENDERANALYSIS

‘Gender analysis, onceconfined to the marginsof development theory,has over the last tenyears penetrated boththe thinking and theoperations ofinternationaldevelopment institutions’(Miller and Razavi, 1998:4)

See also:Gender training,Gender planning,WID/GAD

Further reading

The systematic gathering and examination of information ongender differences and social relations in order to identify,understand and redress inequities based on gender. Genderanalysis is a valuable descriptive and diagnostic tool fordevelopment planners and crucial to gender mainstreamingefforts. The methodology and components of gender analysis areshaped by how gender issues are understood in the institutionconcerned. There are a number of different approaches to genderanalysis, including the Gender Roles or Harvard framework, andSocial Relations Analysis.

The Gender Roles framework focuses on describing women’s andmen’s roles and their relative access to and control overresources. The analysis aims to anticipate the impacts of projectson both productive and reproductive roles. It takes thehousehold, rather than the breadth of institutions, as the unit ofanalysis and tends to assume that women are a homogeneouscategory.

In contrast, the Social Relations approach seeks to expose thegendered power relations that perpetuate inequities. This analysismoves beyond the household to include the community, market,and state institutions and so involves collecting data at all theselevels. It uncovers differences between women, divided by otheraspects of social differentiation such as class, race and ethnicity.The aim is to understand the dynamics of gender relations indifferent institutional contexts and thereby to identify women’sbargaining position and formulate strategies to improve this. Ithas proved challenging to adopt this approach in operationalwork.

Other gender analysis frameworks include: the Moser/DPUFramework; the Longwe Method/Women’s EmpowermentFramework; and Levy’s Web of Institutionalisation.

Recently, tools have also been developed to apply genderanalysis to the analysis of markets, of macro-economic andsectoral policies, and of public expenditure and budgets.

Elson, D., 1997, ‘Integrating gender issues into publicexpenditure: six tools’, mimeo, GENECON Unit, Graduate Schoolof Sciences, University of Manchester

Elson, D., and Evers, B., 1998, ‘Sector programme support: AGender Aware Analysis’, mimeo, GENECON, ManchesterUniversity

Miller, C., and Razavi, S., 1998, ‘Gender analysis: alternativeparadigms’, Gender in Development Monograph Series, No.6,UNDP, New York

Overholt, C., Cloud, K., Anderson, M., and Austin, J., 1991,‘Gender Analysis Framework’ in Overholt et al, 1991, GenderAnalysis in Development Planning: A Case Book, KumarianPress, Connecticut

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GENDERDISCRIMINATION

“Not all women are poor,and not all poor peopleare women, but allwomen suffer fromdiscrimination”(Kabeer, 1996:20)

Gender discrimination:• women work 67% of

the world’s workinghours

• 2 out of 3 of theworld’s illiteratepeople are women

• women’s earningsrange from 50-85% ofmen’s earnings

• globally women makeup just over 10% ofrepresentatives innational government

(adapted from Oxfam,1995:181, and ‘Facts andFigures’ section)

See also:Women’s human rights,Social justice,Intra-household resourceallocation

Further reading

The systematic, unfavourable treatment of individuals on thebasis of their gender, which denies them rights, opportunities orresources

Across the world, women are treated unequally and less value isplaced on their lives because of their gender. Women’sdifferential access to power and control of resources is central tothis discrimination in all institutional spheres, i.e. the household,community, market, and state.

Within the household, women and girls can face discrimination inthe sharing out of household resources including food,sometimes leading to higher malnutrition and mortality indicatorsfor women. (See Intra-household Resource Distribution). At itsmost extreme, gender discrimination can lead to son preference,expressed in sex selective abortion or female feticide. In thelabour market, unequal pay, occupational exclusion orsegregation into low skill and low paid work limit women’searnings in comparison to those of men of similar educationlevels. Women’s lack of representation and voice in decisionmaking bodies in the community and the state perpetuatesdiscrimination, in terms of access to public services, such asschooling and health care, or discriminatory laws.

The law is assumed to be gender-neutral when in fact it mayperpetuate gender discrimination, being a product of a culturewith oppressive gender ideologies. Even where constitutional ornational legal provisions uphold gender equality principles,religious or other customary laws that privilege men may takeprecedence in practice. However, the law, when reformed withwomen’s input, can be a potent tool for challengingdiscrimination, if combined with other strategies, includingcapacity-building to overcome barriers to claiming rights.

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discriminationagainst Women (CEDAW) in 1979 brought into internationalfocus the rights of women as human rights, including the right tobe free from discrimination. Women activists regard thisconvention as a key tool to support their struggle againstdiscrimination in all spheres, pushing governments towardsattaining these internationally recognised minimum standards.

Birdsall, N., and Sabot, R., (eds.), 1991, Unfair Advantage:Labour Market Discrimination in Developing Countries,IBRD/World Bank, Washington

Seager, J., 1997, The State of Women in the World Atlas:Women’s status around the Globe: Work, Health, Education andPersonal Freedom, Penguin, London

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GENDER DIVISIONOF LABOUR

‘Women’s labour is notinfinitely elastic. It cannotstretch to cover all thedeficiencies left byreduced publicexpenditure. It cannotabsorb all the shocks ofadjustment.’(Elson, 1995:15)

See also: Gender needs,Gender analysis,Women’s empowerment

The socially determined ideas and practices which define what roles and activities are deemed appropriate forwomen and men

Whilst the gender division of labour tends to be seen as naturaland immutable, in fact, these ideas and practices are sociallyconstructed. This results in context-specific patterns of whodoes what by gender and how this is valued. Gender divisions oflabour are not necessarily rigidly defined in terms of men’s andwomen’s roles, as is sometimes assumed. They arecharacterised by co-operation in joint activities, as well as byseparation. Often, the accepted norm regarding genderdivisions varies from the actual practice.

However, roles typically designated as female are almostinvariably less valued than those designated as male. Womenare generally expected to fulfil the reproductive role of bearingand raising children, caring for other family members, andhousehold management tasks, as well as home basedproduction. Men tend to be more associated with productiveroles, particularly paid work, and market production. In the labourmarket, although women’s overall participation rates are rising,they tend to be confined to a relatively narrow range ofoccupations or concentrated in lower grades than men, usuallyearning less.

Historically, women’s productive roles have been ignored orunder-valued, particularly in the informal sector and subsistenceagriculture. This has led to misconceived development projects;for example the services of extension agents and agriculturalinputs being targeted at men. Because women’s labour isundervalued, it is often assumed by mainstream developmentpolicies to be infinitely elastic. For example, policy makers expectthat women can take on roles previously fulfilled by publicservices, such as care for the sick and elderly, when cutbacksare made.

