It is now widely acknowledged that past conventional development approaches and strategies followed by developing countries have fallen short of expectations. Disillusionment with the strategies and their outcomes has led to serious rethinking of the very concept, definition and goals of `development' and to a search for alternative development strategies that focus on people both as the subjects and objects of development. This search has been spearheaded by academicians, researchers, grassroots practitioners, activists and those in development agencies.
The recent pre-occupation with people as the centre of any development has popularized what have come to be known as `People-centred development' and the `participatory development approach'. One therefore sees an increasing dissociation from past approaches and paradigm where the emphasis was on the economic and technical, rather than the socio-cultural dimension of the means, process and outcome of development. The People-centred approach, also known as the participatory approach, puts the accent on people and advocates their direct involvement in identifying and solving their problems thereby enabling them to have control over events affecting their lives. Obviously, this is a marked departure from the conventional approaches.
It also happened that this shift in approach coincided with additional insights gained into `why' development projects fail, as demonstrated by the experiences of both grassroots project activities and feminist research. The latter has continued to advocate more attention to the socio-cultural factors informing relations of production and by the consumption which reinforce inequalities in entitlement, responsibilities and power relations between men and women in society. The realization that women and men are situated in and impacted by development differently has subsequently lead to the emergence of gender as an important development variable. Such concepts as gender, gender perspective/dimension, gender analysis, gender-sensitive planning, gender mainstreaming, etc. have since been added to the repertoire of the development arena.
At the same time, the participatory approach which has been further articulated is widely accepted. The now popular theme and methodology of `Participatory Rural Appraisal' (PRA) falls within the rubric of the `participatory approach'. The significant features of this approach, regardless of variations in terminology, are the accent on people and flexibility for weaving in `gender dimension' into needs assessment, problem solving and planning for community resource management. It is assumed here that `genuine' community participation would entail articulation of the needs, interests, knowledge, resources, etc. of both men and women, and thus present a conducive environment for consideration of the gender factor in community planning.
Nevertheless, in spite of the conceptual compatibility of the participatory approach and gender planning, indications are that there still remains the need for awareness raising and analysis of the differential situation, needs and potentials of men and women. Both men and women need to participate in consultations for identification of problems and solutions for holistic, equitable and sustainable development. Unfortunately, the general tendency has been that both `participation' and `gender' have been subjected to misuse. One would surmise that this misuse has been due either to lack of full understanding and know how or a deliberate resistance to their practical application. Despite these shortcomings, however, there is hardly any program or project, regardless of scale and level, which does not include `participation', `women in development' or `gender dimension/perspective' in its objectives or activities. The influence of international women's movements, and the catalytic role played by the United Nations agencies, NGOs and donors have ensured and continue to ensure the inclusion of these terms in programs, projects and development discussions.
Regardless of the degree of awareness and commitment, many agencies, individuals and governments are `talking' about bringing in people's perspectives and addressing the gender needs and interests of poor women through project interventions. A number of on-going programs and projects are seeking experiences and know how to make their interventions gender responsive and relevant. Oftentimes, the questions paused by those seeking to `do it right', include, "what are the components of Women in Development (WID) projects? What is the difference between WID and Gender and Development (GAD)? How does a project incorporate gender concerns into its activities? What is gender analysis? When in the project cycle does one undertake gender analysis? What is the relationship between participation and empowerment?"
All these and other questions are indications of interest and a need for collaborative endeavors. For these obvious reasons, therefore, it has been found necessary to share perceptions and experiences and promote joint engagement in conceptualizing the issues involved and drawing practical conclusions. This paper is, therefore, a response to some of the questions raised, and invite feedback by those concerned . The preparation of the paper has relied on references of research findings, project documents, mission statements, reports, training manuals of agriculture and rural development, and gender experts. Personal experiences through direct communications, formal studies, and participatory observations in African settings have been relied upon and personal observations are used as references and examples under the different sections.
In the following section, we shall discuss some of the relevant concepts and their inter-relationships. An introduction into the historical development of WID, the emergence of the concept of gender, WID to/and GAD are given below with a view to seeing our way more clearly towards the factors influencing the success and/or otherwise of development interventions.
