Gender in Development Practice by Dr. Susan Murphy

Gender in Development Practice

1. Dr. Susan P. Murphy
Trinity College Dublin
Ireland

2. Content
Evolution of gender mainstreaming in development
practice
From margins to mainstream – gender and the MDGs
Problems in research and practice
Drivers of discrimination
Origins of inequality
Dynamics of gender relations
Implications for gender-based research
Beyond checklists and head-counting
Post 2015 SDG agenda
Gender and education

3. Women in development
Since UN Commission on the Status of Women in
1946:
matters related specifically to women have been a
core dimension of discussions on development
and global poverty eradication,
justified on the evidence-based arguments that
greater empowerment is instrumentally valuable
to development;
and to a lesser extent, on reason-based arguments
that development generates intrinsic benefits to
women, as human beings of equal moral value

4. 2013 Report – UN High
Level Panel of Eminent Persons
 ‘The next development agenda must ensure
that in the future neither income nor gender, nor
ethnicity, nor disability, nor geography, will
determine whether people live or die, whether a
mother can give birth safely, or whether her child
has a fair chance in life’ (2013: 7).
How is this different from the MDG
commitments?
What does this say about 20 years of gender
mainstreaming (post Beijing 1995)?

5. Emerged from the women in development (WID)
policy approaches widely adopted by
development organizations in the 1980s
Integrate women into economic development
Central to Beijing Platform for Action (1995)
Equality and women’s empowerment central to
human development
States need to make radical changes to achieve
equality and promote empowerment
5
What is ‘gender mainstreaming’?

6. “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 programmes in all
political, economic and societal spheres so that
women and men benefit equally and inequality is not
perpetuated. The Ultimate goal is to achieve gender
equality”. (UN Report for the economic and social
council. 1997: 1)
6
UN definition

7. Evident in some definitions
Institutionalization of gender concerns …. to ensure
a ‘transformation of the organizations attitudes and
culture
Gender empowerment through women’s
participation in decision-making processes,
enabling women to have their voices heard, giving
them power to put issues on the agenda (Moser
2012: 439-440)
Designed to tackle both implicit and explicit forms
of discrimination and exclusion
7
Two further aspects

8. A dual strategy of mainstreaming gender-equality issues
into all policies, programmes, and projects (the
Integrationist approach), combined with context-specific
supporting targeted actions for gender equality (the stand-
alone approach)
Gender analysis (sex disaggregated data and gender
analytical information)
Women, as well as men, playing an active role in decision
making processes to influence the development agenda
Organisational capacity-building and gender training
Gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems and
tools (Moser 2012: 440)
8
Gender mainstreaming
Policy

9. 9
Gender mainstreaming in
Theory

10. MDG Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower
women
Target – eliminate gender disparity in primary and
secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels
of education no later than 2015
Measurements also include – political participation; paid
employment
Also
MDG 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
MDG 2 – achieve universal primary education
MDG 4 – reduce child mortality
MDG 5 – improve maternal health (since 2005 – universal
access to reproductive health)
MDG 6 – combat HIV/Aids
MDG 7 – environmental sustainability
Target 10 access to clean water and sanitation
Target 11 – improvement in the lives of at least 100
million slum dwellers
10
From margins to mainstream

11. In practice
MDG period saw some successes:
improved health outcomes,
increased numbers of women in the formal economy, and
increased enrolment rates in education at primary level
However….
Lives and status of women has not seen a dramatic
transformation
Women continue to be more vulnerable to extreme poverty,
malnutrition, ill health, lower educational outcomes and higher
incidents of violence.
Women continue to carry greatest responsibility for reproduction,
care, subsistence food provision, and household tasks
Women continue to be under-represented in leadership roles both
in the public institutions and private organisations.

12. ‘Away streaming’ – (Mukhopadhyay 2004). That
is
Used as an argument to stop ‘stand-alone’ projects
and interventions.
Reduces financial and institutional resources
specifically allocated to women’s needs
According to Hivos, this has resulted in a
‘reduction in gender expertise, capacity and
advocacy’ (2007: 11)
12
Problems with mainstreaming
approach

13. Controlling for GM
It is a challenge for all organizations to assess the
impact of gender mainstreaming on the lives of
women and girls, men and boys…. whose lives are
altered profoundly by all sorts of change taking
place beyond the planned interventions of
governments and development organizations.
Opening Pandora’s box
The gender division of labour within the household
The ‘black box’ in contemporary mainstream economic
modelling of non-market based production (Susan
Moller Okin, 2003)
13
Problems with
Gender based research