The formal documentation and recognition of women’s roles andthe related time burden is crucial for gender-sensitivedevelopment interventions. Recently, international organisationshave begun to measure all forms of economic activity by gender.International definitions of economic activity have also beenbroadened to include subsistence farming, food processing andhomeworking ‘in anticipation of profit’. Time budget surveys arealso being implemented in some places to measure women’sinput into reproductive work.

Gender and development policies and programmes canchallenge and change women’s socially prescribed roles, inpursuit of gender equity. For example, women have beensuccessfully trained and employed as water technicians orbuilders in communities where these were jobs previously a male

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Further reading

domain. However, programmes aiming to increase women’sparticipation in spheres beyond the household must ensure thatthey are properly remunerated. They should also beaccompanied by consideration of how men, or public provision,can reduce women’s responsibilities in the home.

Adepoju, A., and Oppong, C., (eds.), 1994, Gender, work &population in Sub-Saharan Africa, ILO, James Currey, London

Anker, R., 1997, Gender and Jobs: Sex Segregation ofOccupations in the World, ILO, Geneva

Beneria, L, 1992, ‘Accounting for women’s work: progress of twodecades,’ World Development, Vol.20, No.11

Boserup, E., 1970, Women's Role in Economic Development,Gower, Aldershot

Stichter, S. and J. Parpart, (eds.), 1990, Women, Employmentand the Family in the International Division of Labour,Basingstoke; Macmillan

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GENDEREQUALITY &EQUITY

See also:WID/GAD,Gender analysis,Gender relations

Further Reading

The term ‘gender equity’ is often used interchangeably with‘gender equality’. Here, a distinction is drawn between these twoconcepts, reflecting divergent understandings of genderdifferences and of the appropriate strategies to address these.Gender equality denotes women having the same opportunities inlife as men, including the ability to participate in the public sphere.

This expresses a liberal feminist idea that removing discriminationin opportunities for women allows them to achieve equal status tomen. In effect, progress in women’s status is measured against amale norm. Equal opportunities policies and legislation tackle theproblem through measures to increase women’s participation inpublic life. For example, in Chile, the National Service for Women(SERNAM) developed an Equal Opportunities Plan for ChileanWomen 1994-1999. This focused on equitable participation ineducation, the labour market, health services, and politics.Judicial reform is another key tool in the fight for equality, but lackof implementation and enforcement might limit its impact.

However, this focus on what is sometimes called formal equality,does not necessarily demand or ensure equality of outcomes. Itassumes that once the barriers to participation are removed, thereis a level playing field. It also does not recognise that women’sreality and experience may be different from men’s.

Gender equity denotes the equivalence in life outcomes forwomen and men, recognising their different needs and interests,and requiring a redistribution of power and resources.

The goal of gender equity, sometimes called substantive equality,moves beyond equality of opportunity by requiring transformativechange. It recognises that women and men have different needs,preferences, and interests and that equality of outcomes maynecessitate different treatment of men and women.

An equity approach implies that all development policies andinterventions need to be scrutinised for their impact on genderrelations. It necessitates a rethinking of policies and programmesto take account of men’s and women’s different realities andinterests. So, for example, it implies rethinking existing legislationon employment, as well as development programmes, to takeaccount of women’s reproductive work and their concentration inunprotected, casual work in informal and home based enterprises.

It is worth examining the content of policies, not just the language,before deciding whether an equity or an equality approach isbeing followed. Gender equity goals are seen as being morepolitical than gender equality goals, and are hence are generallyless accepted in mainstream development agencies.

Development Assistance Committee (DAC), 1998, ‘Evolution ofthe Thinking and Approaches on Equality Issues’ in DAC, 1998,DAC Sourcebook on Concepts and Approaches linked to Gender

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Equality, OECD, Paris

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GENDERMAINSTREAMING

Beijing Platform for Action:‘…governments andother actors shouldpromote an active andvisible policy ofmainstreaming a genderperspective in all policiesand programmes’ (cited in DAC, 1998:28)

See also: National Machineries forWomen,Gender planning

Further reading

An organisational strategy to bring a gender perspective to allaspects of an institution’s policy and activities, through buildinggender capacity and accountability

The 1970s strategies of integrating women into development byestablishing separate women’s units or programmes within stateand development institutions had made slow progress by the mid-1980s. (See National Machineries for Women). In light of this, theneed was identified for broader institutional change if pervasivemale advantage was to be challenged. Adding women- specificactivities at the margin was no longer seen as sufficient. Mostmajor development organisations and many governments havenow embraced ‘gender mainstreaming’ as a strategy for movingtowards gender equality.

With a mainstreaming strategy, gender concerns are seen asimportant to all aspects of development; for all sectors and areasof activity, and a fundamental part of the planning process.Responsibility for the implementation of gender policy is diffusedacross the organisational structure, rather than concentrated in asmall central unit.

Such a process of mainstreaming has been seen to take one oftwo forms. The agenda-setting approach to mainstreaming seeksto transform the development agenda itself whilst prioritisinggender concerns. The more politically acceptable integrationistapproach brings women’s and gender concerns into all of theexisting policies and programmes, focusing on adaptinginstitutional procedures to achieve this. In both cases, political aswell as technical skills are essential to a mainstreaming strategy.

Any approach to mainstreaming requires sufficient resources, aswell as high-level commitment and authority. A combined strategycan be particularly powerful. This involves the synergy of acatalytic central gender unit with a cross-sectoral policy oversightand monitoring role, combined with a web of gender specialistsacross the institution. The building of alliances both within theinstitution and with outside constituencies, such as women’sorganisations, is crucial for success. Mainstreaming tools includegender training, introducing incentive structures which rewardefforts on gender, and the development of gender-specificoperational tools such as checklists and guidelines.

BRIDGE, 1997, ‘Institutionalising gender’, Development andgender in brief, Issue 6, BRIDGE, IDS, Brighton

DFID (Social Development Division), 1998, ‘Putting gendermainsteaming into practice’, mimeo, paper presented to the DFIDManagement Board, 8 May

Goetz, A., (ed), 1997, Getting Institutions Right for Women inDevelopment, Zed Books, London

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Moser, C., Tornqvist, A., and van Bronkhorst, B., 1998,Mainstreaming Gender and Development in the World Bank:Progress and Recommendations, The International Bank forReconstruction and Development/The World Bank, Washington,D.C.