The movement for `emancipation of women' or what some now refer to as `the women's movement' was spearheaded and sustained by women themselves and has a much earlier origin than even the United Nations Charter itself which guaranteed equal rights to all as far back as the 1940s. The `women's issues', as they are generally referred to, have been perceived as social, humanitarian, human rights, economic, legal and political issues at different awareness phases in the world. These varying perceptions have also been followed by `appropriate' prescriptions, the experiences from which have contributed to the deepening of `understanding' of the complexities of `development' itself. The historical spectrum of these developments points to the fact that despite the inclusion of equal human rights in the UN Charter, it was only much later that the `women's concern' surfaced in the global development agenda. The Commission for the Status of Women established in 1946 did, nevertheless, move this concern forward over the decades and is currently pushing the issue as `women's equality before the law'.
As indicated earlier, a series of inter-related regional and international intellectual engagements on the subject have lead to different perceptions of women and `women's concerns' and the adoption of a series of policy approaches to address women's role in, and benefits from development. The 50s and 60s saw the `women's issues' from a social and humanitarian perspective. In the African continent, the period of liberation from colonialism also coincided with moves towards programs in support of social welfare, family life education and home economics directed at women more as wives and mothers than as producers.
For instance, until the 1970s diagnosis and prescriptions of `women's issues' were based on the assumption that women were objects of development. New perceptions about women as resources came to be embraced in the early 70s. With the realization of their contribution to development, it was advanced that their efforts should be enhanced through the necessary material and technical support. Strategies to `integrate' women into the development process and ensure efficiency focused on improving their situation through the provision of basic necessities. Nutrition, health and education, child care, family planning and skills training featured as major components of many of the programs of the period.
New perceptions about women as "resources" came to be embraced in the early 70s. With the realization of their contribution to development, it was advanced that their efforts should be enhanced through the necessary material and technical support.1
The Seventies also saw the convening of several conferences which adopted plans of action focusing on areas perceived to be `women's issues'. This period coincided with the food and population crisis and women's relationship to these, claiming international attention. Furthermore, the First World Conference on Women in Mexico and the World Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women in Development, the International Women's Year (IWY), and subsequent declaration of 1975-85 as UN Decade for Women all contributed to the knowledge of women's centrality in, and the inter-relationship of the development issues.2
Equality, development and peace, the theme of the IWY and the Decade, has since informed global strategies and programs. The World Plan of Action adopted at the Mexico Conference was further enriched and rearticulated at the Copenhagen mid-decade conference (1980), at the end of the decade conference in Nairobi (1985) and recently in Beijing (1995), with local inputs through sub-regional meetings convened between these world conferences.
The series of appraisals of women in development projects of the Decade and their impacts undertaken in the 80s revealed both positive and negative signs. These lead to the realization, once more, that factors hitherto unrecognized and/or inadequately addressed have influenced the chances of attaining the expected goals of equality, development and peace. A message that came through clearly was that making women the focus of attention, to the exclusion of their relational situation with males, through women-specific projects could not guarantee the expected positive impacts and sustainable development. It was also about this time that the concept of `gender' emerged as an important development variable. Gender has since been adopted as a popular `vocabulary', in some cases even mistakenly substituted for women, in program and project languages.
W I D focuses only on women and highlights the importance of their contribution to development and therefore targets them through either women- specific projects or women's components in programs, the latter often as "add-ons".
It has eventually been recognized that gender does not replace women and that there is both conceptual and strategic difference between Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD). It was also apparent that in certain quarters the shift from WID to GAD by agencies and individuals was more in language than in conceptual terms. That gender is not a substitute for women, and that the concept refers to the social relations between women and men, as constructed and perpetuated by the patriarchal system in a given society, are the focus of training programs in gender analysis, gender planning and mainstreaming of the 90s. The current engagement is in line with the Platform for Action adopted at Beijing and strategies for its implementation by enhancing a deeper understanding of the concept, promoting genuine commitment to, and acquisition of skills in gender analysis for planning program/project interventions.
That gender is not a substitute for women and that the concept refers to the social relations between women and men as constructed and perpetuated by society are the focus of training programs in gender awareness, skills in analysis for gender planning and mainstreaming in the 90s and beyond.
