 Define the concept of gender and other gender-related concepts.

 Discuss the historical development & the concept of feminism theory.

 Identify major theoretical perspectives on gender and development.
 Discuss the social formation of masculinities and femininities.
 Explain the underline causes for gender differentiation.
 Explain the harmful traditional practice in Ethiopia.
 Describe and analyze the interrelationship b/n gender and developmen.

UNIT ONE
GENDER AND DEVELOPMNET: AN
INTRODUCTION

Defining Gender and Development

Gender and development are so fluid terms that they do not have a one-fits-all definition that

works consistently under all socio-economic and political settings. As a result, various

definitions have been provided for gender and development. In this section, we will introduce

you to some selected definitions of each term and/or concept separately. You will also learn

how the concepts embedded in the definitions of gender and development inherently relate

to one another.

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1.1 What is Gender?
Dear learner, it is important that to anticipate that, within the discourse of feminism and amidst the
development debate, gender has become an increasingly theorized concept that is repeatedly defined
and redefined vigorously from a variety of different standpoints. As a result, we have multiple
definitions of gender. We will focus only on some selected definitions for this course. Some of the
definitions provided below are supplemented by further explanations so that you would be able to
better understand it in relation to development.

 “Gender refers to the economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated
with being male or female at a particular point in time” (World Health Organization,
2001).

Gender refers to the array of socially constructed roles and relationships, personality traits,
attitudes, behaviors, values, relative power and influence that society ascribes to the two
sexes on a differential basis. …. Gender is relational and refers not simply to women or
men but to the relationship between them (www.uninstraw.org/en/index.).
 ‘Gender’ generally refers to the socially determined ideas and practices of what it is to be
female or male. It denotes the condition of how a person’s biology is culturally valued and
interpreted into socially accepted ideas of what it is to be a woman or man. This
acceptance of socially constructed ideas and behaviors establishes gender attitudes.
Gender attitudes and behaviors are learned and can be changed.
 Gender is the socially constructed roles and responsibilities of women and men, in a given
culture or location. These roles are influenced by perceptions and expectations arising
from cultural, political, environmental, economic, social, and religious factors, as well as
custom, law, class, ethnicity, and individual or institutional bias.

1.2 What is Development?

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Dear learner, ‘development’, like ‘gender’, is overloaded with a variety of definitions and multitude
of explanations. We hope that, from your previous courses from Governance and Development
Studies, you would recall that the subject of development is one of the most complex subjects in
academics in general and in social sciences in particular.

To begin with, Dudley seers (1977) identifies, ‘…the questions to ask about a country’s development
are three: ‘What has been happening to poverty? What has been happening to unemployment? What
has been happening to inequality?’ If all three of these have declined from high levels, then beyond
doubt this has been a period of development for the country concerned.’ (Seers, 1977:3)

Dear student, we hope that from this definition, you learn that development is about the conditions of
those who are impoverished; about those who lack access to the means of incomes and related
resources; and about those who are at a disadvantaged position in society.

Gender issues in development arise where an instance of gender inequality is recognized as

undesirable, or unjust. Three aspects of gender issues which are raised in development are
gender gap, gender discrimination and women’s empowerment. This arose out of the general
conviction that women have been more impoverished, have enjoyed limited access to means of
income and have occupied a much more marginalized position as compared to men.

Findings of multitudes of researches indicate that women have historically benefited less and little
from the fruits of development and they are generally poorer than men. In the next section, you will
see how women have been differently, and marginally, benefit from development and how this has
put them at a disadvantaged position in society.

 Development is also defined as a social ingredient measured as well-being in health,

education, housing and employment. In this regard, it is evidenced that women suffer more
from poor health, low level of education, greater unemployment, and poorer access to
housing services and its ownership than men.

Dichotomizing development into rural-urban distinction, Robert Chambers (1983) defines rural
development as, ‘…a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to
gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. It involves helping the

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poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the
benefits of development.’ (Chambers, 1983:147)

Currently, sustainability issues are the principal concerns of development. It has been globally,
hence conventionally, recognized that the exiting pattern of economic growth favors the rich and the
current generation at the expense of the poor and the future generations. It is also agreed that the
current pattern of growth favors men at the expense of women. Rephrasing the Brudtland (1987)
definition of sustainable development, development implies a commitment to ecologically sound and
socially desirable economic growth where the consumption of the present generation does not
undermine the interests of the future generations. In view of this, sustainable development considers
two equity dimensions: intra-generational and inter-generational. Intra-generational equity is
concerned with existing inequalities and inequities. It involves the inequalities and inequities that
persist between the rich and the poor, the north and the south, the developed and the developing
world, and above all, the inequalities and inequities that subsist between men and women. Inter-
generational equity is concerned with potential inequalities that affect the future generations. As
Meadows (1992) argues, if the current pattern of development is sustained, it will eventually
overshoot and exceed the shouldering capacity of the earth. This has a tendency to borrow resources
from the future generations (from our children), which weakens their capacity to meet their deeds,
and hence undermine inter-generational equity. And if the condition continues unaddressed, it is
feared that the current inequity trends would restore and exacerbate future inequalities and inequities
that would make the position of women worse off from now.

Since the mid 1980s there has been a growing consensus that sustainable development requires an
understanding of both women’s and men’s roles and responsibilities within the community and their
relations to each other. This has come to be known as the Gender and Development (GAD)
approach. Improving the status of women in society then came to be no longer seen as just a
women’s issue, but as a goal that requires the active participation of both men and women.

Section two: Gender and Development:

evolution, rationale, and economic growth

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There are a complex set of explanations provided as to why gender has become a subject in the
development discourse so that it influences development policies and program interventions. This
part is organized into two sub-sections: the evolution of gender in development and the rationale for
integrating gender into development

2.1 The Heydays of Gender in the Development Discourse

In the past four to five decades, there has been growing acceptance of the gender-focused approach
to development. Gender training and gender analysis are now considered essential tools in the
development process. Gender equity was a foundation for the Program of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development in 1994 and in the Fourth World Conference on Women
in 1995. The Fourth World Conference on Women reviewed its precursor’s progress, Nairobi
Conference (1985) that celebrated the International Women’s Decade (1975-1985), and it came up
with the ‘Beijing Platform for Action’. The most important areas of concern identified under the
‘Beijing Platform for Action’ are outlined below. All actors (governments, the international
community and civil society, including nongovernmental organizations and the private sector) are
called upon to observe and take strategic actions in the following critical areas of concern:

 The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women;

 Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to education and training;
 Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to health care and related services;
 Violence against women;
 The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those living under
foreign occupation;
 Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive activities and in
access to resources;
 Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels;
 Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women;
 Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human rights of Women;
 Stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and participation in all
communication systems, especially in the media;

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  Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the safeguarding of the
environment; and
 Persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl child.

2.2 Why is gender a development issue: the rationale?

There are both pushing and pulling factors to panel gender issues into the
development agenda. The pushing factors refer to past trends and socio-
economic conditions regarding the relationship between men and women and the
resultant disadvantaged position of women in society . The pulling factors are
current problems that need to be addressed so that future challenges of gender
inequality would be anticipated. These pushing and pulling factors are multiple, complex and
interdependent development problems. They constitute the rationale for integrating gender into
development policies and programs.

Some of the major factors that bring on gender into development

are outlined as follows:

Population composition: population census results of any country report that women constitute
slightly more than 50% of a nation’s population. A healthy development thus cannot bypass half of
its population. But women constitute 2/3 rd of the world poor. Women also make up 2/3 rd of the world
illiterate.

Women’s poverty: more than one billion people in the world live in unacceptable condition of
poverty. The great majority of these impoverished people are women. Women constitute more than
70% of the world poor, and the trend in the poverty of women is increasing as compared to the
number of men. This has led to what has been coined as the problem of ‘feminization of poverty’,
particularly in developing countries. Reducing women’s poverty is part of the Millennium
Development Goals.

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Women’s workload: reports indicate that women perform about 67% (2/3rd) of the world’s work.
Those women from developing countries pass 17 hours a day at work. But women earn less than
10% of the world income and women own only about 1% of the world property.

Women produce food for both women and men: women produce about 50% of the food
consumed by the world population every day. Women are however the most vulnerable group of
societies to hunger and starvation. Women thus face nutritional and related health problems.

Women and health: women have different and unequal access to and use of basic health resources.
Discrimination against girls, often resulting from “son preference”, in access to nutrition and
healthcare services endangers their current and future health and well-being. Conditions (traditions,
poverty and illiteracy) that force girls into early marriage, pregnancy and child-bearing subject them
to harmful practices, such as female genital mutilations, pose grave health risks.

Violence against women: sexual and gender-based violence, including physical and psychological
abuses, trafficking of women and girls, rape and other sexual exploitations, and other forms of
abuses and harassments put girls and women under harsh risk of physical and mental trauma,
diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Some groups of women, such as women belonging to minority
groups, indigenous women, refugees, migrants and expatriates (=migrant workers and forced
dislocations), remote rural, women under detention, disabilities, elderly women, repatriates, women
participating in armed conflicts, wars aggression, civil wars, terrorism and hostage-takings are all
vulnerable to violence. Violence against women is obstacle to equality, development and peace.

Women’s human rights: all forms of gender violence or violence against women involve violations
of women’s human rights. Violence against women impairs and nullifies the enjoyment of women of
their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Women and the environment: women play as crucial, or even more important, roles as men in the
achievement of sustainable development objectives. In other words, women, like men, are important
to foster the realization of environmentally friendly and socially desirable development. However,
women remain largely absent at all levels of decision-making and policy formulations in natural
resources and environmental management. The experiences of women in the conservation and
rehabilitation of natural resources as well as their skills in advocacy for environmental protection
have often remained marginalized. But equitable socio-economic development that recognizes

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empowering women to utilize environmental resources is a necessary foundation for sustainable
development.

Existing knowledge gap: there has been lack of scientific studies and adequate information about
and interest in the situation of women. Hence, women’s and gender studies came into the scene to
provide academic support and reliable data on the situation of women.

Urgent need to criticize gender blindness of disciplines: historically, there existed gender
blindness in almost all disciplines. This has negatively affected the interests of women in education
and the knowledge that could have been generated otherwise for use and change.

Urgent need to challenge traditional monolithic assumptions about women and sexual division
of labor: socially constructed roles and responsibilities of women have resulted in a disadvantaged
position of women in society. There is an urgent to criticize and transform the existing gender roles
and sexual division of labor.

Policy implications: gender concerns are important for policy analysts and development planners.
From poverty issues to women’s human rights, gender issues need to be mainstreamed into gender-
sensitive and gender-transformative development policies and programs.

2.3. Gender and Economic Growth

There are various ways by which gender and economic growth are interrelated. This can be direct or
indirect. On the one hand, participation of women directly affects economic growth and
development. Women, like men, contribute to development through their labor, knowledge and
skills. A society also directly benefits where there are equitable benefits-sharing and participative
decision-making processes in development. On the other hand, one of the defining characteristics of
development and economic growth is the effect of population growth. Fertility and mortality are key
issues closely linked to women and population growth. This can be said indirect.

Education and population growth are interrelated issues as fertility and mortality are linked closely
with awareness and knowledge. There are a large number of studies that link gender inequality in
education to fertility and child mortality. A research finding shows that females with more than 7
years of education have, on average, two fewer children in Africa than women with no education.
Such writers as King and Hill (1995) find a similar effect of female schooling on fertility. Over and

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above this direct effect, lower gender inequality in enrollment has an additional negative effect on
fertility rate. Countries with a female-male enrollment ratio of less than 0.42 have, on average, 0.5
more children than countries where the enrollment ratio is larger than 0.42 (in addition to the direct
impact of female enrollment on fertility). Similar linkages have been found between gender
inequality in education and child mortality. Thus reduced gender bias in education furthers two very
important development goals, namely reduced fertility and child mortality.

The place of gender in economic growth can also be seen from the perspective of education and
knowledge. In this regard, there are some models that consider gender inequality in education and its
impact on economic growth. It is argued that initial gender inequality in education can lead to a self-
perpetuating equilibrium of continued gender inequality in education, with the consequences of high
fertility, higher population growth rate and low economic growth. Various research findings
conclude that gender inequality in education may generate a poverty trap with self-perpetuating
gender gaps in education. Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) suggest that a
large gap in male and female schooling may signify backwardness and may, therefore, be associated
with lower economic growth. Conversely, too, Hill and King (1995) relate levels of GDP to gender
inequality in education. They find that a low female-male enrollment ratio is associated with a lower
level of GDP per capita, over and above, the impact of levels of female education on GDP per
capita. They find that female secondary education achievement (measured as the share of the adult
population that have achieved some secondary education) is positively associated with growth, but it
turns out that in countries with low female education, furthering female education does not promote
economic growth, while in countries with higher female education levels, promoting female
education has a sizeable and significant positive impact on economic growth.

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 UNIT TWO
 Activity 1.2
KEY CONCEPTS AND ISSUES IN GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Outline the critical areas of concern identified under The Beijing Platform for Action.
Section-one: Sex and Gender
2. Discuss the rationale for integrating gender into development policies and programs.
1.1 Sex and Gender compared
3. Discuss the impact of gender inequality in education and health on population size and
economic growth.
The English-language distinction between the terms, ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ was first developed in the
1950s and 1960s by British and American psychiatrists and other medical personnel working with
intersexes and transsexual patients. Since then, the term gender has been increasingly used to
distinguish between sex as biological and gender as socially and culturally constructed phenomenon.
Feminists have used this terminology to argue against the ‘biology is destiny’ line, and gender and
development approaches have widely adopted this system of analysis.

Whilst often used interchangeably, ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are in fact distinct terms. ‘Sex’: a person’s
sex is biologically determined as female or male according to certain identifiable physical features
which are fixed. Whereas biological sex is determined by genetic and anatomical characteristics,
gender is an acquired identity that is learned, changes over time, and varies widely within and
across cultures. From this perspective, sex is fixed and based in nature; gender is fluid and based

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 Sex=gender?
in culture. This distinction constitutes progress compared with ‘biology is destiny’, that is, nature
“Sex marks the distinction between women and men as a result of their biological, physical and
determines one’s class, status and
genetic differences…Gender life are
roles outcomes.
set by convention and other social, economic, political and
cultural forces”
Whereas sex
(Onerefers
Worldto Action
the biological
Glossary:differences between women and men that generally tends to be
http://owa.netxtra.net/indepth/project.jsp?project=206)
permanent and universal, gender refers to the socially constructed roles and responsibilities of
women and men in a given culture or location. These roles are influenced by perceptions and
expectations arising from cultural, political, environmental, economic, social, and religious factors,
as well as custom, law, class, ethnicity, and individual or institutional bias. Gender attitudes and
behaviors are learned and can be changed.

1.2 Flaws in male-female distinction

Firstly, the male-female distinction is criticized for ignoring the existence of persons who do not fit
neatly into the biological or social categories of women and men, such as intersexes, transsexual, and
transgender people.

Inter-sex people are born with some combination of male and female characteristics. Trans-sexual
people are born with the body of one sex, but feel they belong to the ‘opposite’ sex. There are also
people with characteristics of transgender. Transgender people are those who feel they are neither
male nor female, but somewhere in between. Hijras are a South Asian transgender population.

“(Sex) in human beings is not a purely dichotomous variable. It is not an evenly continuous one either…. a fair
number of human beings are markedly intersexual, a number of them to the point where both sorts of external
genitalia appear, or where developed breasts occur in an individual with male genitalia, and so on”. (Geertz,
Clifford., 1983, Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, New York: Basic Books, p81)

On the other hand, women’s marginalization has often been seen as ‘natural’ and a fact of their
biology. However these biological differences cannot explain why women have less access to power
and lower status than men. To understand and challenge the cultural value placed on someone’s
biological sex, and unequal power hierarchies, scholars argue that we need the relational concept of

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‘gender’. ‘Gender’ and the hierarchical power relations between women and men based on this are
socially constructed, and not derived directly from biology. Gender identities and associated
expectations of roles and responsibilities are therefore changeable between and within cultures.
Use of the term gender, rather than sex, therefore, signals an awareness of the cultural and
geographic specificity of gender identities, roles and relations. The use of the term gender also
recognizes gender inequality as the outcome of social processes, which can be challenged, rather
than as a biological and immutable phenomenon. For this reason, its use can generate considerable
opposition, particularly from conservative religious and cultural groups but also in mainstream
development institutions. Yet, it is a pragmatic term in which possibility for social change and hopes
for improvements in the conditions of women is embedded.
The other limitation of male-female distinction is that for many people the sex categories of female
and male are neither fixed nor universal, but vary over time and across cultures. Accordingly,
according to some people and in some societies, sex, like gender, is seen as a social and cultural
construct. Hence, the value of the distinction between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ has just been
challenged.

“If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps this construct called ‘sex’ is as culturally constructed as
gender; indeed, perhaps it was always already gender, with the consequence that the distinction between sex and
gender turns out to be no distinction at all” (Butler, Judith., 1990, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of
Identity, New York & London: Routledge, Chapter 1: Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire, p346)

A similar assertion that brings into light the existence of more than two biological sexes also objects
to the male-female distinction of the human community. You would also learn from this line of
argument from the following assertions.