Razavi, S., and Miller, C., 1995, ‘Gender mainstreaming: a studyof efforts by the UNDP, the World Bank and the ILO toinstitutionalize gender issues’, Occasional Papers, No.4,UNRISD, Geneva

Schalkwyk, J., Thomas, H., and Woroniuk, B., 1996,Mainstreaming: a Strategy for Achieving Equality betweenWomen and Men’, SIDA, Stockholm

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GENDER NEEDS

See also:Gender analysisGender planningWomen’s empowerment

Further reading

Shared and prioritised needs identified by women that arise fromtheir common experiences as a gender

Certain women’s interests, of a political or practical nature, relatedto their experience as a gendered person. Such prioritisedconcerns have been translated into the concept of gender needs(Moser, 1989). This identifies the way in which women’s genderinterests, defined by women themselves, can be satisfied in theplanning process. Although needs and interests are conceptuallydifferent (Molyneux, 1998), in practice, they are closely related inthe planning process. Needs, as well as interests, result from apolitical process of contestation and interpretation and thusshould not be externally defined or seen as fixed.

Practical Gender Needs (PGNs) according to Moser (1989) arethe immediate needs identified by women to assist their survivalin their socially accepted roles, within existing power structures.Policies to meet PGNs tend to focus on ensuring that women andtheir families have adequate living conditions, such as health careand food provision, access to safe water and sanitation, but alsoseek to ensure access to income-earning opportunities. PGNs donot directly challenge gender inequalities, even though theseneeds may be a direct result of women’s subordinate position insociety.

Strategic gender needs (SGNs), are those needs identified bywomen that require strategies for challenging male dominanceand privilege. These needs may relate to inequalities in thegender division of labour, in ownership and control of resources,in participation in decision-making, or to experiences of domesticand other sexual violence. These needs are often seen asfeminist in nature as they seek to change women’s status andposition in society in relation to men. As such, they are morelikely to be resisted than PGNs.

In reality, it is difficult to distinguish so clearly between strategicand practical needs. Any policy or programme may meet bothsets of needs. Through collective organising around practicalgender needs, women may achieve more strategic andtransformatory goals. This politicisation of practical gender needsis a favoured entry point for NGOs and women’s organisations.

However, women may not always recognise or prioritise theirstrategic gender needs, particularly if it could threaten theirimmediate practical needs. At any time, gender interests may notbe prioritised over women’s other interests which cut acrossthese, such as those of class and race, so assumptions cannot bemade of women’s solidarity.

Molyneux, M., 1985, ‘Mobilisation without emancipation?Women’s interests, the state and revolution in Nicaragua’,Feminist Studies, Vol.11, No.2

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Molyneux, M., 1998, ‘Analysing women’s movements’, in Jackson,C., and Pearson, R., 1998, Feminist Visions of Development:Gender Analysis and Policy, Routledge, London

Moser, C,. 1989, ‘ Gender planning in the third world: meetingpractical and strategic needs’, World Development, Vol.17, No.11,pp1799-1825

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GENDERPLANNING

‘Project planning andimplementation from agender-basedperspective can haveonly one ultimategoal…contribute tochanging the balance ofthe sexual division ofpower and resources soas to make it moreequitable’(Macdonald, 1994:45)

See also:Gender mainstreaming,Gender training,Gender analysis,WID/GAD

The technical and political processes and procedures necessaryto implement gender-sensitive policy and practice

The purpose of gender planning is to ensure gender-sensitivepolicy outcomes through a systematic and inclusive process. Ifgender policy has transformatory goals, then gender planning asa process will necessarily be a political one, involving consultationwith and participation of different stakeholders.

There is a variety of gender planning frameworks based ondiffering approaches to gender analysis, each with its ownplanning principles and tools. For example, Caroline Moser (1993)developed a gender planning framework consisting of genderplanning tools, gender planning procedures, and the componentsof gender planning practice. The gender planning tools includegender roles identification, gender needs assessment, and thecollection of disaggregated data at the household level. Thegender planning procedures involve the diagnosis of the genderproblem, formulation of gender objectives, procedures formonitoring and evaluation, gender-based consultation andparticipation, and identification of an entry strategy. The finalaspect, practice, identifies the need to institutionalise genderplanning, and to operationalise this through recognisedprocedures. Building capacity amongst planners is necessary toensure policy is transformed into practice with the minimum ofdilution.

The social relations approach differs in its focus on power ingender relations (See Gender Analysis). This approach uses aninstitutional framework for the analysis of gender inequalities as atool for gender-aware planning. It recognises that the meansthrough which needs are met is as important as the planned endsof any intervention. The planning process is conceived asparticipatory and constituted by an analysis and evaluation ofcauses, effects, means and ends. A seven-point ‘Gender audit fordevelopment interventions’ supports this framework. (Kabeer andSubrahmanian, 1996). Whilst gender transformatory policies are increasingly beinggenerated, concerns are focusing on the ‘misbehaviour’ of suchpolicies, i.e. a tendency to slip in implementation fromtransformatory objectives to outcomes that fail to challengeexisting gender relations. It has been recognised that GADapproaches are constrained by resistance and subversion, fromwithin both implementing organisations and targetedcommunities. Gender planning needs therefore to be part of anon-going process of gender mainstreaming, backed up bysufficient resources, commitment and authority. Gender planningprocedures need to involve the participation of stakeholders andclear lines of accountability.

At the project level, a variety of planning tools are used tooperationalise gender policy, including general and sector-specificchecklists and guidelines. Logical Framework Analysis is an

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Further reading

example of a planning tool which, if used in a gender-sensitivemanner, can help to ensure accountability, participation of variousstakeholders, and that relevant monitoring and evaluationprocedures are implemented.

Kabeer, N., and Subrahmanian, R., 1996, ‘Insititutions, relationsand outcomes: framework and tools for gender-aware planning’,IDS Discussion Paper, No.357, IDS, Brighton

Macdonald, M., (ed.), 1994, Gender Planning in DevelopmentAgencies: Meeting the Challenge, Oxfam, Oxford

Moser, C., 1993, Gender Planning and Development: Theory,Practice and Training, Routledge, London

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GENDERRELATIONS

‘If gender is aboutrelations between menand women, then themale side of the equtionmust also be figured in.If women’s genderidentities are to bechanged, then men’smust change also.’(White in Macdonald,1993:20)

See also:Gender equity,Gender analysis,Sex and gender,WID/GAD

Hierarchical relations of power between women and men thattend to disadvantage women

These gender hierarchies are often accepted as ‘natural’ but aresocially determined relations, culturally based, and are subject tochange over time. They can be seen in a range of genderedpractices, such as the division of labour and resources, andgendered ideologies, such as ideas of acceptable behaviour forwomen and men.