14. Ramya Subrahmanian (2007) –
‘key criticism about GM has been the “narrowness” of
the strategy despite the complexity of gender relations
and the contextual variations in the process and
outcomes related to gender inequalities’ (2007: 113)
Monitoring and evaluation
Difficult, if not impossible to distinguish impact of GM
from other changes occurring beyond planned
interventions.
‘Smart economics’
Only supported by some due to its instrumental value,
rather than the intrinsic value of equality and women’s
empowerment
14
And more…

15. Failed to tackle
Hidden power and prevalence of discrimination
Key distinction between explicit and implicit discrimination
–
Implicit discrimination has escaped challenge
Stiglitz 2012 – Cognitive Capture
Duflo 2012 – Implicit bias
Hermeneutical gaps
Sweetman 2012 - The leadership of key development
organizations which shape our world is still overwhelmingly
rich and male. Women’s priorities and perspectives are still
missing from key decision-making bodies
Miranda Fricker – hermeneutical injustices
15
Problems in theory &
practice

16. From gender back to women?
On the one hand some argue that the focus on gender has
Cornwall, Harrison, and Whitehead, have argued that the term
‘gender’ has neutralised the political content of feminist
struggles, acting as a ‘technical fix’ (2007: 9) in development
projects and programmes.
Such a technocratic approach depoliticised and de-radicalised
the feminist struggle for the empowerment of women.
They argue that the term gender has ‘fallen from favour and
has a jaded, dated feel to it. Diluted, denatured, depoliticised,
included everywhere as an afterthought... (2007: 6-7).
Thus, they call for a move away from the concept of gender, to
refocus on the specific needs of women (Mannell 2012;
Cornwall, Harrison, and Whitehead 2007 & 2008).

17. On the other hand
Some argue that this would represent a step backwards
Caroline Moser - there is a need for a shift away from
‘women’s issues’ and incorporate issues that relate to
women and men, girls and boys. ‘Such gender disparities can
then cross-cut with other types of diversity such as those
based on age, ethnicity, race, or sexual orientation’ (2012,
442).
Focusing on gender allows for an examination of other
factors such as ethnicity, age, class and so on, how they can
interact and can generate new forms of inequality
(Dhamoon, 2011, Sandler and Rao 2012; Ndesamburo , Flynn,
and French 2012; van Eerdewijk and Dubel 2012; Derbyshire
2012; Chant and Sweetman 2012, Unterhalter, 2012).

18. Broadening the research agenda:
Moser 2012: Appropriate quantitative and qualitative
indicators to assess progress in GM to include 2 components
Implementation: measured in terms both of the integration of
women’s and men’s concerns throughout the development process
and in terms of specific activities aimed at empowering women.
Outputs and impacts: measured in terms of equality and
empowerment of women; impact and change for men
Unterhalter 2012: move beyond headcounting towards
deeper examinations of norms, beliefs, and socially
constructed challenges and opportunities for social change
through integration of the ‘intersectionality’ approach to
GBR
18
Pathway to progress

19. Broadening the focus of practice
Greater consideration of gender dynamics within the
household and the personal / local drivers of inequality
(of access, of opportunity, of resources and so on)
Targeted action to reduce / remove the role of violence as a
method of social control
Increased consideration of the gendered division of labour in
non-market based productive activities.
Access to land; energy, finance, and the Factors of
Development
Broadening the focus of policy
Shift towards the language of linkages rather than narrow
goals and targets to reflect and target the relational dynamic
of gender, rather than gender as a static category

21. Recognizing the role of education
Perpetuation of discrimination or platform for social
transformation; Reinforcing or challenging social norms?
Critically examine if it aims towards ‘transformative’ agency or
‘effective’ agency? (Kabeer 2005)
 Transformation would require
Focusing on girls and boys, and different social identifiers that
may influence a child’s life chances
Examining curriculum, assessments, and management to
enhance and support a child’s agency ;
Gender study centres leading in 1) the delivery of teaching across
the disciplines and 2) continued research into the constructions
and relational dynamic of gender in local and global contexts
‘Education [both teaching and research] is both a systemic
source of gender oppression and a means of ending it’.
(Enslin and Mary 2006)
21
Education: Beyond Access

22. 22
22
Thank you.
All thoughts, comments,
and questions are most
welcome.
[email protected]

23. Appendix

24. GOAL 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere
GOAL 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and
promote sustainable agriculture
GOAL 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
GOAL 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all
GOAL 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
GOAL 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
GOAL 7 Ensure access to a!ordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
GOAL 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment and decent work for all
GOAL 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and
foster innovation
GOAL 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries
GOAL 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
GOAL 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
GOAL 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
GOAL 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
development
GOAL 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
manage forests, combat deserti"cation, and halt and reverse land degradation and
halt biodiversity loss
GOAL 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build e!ective, accountable and inclusive institutions at
all levels
GOAL 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development