“We believe it is indispensable to deconstruct the binary sex/gender system that shapes the Western world
so absolutely that in most cases it goes unnoticed. For ‘other sexualities to be possible’ it is indispensable
and urgent that we stop governing ourselves by the absurd notion that only two possible body types exist,
male and female, with only two genders inextricably linked to them, man and woman. We make trans and
intersex issues our priority because their presence, activism and theoretical contributions show us the path
to a new paradigm that will allow as many bodies, sexualities and identities to exist as those living in this
world might wish to have, with each one of them respected, desired, celebrated” (International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission [IGLHRC], 2005, Institutional Memoir of the 2005 Institute for Trans
and Intersex Activist Training, p8 http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/LAC/ITIAT-Aug06-E.pdf)

Section-two: Patriarchy

From the previous section, we hope that you have understood that gender is a socially constructed
phenomenon. In this section, we will introduce you to the instrument of this socialization. This is
patriarchy. Patriarchy is not only the means of socialization but also its result which pervades almost
all male-dominated societies as an institution of socialization and worldview creation.

Section objectives:
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Dear learner, by the end of this section you should be able to:
 Define patriarchy and related concepts;
 Comprehend how the institution of patriarchy works in creating two-worldviews of
femininity and masculinity; socializes boys and girls to a differing conceptions of the world;
and institutes gender stereotypes; and
 Analyze the ways in which patriarchal systems create gender inequality and work to maintain
this inequality.

2.1 What is patriarchy?

Patriarchy literally means the “rule of the father”. A theoretically countervailing term to patriarchy is
matriarchy. Matriarchy is the “rule of the mother”. ‘A patriarchy’ is a society in which formal
power over public decisions and policy-making is held by adult men; ‘a matriarchy’ is a society in
which policy is made by adult women (Ruth, 1995). Closely related terms to patriarchy and
matriarchy are patria-lineal and matrilineal as well as patria-local and ‘matrilocal’. Patria-lineal
societies are societies in which decent is traced through males (father’s bloodline) and patria-local is
a condition where domicile after marriage is with husband’s family. Matrilineal societies are
societies in which decent in traced through females (mother’s bloodline) and matrilocal is a
condition where domicile after marriage is with the wife’s family.
Feminists use the term patriarchy to denote a culture that embodies masculine ideals and practices.
What do you think is masculinity? Feminists refer to masculinity as those behaviors and attributes
socially perceived to characterize maleness. This attributes include: aggressiveness, courage,
physical strength and health, self-control and emotional reserve, perseverance and endurance,
competence and rationality, self-reliance and autonomy, individuality, sexual potency. There are also
parallel attributes associated with femininity, that is, what constitutes femaleness. These attributes
include: passivity, timidity, fragility and delicacy, expressiveness, frailty, emotionality, needfulness,
dependence, humility, chastity/innocence or receptivity and hospitability).
Another related concept to patriarchy is patriarchal ideology. Patriarchal ideology is a system of
ideas based on a belief in male superiority and sometimes the claim that gender division of labor is
based on biology and scriptures.
The most problematic aspect of patriarchy is its invisibility in society. Some people regard
patriarchy as “…an elephant in the room”. Patriarchy is an issue that almost all people are aware of
but which is never addressed directly by those involved with social inequality and public policy.
Despite the inconceivable injustices done to women, people of either sex hardly consider it as a
serious problem. Because it operates under a mind-control serving instruments, patriarchy becomes
an invisible reality in which people unconsciously engage. Patriarchy operates as the most potent
form of control that reigns not just over the body but essentially over the mind. It works as a
brainwashing instrument that perpetuates the most stable and effective form of slavery where the
salves were unaware of their condition, unaware that they were controlled, and instead believing that
they have freely chosen their life condition, here femininity and its trappings. As a result some
women even acted side by side with men in the control of women by patriarchy. Women have very

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often supported the patriarchal status quo; they have backed men, and instructed their daughters and
granddaughters in the duties of being and becoming ‘good girls” and women of character. With the
same token, patriarchy is a vividly observable reality but people have consciously undermined it,
making it a consciously entrenched system unconsciously exercised and vice-versa. However,
because its impact is so huge on society, it cannot also be overlooked in a conscious world of
enlightened and responsible citizens.

Patriarchy has made women and men to move into and live in two different conceptual universes of
the same world wherein they absorb (learn, grow and act) two separate images of the same reality.
Women and men had long come to see the world systems and themselves differently. Patriarchy’s
powerful agencies of idea formation and worldview creation are religion and belief systems,
environment and philosophies, education and curriculum, and social science and the media.
Patriarchy generally meant that there is male domination of ownership and control, at all levels in
society, which maintains and operates the system of gender discrimination as justified by the
patriarchal ideology. Patriarchy has maintained control over women and over the institutions that
guide the political, economic and cultural arrangements governing the lives of women. Patriarchal
institutions are, therefore, regarded as central causes of social and material inequalities in male-
dominated societies. While it is commonplace to discuss the impact of gender inequality on women
and girls, and while it is also becoming very common to discuss its impact on men and boys, its
general impact on all public policy is least discussed and considered. However, patriarchal
masculinity is almost globally dominant, and that this dominance is reflected in unhealthy and anti-
social patterns of socialization which affect most if not all children and adults in almost all societies
worldwide.

2.2 Hegemonic masculinity

Dear learner, we have said that patriarchy is the systematic domination by men of women and of
other men. Masculinities are the range of alternative ways (national, social, racial, sexual) in which
male gender relations are expressed. Hegemonic masculinity is the form of masculinity which is
culturally and politically dominant at a particular time and place. What do we mean by hegemony?
Hegemony is a subtle and complex process whereby particular beliefs, values and ideologies are
reinforced by those with political and cultural power such that they become perceived as both natural
and inevitable. Hegemony in this sense entails that there is no alternative and no other better ways to
think and act. Hegemonic assertions superimpose the dominance of an institution or ideology over
any other rival under its domain. This results in social inequality. Social inequality refers to unfair or
unjust differences in the determinants or outcomes of social utilities (including health and education)
within or between defined populations. This might lead to structural violence. Structural violence is
sufferings caused by public policies and institutions. Such structural relations include civil, social
and economic relations of public policy.

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Hegemonic masculinity refers to a specific form of gender relations that has for many years
remained globally dominant. It is one of the variant of masculinity which is characterized by
generally agreed upon negative and positive attributes associated with what is constituted in
maleness. Dear learner, the table below presents lists of these masculine attributes.

Perceived positive attributes of Perceived negative attributes of Contested attributes

masculinity masculinity
Strength Toughness Individualism
Protectiveness Aggressiveness Competitiveness
Decisiveness excessive risk-taking Rationality
Courage suppression of emotions Practicality

What is specially worrying about the hegemonic dominance of this form of masculinity is the fact
that worldwide acceptance of childhood socialization into the above negative features of the
hegemonic masculinity subsequently results in power inequalities between individuals, between
social/racial/ gender groups and between institutions —and in turn— in the individual and the
structural violence through which power inequalities are expressed in public policies.
Generally, the fact that the patriarchal institution socializes boys and girls to the world of differing
gender perceptions and expectations has resulted in gender stereotypes.

Below are lists of common female and male stereotypes.

Women are: Men are:

Dependent Independent
Weak Powerful
Incompetent Competent
Less important More important
Emotional Logical
Implementers Decision-makers
Housekeepers Breadwinners
Supporters Leaders
Fragile Protectors
Fickle Consistent
Fearful Brave
Peace-makers Aggressive
Cautious Adventurous
Flexible Focused

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Warm Self-reliant
Passive Active
Followers Leaders
Spectators Doers
Modest Ambitious
Subjective Objective
Soft-spoken Out-spoken
Secretaries Bosses
Nurturing Assertive
Gentle Strong
Excitable Stoic
Women are: (cont’d…) Men are: (cont’d…)
Patient Impetuous
Cheerful Forceful
Caretakers Achievers
Cooperative Competitive
Source: Men and Women: Partners at Work . (1990), Crisp Publications, Inc.

Section-three: Gender Roles and Gender Division of Labor

from your study of the previous section, we hope that you have acquainted yourself with how
patriarchy guides women and men to move into and live in two separate conceptions of the same
world. It is now easier to deduce that these conceptions determine what particular roles women and
men play in society, the places they occupy and the values attached to their occupations. In this unit,
we will introduce you the socially determined roles of women and men that have given rise to
gender division of labor.

3.1 Gender roles

Gender roles are the activities ascribed to men and women on the basis of perceived differences.
“Gender division of labor” is a term used in gender literature to mean the roles and tasks assigned to
women and men on the basis of perceived gender characteristics and attributes, irrespective of ability
and skills. While one’s sex does not change, gender roles are learned and change over time. They
vary from culture to culture, and often from one social group to another or within the same culture.
Gender roles vary according to class, ethnicity, and race. For example, in India, unskilled labor is
considered “women’s work” while in Africa it is “men’s work.” In Europe and the United States, the
contribution men make to domestic activities is becoming increasingly important and visible. Factors
such as education, technology, economy, and sudden crises like war and famine also cause gender
roles to change from time to time across cultures and within the same culture and sex-class.

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Gender is a basic organizing principle of societies, particularly in the division of labor in families,
communities, and the marketplace. Although gender roles limit both women and men, they generally
have had a more repressive impact on women. Women frequently have responsibilities related to
their reproductive roles (child bearing and child rearing) and the associated tasks such as managing
the family and the household. Both women and men are involved in productive labor, which
includes wage employment and production of goods. However, their functions and responsibilities
differ. Women’s productive work is typically less visible and lower paid than men’s. In some cases,
work done primarily by men would immediately turn to low-pay-jobs and less prestigious when
women begin to do it, and conversely, “women’s work” earns higher pay when done by men.
Similarly, women frequently earn less than men in the same job. At the community level, men may
tend to have formal leadership roles and perform high-status tasks while women often do the
organizing and support work. Most women’s development projects also fail to recognize the triple
roles of women, and focus only on women’s reproductive work as caregivers to children and families.

The following are major sphere of life where gender differences are reflected.
Social Different perceptions of women’s and men’s social roles: the man seen as head of the
household and chief bread-winner; the woman seen as nurturer and care-giver.
Political Differences in the ways in which women and men assume and share power and
authority: men more involved in national- and higher-level politics; women more
involved at the local level in activities linked to their domestic roles.
Educational Differences in educational opportunities and expectations of girls and boys: family
resources directed to boy’s rather than girl’s education; girls streamed into less-
challenging academic tracks.
Economic Differences in women’s and men’s access to lucrative careers and control of financial
and other productive resources: credit and loans; land ownership.

From those occupations and preoccupations of men and women, it if possible to conclude that:

… many of the activities that consume women’s time—cooking, childcare, cleaning—are not
considered “work” because they do not involve earning an income. Women’s time is therefore
considered less valuable than men’s because they may not earn cash. When women are
involved in earning income for the family, they generally continue to have all the additional
responsibilities within the home. The perception of women’s activities as not being valuable
and women’s limited ability to earn an income result in women having less power in the family
and the community. …women’s triple roles: reproductive, productive, and community [are
always the case in point]. (The CEDPA Training Manual Series Volume III, 1996)

3.1.1 The triple roles of women

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Because women are active in all three types of labor (reproductive, productive, and community),
they are said to have “triple roles.”
i) Reproductive roles: refer to child-bearing and child rearing and related responsibilities
fulfilled by women. They include pregnancy, giving birth to a child, breast-feeding and
associated roles of women such as raising children, caring for other family members, and
household management tasks, as well as home based production.
ii) Productive roles: refer to production of goods for consumption or income through work
in or outside the home.
iii) Community management: refers to tasks and responsibilities carried out for the benefit
of the community.

Women are expected to balance the demands of these three different roles and hence they should be
recognized for their contributions. The tasks women usually perform in carrying out their different
roles do not generally earn them an income. Women are often defined exclusively in terms of their
reproductive roles, which largely concern activities associated with their reproductive functions.
These reproductive roles, together with their community management roles, are perceived as natural.
But because these roles do not earn income, they are not recognized and valued as economically
productive. Women’s contributions to national economic development are, therefore, often not
quantified and hence invisible. In many societies, women also carry out productive activities such as
maintaining smallholder agricultural plots in farming systems. These tasks are often not considered
as work and are often unpaid. Women may also perform many roles which attract wages in both the
formal and informal economic sectors. But women’s economically productive roles, in contrast to
men’s, are often undervalued or given relatively little recognition.

3.2 Gender division of labor

Gender division of labor is defined as the socially determined ideas and practices which define what
roles and activities are deemed appropriate for women and men. Whilst the gender division of labor
tends to be seen as natural and immutable, in fact, these ideas and practices are socially constructed.
This results in context-specific patterns of who does what by gender (=gender roles) and how this is valued.

Gender divisions of labor are not necessarily rigidly defined in terms of men’s and women’s roles.
They are also characterized by co-operation in joint activities, as well as by separation. Often, the
accepted norm regarding gender divisions varies from the actual practice. However, roles typically
designated as female are almost invariably less valued than those designated as male. Women are
generally expected to fulfill the reproductive roles. Men tend to be more associated with productive
roles, particularly paid work, and market production. In the labor market, although women’s overall
participation rates are rising, they tend to be confined to a relatively narrow range of occupations or
concentrated in lower grades than men, usually earning less.

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 “Women’s labor is not infinitely elastic. It cannot stretch to cover all the deficiencies left by
reduced public expenditure. It cannot absorb all the shocks of adjustment.” (Elson, 1995:15)

Both women and men engage in productive roles. But what do you think is the problem with
women’s productive roles? Historically, women’s productive roles have been ignored and under-
valued, particularly in the informal sector and subsistence agriculture. This has led to misconceived
development projects. For example, the services of extension agents and agricultural inputs being
targeted at men. Because women’s labor is undervalued, it is often assumed by mainstream
development policies to be infinitely elastic. For example, policy makers expect that women can take
on roles previously fulfilled by public services, such as care for the sick and elderly, when cutbacks are made.

Women’s productive roles could be better recognized and gender-sensitive development

interventions be promoted if the following conditions are fulfilled. These are:

 Formal documentation and recognition of women’s roles and the related time burden’
 Measure all forms of economic activity by gender. International organizations have already
begun to implement it.
 Redefinition of ‘economic activities’ that include subsistence farming, food processing and
home-working ‘in anticipation of profit’.
 Employing time-budget-surveys to measure women’s input into reproductive work.
 Gender and development policies and programs can challenge and a change woman’s
socially prescribed roles in pursuit of gender equity.
 Training women and employing them in jobs previously under males’ domain. They may
include water technicians, builders, etc.
 Establishing proper remuneration for programs aiming to increase women’s participation in
spheres beyond the household.
 Reduction of women’s responsibilities in the home increased cooperation of men.
Section-four: Gender discrimination

Dear learner, you have learnt that traditional gender roles and gender division of labor have resulted
in unfavorable outcomes for women that put them at a disadvantaged position in society. In this
section, you will learn about gender discrimination that furthers gender gaps in society.
0 0000

4.1 Gender discrimination

“Not all women are poor, and not all poor people are women, but all women suffer from
discrimination” (Kabeer, 1996:20)

Gender discrimination refers to the systematic, unfavorable treatment of individuals on the basis of
their gender, which denies those rights, opportunities or resources. Across the world, women are
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treated unequally and less value is placed on their lives because of their gender. Women’s
differential access to power and control of resources is central to this discrimination in all
institutional spheres, i.e. the household, community, market, and state.

Within the household, women and girls can face discrimination in the sharing out of household
resources including food, sometimes leading to higher malnutrition and mortality indicators for
women. This is termed as intra-household resource allocation. At its most extreme case, gender
discrimination can lead to ‘son-preference’, expressed in ‘sex-selective-abortion’ or female feticide.
In the labor market, unequal pay, occupational exclusion or segregation into low skill and low paid
work limit women’s earnings in comparison to those of men of similar education levels. Women’s
lack of representation and voice in decision-making bodies in the community and the state
perpetuates discrimination, in terms of access to public services, such as schooling and health care or
discriminatory laws. The law is assumed to be gender-neutral when in fact it may perpetuate gender
discrimination, being a product of a culture with oppressive gender ideologies. Even where
constitutional or national legal provisions uphold gender equality principles, religious or other
customary laws that privilege men may take precedence in practice. However, the law, when
reformed with women’s input, can be a potent or powerful tool for challenging discrimination, if
combined with other strategies, including capacity-building to overcome barriers to claiming rights.
Dear learner, the box below provides some figures and facts about women revealing the distribution
of resources by gender at the global level.

Gender discrimination:

 women work more than 67% of the world’s working hours;

 women (particularly those in developing countries) work for about 17 hours a day;
 women produce about 50% of the world food;
 women’s earnings range from 50-85% of men’s earnings ; or women earn less than 10%
of the world income;
 2 out of 3 of the world’s illiterate people are women;
 2 out of 3 of the world’s poor are women;
 Women own only about 1% of the world property;
 globally women make up just over 10% of representatives in national government;

(Adapted from Oxfam, 1995:181, and ‘Facts and Figures’ section)

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in
1979 brought into international focus the rights of women as human rights, including the right to be
free from discrimination. Women activists regard this convention as a key tool to support their
struggle against discrimination in all spheres, pushing governments towards attaining these
internationally recognized minimum standards.

Section-five: Gender Equality and Equity

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 Gender equality and gender equity are the primary objectives in gender and development. The term
‘gender equity’ is often used interchangeably with ‘gender equality’. Here, a distinction is drawn
between these two concepts, reflecting divergent understandings of gender differences and of the
appropriate strategies to address these differences. You will learn about gender equality and equity
in this section.

5.1. Gender equality

Gender equality denotes women having the same opportunities in life as men, including the ability to
participate in the public sphere. This expresses a liberal feminist idea that removing discrimination
in opportunities for women allows them to achieve equal status to men. In effect, progress in
women’s status is measured against a male norm.