Analyses which focus on gender relations differ in emphasis fromthose which take ‘gender roles’ as a starting point. They givemore prominence to the connectedness of men’s and women’slives, and to the imbalances of power embedded in male-femalerelations. They also emphasise the interaction of gender relationswith other hierarchical social relations such as class, caste,ethnicity and race. But whether gender relations act to alleviate,or to exacerbate other social inequalities, depends on the context.

Gender relations constitute and are constituted by a range ofinstitutions, such as the family, legal systems or the market. Theyare a resource which is drawn on daily to reinforce or redefine therules, norms and practices which govern social institutions. Sincehistorically women have been excluded from many institutionalspheres, or their participation circumscribed, they often have lessbargaining power to affect change who institutions operate.

So, for example, where they are perceived to transgress theiraccepted roles, women can be physically or sexually abused bymale partners with relative impunity. In many cultures, beatingsor rape in marriage are considered acceptable in the existing legalframework. Even where, following lobbying of women’s groups,rape or violence within marriage is outlawed, women may bereluctant to seek redress because the male dominated judicialsystem is unsympathetic, or because they fear ostracism. Wherewomen retaliate, they become criminalised themselves. However,change is possible: in a few recent cases, following sustainedcampaigns, women have been acquitted of ‘crimes’ againstviolent partners and new laws have been passed to respond tosuch attenuating circumstances.

Hierarchical gender relations constrain development efforts. Forexample, rigidities in the gender division of labour limit theeffective mobilisation of women’s labour to support exportproduction. Poverty reduction efforts are hampered where menuse their authority to usurp control over resources targeted atwomen. Development strategies need to be informed by ananalysis of gender relations and to support women’s ownattempts to change the rules and practices which reinforce thesegender hierarchies.

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Further readingPearson, R., Whitehead, A., and Young, K., 1984, ‘Introduction:the continuing subordination of women in the developmentprocess,’ in Young, K., Wolkovitz, C., and McCullagh, R., 1984,Of Marriage and the Market, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London

Razavi, S., and Miller, C., 1995, ‘From WID to GAD: ConceptualShifts in the Women and Development Discourse’, OccasionalPaper, UNRISD, Geneva

Pearson, R., and C., Jackson, 1998, ‘Introduction: interrogatingdevelopment. Feminism, gender and policy’, in Jackson, C., andPearson, R., (eds.), 1998, Feminist Visions of Development:Gender Analysis and Policy, Routledge, London

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GENDERTRAINING

‘Gender training…is atool, a strategy, a spacefor reflection, a site ofdebate and possibly forstruggle. Training is atransformative process’(Macdonald, 1994:31)

See also:Gender analysis,Gender mainstreaming,Gender planning

Further reading

A facilitated process of developing awareness and capacity ongender issues to bring about personal or organisational changefor gender equality

Gender training is one of a range of institutional strategies used tointegrate gender into the work of development co-operationagencies. Its objectives can include raising general awareness ofthe relevance of gender to an organisation’s work and skillstransfer in gender analysis, gender-aware planning, programmedesign and implementation. Gender training typically involves:group discussion and reflection on gender roles and relations;case studies of the impact of development policies andprogrammes on gender relations; as well as role plays andsimulation games which highlight gender dynamics.

The trainer’s, as well as the organisation’s, approach to genderand development influence the training approach, and hence theframework used (See Gender Analysis). These vary in the degreeto which they see the need for personal attitudinal andbehavioural change, or focus primarily on changing organisationalprocedures and practices. Personal transformation tends to be atraining objective for Southern NGOs/women’s organisationsrather than development co-operation agencies. and the ‘furtherreading’ below.

As awareness grows within an organisation, so the emphasis ofgender training shifts to more tailored courses to meet specificneeds and demands, and to more skills-based training. Gendertraining was initially mainly focused at the project level, but morerecently emphasis has shifted to sectoral and macro-economicpolicy-making.

Attention has recently focused on the need to evaluate the impactof gender training. Experience suggests that training is mosteffective when it is part of a broader strategy of organisationalchange.

Kabeer, N., 1994, ‘Triple Roles, Gender Roles, Social Relations:The political subtext of gender training frameworks’, in ReversedRealities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, Verso,London

Miller, C., and Razavi, S., 1998 ‘Gender analysis: alternativeparadigms’ Gender in Development monograph Series No.6,UNDP, New York

Moser, C., 1993, ‘Training strategies for gender planning: fromsensitising to skills and techniques’, in Moser, C., 1993, GenderPlanning and Development: Theory, Practice and Training,Routledge, London

Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), 1998, Gender Training: The SourceBook, KIT Press/Oxfam Publishing, Oxford

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Wach, H., and Reeves, H., 1999, ‘Southern gender trainingmaterials: an overview and resource guide’, BRIDGE Report,Institute of Development Studies, Brighton

Williams, S., with Seed, J., and Mwan, A., 1994, The OxfamGender Training Manual, Oxfam, Oxford

22

GENDERVIOLENCE

“Women should wearpurdah [head-to-toecovering] to ensure thatinnocent men … are notunconsciously forcedinto becoming rapists’Parliamentarian of theruling Barisan National inMalaysia(cited in Heise et al1994:iii)

Percentage of womensurveyed reportingphysical assaults byintimate partner: Japan:59%Zambia: 40%Colombia: 20%Tanzania: 60%(UN, 1995:160)

See also: Gender discrimination,Social justice, Women’s human rights

Any act or threat by men or male-dominated institutions, thatinflicts physical, sexual, or psychological harm on a woman or girlbecause of their gender

Gender violence occurs in both the ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres.It happens in virtually all societies, across all social classes, withwomen particularly at risk from men they know. Official figuresare scarce, and under reporting is rife, especially when theviolence involves another family member. Violence againstwomen, and particularly systematic rape, has frequently beenused as a weapon of war against particular ethnic groups or entirepopulations.

There is, however, no single definition of gender violenceaccepted internationally and there is much debate over thebreadth of inclusion. Commonly, the acts or threats of suchincluded in the definition are rape, sexual harassment, wife-battering, sexual abuse of girls, dowry-related violence, and non-spousal violence within the home. Other definitions extend tomarital rape, acts such as female genital mutilation, femaleinfanticide, and sex-selective abortion. In addition, certaindefinitions include ‘sexual exploitation’ such as enforcedprostitution, trafficking of women and girls, and pornography.