There is no denying that since the UN Decade for Women, there has been increased awareness of the importance of addressing the needs and interests of women. Research findings and documentation of field experiences and evaluations of projects have contributed to this awareness. They revealed that development planned for women in isolation of their productive and reproductive needs and functions has by and large deprived them of the benefits from their labour, time and `participation' and/or have had negative impacts on their lives. Women's own awareness and their organizational networks, donor agencies conditions to include WID for project funding, and the work of the United Nations system have been major catalysts for the promotion of WID at different level of engagement.
.. field experiences and evaluations of projects reveal that development planned for women, in isolation of their productive and reproductive needs and functions, has by and large deprived them of the benefits of their labour, time and `participation' and/or have had a negative impact on their lives.3
Policies and programs towards the `advancement of women in development' and/or `integration of women in development' under the rubric of WID focused on what was perceived as `women's needs, interests or issues'. These have followed biological determinism. The difference in the physical makeup between women and men and women's specific situations arising from their biological make-up, i.e., their child - bearing and nurturing - reproductive functions, have been major considerations in perceptions and ascriptions. Some argue that the biological difference between males and females has therefore informed the division of labour between men and women in and outside the household.
Let us at this stage look into some of the concepts, terminologies, the move from WID to GAD and the various strategies adopted in addressing the needs and interests of poor women in developing countries, with focus on African rural women. The following sections review in brief the experiences and critiques of past efforts, additional insights from field feedback and prescriptions for incorporating gender into planning and implementation of projects.
The gender concept emerged from the continued research and critical analysis on the basis and impacts of WID interventions and the persistent subordination of women in their relationship to men. Gender is a socio-cultural construct of society embedded in the patriarchal system of relationships which determines the identity, role, entitlement and deprivation of women and men in society. Unlike the biological difference which determines the male and female sex, as for all living species, gender difference is a deliberate construction which governs the way in which society meets its physical, material, emotional, economic and spiritual needs, i.e. the way it organizes its activities and manages its resources. There is nothing `natural' about gender difference since it can and is known to change over time and space. Gender identity and division of labour are subject to socio-economic, political and cultural changes within a given society and period and are not, therefore, static.
Gender is a socio-cultural construct of society embedded in the patriarchal system of relationships which determines the identity, role, entitlement and deprivation of women and men in society.
The subjective being and feeling of belonging to the male or female human is then one's Gender identity. Self-esteem, expectations and `code of conduct' or behaviour emanate from and/or are prescribed by gender identity. With the assumption of her gender identity in a given cultural context, a woman knows that she is female and as such is expected to perform her gender roles.
Gender role stems from the socio-cultural construction of what a female or a male human is expected to do, perform or take responsibilities for, in a given cultural context. Talking, moving, dressing, behaving, consuming, giving, are subject to gender prescriptions embodied in the gender roles of the girl child and woman in the particular locality, within their life cycle and politico-economic stratum, religious affiliation, etc. Other sets of rules encompassing behaviour, entitlements, responsibilities, etc. also apply to boys and adult men.
From all these emanates the gender division of labour. Gender division of labour is again the differential tasks of females and males in and outside the household/home environment. Labour division between the two sexes is based on the traditional assumption that females bear and rear children and thus should be responsible for all tasks associated with these functions, often in and around the locations where the functions take place. The gender division of labour for males is based on their `public' activities, outside the home and their physical `strength' for `heavy' duty work. Value for the labour and time of men and women is given on assumptions regarding the `heaviness', `importance `, `superiority' versus `inferiority' or `naturalness', `simplicity,' nature of their respective tasks. Assumptions about women's `natural' dependence on men for their livelihood accounts also for differences in wage labour rates between the two.
The concept of gender recognizes the difference in the roles, responsibilities, access and control over resources - sphere of authority - between women and men. However, gender division of labour is undergoing rapid change globally. Macro-level factors like political and economic crisis, fertility decline, increasing educational level, family instability and household patterns have been known to transform the `traditional' gender roles of men and women world wide.
Development interventions through projects and programs focus on identification of needs and problems, and improvement of existing conditions towards better quality of life of the people concerned. The method used in identifying the needs and problems, and the mechanisms utilized to meet them, and the degree of sensitivity to the differential impacts and consequences on segments of the community determine the success or otherwise of the interventions. It should be noted that the gender perspective of development encompasses a whole range of areas, starting with the way we, as development agents, perceive the needs of those we seek to assist. Knowing the practical and strategic gender needs of women, their differences and the importance of participation in identifying and meeting these needs by those concerned are paramount to the success of development interventions.
