Women In Development Programs Research Articles

WID and GAD in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Reappraising Gender Planning Approaches in Theory and Practice

ABSTRACT This article addresses the shift in gender planning from Women in Development (WID) to Gender and Development (GAD), and explores why WID programs continue to dominate despite a general consensus that the GAD approach is superior. Drawing on the experience of organized women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, it is argued that not only are WID programs politically and practically easier to implement, but they may actually address the priorities of poor women, who, when given the space and support to undertake their own assessments of their interests, can then start to transform gendered power relations in their families and communities. It concludes that the distinction between WID and GAD is far from clear, as gender interests, like women themselves, are constantly changing and adapting in response to new opportunities, information, and environments. While a GAD approach to gender planning is superior, it is heartening to see that WID inspired interventions can sometimes lead to more empowering outcomes than we might expect.

Gender and HIV/AIDS impact mitigation in sub-Saharan Africa — recognising the constraints

In discussions of gender and HIV/AIDS, attention has focused on prevention. This is a vital area. However, we argue that there is also a need to focus more attention on the resulting impact of the epidemic, because inequalities that promote the spread of infection are also hampering containment and impact mitigation. We propose a framework highlighting the gendered constraints exacerbated by the epidemic. These constraints are reviewed under the following headings: Gender-specific constraints: stemming from the specific nature of gender relations themselves, such as the availability of labour in agriculture, business and for household tasks, as well as access to services and markets, and the incidence of gendered violence. Gender-intensified disadvantages: stemming from the uneven and often inequitable distribution of resources between men and women, including cultural/religious conventions, and the social rules and norms that regulate property rights, inheritance practices and resource endowments. Gender-imposed constraints: resulting from biases and partialities of those individuals who have the authority and power to allocate resources. These include provision of credit, information, agricultural extension and health care. The differential involvement of men and women in development programmes affects access to resources, as does political participation, including involvement in the formulation of policies aimed at poverty reduction.These constraints take us beyond gender relations and sexual behaviour. But women's lives will not change in the short term. The challenges they face in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS will not be addressed by focusing only on their specific vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection. Unequal gender relations and the nature of ‘development’ need to be changed too.

Women's Defense of Local Politics in the Face of Structural Adjustment and Globalization

ABSTRACT This study shows how socio-economic and political developments in the small island states of the English-speaking Caribbean (CARICOM) have always been shaped by global events and trends as these have been adopted, modified or resisted in relation to the specific conditions prevailing in these islands. This interaction between the local and the global, and the implications for securing the goals of sustainable livelihoods, are illustrated with reference to the author's own experience in national planning in the late 1950s, in local and community development in the 1960s and in Women in Development programs from 1974 to date. One response to structural adjustment was Women in Development programming, the success of which was limited by the overwhelming influence of macro-economic shifts towards neo-liberal policies. The emergence of a Caribbean women's movement in the context of the United Nations Decade for Women marked the beginning of a new kind of politics in this region. This politics was much more aware of global events and trends. It forged a distinct identity for Caribbean women who demonstrated their capacities to strategize across regional and national borders. This identity as Caribbean women within a larger international women's movement enriched and empowered women in the region to promote their own agendas, pursue their own priorities and launch their own campaigns while drawing on the support and solidarity of women from other countries.

The Precarious Socio-Economic Position of Women in Rural Africa: The Case of the Kaguru of Tanzania

Ethnographic interviews in this study were conducted among rural Kaguru women in Tanzania. The interview subject material pertained to family relationships land holding customs household power structures and other social and familial practices that might constrain access to resources. The effectiveness of women in development programs will depend on whether the aforementioned features are accounted for. Investment in education among Kaguru girls may depend upon the resources of the household. If parents must limit their educational investment boys tend to be preferred. The cost of educating girls is considered higher because girls may become pregnant and discontinue their education because girls normally assist with household chores and because girls will eventually become part of another household after marriage. Kaguru women are responsible for both domestic chores and household food production. Domestic activities are usually time consuming and there is little opportunity for income generation. Cash cropping is not possible because of lack of land ownership. Petty trading has become one of the few avenues for cash generation. Social and development policies must be directed to increasing agricultural output to reducing womens household work and to overcoming the cultural barriers that prevent women from improving their economic position. Policies must improve womens land tenure. Divorced or separated women must be given a share in family property. Gender biases specifically dealing with husbands control over wives labor and income must be addressed. The gender inequalities among Kaguru women are typical of many African women.

Nutrition and the commoditation of food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

Commoditization of food systems, defined as the use of agricultural goods for sale rather than for home consumption, affects nutrition of rural families via economic, social and ecological mechanisms in addition to direct dietary effects. Broad-scale mechanisms include alterations in land tenure, increased stratification of wealth, widespread labor migration, urban bias, food price changes, disruption of traditional reciprocal social relations, and ecological changes accompanying commercial agriculture that may limit long-term food production. At the family level, the replacement of food with cash is often problematic as regards nutrition, due to low prices to producers, increased cash needs, the 'lumpiness' of earnings during the year, reduced decision-making power of women, and often decreased dietary diversity. Three case studies in Latin America and the Caribbean, from Peru, Jamaica, and Mexico, illustrate that commoditization tends to have a negative impact on nutrition in poor rural households. Although commoditization is theoretically advantageous on a national level by allowing the use of 'comparative advantage', in actuality its potential benefits are eroded by inequitable uses of foreign exchange. Commoditization is in essence a more efficient means by which to extract surplus value from small agricultural producers. While commoditization is a necessary component of economic growth, policies to safeguard health and nutrition and improve the status of women in development programs must be implemented within an overall strategy to meet basic needs of the population.

New Official Ideas on Women and Development

SUMMARY An analysis of the latest thinking in international circles on the integration of women in development programmes, particularly as exemplified in the ILO's country mission reports on the problems of employment and poverty. The article goes on to review briefly the Basic Needs Strategy and the implications for women of the New International Economic Order, and concludes that both strategies contain potential threats to women's interests.RESUMEN Nuevas ideas oficiales sobre las mujeres y el desarrolloSe trata de un análisis de las ideas más recientes en los círculos internacionales sobre la integración de las mujeres en los programas de desarrollo, especialmente la manera en que sirven de ejemplo en los informes de las misiones de la OIT a distintos países, respecto a los problemas del empleo y la pobreza. En este artículo se examina brevemente la estrategia sobre necesidades básicas y las consecuencias para las mujeres del nuevo orden económico internacional, y se concluye que ambas estrategias incluyen posibles amenazas a los intereses de las mujeres.RÉSUMÉ De nouvelles idées dans les milieux officiels sur la femme et le développementUne analyse du dernier état de la pensée dans les milieux internationaux en ce qui concerne l'intégration de la femme dans les programmes de développement portant notamment sur les exemples de cette manière de concevoir la question tels qu'ils se manifestent dans les rapports de mission par pays de l'OIT traitant des problèmes du chômage et de la pauvreté. Dans la suite de l'article, la Stratégie des Besoins Elémentaires est revue sommairement, de même que les conséquences pour la femme du Nouvel Ordre Economique International. Il en est conclu que ces stratégies comportent l'une et l'autre des dangers potentiels pour les intérêts de la femme.