It is now recognised in international law that violence againstwomen is a human rights issue with major health and economicimplications. The rape of women in wartime has been recognisedand explicitly prohibited since 1949 in article 47 of the FourthGeneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Civilian Personsin Times of War. The United Nations (UN) recently appointed aSpecial Rapporteur on violence against women. However,legislation alone is insufficient to address this problem.

The prevention and elimination of violence against women ishampered by pervasive attitudes that devalue women’s lives andby institutional resistance, including from the judicial system andthe police, to recognising the extent of the problem. There ishostility to interfering with ‘private’ domestic disputes. Even wherecountries have issued appropriate legislation, its implementationand enforcement may well be weak. Additional support activitiesare required. Legislative reform, training of the police and lawyers,provision of shelters, and the building of capacity for women tocombat violence and pursue their rights, are all necessary.

Development policy must understand both the obstacles genderviolence places in the way of effective development, and thedebilitating impact it has on women’s lives. Policy concernsshould not only focus on programmes specifically targeted atviolence against women, but on violence as an aspect of otherprogrammes, such as microenterprise schemes. Developmentinterventions themselves could make women more vulnerable toviolence if men feel threatened by attempts to enhance women’sstatus.

23

Further reading The British Council, 1999, ‘Violence against Women: A briefingdocument on international issues and responses’, The BritishCouncil, London

Bunch, C., and Carrillo, R., Gender Violence: A Development andHuman Rights Issue, Center for Women’s Global Leadership

Davies, M., (ed), 1994, Women and Violence: Realities andResponses Worldwide, Zed Books, London

Heise, L., with Pitanguy, J., and Germain, A., 1994, ‘ViolenceAgainst Women: The hidden health burden,’ World BankDiscussion Paper, No.255, International Bank for Reconstructionand Development, The World Bank, Washington D.C.

Oxfam, 1998, ‘Violence against women’, Gender andDevelopment Journal, Volume 6, no.3, November, Oxfam, Oxford

24

INTRA-HOUSEHOLDRESOURCEDISTRIBUTION

‘The consensus appearsto be shifting to the viewthat intrahouseholdrelations are indeedcharacterised by power’(Kabeer, 1998:103)

See also:Gender relations,Gender discrimination,Women’s human rights

The dynamics of how different resources that are generatedwithin, or which come into the household are controlled andaccessed by its different members

Gender analysis has revealed some evidence of bias againstfemale members of households in the allocation of resourcessuch as income, food, nutrition, health care and education. Thesepatterns are not universal, however, and are also mediated byother factors such as age, and birth order. For example, there islittle evidence of nutritional bias against girl children in Sub-Saharan Africa, whereas in South Asia this pattern has beenwidely noted. It has also been shown that resources controlled bywomen, for example in female-headed households, aredistributed differently to resources controlled by men. There issome evidence that women spend a higher percentage of theirgenerally smaller incomes on family consumption and children’swelfare.

Conventional macro-economics treats the activities performedwithin the household as non-economic and hence irrelevant.Conventional micro-economists typically sees the household as aconsumption unit and treat it as a ‘black-box’, assuming gender-neutrality. It was the New Household Economics (pioneered byGary Becker in the 1960s) that challenged the conventionalmicroeconomic approach and highlighted the importance ofproduction within the household. In this model, all resources arepooled and distributed in an altruistic manner by a benevolentmale household head to maximise the welfare of householdmembers. However, gender analysts, particularly feministanthropologists and economists, have demonstrated that thischaracterisation of the household is naïve and ignores genderpower imbalances and conflict within the household.

Feminist models highlighted the fact that resources are notalways pooled and stressed the role of bargaining processeswithin the household in determining access to resources. Genderrelations within the household are then seen as characterised byboth conflict and co-operation, whereby women tend to have lessbargaining power in the struggle over household resources (forexample, Sen). The division of labour and dynamics within thehousehold are seen also to influence opportunities and outcomesfor women outside the home, in employment for example. Certaintheorists suggest that women’s bargaining position within thehousehold is enhanced when they work outside the home. Othermechanisms for enhancing women’s bargaining power in thehome include strengthened property rights, and membership ofcollective organisations.

The household has often been used as the basic unit of analysisin, for example, poverty measures. But because of inequalities inintrahousehold distribution, household income-based measures ofpoverty do not correlate neatly with gender-differentiatedassessments of well-being. Consequently, poverty reductionstrategies that target male household heads, erroneously assume

25

Further reading

that benefits will ‘trickle-down’ to the rest of the household. Wherewomen are targeted with income-generating opportunities, itcannot either be assumed that women will retain control of thoseresources they bring into the household. This suggests the needfor improved data collection and analysis procedures that collectmore data at individual level, incorporate consideration ofintrahousehold dynamics and recognise the heterogeneity ofhousehold arrangements.

Bruce, J., 1989, ‘Homes Divided’, World Development, Vol.17,No.7, pp979-991, Pergamon Press

Evans, A., 1991, ‘Gender issues in rural household economics’,IDS Bulletin, Vol.22, No.1, Institute of Development Studies,Brighton

Kabeer, N., 1998, ‘Jumping to conclusions: struggles overmeaning and method in the study of household economics’, inJackson, C., and Pearson, R, 1998, Feminist Visions ofDevelopment: Gender Analysis and Policy, Routledge, London

Sen, A., 1990, ‘Gender and co-operative conflicts’ in Tinker, I.,(ed.), 1990, Persistent Inequalities, Oxford University Press, NewYork

Haddad, L., and Hoddonott, J., 1997, Intrahousehold ResourceAllocation in Developing Countries: Models, Methods and Policy,International Food Policy Research Institute, John HopkinsUniversity Press, London

26

NATIONALMACHINERIESFOR WOMEN

‘Linking NGOs andwomen’s organisationswith policy-makers ingovernment is a key rolefor NMWs in the contextof mainstreaming’(Oxaal, 1997:2)

See also:Gender mainstreaming,Gender planning

Further reading

Agencies with a mandate for the advancement of womenestablished within and by governments for integrating genderconcerns in development policy and planning

National Machineries for Women (NMWs) - whether offices,desks, or ministries – were central to the integration strategies ofthe 1970s (see WID/GAD). They expanded in numbers in the1980s and 1990s, now being a feature of most governments.NMWs have made many positive achievements, most importantlylegitmising the place of gender issues in development planning(Goetz, 1998).

However, NMWs have often proven weak, under-resourced,vulnerable to changing political fortunes, and often ghettoisedwithin social and welfare departments. The fact that manynational machineries were established during periods of fiscalrestraint and government restructuring has made claims onresources difficult to advance.