Equal opportunity policies and legislations tackle gender equality through measures that increase
women’s participation in public life. For example, some countries have developed institutions for
National Service for Women (NSW) to set up Equal Opportunities Plans for Women. This focused
on equitable participation in education, the labor market, health services, and politics. Judicial
reform is another key tool in the fight for equality, but lack of implementation and enforcement
might limit its impact.

The focus on what is sometimes called formal equality, does not necessarily demand or ensure
equality of outcomes. It assumes that once the barriers to participation are removed, there is a level-
playing field. It also does not recognize that women’s reality and experience may be different from men’s.

5.2. Gender equity

Gender equity denotes the equivalence in life outcomes for women and men, recognizing 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. It
requires a more transformative change. It recognizes that women and men have different needs,
preferences, and interests and that equality of outcomes may necessitate different treatment of men
and women.

An equity approach implies that all development policies and interventions need to be scrutinized for
their impact on gender relations. It necessitates a rethinking of policies and programs to take account
of men’s and women’s different realities and interests. So, for example, it implies rethinking existing
legislation on employment, as well as development programs, to take account of women’s
reproductive work and their concentration in unprotected, casual work in informal and home-based
enterprises. It is worth examining the content of policies, not just the language, before deciding
whether equity or an equality approach is being followed. Gender equity goals are seen as being
more political than gender equality goals.
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Most development specialists agree that sustainable development is not possible without the full
participation of both halves, female and male, of the world’s population. Development policies that
incorporate gender as a factor reflect a growing understanding of the necessity for women’s and
men’s full and equal participation in civil, cultural, economic, political, and social life. Gender-
focused development means that female and male infants are given equal opportunities to survive;
boys and girls are equally nourished and educated; and women and men have equal opportunities to
contribute to and benefit from social, economic, and political processes. With equity, women and
men will enjoy full and equal legal rights and access to and control over resources. Together, women
and men can participate in building more equitable, secure, and sustainable societies. Two
international conferences, the first on population and development in Cairo (1994), and the second,
on women in Beijing (1995) laid the foundation for incorporating gender equality and gender equity
in development. They state:

Advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women...are cornerstones of
population and development related programmes...The full and equal participation of women
in civil, cultural, economic, political and social life, at the national regional and
international levels, and the eradication of all forms of discrimination on grounds of sex, are
priority objectives of the international community (International Conference on Population
and Development, 1994).
Equality between women and men is a matter of human rights and a condition for social
justice and is also a necessary and fundamental prerequisite for equality, development and
peace. A transformed partnership based on equality between women and men is a condition
for people-centered sustainable development (The Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995).

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 UNIT THREE
FEMINISM, FEMINIST THEORIES AND DEVELOPMENT

In many of these societies, women have a low status in comparison with men. Relationships between
men and women seem to give men more power than women. These differences have led to the
development of a range of feminist theories which try to explain how and why women have become
subordinated and how this subordination is carried on from generation to generation. This part of
your module, therefore, will introduce you to the varieties of feminisms and/or feminist theories,
their contribution to gender equality and their salient connections to development. You will acquaint
yourself with explanations provided for why women and men were, and are, so unequal; and with
the feminist gender politics: the activities and strategies for remedying gender inequality. You will
learn about the development of feminist theories in relation to the sources of gender inequality and
its pervasiveness, and the different feminist political solutions and remedies based on these theories.
You will also see the major continuities and discontinuities in the feminist ideas and perspectives.
Feminist perspectives of the last five decades are grouped into three broad categories that reflect
their theories and political strategies with regard to the gendered social order. These are gender
reform feminisms, gender resistant feminisms, and gender revolution feminisms. Feminist theories
are also classified into white feminism, black feminism, and feminism in developing countries based
on geographic and ethnic criteria. In this unit, you will learn about these theories with particular
focus on gender reform, gender resistant and gender revolution feminisms. Each category is broad
and consists of sub-divisions.

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Section one: Gender Reform Feminisms

The feminisms of the 1960s and 1970s were the beginning of the second wave of feminism. They are
liberal feminism, Marxist and socialist feminisms, and development feminism. The roots of liberal
feminism were 18th and 19th century liberal political philosophy that developed the idea of
individual rights while Marxist and Socialist feminisms were fundamentally established on the
Marx's 19th century critiques of capitalism and his concept of class consciousness in class analysis.
Development feminism was essentially linked to the 20th century anti-colonial politics and ideas of
national development.

1.1 Liberal Feminism

Theoretically, liberal feminism claims that gender differences are not based in biology, and
therefore, women and men are not all that different. Liberalists hold that “… their common humanity
supersedes their pro-creative differentiation”. They claim that women and men should not be treated
differently under the law because they are not fundamentally different. For example, women should
have the same rights as men and the same educational and work opportunities. This liberal feminism
notion of equality before the law was reflected in the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. It states, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or any state on account of sex.” Politically, liberal feminists formed somewhat bureaucratic
organizations, which invited men members. Their activist focus has been concerned with visible
sources of gender discrimination, such as gendered job markets and inequitable wage scales, and
with getting women into positions of authority in the professions, government, and cultural institutions.

Liberal feminist politics took important weapons of the civil rights movement= anti-discrimination
legislation and affirmative action, and used them to fight gender inequality, especially in the job
market. Affirmative action calls for aggressively seeking out qualified people to redress the gender
and ethnic imbalance in work places. That means encouraging men to train for such jobs as nursing,
teaching, and secretary, and women for fields like engineering, construction, and police work. With
a diverse pool of qualified applicants, employers can be legally mandated to hire enough different
workers to achieve a reasonable balance in their workforce, and to pay them the same and also give
an equal chance to advance in their careers.
The main contribution of liberal feminism is showing how much modern society discriminates
against women. In the United States, it was successful in breaking down many barriers to women's
entry into formerly male-dominated jobs and professions, helped to equalize wage scales, and got
abortion and other reproductive rights legalized. But liberal feminism could not overcome the
prevailing belief that women and men are intrinsically different. It was somewhat more successful in
proving that even if women are different from men, they are not inferior.

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1.2 Marxist and Socialist Feminisms
Marx's analysis of the social structure of capitalism was supposed to apply to people of any social
characteristics. If you owned the means of production, you were a member of the capitalist class; if
you sold your labor for a wage, you were a member of the working class for the capitalists. That
would be true of women as well, except that until the end of the 19th century, married women in
capitalist countries were not allowed to own property in their own name; their profits from any
businesses they ran and their wages belonged to their husband. Although Marx recognized that
workers and capitalists had wives who worked in the home and took care of the children, he had no
place for housewives in his analysis of capitalism.

It was Marxist feminism that put housewives into the structure of capitalism, and not Karl Marx.
Housewives are vital to capitalism, indeed to any industrial economy, because their unpaid work in
the home maintains bosses and workers and reproduces the next generation of bosses and workers
(and their future wives as well). Furthermore, if a bourgeois husband (one who owns means of
production, or just a member of industry owning class) falls on hard times, his wife can do genteel
(refined or proper) work in the home, such as dressmaking, to earn extra money, or take a temporary
or part-time job, usually white collar. And when a worker's wages fall below the level needed to feed
his family, as it often does, his wife can go out to work for wages in factories or shops or other
people's homes, or turn the home into a small factory and put everyone, sometimes including the
children, to work.

The housewife's labor, paid and unpaid, is for her family. Marxist and socialist feminisms
severely criticize the family as a source of women's oppression and exploitation. If a woman works
for her family in the home, she has to be supported, and so she is economically dependent on the
"man of the house," like her children. If she works outside the home, she is still expected to fulfill
her domestic duties, and so she ends up working twice as hard as a man, and usually for a lot less pay.

This source of gender inequality has been somewhat redressed in countries that give all mothers
paid leave before and after the birth of a child and that provide affordable child care. But those
solutions put the burden of children totally on the mother, and encourage men to either consciously
or unconsciously exit out of family responsibilities altogether. To counteract that trend, feminists in
the government of Norway allocated a certain portion of paid-child-care-leave to fathers
specifically. Women in the former communist countries had what liberal feminism in capitalist
economies always wanted for women, that is, full-time jobs with state-supported maternity leave and
child-care services. But Marxist and socialist feminists claim that the welfare state can be
paternalistic, substituting public patriarchy for private patriarchy. They argue that male-dominated
government policies put the state's interests before those of women. When the economy needs
workers, the state may pay for child-care leave, and with a down-turn in the economy, the state
reduces the benefits. Similarly, when the state needs women to have more children, it cuts back on
abortions and contraceptive services. Women's status as a reserve army of labor and as a child

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producer is thus no different under socialism than under capitalism. The solution of women's
economic dependence on men thus cannot simply be waged work, especially if jobs continue to be
gender-segregated and women's work is paid less than men's.

Socialist feminism had a different solution to the gendered workforce than liberal feminism's
program of affirmative action. In examining the reasons why women and men workers' salaries are
so discrepant, proponents of comparable worth found that wage scales are not set by the market for
labor, by what a worker is worth to an employer, or by the worker's education or other credentials.
Salaries are set by conventional "worth," which is rooted in gender and ethnic and other forms of
discrimination. Comparable worth programs compare jobs in traditional women's occupations, such
as secretary, with traditional men's jobs, such as automobile mechanic. They give a point values for
qualifications needed, skills used, extent of responsibility and authority over other workers, and
dangerousness. Salaries are then equalized for jobs with a similar number of points (which represent
the "worth" of the job). Although comparable worth programs do not do away with gendered job
segregation, feminist proponents argue that raising the salaries of women who do the traditional
women's jobs could give the majority of women economic resources that would make them less
dependent on marriage or state benefits as a means of survival.

1.3 Development Feminism

Development feminism has done extensive gender analysis of the global economy. They argue that
the gendered division of labor in developing countries is the outcome of a long history of
colonialism. Under colonialism, women's traditional contributions to food production were
undermined in favor of exportable crops, such as coffee, and the extraction of raw materials, such as
minerals. Men workers were favored in this work, but they were paid barely enough for their own
subsistence. Women family members had to provide food for themselves and their children, but with
good land confiscated for plantations, they also lived at a bare survival level. As a result, they argue,
women workers in developing countries (Central and Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa)
were paid less than men workers, whether they work in factories or at home. To survive in rural
communities, women grow food, keep house, and earn money any way they can to supplement what
their migrating husbands send them.

Development feminism made an important theoretical contribution in equating women's status with
control of economic resources. In some societies, women control significant economic resources and
so have a high status. In contrast, in societies with patriarchal family structures where anything
women produce, including children, belongs to the husband, women and girls have a low value.
Development feminism's theory is that in any society, if the food women produce is the main way
the group is fed, and women also control the distribution of any surplus they produce, women have
power and prestige. If men provide most of the food and distribute the surplus, women's status is

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low. Whether women or men produce most of the food depends on the kind of technology used.
Thus, the mode of production and the kinship rules that control the distribution of any surplus is the
significant determinants of the relative status of women and men in any society. In addition to
gendered economic analyses, development feminism addresses the political issue of women's rights
versus national and cultural traditions. At the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Forum held in Beijing in 1995, the popular slogan was "human rights are women's rights and
women's rights are human rights." The Platform for Action document that came out of the UN
Conference condemned particular cultural practices that are oppressive to women. Such practices
include: infanticide, dowry, child-marriage (early marriage), and female genital mutilation. The 187
governments that signed onto the Beijing Platform for Action agreed to abolish these practices.

However, since they are integral parts of cultural and tribal traditions, to give them up at a time
could be seen as kowtowing to Western ideas. The development feminist perspective, so critical of
colonialism and yet so supportive of women's rights, has found this issue difficult to resolve.
Western ideas of individualism and economic independence are double-faced. On the one hand,
these ideas support the rights of girls and women to an education that will allow them to be
economically independent. They are also the source of a concept of universal human rights that can
be used to fight subordinating and sometimes physically hurtful tribal practices, such as genital
mutilation. On the other hand, Western ideas may weaken communal enterprises and traditional
reciprocal food production and shared child care. Indigenous women's own solution to this dilemma
is community organizing around their productive and reproductive roles as mothers so that what
benefits them economically and physically is in the service of their families, not themselves alone.
However, this same community organizing and family service can support the continuance of
cultural practices like female genital mutilation, which Western development feminists want to see
eradicated. The decision to not interfere with traditional cultural practices that are physically harmful
to girls, and at the same time, that works for their education and better health care are a particularly
problematic dilemma for development feminism.

Gender Resistant Feminisms

As gender reform feminisms made their way into the public consciousness in the 1970s and women
entered formerly all-men workplaces and schools, they became more and more aware of constant
and everyday put-downs, from bosses and colleagues at work, professors and students in the
classroom, fellow organizers in political movements, and worst of all, from boyfriends and husbands
at home. These "micro-inequities" of everyday life, being ignored and interrupted, not getting credit
for competence or good performance, being passed over for jobs that involve taking charge,
crystallize into a pattern that insidiously wears women down. Out of this awareness that ‘sisters had
no place in any brotherhood’ came the gender resistant feminisms of the 1970's. They are radical
feminism, lesbian feminism, psychoanalytical feminism, and standpoint feminism.

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2.1 Radical Feminism
Radical feminism had its start in small, leaderless, women-only consciousness-raising groups, where
the topics of intense discussion came out of women's daily lives- from housework, serving men's
emotional and sexual needs, menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. From these
discussions came a theory of gender inequality that went beyond discrimination, to oppression, and a
gender politics of resistance to the dominant gender order. Radical feminism's theoretical watchword
is patriarchy, or men's pervasive oppression and exploitation of women, which can be found
wherever women and men are in contact with each other, in private as well as in public. Radical
feminism argues that patriarchy is very hard to eradicate because its root- the belief that women are
different and inferior- is deeply embedded in most men's consciousness. It can best be resisted,
radical feminists argued, by forming non-hierarchical, supportive, woman-only spaces where women
can think and act and create free of constant sexist put-downs, sexual harassment, and the threat of
rape and violence. Stimulating possibilities of creating woman-oriented health care facilities, safe
residences for battered women, counseling and legal services for survivors of rape, a woman's
culture, and even a woman's religion and ethics forged the bonds of “sisterhood” and the rationale
for separation from men. Radical feminism turns male-dominated culture on its head. It puts down
all the characteristics that are valued in male-dominated societies - objectivity, distance, control,
coolness, aggressiveness, and competitiveness -and blames them for wars, poverty, rape, battering,
child abuse, and incest. It praises what women do feed and nurture, cooperate and reciprocate, and
attend to bodies, minds, and psyches. The important values, radical feminism argues, are intimacy,
persuasion, warmth, caring, and sharing -- the characteristics that women develop in their hands on,
everyday experiences with their own and their children's bodies and with the work of daily living.
Men could develop these characteristics, too, if they "mothered," but since few do, they are much
more prevalent in women. Radical feminism claims that most men have the potential to use physical
violence against women, including rape and murder. They point to the commonness of date rape and
wife beating, of murders of ex-wives and former girl friends. The commercial side of this systemic
misogyny, or women-hating, is the way women are depicted as sex objects in the mass media and as
pieces of meat in pornography, and the global exploitation of girls and young women in prostitution.
Even more insidious, they argue, sexual exploitation is the common downside of romantic
heterosexual love, which itself is oppressive to women. The threat of violence and rape, radical
feminism theorizes, is the way patriarchy controls all women.

Radical feminism's political battlefield has been protection of rape victims and battered women, and
condemnation of pornography, prostitution, sexual harassment, and sexual coercion. Since all men
derive power from their dominant social status, any sexual relationship between women and men is
intrinsically unequal. Consent by women to heterosexual intercourse is, by this definition, always
coerced unless it is explicitly agreed to by a fully aware, autonomous woman. This viewpoint led to
an expansion of the parameters of rape, and to making date rape visible and legally actionable. The
radical feminist political remedies-women-only consciousness-raising groups and alternative
organizations- were vital in allowing women the "breathing space" to formulate important theories of

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gender inequality, to develop women's studies programs in colleges and universities, to form communities,
and to produce knowledge, culture, religion, ethics, and health care from a woman's point of view.

But they alienated many working-class women, especially those of disadvantaged ethnic groups,
who felt that their men were just as oppressed as they were by the dominant society or classes.
Radical feminism's critique of heterosexuality and its valorization of mothering produced a schism
(division) among feminists, offending many of those who were in heterosexual relationships or who
didn't want children. Its praise of women's emotionality and nurturing capabilities and condemnation
of men's violent sexuality and aggressiveness has been seen as essentialist -rooted in deep-seated and
seemingly intractable differences between two global categories of people. This concentration on
universal gender oppression has led to accusations that radical feminism neglects ethnic and social
class differences among men and among women, and that it downplays other sources of oppression.
By pitting women against men, radical feminism alienates women of color and working-class
women, who feel torn between their feminist and their ethnic and class loyalties.

2.2. Lesbian Feminism

Lesbian feminism takes the radical feminist pessimistic view of men to its logical conclusion. If
heterosexual relationships are intrinsically exploitative because of men's social, physical, and sexual
power over women, why bother with men at all? Women are more loving, nurturing, sharing, and
understanding. Men like having women friends to talk about their problems with, but women can
only unburden to other women. "Why not goes all the way?" asked lesbian feminism. Stop sleeping
with the "enemy," and turn to other women for sexual love as well as for intellectual companionship
and emotional support. One theoretical lesbian feminism concept is that of the lesbian continuum,
where a lesbian can be any independent, woman identified woman. This lesbian metaphor
transforms love between women into an identity, a community, and a culture. Lesbian imagery is not
a mirror opposite of men's sexuality and relationships, but a new language, a new voice. Lesbian
feminism praises women's sexuality and bodies, mother-daughter love, and the cultural community
of women, not just sexual and emotional relationships between women. “Bi-sexual” women who
have sexual relations with both women and men, sometimes simultaneously and sometimes serially,
disturb the gender and sexual dichotomies that are the basis for lesbian feminism. Their presence has
been severely resisted in many lesbian communities, but they have become a contradiction not yet
resolved in lesbian feminism.