Practical gender needs are derived from women's productive, reproductive and community functions, also referred to as the triple roles of women, and are discussed below.
Productive functions: These are women's day-to-day livelihood - the production of goods and services essential for family sustenance. They involve work related to food and nutrition, water, fuelwood (energy), income, market, etc. Both men and women are engaged in productive activities except that the gender division of labour underscores the unequal values of their work and products. The practical needs of women to enhance their productivity and visible benefit from their work are often subsummed in stereotype beliefs and values regarding their gendered position in and outside the home. Unlike men's production and productivity (registered in national accounts and planned for in allocations of resources for increasing productivity) which have market/exchange value, women's production is almost exclusively for immediate family consumption (use value). Practical gender needs are bound to vary according to, among others, women's life cycle, parental and marital status and relationships.
Reproductive functions: While both women and men are involved in reproductive functions, women's contributions to and needs associated with child bearing, rearing and family sustenance are integral to their roles as mothers, wives, etc. Food preparation, nutrition and health care of families, home management, including child care and care of the sick and elderly, are mostly the responsibilities of women and girls. These functions are often labour-intensive and lack technological and service support to lessen the burden. In many societies in developing countries, socio-cultural values restrict task-sharing in household chores such as food preparation and child minding by male family members.
Projects with components of health care, family planning, nutrition education, immunization, technologies for labour-saving, credit to increase productivity, basic infrastructure (potable water, schools, health centres, veterinary services, roads, transportation, markets, etc.) seek to address women's practical gender needs.
Community functions: These encompass labour inputs towards organization and sustainability of cultural events, networks, and services in communities, including management of environmental resources. Such functions include ceremonies involving celebrations of birth, marriage and other spiritual and socio-cultural happenings; and mobilization of local resources for community development, including local politics (membership in cultural and religious organizations/groups) requiring volunteer services and material inputs.
These functions and attempts to `exploit' them for development have been seen to have similarities between the experiences of past and contemporary times. Although both men and women participate in these community functions, visibility and rewards often favour men. While men's involvement in such activities leads to, or prepares them as, `leaders', `chairmen', `representatives', etc. with the possibility of promotion in the political, religious and economic arena, women's triple roles and their contributions remain subsumed in their gender roles and are undervalued. Community development projects usually count on women's community functions as given (guaranteed, forthcoming) regardless of additional demands on their labour and time. Nevertheless, their direct involvement in, and assumption of, leadership roles such as committee member or leader are not automatic or primary objective, nor are these accompanied by the necessary environment to enhance their participation and effective decision making position.
Women's practical gender needs are derived from their productive, reproductive and community functions - their triple role.
Most WID projects revolve around practical gender need. The projects seek to lessen the burden of women's productive and reproductive functions and aim for improvement of their welfare. Individual, group and project initiatives towards meeting the practical gender needs of women are invariably supported by spouses, families and the community, primarily because these are seen to be for the welfare and benefit of all members of the family and society. There is increasing evidence that there is inadequate understanding of the inter-relationship of the triple functions of women, not only how they reinforce one another but also how these affect strategic gender needs. Individual and/or collective pre-occupation with women's practical gender needs supported because these are rarely seen as threats to the patriarchal system of relations, i.e. women's subordinate position is expected to remain intact. The section below introduces and discusses the concepts, relationships and experiences in addressing the issues.
Strategic gender needs and interests are often `assumed' to be secondary to practical needs. This `assumption' is borne out by the fact that `life continues' without addressing `strategic gender interests' despite the inevitable negative impact on women and society at large. Often, either women's own awareness of the root causes of the constraints they face in meeting their practical needs and/or a level of satisfaction from practical needs met, lead to addressing strategic gender needs and pursuing gender interests. Where women are seen to move towards a resource position (eg. increased income from their labour), they are said to have attained a level of control and therefore, are on their way to meeting their strategic gender needs. As they gain autonomy and control and are able to negotiate their relationship from a resource (empowered) position, the status quo is bound to change. Since change in one area is likely to result in change(s) in other areas, interventions in practical gender needs are bound to affect strategic gender interests as well. It is often expected that energy and labour saved through technological support would release women for participation in activities they have hitherto been unable to undertake. It is assumed that they will participate in skills training and leadership functions thus enhancing their status and self-esteem; or that they will have time to increase their productivity and income and/or improve the quality of their family care, which improves their status, value and power in the family. Gender division of labour and gender identity have been known to change through such interventions.