Some lessons have been learned. National machineries set upduring democratic transitions (e.g. Philippines, Chile, SouthAfrica, Uganda) have been more influential and effective, at leastin part because of a political commitment to greater social equalityand justice. Positive experiences also highlight the importance ofbroad and open processes of consultation, for example in thedevelopment of national gender policies.

NMWs have therefore had varying degrees of success, and facemany challenges in their ability to fulfil a catalytic role and buildcapacity in other ministries as well as their own. There are manyconstraints remaining on their effectiveness. These include: lackof strong and clear mandates; underfunding and overreliance ondonor funding; lack of qualified and technically skilled staff;bureaucratic resistance; inappropriate location; lack of politicalautonomy; and often lack of political support from national politicalleadership.

The 1990s have seen a shift towards new strategies for NMWs ofinstitutionalising or ‘mainstreaming’ gender through advocacy andpolicy oversight work across all sectors, ministries anddepartments. Strategies include: lobbying for gender in nationaldevelopment plans; setting up of focal points in other ministries;gender training at all levels; guidelines and checklists to assistplanning and evaluation; and building strategic alliances withNGOs and other women’s organisations.

Byrne, B., and Koch-Laier, J., with Baden, S., and Marcus, R.,1996, ‘National machineries for women in development:experiences, lessons and strategies for institutionalising gender indevelopment policy and planning’, BRIDGE Report, No.36,Institute of Development Studies, Brighton

27

Development Assistance Committee (DAC), 1998, ‘NationalMachinery for Women’s Affairs’ in DAC Source Book on Conceptsand Approaches Linked to Gender Equality, OECD, Paris

Goetz, AM., 1998, ‘Mainstreaming gender equity to nationaldevelopment planning’, in Miller, C., and Razavi, S., (eds.), 1998,Missionaries and Mandarins, IT Publications, London

Oxaal, Z., 1997, ‘Bringing gender out of the ghetto: nationalmachineries for women’, Development and Gender In Brief, Issue5, Institute of Development, Brighton

Rowan-Campbell, D., 1995, ‘National Machineries for women: abalancing act’, in Heyzer, N., A Commitment to the World’sWomen: Perspectives on Development for Beijing and Beyond,UNIFEM, New York

28

PATRIARCHY

‘In attacking bothpatriarchy and capitalismwe will have to find waysto change both society-wide institutions and ourmost deeply ingrainedhabits. It will be a long,hard struggle’(Hartmann 1976:169)

See also: WID/GAD,Gender discrimination,Gender violence,Culture

Further reading

Systemic societal structures that institutionalise male physical,social and economic power over women.

Some feminists use the concept of patriarchy to explain thesystematic subordination of women by both overarching andlocalised structures. These structures work to the benefit of menby constraining women’s life choices and chances.

There are many differing interpretations of patriarchy. However,the roots of patriarchy are often located in women’s reproductiverole and sexual violence, interwoven with processes of capitalistexploitation. The main ‘sites’ of patriarchal oppression have beenidentified as housework, paid work, the state, culture, sexuality,and violence. Behaviours that discriminate against womenbecause of their gender are seen as patriarchal ‘practices’; forexample occupational segregation, exclusion, and unequal pay.

The concept of patriarchy has been drawn into gender anddevelopment theorising; in order to challenge not only unequalgender relations but also unequal capitalist relations, sometimesseen as underpinning patriarchy (Mies, 1986; DAWN, 1995).Feminists who explain gender inequality in terms of patriarchyoften reject male-biased societal structures and practices andpropose greater female autonomy or even separatism as astrategy. In some views, women are seen as having room formanoeuvre within a constraining patriarchal system by negotiatinga ‘patriarchal bargain’ with men. This entails a trade-off betweenwomen’s autonomy, and men’s responsibility for their wives andchildren.

An overarching theory of male power may help to conceptualisethe extent of gender inequality but fails to deal with its complexity.It tends to assume that gender oppression is uniform across timeand space. More recent thinking has therefore rejected such auniversal concept, identifying the need for detailed historical andcultural analysis to understand gender-based oppression. Neitherare women a homogeneous group constrained in identical ways.Gender inequalities are crosscut by other social inequalities suchas class, caste, ethnicity and race, which could be prioritised overgender concerns in certain contexts. A rigid and universal conceptof patriarchy denies women space for resistance and strategiesfor change. A more nuanced analysis is needed that takes intoaccount difference and complexity, and the agency of women.

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN),1995, ‘Rethinking social development: DAWN’s vision(Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era)’, WorldDevelopment,ol.23, No.11, pp2001-04

Kandiyoti, D., 1998, ‘Gender, power and contestation: rethinkingbargaining with patriarchy’, in Jackson, C., and Pearson, R.,(eds.), 1998, Feminist Visions of Development: Gender Analysisand Policy, Routledge, London.

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Mies, M., 1986, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale:Women in the International Division of Labour, Zed Books,London

Walby, S., 1990, Theorizing Patriarchy, Blackwell, Oxford.

30

SEX & GENDER

See also: Gender analysis,Gender relations, WID/GAD

Further reading

‘Sex’ refers to the biological characteristics that categorisesomeone as either female or male; whereas ‘gender’ refers to thesocially determined ideas and practices of what it is to be femaleor male

Whilst often used interchangeably, ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are in factdistinct terms.

‘Sex’: a person’s sex is biologically determined as female or maleaccording to certain identifiable physical features which are fixed.Women’s marginalisation has often been seen as ‘natural’ and afact of their biology. However these biological differences cannotexplain why women have less access to power and lower statusthan men. To understand and challenge the cultural value placedon someone’s biological sex, and unequal power hierarchies, weneed the relational concept of ‘gender’.

‘Gender’: how a person’s biology is culturally valued andinterpreted into locally accepted ideas of what it is to be a womanor man. ‘Gender’ and the hierarchical power relations betweenwomen and men based on this are socially constructed, and notderived directly from biology. Gender identities and associatedexpectations of roles and responsibilities are thereforechangeable between and within cultures. Gendered powerrelations permeate social institutions so that gender is neverabsent.

The value of the distinction between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’has been challenged more recently as ‘sex’ has also been seen tobe socially constructed (Baden and Goetz, 1998).

Use of the term gender, rather than sex, signals an awareness ofthe cultural and geographic specificity of gender identities, rolesand relations. It also recognises gender inequality as theoutcome of social processes, which can be challenged, ratherthan as a biological given. For this reason, its use can generateconsiderable opposition, particularly from conservative religiousand cultural groups but also in mainstream developmentinstitutions.