2.3. Psychoanalytic Feminism

Another important gender resistant feminism of the 1970s and 1980s came out of feminist re-
readings of Freud and the French feminist engagement with Lacan, Derrida, and Foucault. Freud's
theory of personality development centers on the Oedipus complex- the detachment from the
mother. Psychoanalytic feminism claims that the source of men's domination of women is men's
unconscious two-sided need for women's emotionality and rejection of them as potential castrators.

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Women submit to men because of their unconscious desires for emotional connectedness. These
gendered personalities are the outcome of the Oedipus complex- the separation from the mother.
Because women are the primary parents, infants bond with them. Boys, however, have to separate
from their mothers and identify with their fathers in order to establish their masculinity. They
develop strong ego boundaries and a capacity for the independent action, objectivity, and rational
thinking so valued in most cultures. Women are a threat to their independence and masculine
sexuality. Girls continue to identify with their mothers, and so they grow up with fluid ego
boundaries that make them sensitive, empathic, emotional. It is these qualities that make them
potentially good mothers, and keep them open to men's emotional needs. But because the men in
their lives have developed personalities that make them emotionally guarded, women want to have
children to bond with. Thus, psychological gendering of children is continually reproduced.

To develop nurturing capabilities in men, and to break the cycle of the reproduction of gendered
personality structures, psychoanalytic feminisms recommend shared-parenting, after men are
taught how to parent. French psychoanalytic feminism focuses on the ways that cultural productions
(novels, drama, art, opera, music, movies) reflect and represent the masculine unconscious,
especially fear of castration. In French feminist psychoanalytic theory, patriarchal culture is the
sublimation of men's suppressed infantile desire for the mother and fear of the loss of the phallus,
the symbol of masculine difference. Since women don't have a phallus to lose and are not different
from their mothers, they can't participate in the creation of the culture. Women's wish for a phallus
and repressed sexual desire for their fathers is sublimated into wanting to give birth to a son; men's
repressed sexual desire for their mother and fear of the father's castration are sublimated into cultural
creations. What women represent in phallic culture is the sexual desire and emotionality men must
repress in order to become like their fathers, men who are controlled and controlling. No matter what
role women play in cultural productions, the male gaze sees them as desired or despised sexualized
objects. Phallic cultural productions, according to psychoanalytic feminism, are full of aggression,
competition, and domination, with an underlying misogynist subtext of fear of castration – of
becoming a woman. To resist and to counter with woman centeredness, French feminism called for
women to write from their biographical experiences and their bodies, about menstruation,
pregnancy, childbirth, and sexuality. That way, women can resist their suppression by the dominant
phallic culture. However, urging women to produce woman-centered art and literature locks them
into a categorically female sensibility and emphasizes their difference from men and the dominant
culture even more. Women's emotional and erotic power is unleashed and made visible in women's
cultural productions, but they are separated from men's culture, which is still dominant.

2.4. Standpoint Feminism

Radical, lesbian, and psychoanalytic feminist theories of women's oppression converge in standpoint
feminism, which turns from resistance to confrontation with the dominant sources of knowledge and
values. The main idea among all the gender resistant feminisms is that women and women's

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perspectives should be central to knowledge, culture, and politics, not invisible or marginal.
Whoever sets the agendas for scientific research, whoever shapes the content of education, whoever
chooses the symbols that permeate cultural productions has hegemonic power. Hegemony is the
ideology that legitimates a society's unquestioned assumptions. In Western societies where the
justifications for many of the ideas about women and men largely come from science, as they
believe in scientific "facts" and rarely question their objectivity, Standpoint feminism emerges as a
critique of mainstream science and social science, a methodology for feminist research, and an
analysis of the power that lies in producing knowledge. Simply put, standpoint feminism says that
women's "voices" are different from men's, and they must be heard if women are to challenge
hegemonic values. Men do not recognize that the knowledge they produce and the concepts they use
come out of their own experience. Rather, they claim that their scientific work is universal, general,
neutral, and objective. But women know that it is partial, particular, masculine, and subjective
because they see the world from a different angle, and they have been excluded from much of
science. The grounding for standpoint theory comes from Marxist and socialist feminist theory,
which applies Marx's concept of “class consciousness” to women, and psychoanalytic feminist
theory, which describes the gendering of the unconscious. Standpoint feminism argues that as
physical and social reproducers of children -out of bodies, emotions, thought, and sheer physical
labor, women are grounded in material reality in ways that men are not. Because they are closely
connected to their bodies and their emotions, women's unconscious as well as conscious view of the
world is unitary and concrete. If women produced knowledge, it would be much more in touch with
the everyday, material world, and with the connectedness among people. Although men could
certainly do research on and about women, and women on men, standpoint feminism argues that
women researchers are more sensitive to how women see problems and set priorities, and therefore
would be better able to design and conduct research from a woman's point of view.

Unquestionably, women do privilege to women's experience. But is all women's experience is not the
same. The "facts" produced from a woman's perspective are also just as biased as those produced
from a man's point of view. Donna Haraway (1998) says that all knowledge is situated, just as
standpoint feminism claims, but situations differ, and so do all perspectives.

Section three: Gender Revolution Feminisms

The 1980s and 1990s have seen the emergence of feminist theories that attack the dominant social
order through questioning the clearness of the categories that comprise its hierarchies. These
feminisms deconstruct the interlocking structures of power and privilege that make one group of
men dominant, and range everyone else in a complex ladder of increasing disadvantage.
They also analyze how cultural productions, especially in the mass media, justify and normalize
inequality and subordinating practices. These feminisms thus have the revolutionary potential of
destabilizing the structure and values of the dominant social order. They are multi-ethnic feminism,
men’s feminism, social construction feminism, post-modern feminism and queer theory.

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Section objective
Dear learner, by the end of this section you should be able to:
 List feminist theories that are categorized under gender revolution feminisms;
 Describe the major viewpoints entertained in multi-ethnic, men’s feminism, social
construction feminism, post-modern feminism and queer theory;
 Analyze the convergences and divergences between multi-ethnic feminism, men’s feminism,
social construction feminism, post-modern feminism and queer theory;
 Describe the shared political solutions suggested by gender revolution feminisms; and
 Restate the major flaws or criticisms forward against gender revolution feminisms.

3.1 Multi-ethnic Feminism

Throughout the 20th century, social critics have argued that no one aspect of inequality is more
important than any other. Ethnicity, religion, social class, and gender comprise a complex
hierarchical stratification system in which upper-class, heterosexual, white men and women oppress
lower-class women and men of disadvantaged ethnicities and religions. In teasing out the multiple
strands of oppression and exploitation, multi-ethnic feminism has shown that gender, ethnicity,
religion, and social class are structurally intertwined relationships. Ethnicity, religion, social class,
and gender are the walls and windows of our lives, they structure what we experience, do, feel, see,
and ultimately believe about ourselves and others. As a writer points out in a comment on standpoint
theory ("Comment on Hekman's 'Truth and Method: Feminist Standpoint Theory Revisited': Where's
the Power?", 1997), these experiences are not individual, but belong to groups; thus they are a vital
source of both a world view and a sense of identity. The important point made by multi-ethnic
feminism is that the subordinate group is not marked just by gender or by ethnicity or religion, but is
in a social location in multiple systems of domination. Men are as oppressed as women, but men
and women of disadvantaged groups are often oppressed in different ways. For example, in the
United States, Black men are punished for their masculinity and Black women are seen as sexual
objects or mothers. Thus, group consciousness reflects all social statuses at once.
Multi-ethnic cultural feminism finds art in what women of every culture produce in everyday life:
quilts, folk songs, celebratory dances, festive food, decorated dishes, weaving and embroidery
(needlework) are all part of a vibrant women's culture. These women's modes of art and literature are
interactive and emotionally expressive. They are the equivalent of men's subversive cultural
productions, such as jazz and rap, and equally distinctive from the dominant group's way of talking
and thinking. A woman of a disadvantaged ethnic group may not feel loyalty or identity with "all
women." But she may also feel alienated from the men of her own group, if they are oppressive to
women because of a traditional patriarchal culture or because they are themselves subordinated by
men at the top of the pyramid.

3.2 Men's Feminism

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Men's feminism is a burgeoning field of study that applies feminist theories to the study of men and
masculinity. Men's feminism took on the task called for by feminists studying women in relationship
to men, that is, to treat men as well as women as a gender and to scrutinize masculinity as carefully
as femininity. A prime goal has been to develop a theory, not of masculinity, but of masculinities,
because of the diversity among men. They argue that there is no universal masculine characteristic
that is the same in every society. Nor, for that matter, in any one society, or in any one
organizational setting, as earlier studies of working-class men and racial stratification made very
clear. The main theory developed in men's feminism, which has been used to dissect the differences
between and within groups of middle-class and working class men of different ethnic groups and
sexual orientations, is a concept of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic or dominant men are those
who are economically successful, ethnically superior, and visibly heterosexual. Yet the
characteristics of masculinity, hegemonic or otherwise, are not the source of men's gender status.
Genders- men's and women's- are relational and embedded in the structure of the social order. The
object of analysis is thus not masculinity or femininity but their oppositional relationship. Neither
men nor women can be studied separately; the whole question of gender inequality involves a
relationship of “haves” and “have-nots”, of dominance and subordination, of advantage and
disadvantage. Men's feminism argues that gender inequality includes men's denigration of other
men as well as their exploitation of women. Low-level men workers around the world are oppressed
by the inequalities of the global economy, and young working class urban men's impoverished
environment and "taste for risk" has made them an endangered species. Men's feminism blames
sports, the military, fraternities, and other arenas of male-bonding for encouraging physical and
sexual violence and misogyny. It deplores the pressure on men to identify with but not be
emotionally close to their fathers and to be "cool" and unfeeling towards the women in their lives
and distant from their own children. But many men feminists have been critical of the men's
movements that foster a search for the primitive or "wild man" and of religiously oriented men's
organizations that link responsibility to family with patriarchal concepts of “manhood”. They argue
that these movements seek to change individual attitudes and do not address the structural conditions
of gender inequality or the power differences among men. The sources of gender inequality that
men's feminism concentrates on are embedded in the stratification systems of Western societies as
well as in the homophobia of heterosexual men, who construct their masculinity as clearly opposite
to that of homosexual men. Thus, it is necessary for prominent men of all ethnic groups in politics,
sports, and the mass media to appear heterosexual.

Gender inequality is also embedded in men's jockeying for the leading positions in whatever arena
they find themselves, and excluding women as much as possible from competition. It is not an
accident that so much of the language of competition is the language of sports, because organized
sports are not only an immediate site of masculinity displays, but also a source for vicarious
competitiveness and for the creation of symbolic icons of masculine strength and beauty.
Unfortunately, these are also icons of physical and sexual violence. Men's feminism overlaps with
gay studies in analyzing the social dimensions of male homosexuality. Examining homosexuality
from a gender perspective shows that homosexual men are men, not a third gender, and partake of
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the privileges and disadvantages and life styles of men of the same ethnic group and social class.
Nonetheless, because homosexual men do not have sexual relationships with women, an important
marker of “manhood” in Western society, they are considered not-quite men. Thus, like other men
who do not have the marks of hegemonic status (white, economically successful, heterosexual),
homosexual men are lower on the scale of privilege and power in Western society. Homosexual
men, however, do not subvert the gender order because they retain some of the "patriarchal
dividend" of male advantage. Men's feminism provides a needed corrective in bringing men into
gender research as a specific subject of study, but it does not offer any new theoretical perspective.
Rather, men's feminism is an amalgam of social construction, multi-ethnic, psychoanalytic, and
development feminism and gay studies. It is likely that men's feminism will eventually be absorbed
into more general feminist perspectives.

3.3 Social Construction Feminism

While multi-ethnic feminism focuses on the effects of location in a system of advantage and
disadvantage, and men's feminism on the hierarchical relationships of men to other men and to
women, social construction feminism looks at the structure of the gendered social order as a whole.
It sees gender as a “society-wide-institution” that is built into all the major social organizations of
society. As a social institution, gender determines the distribution of power, privileges, and
economic resources. Gendered norms and expectations get built into women's and men's sense of
self as a certain kind of human being, and alternative ways of acting and arranging work and family
life are literally unthinkable. In social construction feminist theory, inequality is the core of gender
itself: Women and men are socially differentiated in order to justify treating them unequally. Thus,
although gender is intertwined with other unequal statuses, remedying the gendered part of these
structures of inequality may be the most difficult, because gendering is so pervasive. Indeed, it is this
pervasiveness that leads so many people to believe that gendering is biological, and therefore
"natural." Social construction feminism focuses on the processes that create gender differences and
also on what renders the construction of gender invisible. The common social processes that
encourage us to see gender differences and to ignore continuums are the gendered division of labor
in the home that allocates child care and housework to women; gender segregation and gender
typing of occupations so that women and men don't do the same kind of work; re-gendering (as
when an occupation goes from men's work to women's work and is justified both ways by "natural"
masculine and feminine characteristics); selective comparisons that ignore similarities, as in men's
and women's separate sports competitions; and containment, suppression, and erasure of gender-
inappropriate behaviors and appearances, such as aggressiveness in women and nurturance in men.
Social construction feminism argues that the dichotomies of male and female biological sex and
physiology are also produced and maintained by social processes. Genital and hormonal ambiguities
are ignored or overridden in the sex categorization of infants; and the gendering of sports and
physical labor ignores the overlaps in female and male stature and musculature. In the social
construction feminist perspective, the processes of gender differentiation, approval of accepted
gendered behavior and appearance, and disapproval of deviations from established norms are all

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manifestations of power and social control. Religion, the law, and medicine reinforce the boundary
lines between women and men and suppress gender variation through moral censure and
stigmatization, such as labeling gender-inappropriate behavior sinful, illegal, and insane.
Social construction feminism also analyzes the historical and cultural context in which sexuality is
learned and enacted, or "scripted." What sexual behaviors are approved, tolerated, and tabooed
differs for women and men and varies for social groups over time and place. Sexuality, in this
perspective, is a product of learning, social pressures, and cultural values. Legal penalties, job loss,
and violence uphold the heterosexual social order, defeating individual attempts at resistance and
rebellion. Most people, however, voluntarily go along with their society's prescriptions for those of
their gender status, because the norms and expectations get built into their individual sense of worth
and identity. Even transvestites (males who dress in women's clothes and females who dress in
men's clothes) and transsexuals (people who have sex-change surgery) try to pass as "normal" men
and women. So male “cross-dressers” tend to wear very feminine-looking clothing, and male
transsexuals use hormones to grow breasts.

In the social construction feminist view, long-lasting change of this deeply gendered social order
would have to mean a conscious re-ordering of the gendered division of labor in the family and at
work, and at the same time, undermining the taken-for-granted assumptions about the capabilities of
women and men that justify the status quo. Such change is unlikely to come about unless the
pervasiveness of the social institution of gender and its social construction are openly challenged.
Since the processes of gendering include making them invisible, where are we to start? Is that with
individual awareness and attitude change? Or is that with restructuring social institutions and
behavioral change? Certainly, both individuals and institutions need to be altered to achieve gender
equality, but it may be impossible to do both at once.

Social construction feminism is faced with a political dilemma. If political activities focus on getting
individuals to understand the constrictions of gender norms and expectations and encourage
resistance to them in every aspect of their lives, it would not necessarily change social structure. If
the focus is on getting work organizations and governments to structure for gender equality, it would
not necessarily change gendered norms for individuals. The dilemma is built into the theory of social
construction, individuals construct and maintain the norms and expectations and patterns of behavior
that become institutionalized, but existing institutions constrain the extent of allowable variation and
individual and group difference. Socially patterned individual actions and institutional structures
construct and reinforce each other. For this reason, social construction feminism recognizes that
there is always change, but it is usually slow.

3.4 Postmodern Feminism and Queer Theory

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Post-modern feminism and queer theory go the furthest in challenging gender categories as dual,
oppositional, and fixed, arguing instead that sexuality and gender are shifting, fluid and multiple
categories. They critique a politics based on a universal category, woman, presenting instead a more
subversive view that undermines the solidity of a social order built on concepts of two sexes, two
sexualities, and two genders. Equality will come, they say, when there are so many recognized sexes,
sexualities, and genders that one can't be played against the other. Postmodern feminism and queer
theory examine the ways societies justify the beliefs about gender at any time (now and in the past)
with ideological "discourses" embedded in cultural representations or "texts." Not just art, literature,
and the mass media, but anything produced by a social group, including newspapers, political
pronouncements, and religious liturgy, is a "text." A text's "discourse" is what it says, what it doesn't
say, and what it hints at (sometimes called a "sub-text"). The historical and social context and the
material conditions under which a text is produced become part of the text's discourse. If a movie or
newspaper is produced in a time of conservative values or under a repressive political regime, its
"discourse" is going to be different from what is produced during times of openness or social change.
Who provides the money, who does the creative work, and who oversees the managerial side all
influence what a text conveys to its audience. The projected audience also shapes any text, although
the actual audience may read quite different meanings from those intended by the producers.
"Deconstruction" is the process of teasing out all of these aspects of a "text."
Queer theory goes beyond cultural productions to examine the discourses of gender and sexuality in
everyday life as texts ripe for deconstruction. In queer theory, gender and sexuality are
"performances", identities or selves we create as we act and interact with others. What we wear and
how we talk are signs and displays of gender and sexual orientation. What we do socially creates us
as women and men of a particular ethnic group, social class, occupation, religion, place of residence,
even if we try to create ourselves as individuals. queer theorists often find is that gender roles are
recreated in the same old way, a transvestite passing as a woman wears a demure dress, stockings,
and high-heeled shoes; a butch lesbian swaggers (boastfulness) in men's jeans and cowboy boots.
The bearded lady in a skirt still belongs in a circus, and is stared at openly on the street. Genders and
sexualities may be mixed up, but they are not erased. If social construction feminism puts too much
emphasis on institutions and structures, and not enough on individual actions, postmodern feminism
and queer theory have just the opposite problem. In queer theory, all the emphasis is on agency,
impression management, and presentation of the self in the guise and costume most likely to produce
or parody conformity. Social construction feminism argues that the gendered social order is
constantly re-stabilized by the individual action, but queer theory has shown how individuals can
consciously and purposefully create disorder and gender instability, opening the way to social
change. Social construction feminism can show where the structural contradictions and fault lines
are, which would offer places for individuals, organizations, and social movements to pressure for
long-lasting restructuring and a more equal social order for all kinds of people.