Some changes have, however, had negative impacts on women. It has been demonstrated that without systematic interventions in relation to the triple roles of women, lessening their burden in one area increases it in another, otherwise something is bound to give, often to the disadvantage of women. Support of income- generating activities, while having the potential to improve women's income and status, household nutrition and access to resources, may also affect women's health and management of their triple roles.
There is enough evidence of women's juggling with their labour and time between income-earning activities and welfare of their families (time for child and family care, cooking, etc.). In such instances, women have been found to sacrifice their rest and health, working longer hours without the benefit of technologies and/or task sharing by spouses and/or other male members of the household. On the other hand, moves towards empowerment and breaking away from the system of inequality in the gender division of labour and female subordination (i.e., strategic gender interest) and reducing dependency on men have shown negative reactions resulting in domestic conflict, abuse and violence by threatened spouses or partners. Evidence of such situations has steadily increased globally to the point of meriting inclusion of `violence against women' among the critical areas to address by development agents and activists of the 90s and beyond (Platform for Action, Beijing Conference, 1995).
Moves towards empowerment and breaking away from inequalities in the gender division of labour and female subordination (i.e., strategic gender interest) and reducing dependency on men have shown negative reactions resulting in domestic conflict, abuse and violence by threatened spouses or partners.4
Group and self-help activities through project interventions, often with the objective of empowerment, promote the level of engagement required for addressing strategic gender needs and interests. Changes in the traditional gender division of labour where women bear a disproportionate burden, elimination of female subordination and all socio-cultural, legislative and political structures and systems which perpetuate gender inequalities (inheritance discriminating against girls and women, low value for women's work, dependency on men as their sole livelihood support, etc.) are areas that need to be woven into project objectives and activities seeking to promote people's (men and women) empowerment.
With political and economic crisis in the Horn of Africa, women in Somaliland have moved to businesses from which they were traditionally barred. Increased control of their income from their broadening economic activities, and men's and the sub-clan's dependence on them (women) threaten spouses, triggering reactions such as threats, abuse and dispossession of resources.5
In Ethiopia, for example, pastoralist families in Awash Valley settlements depended on women's paid wage labour from nearby cash crop plantations and use of their income for education, clothing and better nutrition of their children. Women have also been `filling in' for spouses or male relatives at the settlement farms to ensure that they did not lose out on family entitlements at the time of disbursement of benefits (grains and/or cash) from the farms at the end of the production year.6 It is now increasingly recognized that poor families depend on women's income regardless of the presence of a male head of the family. At the same time, the value of women's labour in wage employment, which is lower than for males, perpetuates inequalities and exacerbates the poverty situation.
1.5 Women in Development (WID) - Gender and Development (GAD)
Since the mid-80s there has been a marked shift from WID to GAD. That there is a conceptual difference between the two and that these can be jointly perused is yet to be fully communicated, recognized and applied. Whereas WID views women as objects and problems and focuses on their practical needs in their engendered positions, GAD puts the emphasis on the inequalities of relations between women and men in production, reproduction, and consumption. GAD also advocates direct involvement of poor women in identifying and addressing their practical gender needs, at the same time raising awareness of, and engaging in, activities aimed at addressing their strategic needs and interests.
Ideally, components of the so-called WID programs and GAD interventions are expected to address both the practical gender needs and the strategic gender interests of women. However, such an approach and the means of intervention have been found to lack coordination and systematic planning (with adequate resources, flexibility and skills) for gender mainstreaming in program design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting by those concerned.
GAD is not concerned with women per se, but with social construction which assigns specific rights, roles, responsibilities and expectations to women and men. It is about what both men and women do; looks at the impact of development on both, and their impact in turn on development; seeks to see that both men and women participate and benefit equally from development; recognizes that women may be involved in development but may not necessarily benefit; seeks to understand the root causes of gender inequality and addresses itself to these causes; emphasizes gender relations and focuses on the reduction of disparities; emphasizes equality of benefits and control; recognizes the need to look at equity of impact; addresses the inter-relationship between gender roles, access to and control of resources and power.7