Baden. S., and Goetz, A., 1998, ‘Who needs [sex] when you canhave [gender]: Conflicting discourses on Gender at Beijing’, inJackson, C., and Pearson, R., (eds.) 1998, Feminist Visions ofDevelopment: Gender Analysis and Policy, Routledge, London

Østergaard, L., 1992, ‘Gender’, in Østergaard, L., (ed),1992,Gender and Development: A Practical Guide, Routledge, London

White, S., 1993, ‘Gender and development: a review of keyissues’, mimeo, paper for JFS Workshop, Edinburgh, July 5-7

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SOCIAL JUSTICE

See also:Gender discrimination,Women’s human rights

Further reading

Fairness and equity as a right for all in the outcomes ofdevelopment, through processes of social transformation

The idea of ‘social justice’ as the outcome of struggles againstsocial inequalities implies change towards a more ‘fair’ society.This requires strategies to redress past injustices, violation ofrights or persistent economic and social inequalities. Socialmovements such as the women’s, worker’s, and human rightsmovements, have fought against perceived social injustices froma variety of entry points. Such movements have also challengedthe ideologies and prejudices that legitimate social inequalities, inorder to mobilise people for change.

There are varying conceptions of ‘justice’. Common to them all isa formal idea of justice - the idea that inequalities of distributionmust be justified by an impartial and rational assessment of‘relevant’ differences between the people involved. One keytheory of justice, based on Rawls’ ideas, translates this into theidea of ‘justice as fairness’ with its equity overtones and need forredistributive strategies. Other thinking, derived from welfareeconomics, focuses on more ‘efficiency’ ideas of maximisingoverall utility or welfare, such that no-one can be made better offwithout someone else being worse off. In development thinking a‘capability’ perspective of justice is common, based on the work ofAmartya Sen, i.e. the idea that people should have thecapabilities to survive and function and the freedom to pursuewell-being. This requires both aggregative and redistributiveconsiderations.

Mainstream poverty debates have tended to focus on meeting thebasic needs of poor people and maximising their opportunities,rather than seeing poverty as an issue of social inequality orinjustice. More radical perspectives, often adopted by NGOs, dosee poverty as an issue of injustice and focus on organising andbuilding capacity for the assertion of rights by the marginalised.The idea of poverty as an issue of rights is growing in influence inthe development discourse, however, as for example in the DFIDWhite Paper.

Strategies towards social justice have often overlooked thespecific gender injustice or discrimination, as well as wider socialinjustices, faced by women. The women’s movement has beenworking to ensure that efforts to address injustice, through humanrights measures, or economic and social policies, are informed byan understanding of gender inequalities.

Facio, A., 1995, ‘From basic needs to basic rights’, Gender andDevelopment, Vol.3, No.2, Oxfam, Oxford

Harcourt, W., 1997, ‘The search for social justice’, development,Vol.40, pp5-11, The Society for International Development, SAGEPublications, London

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Gasper, D., 1997, ‘The capabilities approach to well-being, justiceand human development’, Journal of International Development,Vol.9, No.2

Sen, A., ‘Gender inequality and theories of justice’, in Nussbaum,M., and Glover, J., 1995, Women, Culture and Development: AStudy of Human Capabilities, Clarendon Press, Oxford

Sen, G., 1997, ‘Globalization, justice and equity: a genderperspective’, Development, Vol.40, No.2, pp21-26, The Societyfor International Development, SAGE Publications, London

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WID/GAD

‘Gender relations do notoperate in a socialvacuum but are productsof the ways in whichinstitutions are organizedand reconstituted’(Kabeer, 1996:17)

See also: Gender analysis,Gender planning,Sex and gender

The WID (or Women in Development) approach calls for greaterattention to women in development policy and practice, andemphasises the need to integrate them into the developmentprocess

The WID perspective evolved in the early 1970s from a ‘liberal’feminist framework and was particularly influential in NorthAmerica. It was a reaction to women being seen as passivebeneficiaries of development. It marked an important corrective,highlighting the fact that women need to be integrated intodevelopment processes as active agents if efficient and effectivedevelopment is to be achieved. Women’s significant productivecontribution was made visible, although their reproductive rolewas downplayed. Women’s subordination was seen in terms oftheir exclusion from the market sphere, and limited access to andcontrol over resources. Programmes informed by a WID approachaddressed women’s practical needs by, for example, creatingemployment and income-generating opportunities, improvingaccess to credit and to education. Women’s ‘problem’ wastherefore diagnosed as insufficient participation in a benigndevelopment process, through an oversight on behalf of policy-makers.

In contrast, the GAD (or Gender and Development) approach todevelopment policy and practice focuses on the sociallyconstructed basis of differences between men and women andemphasises the need to challenge existing gender roles andrelations

GAD emerged from a frustration with the lack of progress of WIDpolicy, in changing women’s lives and in influencing the broaderdevelopment agenda. GAD challenged the WID focus on womenin isolation, seeing women’s ‘real’ problem as the imbalance ofpower between women and men. There are differentinterpretations of GAD, some of which focus primarily on thegender division of labour and gender roles focus on gender as arelation of power embedded in institutions (see Gender Analysis).GAD approaches generally aim to meet both women’s practicalgender needs and more strategic gender needs (see GenderNeeds), by challenging existing divisions of labour or powerrelations (see Gender Division of Labour; Gender Relations).

Although WID and GAD perspectives are theoretically distinct, inpractice it is less clear, with a programme possibly involvingelements of both. Whilst many development agencies are nowcommitted to a gender approach, in practice, the primaryinstitutional perspective remains as WID and associated ‘anti-poverty’ and ‘efficiency’ policies. There is often a slippagebetween GAD policy rhetoric and a WID reality where ‘gender’ ismistakenly interpreted as ‘women’.

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Further reading Kabeer, N., and Subrahmanian, R., 1996, ‘Institutions, relationsand outcomes: framework and tools for gender-aware planning’,IDS Discussion Paper, No.357, Institute of Development Studies,Brighton

Miller, C., and Razavi, S., 1995, ‘From WID to GAD: conceptualshifts in the Women and Development discourse’, OccasionalPaper, UNRISD, Geneva

Moser, C., 1993, Gender Planning and Development: Theory,Practice and Training, Routledge, London

Young, K., 1993, ‘Framework for analysis’, in Young, K., 1993,Planning and Development with Women, Macmillan Press,London

35

WOMEN’SEMPOWERMENT

Beijing Declaration:‘Women’s empowermentand their full participationon the basis of equalityin all sphere of society,including participation inthe decision-makingprocess and access topower, are fundamentalfor the achievement ofequality, developmentand peace (paragraph13).’(cited in DAC, 1998: 10)

See also:Gender analysis,Gender needs,Gender training,WID/GAD

See also: FAQ‘How can we measureempowerment?’