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 UNIT FOUR
APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES IN GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

Gender Needs

Different gender roles generate gender needs. These needs are conceived as practical needs and
strategic interests. They are reinforcing strategies to integrate the concerns of women into
development programs and projects.

1.1 Practical Gender Needs (PGN)

Practical needs are immediate and material and arise from current conditions. Women’s practical
needs tend to focus on the domestic arena, income-earning activities, and housing and basic services,
all identified as women’s responsibilities. Child care services, maternal and child health care,
subsistence crops marketing, and traditional employment opportunities are means to address these
needs. While practical interventions can increase women’s participation in the development process,
they are unlikely to change gender relations and, in fact, may preserve and reinforce inequitable
divisions of labor
Practical gender needs are the needs women identify in their socially accepted roles in society.
PGNs are a response to immediate perceived necessity, identified within a specific context. They are

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practical in nature and often concern inadequacies in living conditions such as water provision,
health care and employment. Hence, Practical needs are immediate and material and arise from
current conditions.
Women’s practical needs tend to focus on the domestic arena, income-earning activities, and
housing and basic services, all identified as women’s responsibilities. Child care services,
maternal and child health care, subsistence crops marketing, and traditional employment
opportunities are means to address these needs.
While practical interventions can increase women’s participation in the development process, they
are unlikely to change gender relations and, in fact, may preserve and reinforce inequitable divisions
of labor. PGNs do not challenge, although they arise out of gender divisions of labor, women's
subordinate position in society.
1.2 Strategic Gender Needs (SGN)
Women’s strategic interests are long-term, related to equalizing gender-based disparities in wages,
education, employment, and participation in decision-making bodies. Addressing strategic interests
may challenge the prevailing balance of power between men and women. Actions to address
women’s strategic interests might include abolition of the gender division of labor, shared domestic
labor and child care, elimination of institutionalized forms of discrimination (for example, the right
to own property and access to credit), promotion of political equality, freedom of choice over
childbearing, and adequate measures against male violence.

Strategic Gender Needs (SGN) is also termed as strategic interests of women. Strategic interests are
the needs women identify because of their subordinate position in society. They vary according to
particular contexts, related to gender divisions of labor, power and control, and may include such
issues as legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages, and women's control over their bodies.
Meeting SGNs assists women to achieve greater equality and change existing roles, thereby
challenging women's subordinate position.
Strategic interests are long-term, related to equalizing gender-based disparities in wages,
education, employment, and participation in decision-making bodies. Addressing strategic interests
may challenge the prevailing balance of power between men and women.

Actions to address women’s strategic interests might include abolition of the gender division of
labor, shared domestic labor and child care, elimination of institutionalized forms of
discrimination (for example, the right to own property and access to credit), promotion of political
equality, freedom of choice over childbearing, and adequate measures against male violence.
Practical needs and strategic interests are linked. Responding to practical needs identified by women
at the community level can provide an entry point to identifying and addressing their long-term
strategic interests. Starting a women’s group to meet a practical need for child care or income-
generation may improve women’s economic position and political participation. A community-based
reproductive health project, introduced to meet the practical need for family planning, may enable

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women to have greater control over their reproductive lives and have a larger role in decision-
making in the family
WID and GAD Approaches in Development

2.1 Women in Development (WID) and Women and Development (WAD)

Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD are the major schools of
thought in women’s development. They are approaches that represent a growing awareness that
sustainable development must include the full and equal participation of women and men. The WID
approach promotes women’s integration in development efforts. The focus is mainly on women
whereas the GAD approach concentrates on both men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities.
GAD specifically aims to fulfill the strategic interests of women. In reality, both WID and GAD can
contribute to women’s advancement and increase gender equity. WID projects enable women to
address their practical needs and gain experience for projects in which they are mainstreamed. GAD
enables women to address strategic interests, and women and men to work together toward mutual
goals and greater equality. As such, both deserve consideration by development planners.

Ester Boserup, argued in the book, Women’s Role in Economic Development (1970) that women’s
contributions were being ignored and development suffered as a result. The goal was more efficient,
effective development through the integration of women into existing development processes. The
strategies that were developed included adding women’s projects or project components, increasing
women’s income and productivity, and improving women’s ability to look after the household.
The main limitation of WID approach did not address the root causes of discrimination that
prevented women’s full participation in their societies. In the late 1970s, the WAD perspective was
developed in reaction to omissions in WID.

WAD proponents argued that women were already integrated into development processes but on
unequal terms. They pointed out that development projects increase the demands on women without
increasing access to resources or decision-making power and, in effect, work against women’s
interests. WAD argued that class structures were more oppressive than gender and that poor,
marginalized women have more in common with men of their class than with women of another
class. The emergence of GAD in the 1980s marked a revolution in thinking about equitable,
sustainable development.

2.2 Gender and Development (GAD)

The rationale for conducting women’s development programs began to shift from increased
efficiency in meeting development goals to greater equity and empowerment for women. The new
focus on gender was developed by women who argued that the WID approach saw the problems of
women merely from the perceived sexual divisions—their biological differences with men—rather

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 than in terms of gender—the social roles and relationships of men and women and the forces that
both perpetuate and change these relations. They pointed out that women have been systematically
subordinated and assigned secondary or inferior roles to men and their needs have been considered
in isolation from the larger context.
GAD reflects the recognition that women are an integral part of every development strategy. GAD
includes three main concepts:
 Both men and women create and maintain society and shape the division of labor. However,
they benefit and suffer unequally. Therefore, greater focus must be placed on women because
they have been more disadvantaged.
 Women and men are socialized differently and often function in different spheres of the
community, although there is interdependence. As a result, they have different priorities and
perspectives.
 Development affects men and women differently, and women and men will have a different
impact on projects. Both must be involved in identifying problems and solutions if the
interests of the community as a whole are to be furthered.
The GAD approach to development is aimed at ensuring an equal distribution of opportunities,
resources, and benefits to different population groups served by a particular intervention.

Below is a summary of the WID and GAD approaches to development.

Women in Development Gender and Development

The Approach  An approach which seeks to integrate women into the An approach which seeks to empower women and transform
development process unequal relations between women and men

The Focus  Women  Relations between men and women

The Problem  The exclusion of women from the development process  Unequal relations of power (rich and poor/women and men) th
prevent equitable development and women’s full participation

The Goal  More efficient, effective Development  Equitable, sustainable development

 Women and men sharing decision-making and power

The Strategies  Women’s projects  Identify and address short-term needs determined by women and
men to improve their condition
 Women’s components
 At the same time, address women’s and men’s longer term interes
 Integrated projects

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  Increase women’s productivity and income

 Increase women’s ability to manage their households

Source: Two Halves Make a Whole: Balancing Gender Relations in Development

UNIT FIVE

TECHNIQUES OF OPERATIONALZING GENDER

1.1 Concept and definition of gender analysis

The concept of gender analysis arose from the need to mainstream women’s interests while at the
same time acknowledging that women could not be treated as a homogeneous group. It was realized
that women’s needs were better understood when viewed in relation to men’s needs and roles and to
their social, cultural, political and economic context. Gender analysis thus takes into account
women’s roles in production, reproduction and management of community and other activities.
Changes in one may produce beneficial or detrimental effects in others.

Gender analysis is a systematic way of looking at the different impacts of development, policies,
programs and legislation on women and men that entails, first and foremost, collecting sex-
disaggregated data and gender-sensitive information about the population concerned. Gender
analysis can also include the examination of the multiple ways in which women and men, as social

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actors, engage in strategies to transform existing roles, relationships, and processes in their own
interest and in the interests of others.

Gender analysis means a close examination of a problem or situation in order to identify the gender
issues. Gender analysis of a development programme involves identifying the gender issues within
the problem which is being addressed and in the obstacles to progress, so that these issues can be
addressed in all aspects of the programme- in project objectives, in the choice of intervention
strategy and the methods of program implementation.

Gender analysis is the systematic attempt to identify key issues contributing to gender inequalities so
that they can be properly addressed. Gender analysis provides the basis for gender mainstreaming
and is described as “the study of differences in the conditions, needs, participation rates, access
to resources and development, control of assets, decision-making powers, etc., between women
and men in their assigned gender roles”. Gender analysis is also needed to determine whether
specific actions are needed for women or men in addition to mainstreaming activities.
Gender analysis refers to the socio-economic methodologies that identify and interpret the
consequence of gender differences and relations for achieving development objectives.

Applied to development interventions, gender analysis helps;

a) Identify gender based differences in access to resources to predict how different members of
households , groups, and societies will participate in and be affected by planned development
interventions;
b) Permit planners to achieve the goals of effectiveness, efficiency, equity and empowerment in
designing policy reforms, and supportive programs and strategies;
c) Develop training package to sensitize development staff on gender issues and training
strategies for beneficiaries;
d) A gender analysis is important because gender inequalities need to be identified before they can be
addressed either though mainstreaming actions or specific actions directed to women or to men.
e) A gender analysis provides information on the different roles of women and men at different
levels, their respective access to and control over the material and non-material benefits of
society, their priorities, needs and responsibilities.
f) On the basis of a thorough gender analysis it will be possible to understand current gender
inequalities in a given situation or sector and to propose a range of measures to be included
in the project/program to address and redress the situation.
g) A gender analysis is important when it is focused on institutions in order to determine how
the nature of their services affects women and men, or how institutions themselves are also
“gendered” in terms of recruitment practices, division of labor and decision-making. Policies
and legislation can be analyzed in terms of gender outcomes or potential differential impacts
on men and women.
An analysis of gender relations can tell us who has access, who has control, who is likely to benefit
from a new initiative, and who is likely to lose. Gender analysis asks questions that can lead us in a

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search for information to understand why the situation has developed the way it has. It can also lead
us to explore assumptions about issues such as the distribution of resources and the impact of culture
and traditions. It can provide the potential on the direct or indirect benefit of a development initiative
on women and men, on some appropriate entry points for measures that promote equality within a
particular context, and on how a particular development initiative may challenge or maintain the
existing gender division of labor. With this information measures of equality can be created to
address the disparities and promote equality.

For example, in the case of primary education, gender analysis can tell us that a gender gap exists in
most countries; i.e. a gap between girls’ and boys’ enrolment retention in school. In the majority of
countries where there is a gender gap, the gap works against girls, but in others, it works against
boys. In India, an average six years-old girl is expected to spend in school three years less than a boy
of the same age. Girls in rural areas are at even greater disadvantage; their risk of dropping out of
school is three times that of a boy. In Jamaica, however, it is boys who are at higher risk of missing
out on education. Boys are often pulled out of school and sent to work to boost family income, and
thus, their drop-out rate is higher than that of girls’. In their efforts to balance the needs of both boys
and girls, governments are increasingly using gender analysis to investigate the source of the gap and
what measures can be adopted to reduce the distortions in the educational system.

1.2 Framework or tools for gender analysis

A framework may outline broad sets of beliefs and goals, or it may be more prescriptive and gives a
set of tools and procedures. Because a frame selects a limited number of factors as key for analysis
out of the huge numbers that actually have an influence on any situation, each framework produces
only an approximate model. The selection of factors will reflect a set of values and assumptions that
lie behind the framework and these will also tend to influence which approaches and interventions
are considered and selected.
There are varieties of frameworks that have been developed to assist people in asking these
questions. Each tool is different, with some advantages and disadvantages, some account for other
social characteristics and factors better, while others are more participatory. Following are some examples:

1. The women’s equality and empowerment framework (Longwe): builds on an analytical

framework based on the interconnected principles of welfare, access, conscientization,
participation, control and empowerment.
2. The Harvard Analytical framework (Harvard): is a tool to collect data at the community and
household level. It has three main components: an activity profile (who does what?), an
access and control profile (who has access and who controls what?), and an analysis of
influencing factors (how does gender influence the profile?).
3. Gender Analysis Matrix (GAM) is designed as a tool for participative planning.
4. Capacities and vulnerabilities framework (CVA): is a way of collecting key information
together in a visual and immediate format.
5. Social Relations Approach (SRA): is useful analytical tool in trying to understand complex realities.

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 6. People Oriented Planning (POP)

1.3 Key elements of a gender analysis at different levels

Gender analysis should be conducted at all levels, from the grass roots (the micro level) through
intermediate levels (meso level) such as service delivery systems, to the highest political levels
(macro level), and across all sectors and programs of development cooperation.

Micro Level (agency, household and community level):

 What is the division of labor amongst women, men, young and old? Who normally does
what? Have there been changes due to war, migration for labor, HIV/AIDS pandemic or
other reasons?
 Are there gendered inequalities in access to resources, including new resources? Who has
control over different resources, including new ones, resources from institutions,
development projects or other outside interventions (governmental, firms, etc)?
 What are the implications regarding having or not having control over resources?
 Resources do include non-material resources such as time, knowledge and information, or
relationships (social capital)
 What factors influence access to and control over resources (for example: age, sex, position in
an organization, wealth, rural/urban location, educational level, networks and patronage)?
 At the community level, how are decisions made about different resources and activities? Are
women enabled to participate in informed decision making, if yes how? At household level:
who makes the decisions about the use of different resources and the activities of the household
members? Who decides about the mobility of the household members?
 Are there indications for agents of change of gender roles? Are initiatives for change
welcome or oppressed?
 Which rites de passage do women and men have to go through in their life cycle? (cultural
steps to take trough different initiation rites)
 How is marriage organized, do women have the right to chose their husbands freely? Is there
a bride price system, or a dowry system? Is there a practice of early child marriage and if yes,
due to which arguments?
 What happens to women and girls, if they do not (want) fit into the culturally apt (e.g.
arranged) marriage patterns? Does this hamper their access to resources, inheritance, etc?

Meso level (structural + relational level)

 Do service delivery structures (e.g. all civil service structures at this level – health, education,
labor, transport, etc. – the police, the judiciary, etc) reflect gender balance in their
membership and management?
 Do women and men have equal access to employment and services? Is equal treatment in
terms of pay and benefit guaranteed for men and women?

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  Do private sector businesses and institutions (including companies, banks, media, etc) reflect
gender balance in their membership and management?
 Do women and men have equal access to employment and services?
 Is there occupational segregation of the labor market by gender, either horizontal or vertical?
 How is the participation of women and men in local governance organized?
 Are there any other culturally important decision-making bodies or structures (kinship, clans,
tribal structures, etc.) which do influence people’s life? How are women´s and men´s voices
represented and how are decisions taken and implemented?

Macro level
 Have gender equality commitments have been made by the government in the context of
international processes such as the Beijing process, the MDG process, or the ratification of
CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women)?
 What are the concluding observations of the special procedures of the UN human rights
system regarding the CEDAW reporting (also the Child Rights Convention is relevant) for
special procedures and concluding observation of state reporting to the covenants
 Do national and sector policies reflect these commitments by their awareness of inequalities
between men and women at different levels and the inclusion of means to address them?
 How do current policies, laws and regulations (e.g. voting rights, rights to inheritance and
credit opportunities, rights to divorce and child custody, reproductive rights, etc.) impact
differently on women and men?
 In national-level institutions (parliament, government ministries, universities, businesses)
how are decisions made? How are women represented in the system? How are decisions taken?
 Is gender budgeting in place in parliament and/or local governments?
 Review the UNDP MDG reports on MDG 3 in a respective country; analyze the data of the
Human Development and Gender Development /Gender Gap data available.

Section II: Gender planning

There is considerable evidence that women and men use, contribute to and gain from their country in
different ways and planning initiatives need to be gender-sensitive. It is critical to both increase
women's participation in development along side men as well as to improve the gender awareness of
planners, managers and politicians. This can be justified on the grounds of gender equity, ensuring
that the priorities of both women and men are addressed and that their needs are met, but it is also
important to bring in the knowledge, energy and expertise of both women and men into planning and
management processes (Beall, 1997a).

The early literature on women and development critiqued the stereotypical assumptions of policy
makers and planners for assuming that a) households were male-headed and nuclear, b) there was a
gender division of labor involving men in paid work and women primarily in domestic work and
child-rearing, (Moser 1987, 1993) and c) that there is a strong separation between the public and

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private sphere, with women confined to the latter (Whitzman 1995; Beall 1996; Pain 2001;
Grundström 2005; Chant 2007b). But many of the more recent guidelines place considerable
emphasis on analyzing the conditions and needs of various groups of men and women in particular
contexts, rather than reading these off a priori. Nevertheless, the earlier formulations which
attempted to highlight in generic ways how gender can be understood in relation to development and
planning remain useful as tools for thinking about these issues.
For Moser (1987), gender planning is an approach that recognizes the fact that because women and
men play different roles in society they often have different needs. Women have particular needs that
differ from those of men, not only because of their triple role, but also because of their subordinate
position in relation to men. It is, therefore, useful to consider gender needs in gender planning. From
the onset of planning, it becomes of paramount importance to distinguish between practical gender
needs and strategic interests of women so that the basic goals attempted at to address in planning are
clearly identified.

The renewed emphasis on strategic planning enabled gender activists to advocate for gender
mainstreaming - to ensure that a gender-blind approach was not reproduced in subsequent
development efforts, and instead, that gender equality was achieved.

Reeves (2002) notes the following points to assess whether a strategic plan is likely to promote
gender equality:
 relevant gendered information needs to be collected;
 women and men need to be represented on decision-making bodies;
 policies need to reflect different needs; and
 Measurable goals and outcomes need to be established.
More specifically geared towards practical implementation, much gender mainstreaming toolkit
shows how to incorporate a consideration of gender into planning. It is based on a series of questions
and can be used at any stage of the plan-making process. In summary, these are:
 Who are the planners?
 Who forms the policy team?
 Which sorts of people are perceived to be planned?
 How are statistics gathered and who do they include?
 What are the key values, priorities and objectives of the plan?
 Who is consulted and who is involved in participation?
 How are the planning proposals evaluated? By whom?
 How is the policy implemented, monitored and managed?
 Is gender mainstreaming fully integrated into all policy areas?
Thus, in the planning process, the implementation of gender mainstreaming usually entails the
following elements: gender analysis; sex-disaggregated data; gender-sensitive indicators;
institutional mechanisms; gender-responsive resource allocation; and gender partnerships and

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networks. Gender planning is usually based on the main problems identified at the stage of gender
analysis. Once gender analysis is made the planning process involves the following steps:
 The first step is that key priority “gender objectives” have to be identified to start the process
of making the intervention more gender aware;
 Second step is the identification of the major constraints and opportunities these gender
objectives are expected to encounter (what to do?); and
 The last step is the development of an “entry strategy (planning)” to achieve the gender
objectives and the steps necessary to overcome the constraints and assets (how to do it).

Section III: Gender mainstreaming

3.1 Definitions and conceptual overview of gender mainstreaming

The commonly accepted and most widely used definition of gender mainstreaming is the one
adopted by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council: “Mainstreaming a gender perspective
is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making
women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and
societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The
ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” (UN ECOSOC, 1997)

Similarly, the Commonwealth Secretariat (Leo-Rhynie et al 1999: 9) defines gender mainstreaming

as the consistent use of a gender perspective at all stages of the development and implementation of
policies, plans, programmes and projects. It involves:
 bringing about institutional change to ensure the empowerment of both women and men
through equal participation in decision-making on issues which affect their lives
 analyzing all government policies and practices to examine the differential impact they have
on men and women
 Providing training and capacity-building to enhance gender management and raise the
general level of gender awareness.
Gender mainstreaming is a flexible strategy that accommodates mainstreaming women into all
projects, women-specific components, and separate projects and programmes directed exclusively at women.
A

According to UNDP, gender mainstreaming is a process of identifying and taking full account of the
relationships between men and women in all of an agency’s policies, strategies, programs,
administrative and financial activities at every level. Gender mainstreaming offers a dynamic way of
determining and enhancing development potential of both women and men and identifying
constraints that each faces, and it entails:

 Being informed of the gender characteristics of a given population;

 Taking full account of this information in the development of policy and program activities;
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  Appraising all program documentation in the light of known gender information;
 Consistent monitoring of all activities to ensure equitable gender outcomes.
Gender mainstreaming includes both the issue of equality and mainstream. Mainstreaming includes
gender specific activities and affirmative action, whenever women or men are at a particular
disadvantageous position. Gender-specific intervention can target women exclusively, men and
women together, or only men, to enable them to participate in and benefit equally from development
efforts. These are necessary temporary measures designed to combat the direct and indirect
consequences of past discrimination.

Mainstreaming is not adding ‘women’s component’ or even a ‘gender equality component’ in to an

existing activity. It goes beyond increasing women’s participation; it means bringing the experience,
knowledge, and interests of women and men to bear on the development agenda. It may require
changes in goals, strategies and actions so that both men and women can influence, participate in,
and benefit from development processes. The goal of mainstreaming gender equality is thus the
transformation of unequal social and institutional structures in to equal and just structure for both
men and women.

Gender mainstreaming was adopted as a major strategy for promoting gender equality at the Fourth
World Conference of Women in 1995. It called for mainstreaming in all ‘Critical Areas of Concern’
at the conference which included poverty, human rights, economy, violence against women and
armed conflict. In addition, the Beijing Platform for Action established that gender analysis should
be undertaken on the respective situation and contributions of both women and men before
undertaking development policies and programs.

The inclusion of a goal on gender equality and the empowerment of women in the MDGs re-
established the commitment voiced in Beijing. In addition, in outlining the way forward toward
achieving that goal, the report of the Task Force on Education and Gender Equality of the UN
Millennium Project reinforced the importance of investing in gender mainstreaming as a tool and
reiterated (repeated) the need to expedite (accelerate) mainstreaming responses and actions and put
in place the systems to hold institutions accountable.
This is especially important now because the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals
(MDG), especially MDG3 on gender equality and the empowerment of women, offer an invaluable
opportunity to reinvigorate efforts to achieve positive development outcomes. Besides, the vast body
of experience and knowledge gained over the past three decades on what works and what doesn’t in
development interventions across different sectors is available to be applied to make greater and
more rapid progress on mainstreaming gender into operations. As results emerge and development
effectiveness improves from mainstreaming gender, it is believed that the success and growing
experience will generate additional interest, learning and enthusiasm, and the process will gather
momentum. Changes at the operations level will also improve the lives of women and men, the
purpose for which gender mainstreaming was adopted. Concrete results in terms of increased
development effectiveness constitute a way forward in the current impasse with gender

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mainstreaming and will make important and growing contributions towards achieving the wider
institutional goals of empowerment and equality for low-income and disenfranchised people that are
not currently being met.
Gender mainstreaming is a powerful new development in feminist theory and practice. While most
frequently understood as a specialized tool of a policy world, it is also a feminist strategy that draws
on and can inform feminist theory. It is an international phenomenon, originating in development policies,
and adopted by the UN at the 1995 conference of Women in Beijing (Walby, 2003)

Gender mainstreaming was adopted mainly to address the perceived failure of previous strategies
such as women-specific projects to bring about significant changes in women’s status. There was
widespread consensus that the failures of women-specific projects in the 1970s and 1980s were due
to their marginalization. Gender mainstreaming was designed to overcome this marginalization and
to bring gender equality issues into the core of development activities. In the decade since gender
mainstreaming was endorsed and adopted by countries and institutions, however, it has yet to be
fully implemented anywhere.

The primary objective behind gender mainstreaming is to design and implement development
projects, programs and policies that;

1. Do not reinforce existing gender inequalities (gender neutral)

2. Attempt to redress existing gender inequalities (gender sensitive)
3. Attempt to redefine women and men’s gender roles and relations (gender
positive/transformative)
3.2 Steps in Gender Mainstreaming

The 10 Steps for Gender Mainstreaming include:

1. A mainstreaming approach to stakeholders: who are the decision makers?

This step concerns the project and policy making context. The actors involved in the process, along
with their values and understanding of gender issues, will significantly determine the outcome of
your policy or project. During step one you should seek answers to the following three key questions:
 Who are the stakeholders? Do they include individuals or groups with a “gender perspective”?
 Is there gender balance in all institutions and bodies involved?
 Where is gender expertise available?

2. Mainstreaming a gender agenda: What is the issue?

During this step, you should first identify the main development problem or issue at hand. This can
be accomplished by answering the following basic questions:
 What is the subject of your project or policy-making initiative?
 Does this issue affect men and women in different ways?

3. Moving towards gender equality: What is the goal?

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Once you have identified the “subject” of your project or policy-making initiative, you should
discern what your goal is. You can do this by asking:
 What do we want to achieve?
 Is the goal disaggregated by gender?
 Does the goal include a broader commitment to improving gender equality?

These broad goals will be translated into specific targets and objectives (see step 6), and once you
have refined the question (see step 5) you are ready to develop concrete policy interventions.
4. Mapping the situation: What information do we have?
Mapping the Situation is a critical stage for introducing efficiency into the mainstreaming process.
Three tools and exercises are suggested that will help you answer the above questions:
 Mapping exercise
 Policy review from a gender perspective
 Legislative review from a gender perspective
5. Refining the issue: research and analysis

This phase involves:

i) Specifying the Research Question:

ii) Determining necessary inputs:

iii) Commissioning the Research: Regardless of whether the research is conducted in- house or
outsourced, you should refer to the following questions when evaluating any research proposals:

 Actors: Who will be involved in the gathering and analysis of data? Is gender balance and a
gender perspective (expertise) ensured?
 Subjects: Will the situation of both genders be researched? Will data be disaggregated by gender?
 Methodology: What methodology will be used? Is it sensitive to both men’s and women’s
particular needs? (e.g. confidentiality, sensitivity to some issues)
 Analytical Axes: Does the research include gender as an important variable in determining
social processes? Are other important axes for analysis considered (ethnicity, socio-economic
status, geographical location, etc.)?
 Theoretical Framework: Is knowledge of gender analysis frameworks demonstrated? Will
these frameworks be used in the analysis of data?
 Credibility: Have steps been taken to ensure that results will be credible in the eyes of all
stakeholders (will they have the chance to provide inputs and comments)?
6. Formulating policy or project interventions from a gender perspective

Choosing the “correct” course for policy or project intervention is rarely straightforward. It involves
balancing a number of crucial considerations, including efficiency–cost-benefit analysis;
effectiveness–the degree to which your goal will be met; and social justice, including gender

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equality–the extent to which social and historical disadvantages between different groups in society
are addressed and compensated.
Gender mainstreaming checklist for project or policy documents includes:
Background and Justification: Is the gender dimension highlighted in background information to
the intervention? Does the justification include convincing arguments for gender
mainstreaming and gender equality?
Goals: Does the goal of the proposed intervention reflect the needs of both men and women? Does
the goal seek to correct gender imbalances through addressing practical needs of men and women?
Does the goal seek to transform the institutions (social and other) that perpetuate gender inequality?
Target Beneficiaries: Except where interventions specifically target men or women as a corrective
measure to enhance gender equality, is there gender balance within the target beneficiary group?
Objectives: Do the intervention objectives address needs of both women and men?
Activities: Do planned activities involve both men and women? Are any additional activities needed to ensure
that a gender perspective made explicit (e.g. training in gender issues, additional research, etc.)?
Indicators: Have indicators been developed to measure progress towards the fulfillment of each
objective? Do these indicators measure the gender aspects of each objective? Are indicators
gender disaggregated? Are targets set to guarantee a sufficient level of gender balance in
activities (e.g. quotas for male and female participation)?
Implementation: Who will implement the planned intervention? Have these partners received
gender mainstreaming training, so that a gender perspective can be sustained throughout
implementation? Will both women and men participate in implementation?
Monitoring and Evaluation: Does the monitoring and evaluation strategy include a gender
perspective? Will it examine both substantive (content) and administrative (process) aspects
of the intervention?
Risks: Has the greater context of gender roles and relations within society been considered as a
potential risk (i.e. stereotypes or structural barriers that may prevent full participation of one
or the other gender)? Has the potential negative impact of the intervention been considered
(e.g. potential increased burden on women or social isolation of men?)
Budget: Have financial inputs been “gender-proofed” to ensure that both men and women will
benefit from the planned intervention? Has the need to provide gender sensitivity training or
to engage short-term gender experts been factored in to the budget?
Annexes: Are any relevant research papers (or excerpts) included as annexes (particularly those that
provide sound justification of your attention to gender)?
Communication Strategy: Has a communication strategy been developed for informing various
publics about the existence, progress and results of the project from a gender perspective?

7. Arguing your case: gender matters!

One crucial aspect of gender mainstreaming involves developing arguments for gender equality.
Because experience has shown that decision makers are sometimes reluctant to devote scarce
resources to gender equality activities, decision-makers (especially those who control budgets) need
to be convinced that their investment in gender equality will have pay-offs.
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Decision-makers need to be presented with arguments that highlight, concretely and precisely, why
gender matters. In other words, you must illustrate what development problems gender equality
contributes to solving, and what specific benefits a gender-aware perspective will bring to the
government, individuals –both men and women - and the nation as whole. Well-defined arguments
will increase your chances of receiving financial and moral support for any planned interventions.
Arguments for adapting a gendered approach and for promoting gender equality in all projects and
policies generally fall into one of the following six categories:

i) Justice and equality arguments: These stress the value of democratic principles and
basic human rights, which demand gender equality. Justice arguments can be used to
argue for equal representation and participation of both genders in various contexts,
premised on the basic notion of their shared human rights. Most states are party to a
variety of normative documents (for example, The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women and global conference documents from Beijing,
Copenhagen and Cairo), all of which establish gender equality as a fundamental
principle. States are obliged to fulfill these commitments, especially as many basic
democratic principles articulated here reflect most states’ own constitutions.

ii) Credibility and Accountability Arguments: Credibility arguments ask decision makers to
“do the math”: because women and men each make up half of the population, any data,
policy or recommendation that does not recognize and address both genders equally will
be ultimately flawed, and will thus have no credibility. These arguments are useful for
justifying gender impact assessments (studies that examine how men and women are, will
be or have been differently affected by actions or situational factors), or calling for more
gender balance in decision-making processes. Accountability arguments in particular are
useful for reminding governments of their responsibility to ensure social justice and
sustainable human development.

iii) Efficiency and Sustainability Arguments: These arguments make clear an irrefutable fact:
equal inclusion of men and women in all aspects of development and society pays off for the country
as a whole. Nations cannot afford to ignore the contributions and economic and social capacities of
both men and women in all spheres, and the development of any country that does will ultimately
suffer in the medium and long term. This is an argument that addresses “macro” aspects of
development – i.e. the welfare and prosperity of a nation as a whole; that investment in gender
equality will pay off for the country as a whole in the future.

These arguments are particularly effective because they address the bottom line: money. They prove
that investment in gender equality will pay off for the country as a whole in the future. Global
studies have been done that prove the overall efficiency arguments – these can assist you to make
your argument, as will any national research you have to substantiate your case. Because gender
mainstreaming adopts a “human development” perspective, it is inextricably about ensuring

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sustainability. And because gender mainstreaming demands a holistic approach to policy making
where coordination and cooperation (both vertical and horizontal) are key, interventions are more
likely to be sustainable.

iv) Quality of Life Arguments: while it is commonly recognized that women stand to benefit
from increased attention to gender equality, quality of life arguments also point out the
benefits to be gained by men and families as well. They stress the importance of social
relationships and interdependence of social actors, claiming, for example, that if women
are empowered, those closest to them stand to gain as well. On the flip-side, inequality or
hardship for one gender will negatively affect other social actors as well. For example,
the negative effects of depression in men or poor employment opportunities for women
affect families, children and spouses as well.

Moreover, quality of life arguments are useful for promoting a gender dimension in programs aimed
at curbing social “pathologies”. For example, issues such as suicide, alcoholism, addictions and
chronic stress are strongly linked to changing gender roles and relations in society and the inability
of individuals to cope and adapt. The argument here therefore underlines how a gender perspective can
limit these pathologies and improve the quality of life of members of society.

v) Alliance Arguments: Alliance arguments highlight gender equality as a prerequisite for

forging formal alliances or partnerships with other nations. In the context of Eastern and
Central Europe, the most salient example is European Union integration: candidate
countries for EU accession are mandated to implement various instruments for the
promotion of gender equality as a prerequisite for EU membership.

vi) Chain Reaction Arguments: Lastly, all of the above arguments are strengthened when the
links between them are highlighted. Gender equality can in fact produce a “chain reaction” of
benefits, just as the effects of gender inequality can be passed on from individuals to families and
communities. The “chain reaction” argument highlights how sound the investment in gender
equality actually is: it will bring not only short-term, localized benefits, but medium and long-term
benefits that will ripple (flow) through society strengthening the nation as a whole. At the same
time, mainstreaming should also remain aware of “chain reactions” that might produce negative
gender equality effects if not anticipated and dealt with in an integrated manner. For example, a
“top down” mandate for family-friendly workplaces might bring backlash and even greater
exposure to harassment against women in their place of work. Similarly, advancement of women
may lead to greater depression and pathological behavior among men. These risks highlight the
crucial need to create complex strategies for gender mainstreaming, whereby a number of initiatives
are mutually reinforcing. Thus a negative chain reaction argument can be used to convince
decision-makers that mainstreaming must proceed in a strategic and holistic manner.

8. Monitoring: keeping a (gender-sensitive) eye on things

Monitoring is an indivisible aspect of gender mainstreaming. Three aspects of monitoring include:

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 I. Levels of monitoring: Monitoring should take place at two different levels: Monitoring
progress towards fulfilling substantive goals and objectives and monitoring the implementation
process. Both require setting targets (goals) and developing indicators to measure progress towards
meeting those targets. When monitoring progress towards substantive goals and objectives,
indicators must be developed that track the delivery of specified outputs (activities) and outcomes
(impact). When monitoring the implementation process, targets and indicators must be developed
that track the extent to which the process itself is gender-sensitive. Monitoring the process will:

 allow you to identify hindrances and gaps in the process that can be immediately redressed
 allow you to improve the design of future initiatives
 document obstacles to mainstreaming that can be later addressed in a wider institutional context
II. Gender-sensitive monitoring plans: Plans for monitoring both substantive progress and the
implementation process should be developed and included in the official document outlining your
intervention. These plans should specify:

 who is responsible for monitoring tasks

 how other stakeholders will participate in the monitoring process
 when monitoring will take place
 what tools will be used to record observations what mechanisms exist to review progress
(periodic appraisal or review sessions)
Questions to consider in monitoring the process might include:

 Are men and women equally participating in project decision-making?