A ‘bottom-up’ process of transforming gender power relations,through individuals or groups developing awareness of women’ssubordination and building their capacity to challenge it. The term‘empowerment’ is now widely used in development agency policyand programme documents, in general, but also specifically inrelation to women. However, the concept is highly political, andits meaning contested. Thus, there are dangers in the uncriticaloveruse of the term in agency rhetoric, particularly where itbecomes associated with specific activities, or used in simplisticways.

Central to the concept of women’s empowerment is anunderstanding of power itself. Women’s empowerment does notimply women taking over control previously held by men, butrather the need to transform the nature of power relations. Powermay be understood as ‘power within,’ or self confidence, ‘powerwith’, or the capacity to organise with others towards a commonpurpose, and the ‘power to’ effect change and take decisions,rather than ‘power over’ others.

Empowerment is sometimes described as being about the abilityto make choices, but it must also involve being able to shapewhat choices are on offer. What is seen as empowering in onecontext may not be in another.

Empowerment is essentially a bottom-up process rather thansomething that can be formulated as a top-down strategy. Thismeans that development agencies cannot claim to 'empowerwomen', nor can empowerment be defined in terms of specificactivities or end results. This is because it involves a processwhereby women, individually and collectively, freely analyse,develop and voice their needs and interests, without them beingpre-defined, or imposed from above. Planners working towards anempowerment approach must therefore develop ways of enablingwomen themselves to critically assess their own situation andshape a transformation in society. The ultimate goal of women’sempowerment is for women themselves to be the active agents ofchange in transforming gender relations.

Whilst empowerment cannot be ‘done to’ women, appropriateexternal support can be important to foster and support theprocess of empowerment. A facilitative rather than directive role isneeded, such as funding women’s organisations that work locallyto address the causes of gender subordination and promotingdialogue between such organisations and those in positions ofpower.

Recently, interest has grown among development professionals inapproaches to measuring women’s empowerment, particularly inrelation to microcredit programmes. A number of ‘indicators ofempowerment’ have been developed in different contexts. Again,caution must be exercised in assuming that empowerment can beexternally defined and objectively assessed, or that suchindicators can be easily transferred.

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Further reading Development Assistance Committee (DAC), 1998,‘Empowerment’ in DAC Source Book on Concepts andApproaches Linked to Gender Equality, OECD, Paris

Rowlands, J., 1996, ‘Empowerment examined’, in Anderson, M.,(ed), Development and Social Diversity, Oxfam, Oxford

Oxaal, Z., 1997, Gender and empowerment: definitions,approaches and implications for policy’, BRIDGE Report, No. 40,Institute of Development Studies, Brighton

Johnson, H., 1992, ‘Women’s empowerment and public action:experiences from Latin America’ in Wuyts, M., Mackintosh, M.,and Hewitt, T., (eds.), 1992, Open University Press, MiltonKeynes

Wieringa, S., 1994, ‘Women’s interests and empowerment:gender planning reconsidered’, Development and Change,Vol.25, No.4

37

WOMEN’SHUMAN RIGHTS

Percentage of countriesthat have ratified theWomen’s Convention(CEDAW) worldwide:• 60 percent without

reservations• 29 percent with

reservations• 11 percent not

ratified(IWTC, 1998:126)

‘Despite thesemeticulously wordedinternational treaties,discrimination againstwomen persists on everylevel in every corner ofthe world'(IWTC, 1998:20)

See also:Culture,Gender discrimination,Gender violence,Social justice,

See also: FAQ ‘As gender is a humanrights issue, isn’tlegislation the answer?’and‘What right have we tointerfere with otherpeople’s cultures?’

The recognition that women’s rights are human rights and thatwomen experience injustices solely because of their gender. TheUN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) laid out theidea of the universality of rights, but failed to take into accountwomen’s needs and interests as women. Its focus was on formalpolitical and civil rights, hence conceiving rights to be relevant tothe ‘public’ rather than the ‘private’ sphere. As such, violations ofwomen’s bodily integrity, which occurred in the private spherewere not part of the human rights discourse.

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discriminationagainst Women (CEDAW) established in 1979 marked animportant step towards explicit prohibition of discriminationagainst women. During preparations for the World Conference onHuman Rights in Vienna (1993), women’s groups mobilisedaround the slogan of “Women’s rights are human rights!” whichsignifies the indivisibility of women’s rights from universal humanrights. Participants in the UN Beijing Women’s Conference (1995)continued with this call, attempting to broaden the conception ofrights to include social, economic, and cultural rights, as well asreproductive and sexual rights put on the agenda at the 1994Cairo population conference.

Gender-based violence has been a high profile issue in advocacyefforts on women’s human rights. Groups have campaigned forthe recognition as human rights of, for example, the right ofwomen to freedom from rape, from sexual assault as refugeesand displaced women, from abuse in custody, and particularlydomestic violence. The 1993 Vienna Conference on HumanRights was a watershed as it marked the first internationalrecognition of violence against women as a human rightsviolation. There is now a UN Special Rapporteur on ViolenceAgainst Women with the specific remit to gather facts and reportto the UN.

Whilst there has been progress in the recognition of women’shuman rights in international human rights instruments this hasnot been matched by progress in the implementation andenforcement of these rights by state bodies. Many countries havefailed to ratify CEDAW, and some that have ratified it have failedto uphold it. Even when international and national laws recognisewomen’s human rights, they may be undermined by patriarchalcustomary laws or social practices. Furthermore, human rightsadvocates, including those promoting women’s rights, facechallenges from those who regard human rights discourse as awestern, imperialist imposition on other cultures.

Mobilisation of women to claim their rights is essential in order topress for reforms, and for the implementation and enforcement ofhuman rights and national legal instruments. This requiresstrategies of capacity-building in terms of literacy, legalknowledge, and political participation. Gender-awareness trainingfor the judiciary and the police, in addition to strengtheningwomen’s participation in these fields, is also crucial.

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Further reading Brems, E., 1997, ‘Enemies or allies? Feminism and culturalrelativism as dissident voices in human rights discourses’, HumanRights Quarterly, Vol.19 pp136-164

International Women’s Tribune Centre (IWTC), 1998, Rights ofWomen: A Guide to the Most Important United Nations Treatieson Women’s Human Rights, International Women’s TribuneCentre, New York

Oxaal, Z., and Baden, S., 1996, ‘Human Rights and poverty: agender analysis’ BRIDGE Report, IDS, Brighton