 Are men and women treated with equal respect, as decision-makers, implementers and
participants?
 Are those involved in project implementation continually motivated to maintain a gender
perspective (opportunities to update their gender knowledge and skills, and discuss gender
issues in a non-judgmental environment)?
9. Evaluation: how did we do?
The culmination of the monitoring process occurs during Step 9: Evaluation. This stage is vital for
establishing good practices and lessons learned from your initiative, for the ultimate purpose of
improving initiatives in the future. Evaluation is also a question of accountability for resources
used. Three levels of evaluation include:
1. Evaluation of outputs (Have objectives been met?)
2. Evaluation of outcomes (To what extent has the development goal been achieved?)
3. Evaluation of process (How were outputs and outcomes delivered?)
In order to mainstream a gender perspective, key questions to consider at all levels of evaluation include:
Evolution criteria
 Who determines the evaluation criteria?
 What level of importance or priority is afforded to gender equality considerations?
Evaluation Actors
 Do evaluators’ Terms of Reference specify the need for gender expertise?

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  Are all stakeholders involved in the evaluation process?
 Who will provide inputs for evaluation data?
 Will the opinions of both men and women be considered?
 Who will be responsible for consolidating inputs and determining the validity and priority of
differing opinions or observations?
Evaluation Process
 Will participatory methods be used?
 How and to whom will results of the evaluation be disseminated?
 Will both men and women stakeholders be given the opportunity to formally comment on or
state their reservations about the evaluation results?
To ensure the sustainability of mainstreaming efforts, consider the following:
 How does your initiative fit into the “big picture”, i.e. more comprehensive government
programmes and policy frameworks? What entry points for follow-up and complementary
activities does this framework offer?
 Does your evaluation include concrete recommendations for follow-up initiatives? What
other entry points can be accessed to ensure this follow-up?
 Does your evaluation point to implications for other ministries or stakeholders more
broadly? How will you communicate these implications? Can you propose any concrete entry
points?
 Are you documenting the process and results of your initiatives in a way that will guarantee
institutional memory?
 In general, how and to whom are you communicating the results of your initiatives?

10. En-gendering communication

While “communication” figures as the last step in this gender mainstreaming guide, communication
considerations themselves need to be “mainstreamed” or integrated at all phases of the project or
policy cycle. Communication with other stakeholders - from civil society to your superiors – is
necessary at all stages and all levels. In every case, the way in which you communicate (both pro-
actively and reactively) will influence the success of your project or policy.

One of the barriers to effective gender mainstreaming is a lack of information on various levels, including:
 about the situation, from a gender perspective
 about government or organizational mandates for gender equality
 about policies and programs targeting gender equality
 about stakeholders and efforts of other actors in promoting gender equality
Part of your role must be to design and implement effective communication strategies to help bridge
this information gap for a diverse set of publics. These publics include:
 Top-level policy makers and decision-makers
 Other policy-makers
 Different groups within civil society (men, women, activists, academics, etc)

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  Donors and Development Partners
Using a gender perspective when designing communication, strategies should highlight the different
ways in which men and women respond to different messages. Key questions you might ask during a
gender analysis of communication strategies include:
 Do men and women read different publications?
 Do men and women watch or listen to different electronic media?
 Are media consumption patterns (frequency, time) different for men and women?
 Do men and women have different credibility criteria (regarding “authorities”, arguments
used, etc)?
 Do men and women have different values that cause them to respond to certain messages in
different ways?
Possible interventions for communicating progress in gender mainstreaming:
 Preparation of an Annual Report on Gender;
 Use of Electronic Media;
 Establishment of a Gender Policy Resource Centre.
Section IV: Gender Budgeting

Dear learner, here is the section on gender budgeting. Gender budgets are tools for testing a
government's gender mainstreaming commitments - linking policy commitments across government
departments with their budgets. Without a suitable economic underpinning, a government's equality
commitments are unlikely to be realized. Gender budgeting can be used in any phase of the budget
cycle, from planning and identifying objectives and identifying the financial allocations to meet
these objectives, to an evaluation of the extent to which these objectives have been met.

4.1. Definitions and concepts of gender budgeting

A gender budget is not a separate budget for women; instead it is an approach which can be used to
highlight the gap between policy statements and the resources committed to their implementation,
ensuring that public money is spent in more gender-equitable ways. The issue is not whether we are
spending the same on women and men, but whether the spending is adequate to women and men's
needs (Rake, 2002). As Sharp & Broomhill (2002) explain: "gender budgeting is a mechanism for
establishing whether a government's gender equality commitments translate into budgetary
commitments."
Gender budgeting aims at analyzing any form of public expenditure and income from a gender
perspective, i.e. it identifies the different implications that public income and spending have on girls
and women, as well as different groups of women, as compared to boys and men. The final objective
of gender budgeting is to shape budgets so that they actively promote gender equality.
„Gender budgeting … means a gender-based assessment of budgets, incorporating a gender
perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in
order to promote gender equality.“

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Gender budgeting exercises now take place in more than forty countries around the world, originally
inspired by the early experience of countries such as Australia and given further momentum by the
United Nation's commitment to gender budgeting in the Beijing Platform for Action. They take place
both inside and outside government and there is a wide diversity in the ways in which they are
conducted and their scope. Gender budget initiatives go beyond the assessment of programs targeted
specifically at women and girls and seek to expose assumptions of 'gender neutrality' within all
economic policy - raising awareness and understanding that budgets will impact differently on
women and men because of their different social and economic positioning.
Originally the initiatives were termed 'women's budgets' because the focus was on the impact on
women and girls. More recently the emphasis has shifted to 'gender' as a category for analysis and to
avoid any misunderstanding that activists are working to produce a separate budget for women
(Sharp & Broomhill, 2002). Sharp and Broomhill explain that most gender budgeting initiatives have
three core goals. They seek to: (1) mainstream gender issues within government policies; (2)
promote greater accountability for governments' commitment to gender equality; and (3) change
budgets and policies.

Aims/objectives of gender budgeting:

 Increasing women’s participation in economic decision-making and budgetary processes.
 Enhancing public consultation and participation in the preparation and monitoring of
budgets. Gender budgeting not only aims at an increased participation of women, but at an
overall increase of citizen’s understanding of budgetary issues.
 Improving the transparency and efficiency in terms of results of the government’s budgetary decisions.
 Increasing the possibility to hold governments accountable for their commitments towards
gender equality. By making the budgetary process more consultative and transparent;
governments can be pressed to assume their responsibility for drawing up gender sensitive budgets.
 Providing a critical tool for monitoring spending. Even though commitments to gender
equality might be present in the budget, the actual expenditure might still not promote
equality between women and men. It is therefore important to not only look at the planned
budgetary measures, but to also evaluate the actual spending and their effects on women and men.
 Developing an alternative set of values by applying beneficiary assessments which evaluate
whether women and men believe that budgets meet their needs or not.

As Himmelweit (2002) explains, gender budgeting can benefit society both by reducing socio-
economic gender inequalities and by ensuring that public money is better targeted and spent more
efficiently, improving policy outcomes. Gender budgeting also brings internal benefits to
government. By strengthening the collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data and
enhancing the ability to determine the real value of resources targeted towards women and men –
gender budget initiatives can provide a better understanding of how resources are being spent and
increase the efficiency of policy.

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It should be noted that gender budgeting is a relatively new concept and as a result the tools and
techniques used to apply the theory are still evolving. Additionally, methodology should and will
differ internationally, as it is adapted to the national or even regional context. Basically gender
budgeting can involve analyzing any form of public expenditure, or method of raising public money,
from a gender perspective and identifying the implications and impacts for women and girls as
compared to men and boys. Several toolkits for gender budgeting have been developed at different
times and one key tool is gender impact assessment (GIA). GIA focuses on analysis beyond the
family or household level, looking at the individual and extends beyond the public, paid economy to
the more private, unpaid sphere in which women and their caring work predominate at present. It
gives consideration to the longer-term consequences of policy and takes account of the differentials
in women's and men's responses to economic incentives.

Well, gender budgeting theory and practice has grown out of a widening understanding that
economic policy can contribute to narrowing or widening gender gaps across a broad spectrum of
policy areas including health, education, welfare, transport and development - hence gender budget
initiatives can be applied to any policy area. Additionally, gender budgeting is applicable to both
macro and micro level economic policy and to both public spending and revenue. Most initiatives
around the world have focused on public expenditure except some, like in UK, where there is private
expenditure that focus women. In practice, the extent of gender budget initiatives vary from the
broadest analysis of the entire national budget to the more narrow expenditure of selected
government departments or programmes or narrower still, the expenditure on new projects, selected
forms of revenue, changes in the tax system or the implementation of new legislation. The extent to
which the practice is applied will depend upon government commitment to gender budgeting,
resources and expertise available, national and international pressure etc.

One of the most important areas of government macro-economic policy is the national budget, which
deals with both public revenue and public expenditure across all policy areas and expresses the
social and economic priorities of the government. The national budget is therefore a key opportunity
for carrying out a gender budgeting initiative. Gender budgeting does not focus solely on gender
specific programs; rather it aims to expose assumptions of gender neutrality across the policy
spectrum.
4.2 Actors in gender budgeting
The nature of gender budget initiatives varies internationally. We have international, regional,
national and local actors. They have been undertaken at national, provincial or local levels and
coordinated and led by both governments and civil society groups. There are advantages and
disadvantages of each type of exercise. Inside government groups have the benefits of access to
government information and the capacity to make direct contributions to the budgetary and
economic policy decision-making process. Outside civil society initiatives (for example in the UK,
South Africa and Tanzania) may suffer resource and data constraints, but their distance from
government allows them to take a critical stance and encourage public debate (Sharp & Broomhill, 2002).

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 1. International Agencies: A number of multi- and bi-lateral agencies have expressed
support oof gender budget initiatives, including: the Commonwealth Secretariat; the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC); the European Union (EU); the Nordic
Council (of their own budget); the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD); the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the
Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA); the Swiss Development Corporation;
German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ); the UK Department for International
Development (DFID); the Governments of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, and the
United Nations Development Program. Most significantly the United Nations' Beijing
Platform for Action called for the integration of a gender perspective into budgetary
decision-making and called for governments to be accountable for their gender equality
commitments. Additionally the World Bank has promoted the idea of gender budget analysis
through its gender publications, in particular the models used in Tanzania and South Africa.
And the UN European Economic Commission also has plans to support work on gender and
budgets.
2. National Actors: At national level a range of actors can play a role in gender
budgeting. Initiatives should engage across as many of these groups as possible. The most
important actor is, obviously, the government, but other actors are also involved as follow;
Government: Experience has shown that gender budget initiatives are most effective when the
Ministry of Finance (due to its role in the budgeting process) takes the lead in a government
initiative - ideally with close engagement with the Ministry for Gender or Women's affairs. However
Budlender et al (2002) note that due to absence of established working relationships between the two
ministries, some countries have experienced a sidelining of the latter - and so valuable gender
expertise is lost from the process. Although the Ministry of Finance is likely to take the lead, other
ministries should also play a significant role in the process as it should not be assumed that any
government policy is gender neutral. At the outset of the gender budgeting process most
governments involve just two or three other key departments - typically health and education –
departments that account for a large proportion of government expenditure and have particular
relevance for women and those experiencing poverty. Another sector such as agriculture or transport
may also be selected to demonstrate that gender budgeting has a role to play outside of the social
sector. Within each ministry it is important that the more senior civil servants understand the need
for gender budgeting initiatives and support them in principle and that there are civil servants who
are equipped with the skills to carry them out.
Parliament: Gender budget initiatives are also likely to engage with parliamentarians - particularly
women members - for example through lobbying activities, awareness raising seminars and fact
sheets for their reference and use in the scrutiny and audit of government's public expenditure and
revenue plans. However Budlender et al (2002) suggest that the effect of this methodology is limited
- most parliamentarians are likely to have little or no powers to amend the national budget, although
there is unrealized potential in their powers to audit the national budget. However parliamentarians

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have had a prominent role in both the South African and the Ugandan initiatives - but a few key
individuals have led this participation. The Swiss parliament has a high level of budgetary power,
but this is set to decrease dramatically with the introduction of New Public Management.
Civil Society groups: As the Australian example proved, the success of gender budgeting initiatives
is limited without the involvement of civil society groups to keep up the pressure and provide
expertise. Often the people involved in these groups are the contemporaries of the government
officials so have a good working relationship. They are drawn upon to conduct research and even
provide training for Government officials. In the South African, Tanzanian and Ugandan examples,
NGO groups work alongside the government, acting as 'critical friends' and nudging the government
further in the direction of a gender equality agenda. In the UK, the Women's Budget Group has been
instrumental in encouraging the Government to commit to a gender budgeting approach. However
there can be skepticism among some external gender economists about the ability of government to
tackle gender issues adequately and, conversely, governments can be suspicious of NGOs.
Additionally, NGOs have concerns about maintaining their independent voice and critical distance.
In the Tanzanian example, in which NGOs have worked especially close to government, this was a
particular concern amongst the activists.
Academics: Some of the NGO initiatives draw on the expertise of academics, particularly feminist
economists. Several initiatives, such those planned in Bangladesh and Italy are led by academics.
Other initiatives, such as the UK Women's Budget Group are led jointly by academics and others
from NGOs and trades unions. It is useful for these groups to come together to ensure that research
is focused on what is useful for advocacy purposes and so that advocates have enough depth of
knowledge to pursue their gender budgeting objectives.
Individuals: Individuals in key positions have been essential in ensuring the success of many
projects - for example in Barbados, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Namibia. But ideally initiatives
should not be reliant on the support of individuals, as once these key players move on or are replaced
the project may suffer setbacks - as in South Africa and Mozambique. Initiatives should aim to build
up a firm support base and institutionalize gender budget processes while these people have power
and the climate is favorable.
3. Regional and Local Actors: An increasing amount of gender budgeting work is being done
at the sub-national level, encouraged by the international trend to decentralize budgeting
functions and power. Chile, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda
and Spain (in the Basque Country) are among the countries who are already having initiated work
at this level. There are benefits to the decentralization of both the budgets and the gender
budget projects - with the public becoming more engaged with the process now they can see
the direct impact of budget decisions. The Ugandan Forum for Women in Democracy argues
that local level interventions are most appropriate in their country where women are unlikely
to have the resources to engage with decision making outside of their own locality. However,
Budlender et al (2002) advise gender budget activists to be wary of decentralization.
Inequality can grow between regions, functions may be decentralized but not the spending

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 power and it can mean the state is absolving itself of responsibility of the budgeting function
and hence nationally agreed gender budgeting arrangements.

CHAPTER SIX
GENDER ISSUES IN ETHIOPIA
Gender issues in Ethiopia and legal measures adopted

The issue of gender inequality can be considered as a universal feature of developing countries.
Unlike women in developed countries who are, in relative terms, economically empowered and have
a powerful voice that demands an audience and positive action, women in developing countries are
generally silent and their voice has been stifled by economic and cultural factors.

Economic and cultural factors, coupled with institutional factors dictate the gender-based division of
labor, rights, responsibilities, opportunities, and access to and control over resources. Education,
literacy, access to media, employment, decision making, among other things, are some of the areas of gender
disparity. These all problems of gender inequalities are very much prevalent in and relevant to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a patriarchal society that keeps women in a subordinate position and remains one of
Africa’s most traditions bound societies. (Haregewoin and Emebet, 2003). There is a belief that
women are docile, submissive, patient, and tolerant of monotonous work and violence, for which culture is
used as a justification (Hirut, 2004).

The socialization process, which determines gender roles, is partly responsible for the subjugation of
women in the country. Ethiopian society is socialized in such a way that girls are held inferior to
boys. In the process of upbringing, boys are expected to learn and become self-reliant, major bread
winners, and responsible in different activities, while girls are brought up to conform, be obedient
and dependent, and specialize in indoor activities like cooking, washing clothes, fetching water,
caring for children, etc. (Haregewoin and Emebet, 2003; Hirut, 2004).

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The differences in the ways in which individuals are treated through the socialization process,
mainly due to their sex status, leads to the development of real psychological and personality
differences between males and females (Almaz, 1991).
1.2 Critical areas of gender issues in Ethiopia
a) Poverty and gender
Although women's contribution to their households, food production and national economies is
immense, it has not been translated into better access to resources or decision-making powers. As a
result, women remained to be the poorest of the poor constituting 70% of the global poor. Women
in Ethiopia face similar constraints. Due to the different roles and responsibilities men and women
have in the society, the causes and experiences of poverty also differ by gender. Rights such as,
access to land, credit and other productive resources are difficult for women to attain. Women make
up half of the population and the majority of the poor and illiterate in the country. Though women
play a vital role in production activities, in addition to shouldering reproductive responsibility, they
are denied recognition and access to resources. Cultural attitudes and harmful traditional practices
are major factors which relegate women to a subordinate position.
Like other least developing countries (LDCs), Ethiopia in 2002 also started the preparation of the
final draft of poverty reduction strategy paper immediately after the approval of the interim poverty
reduction strategy document entitled "sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program
(SDPRP) provides a sound basis to continue the implementation of the sustainable development and
poverty reduction program activities in the country. Given poverty reduction will continue to be the
core of the agenda of the country's development, the strategy is built on four pillars (building
blocks). These are Agriculture Development led Industrialization (ADLI), Justice System and
Civil Service Reform, Decentralization and Empowerment, and Capacity building in public
and private sectors.
Taking the significance of addressing the gender dimension of poverty into consideration, a lot of
advocacy and lobbying work has been done by the government and Non Government Organization
(NGOs) and other actors to incorporate gender issues in both the interim and final poverty reduction
programs. Efforts have also been done by the Women's Affairs Office of the
b) Violence against women
Violence against women is a general problem in Ethiopia, where culturally based abuses, including
wife beating and marital rape, are pervasive social problems. A July 2005 World Bank study
concluded that 88 percent of rural women and 69 percent of urban women believed their husbands
had the right to beat them. While women had recourse via the police and courts, societal norms and
limited infrastructure prevented many women from seeking legal redress, particularly in rural areas.
The government prosecutes offenders only on a limited scale. The population sex ratio in Ethiopia
has been stable (around 99%) for the past 50 years, and the occurrence of missing women is not
widespread in the country.

Violence against women such as rape, domestic violence, abduction for marriage, sexual harassment,
female genital mutilation, early marriage are widely speared in the country and are being widely

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recognized, as a violation of women's right apart from the physical and psychological consequence it
has on the life of a woman. Women in Ethiopia as anywhere else are also victims of various violence
and harmful traditional practices simply because of their gender. Patriarchal domination, cultural and
traditional practices, economic deprivation etc are among the reasons for violence against women in Ethiopia.

The practices of female genital mutilation (FGM) and early/and forced marriage, impinge on the
rights and health of women. Traditional discriminatory practices such as FGM and widow
inheritance (including all her property) continue to persist. In Ethiopia, 80% of women (and in some
parts of the country up to 100%) are mutilated, as a means of women’s loyalty to culture and faith
(Haregewoin and Emebet, 2003). It is also estimated that, in each of the 28 Woredas in Addis
Ababa, three women are raped each day making it a total of 30,660 rape cases every year
(Haregewoin and Emebet, 2003). Data compiled by the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association
from woreda police stations in Addis Ababa showed a 39% and 54% increment of abduction and
assault and bodily injury to women and young girls between 1999 and 2001 (Federal Civil Service
Commission, 2005). The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS is also posing a serious threat to the
development of the country.

Cognizant to this fact, a lot of awareness has been undertaken by various stakeholders including the
WAO/PMO, Sectoral women's affairs machineries, and civil society organizations. FGM is
forbidden according to national law, and is presumed to be declining. The new penal code
criminalizes FGM by imprisonment of no less than three months, or a fine. Likewise, infibulations is
punishable by imprisonment of five to ten years. However, no criminal prosecutions have ever been
sought regarding FGM. Various strategies, including IEC materials, training's/workshops, media
campaign (both print and air), panel discussions, legal aid for women etc were used in this regard.
Taking the multi-dimensional consequences of violence against women into consideration, the
government of Ethiopia has taken measure in creating conducive environment for the revisions of
legal reforms that are discriminatory to women. Accordingly, the family law has been revised in a gender
sensitive manner and the penal code is at stake.

d) Women’s economic participation

The backbone of the economy in Ethiopia is agriculture, which accounts for 54% of the gross
domestic product (GDP) and 60% of exports, and 80% of total employment.

Rural women in Ethiopia engage as equally as their male counterparts in agricultural activities, in
addition to carrying the heavy burden of household duties.
Women’s access to land is not only smaller, but they are also disadvantaged in terms of using their
land. This is because their land is often in a worse condition than those used by male-headed
households. This is due to the fact that women do not have the necessary resources to cultivate the
land, which in a lot of cases forces them to rent out their land to others.

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Women also lack agricultural labor; this is another reason why they are forced to rent out the land.
This is not necessarily because they are incapable of working on their plot, but because the culturally
accepted gender divisions of labor prohibit women from such activity. For example, in the grain
producing areas of the country social norms prohibit women from farming land (Yigeremew, 2001).

e) Gender and Education

Studies have shown that women are seriously disadvantaged regarding educational attainment.
Women’s education was found to be significantly far behind from that of men. For school age
population the participation or enrolment rates in schools has shown a remarkable increase for both
boys and girls in recent years. However, the gender gap remained to be there. Dropping out after
enrolling for few years is the main obstacle to girls’ educational attainment. As education of girls
and women is rightly considered to be the key for improving women’s status at all levels, it is indeed
necessary to explore further what specific factors work against girls’ education in the society.
Factors affecting educational attainment of girls include early marriage, living in rural areas and
poverty (being in households grouped in lower and poorest wealth quintile groups), etc.

Most cultures strongly urge girls to get married early and take the responsibility of serving their
husbands. The cultural pressure in favor of early marriage is so strong that families who do not get
their daughters married at an acceptably young age will be scorned and ridiculed; the girls may also
not get husbands if they pass that age. To respect this tradition, parents continue defying the
Constitution that set minimum age of marriage.
Other reasons given for early marriage and dropping out from school were fear of sexual violence,
such as rape and abduction, that befall young girls before marriage and fear of promiscuity and
unwanted pregnancy before marriage on the girls’ side.
In some rural area, Parents do not believe that girls’ education is useful and girls are employable.
Once married, women will have no time and permission to go to school. In most societies girls’ main
role is believed to be learning household activities, cooking, cleaning, rearing children and taking
care of the family as a whole, rather than going to school. It is believed that educating girls is not
that useful as they are going to get married and assume their role soon anyway. These reasons are
shared by almost all rural communities of the country to different degrees while some are indicated
even in urban settings.
Some region-specific, (in Somali, for example), reasons indicated that girls are not allowed in many
cases to attend classes with boys in the same classroom. In addition, the pastoralist lifestyle, which
involves relocating temporary residence and family maintenance, burdens women and girls and leads
to the disruption of girls’ education (Somali and Afar).
Low educational level is one of the causes and consequences of females’ low socio-economic status.

One of the strategic objectives and actions in the Beijing Declaration and the Platform of action is
education and training of women. The strategic objective clearly states that education is a human
right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. Following the
declaration, Ethiopia has been trying to close the gender gap in education through formulation of

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policies, strategies and action oriented measures. The new education and training policy declared in
1994, has addressed the importance of girls education and among others it clearly stated that the
government will give financial support to raise the participation of women in education. It further
stated that, special attention would be given to the participation, recruitment, training and assignment
of female teachers.

f) Women’s work status

Women are underrepresented in the formal sector of employment. The survey conducted by the
Central Statistical Authority (CSA, 2004) showed that women account for less than half (43%) of the
total employees in the country. Considering the percentage of female employees from the total
number of employees by employment type, the highest was in domestic activities (78%) and
followed by unpaid activities (59.3%). In other types of formal employment (e.g. government,
NGOs, private organizations), the percentage of female workers is less than 35. On the other hand,
the survey showed overrepresentation of female workers in the informal sector. About 58% of
working women work in the informal sector whereas the percentage of working men in the informal
sector was 37.7 % (ibid).
The breakdown of the federal government employees by occupational groups also indicated gender
disparity. From federal government employees found in the clerical and fiscal type of jobs 71.3 %
were female, while the percentage of females was slightly more than half (51%) in custodial and
manual type of jobs. Women make up 25% and 18% of the administrative and professional and
scientific job categories, respectively, indicating that upper and middle level positions are
overwhelmingly dominated by men (Federal Civil Service Commission, 2005). This concentration
of women in the informal sector and low level positions has implication on their earnings. In this
regard, the survey showed four out of ten women civil servants earn Birr 300 a month compared to
two out of ten for men (Federal Civil Service Commission, 2005).

I) Women and Media

Ethiopian women’s access to mass media is one of the lowest. In their DHS comparative report,
Mukuria et al. (2005) show that, among 25 Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia was the last
with respect to percentage of women who have access to newspaper. In the same report it was
indicated that in 2000, among women aged 15-49 in Ethiopia, only 1.7% read newspaper at least
once a week, compared with 15% in Uganda, 36% in Gabon and 37% in Namibia. Regarding
women’s access to television, among the 25 countries, Ethiopia was the second from the last with
only 4.4% of women aged 15-49 watching television at least once a week, surpassing only Malawi
(3.8%). Women’s access to radio was relatively better than access to newspaper and television, with
11% of the women listening to radio at least once a week. It is, however, the lowest compared to
other sub- Saharan African countries; 72% for Gabon, 53% for Uganda, 52% for Malawi and 39%
for Rwanda.

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 j) Women in Power and Decision Making
Due to the various obstacles that women have such as triple role, violence against women, lack of
education etc, their representation and participation in leadership and decision making position has
also been limited. Despite the Government policies of equal opportunity for both men and women to
participate in the democratization of the country, women have not been adequately represented at all
levels of decision-making positions.

Section II: Gender policy and machinery

Since coming to power in 1991, the current government has introduced several laws and policies to
address issues of democracy, decentralization, poverty reduction, institutional capacity and
improvement of the social, economic and political status of the citizenry. Moreover, the Constitution
of the federal government that was proclaimed in 1994 has domesticated international instruments
which Ethiopia has ratified or adopted. Ethiopia has ratified major international conventions,
protocols and treaties.

The issue of gender equality has become an area of concern in development planning during the last
few decades. The marginalization, from development programs, of women for a long period of time
is challenged with changing policy perspectives from Women in Development (WID), which aims to
include women in development projects in order to make the latter more effective, to Gender and
Development (GAD), which aims to address inequalities in women’s and men’s social roles in
relation to development (March et al., 1999).

Despite recently introduced policy instruments and legislative commitments serving women’s
interests, the vast majority of Ethiopian women - particularly in rural areas - are far from being well-
off, independent and direct beneficiaries of development initiatives. Hence, gender mainstreaming,
the integration of gender issues into every aspect of development programs, is aimed at empowering
women to enable them participate in and benefit from the programs equally as men, being supported
by international and national policies.

Global effort had been underway to alleviate the low status of women since the 1990s. In the
framework of the general conferences held in Cairo (1994) and in Beijing (1995), direction was set
and recommendations were made targeting mainly the removal of all the obstacles to gender
equalities. The outcomes of these conferences recognized that the integration of gender issues into
the general development plan and program of a country is crucial and unavoidable step for overall
sustainable development and that needs to get proper attention by governments.

At international level, the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
are the main strategies and conventions introduced for the achievement of gender equality. CEDAW
incorporates the following measures that governments have to take to guarantee gender equality:
elimination of discrimination against women in employment opportunities and benefits of service;
ensuring gender equality in all areas of socio-economic life such as legal rights to contracts and

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property, and access to financial credit; equality of women in national constitutions; and abolishing
existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that discriminate against women.

The government urged regional governments to make CEDAW part of the regional law and
encouraged them to proceed with the full implementation of the provisions of the Convention
throughout the country, through the enhancement of cooperation between federal and regional
governmental bodies and institutions, to achieve uniformity of results in the implementation of the
Convention. The Committee assigned by the government also recommended that the State party
improve its efforts to systematically monitor progress achieved in the implementation of the
Convention at all levels, and in all areas. Particular focus being placed on the improvement of the
capacity of all public officials in the area of women's human rights, and the seeking of resources
through international development assistance programmes, as necessary. It was also recommended
that the State party launch, at the national level, a comprehensive programme of dissemination of the
Convention, targeting women and men, in order to enhance awareness and promote and protect the
rights of women. However, CEDAW has not been implemented in regional law, even though the
Constitution encourages it.

According to CEDAW committee report (2003), women in the civil services, the largest employer in
the country, remain a small minority. In the legislative and judiciary branches, the situation is worse.
Women are seriously underrepresented. In the Federal Parliament, the highest decision making body,
women hold only 7.7% of the total seats. The figure sheds light on how far the country has to go in
the direction of empowering women. Especially in this key area, the government has a long way to
go. For without a vigorous effort to level the political playing from a gender perspective, the gap in
this area, critical in measuring women’s empowerment, will remain wide. The government cannot
fully meet its CEDAW obligations and commitments so long as the political representation gap
remains as high as it is at present.”

The measures that are included in the BPA are ensuring women’s equal rights and access to
economic resources; elimination of occupational segregation and all forms of employment
discrimination and promoting women’s access to employment, appropriate working conditions and
control over resources; facilitating women’s equal access to markets, trade, information, and
technology; promotion of harmonization of work and family responsibilities for women and men;
and conducting gender-based research and dissemination of its results for planning and evaluation.

The key commitments of governments and other development partners set in the MDGs include
gender equality and women’s empowerment. The commitments include ensuring universal primary
education for both boys and girls by 2015; elimination of gender disparity at all levels of education
by 2015; and reducing maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Ethiopia
adopted these agreements to promote gender equality and improve the lives of women. As a means
to implement these global agreements, different policies and legislations have also been enacted.
These are the National Policy on Women, National Population Policy, Education Policy, Cultural
Policy, and other legal documents.

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The National Policy on Women, introduced in 1993, was the first policy that is specifically related to
the affairs of women (Jelaludin et al., 2001). The objectives of the policy include facilitating
conditions conducive to the speeding up of equality between men and women so that women can
participate in the political, economic and social life of their country on equal terms with men;
ensuring that their right to own property as well as their other human rights are respected and that
they are not excluded from both the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor or performing public
functions and participating in decision making.
Cognizant of the adverse impact of low status of women on the overall economic development in
general and on reproductive health issues in particular, the National Population Policy of the
country, which was also endorsed in 1993, included in its objectives women’s status and health
issues such as reduction of incidence of maternal mortality, improvement of females’ participation at all
levels of education and enhancement of the contraceptive prevalence rate (TGE, 1993).

The 1994 Education and Training Policy affirmed the importance of girls’ education. It focused on
the reorientation of the attitude and values of the society towards recognizing the roles and
contributions of women in development. The policy included gender equality issues such as
increasing girls’ school enrolment ratio, preparing a gender sensitive curriculum, and reducing girls’
dropout and repetition rates (FDRE, 1994).
In an attempt to address customary practices and backward traditions that undermine the roles of
women in society, the National Cultural Policy was enacted in 1997. The main objectives of this
policy are to ensure equal participation in and benefit from cultural activities, and to abolish
traditional harmful practices that violate the rights of women such as early marriage, female genital
mutilation and abduction (FDRE, 1997).

In addition to the aforementioned national policies gender equality is guaranteed by the Constitution
of the country. Article 25 of the FDRE Constitution states that all persons are equal before the law
and it prohibits any discrimination on grounds of gender. In Article 35, equality in matters related to
employment, equality in acquisition and management of property, equal participation in policy and
decision making, and right of women to plan families are stated to ensure gender equality. Similarly,
Article 42 states the right of female workers to equal pay for comparable work (FDRE, 1995).
On the basis of the Women's policy of the Country, a considerable number of women's machineries
have been set at different government level ranging from Federal to the lowest administrative unit.
From 1991-1995 the Women's Affairs Office (WAO) is constituted in Prime Minister’s Office with
a mandate of coordinating, facilitating and monitoring of women's affairs activities at national level.
In 1995 this was changed to a separate ministry; the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The following are
some of the duties and responsibilities/mandate of WAO:
 Coordinate, facilitate and monitor of women's affairs activities at national level;
 Create conducive atmosphere for the implementation of women's affairs policy in various
governmental organization and the country in general and monitor its realization,

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  Encourage the establishment of women affairs organs in all the regions, central ministries
and public organizations at all levels, as well as the formation of selfinitiated women's
organizations in order to strengthen and expand the activities of the Ethiopian women.
 Coordinate the financial and material aids to be secured from various sources;
 Process information and reports to be received from women's affairs departments and self-
initiated women's organization and provide solutions to their problems in consultation with
higher authorities;
 Organize seminars, workshops and symposiums at the national level

Other Women's Affairs Department (WADs) is also set up in 16 sectoral Ministries, two
Commissions and in all regional governments at department level. According to the policy, these
WADs are accountable to the organization in which they are formed and have equal power with
other departments. The WADs are, therefore, responsible to monitor, follow up and design ways of
implementing the national women's affairs policy effectively in accordance with the powers and
duties of the organization in which they are based. Based on the decentralized development program
of the country, gender focal points have also been established in each Woreda (district) in order to
incorporate gender issue in local development program.
Being placed in the highest governmental office, the 'Women's Affairs Office play a primary role of
facilitating, coordinating and monitoring activities of the Women's affairs departments and bureaus
established in the various line ministries and regions. Although the implementation of the national
policy on women lays mainly with the government machineries, NGOs, Women's Organization and
other stakeholders also play a pivotal role for the successful implementation of the national policy.
Concurrently, it is within this already established institutional mechanism for the advancement of
women that the BPA is being implemented in Ethiopia.
Even if women in Ethiopia formally have the same rights as men, their situation is difficult and does
not show any sign of improvement. According to the UN’s Equal Rights Index (GDI) on health,
education and work, Ethiopia is ranked as 142 out of 146 countries. Despite the existence of policy
instruments and legislative and institutional commitment to women’s causes, the vast majority of
Ethiopian women, especially in rural areas live in poverty. Their status in the socio-political,
economic and cultural contexts is critical.

The main reasons for the situation are the socio-cultural portrait of women and girls and their
assigned role; existing practices of resource distribution; the division of labor, and the distribution of
opportunities. Moreover there is a considerable gap between the needs and concerns of women and
girls, and the actual effort being made in response to them (CEDAW). In most cases this is
associated with implementation, or lack of implementation, of the policy, laws and constitutionally
given rights of women, and to national poverty.

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