Women and Development Approaches - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION The topic of women and the conventional unjust practices exercised upon her is no new topic. Since time unmemorable, women have been confronting with the secondary treatment from society. Although women are recognised as human beings but they are considered to be unequal and inferior to men. These practices are said to be more prevalent in the developing nations of the world as compared to the developed ones. This paper provides an insightful study on the women and development approaches and their emergence as well as their flaws that served to be counterproductive in addressing the problems faced by women in the third world countries. WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES According to Williams (1999), the term “development” is to be taken in its broadest meaning that encompasses not only the economic sense but also every social activity undertaken by human beings to successfully employ the gifted resources of nature towards their prosperity and well being. It has truly been authenticated in the studies by several authors that women play a dominant role in the development of a family, country, and a nation as a whole. Studies conducted by Hanson and Pratt (1995) and Kobayashi (1994) suggest that women are more industrious and do more untiring jobs than men in both rural and urban areas. In fact their roles and functions are proved to be multidimensional in every walk of life ranging from home, childcare and domestic duties to social, economic and workplace responsibilities. Gringeri (1994) states that women are increasingly setting out to do out-of-home jobs with the need of supporting their economic independency. Despite that, they seem to be dependent on men for their social and economic growth everywhere around the world. As a consequence of devastating and ruining conventional norms against women in several regions of the world most specifically the less developed ones led the thoughtful world to the evolution of several panoptical ideas and approaches relevant to women and their contribution to the economic development of country termed as “women and development” approaches. Overholt et al. (1984) illustrate that these approaches greatly contributed to project women as an economic resource that could be utilised further towards the growth of economy. Women-In-Development Approach The first of these was the all-famous approach called “women-in-development” that was aroused and advanced in the early 1970s that served the purpose of enlightening the world regarding the role that was and that could be played by women in the economic development of countries around the world. This phrase was first used by the women development activists in Washington, who initiated their efforts towards the acknowledgement and enhancement of women contribution in economic development (Tinker, 1990). Boserup (1970) was the one who raised the women-in-development approach in his study, which thoroughly talked against the traditional developmental approach and condemned it for being less effective in promoting the social and economic importance of women. He stated that the position and condition of women in society were not in conformity to the part they played in every sector of economy particularly the agricultural sector. According to Tinker (1990), the women-in-development approach disapproved the idea of associating and confining women to certain domesticated roles played by them such as taking care of families and children as well as performing their other domestic responsibilities. This theory reflected the reality that women were agile and energetic contributors to the economy as well. It therefore, promoted the idea that women should be further encouraged to take active part in the economic life and her efforts should be realised so as to elevate the economic progress of a nation. Kabeer (1994) says that the approach influenced the structure of United Nations in determining solutions to the development problems faced by women. Before the emergence of this approach, women issues were considered widely as a part of the human issues administered by the United Nations General Assembly, but after the evolution of this approach, the United Nations established many organisations that were entitled to address specifically issues of women in development process. Rathgeber (1995) commends the women-in-development approach as being more about furnishing the developmental opportunities to the women in the pursuit of achieving their economic goals in a male-mastered society. Women And Development Approaches After the approach discussed above, there emerged another women and development approach, which is a set of several approaches combined. Rathgeber (1995) explains that women and development approach came forth after the Marxist critical analysis of women’s functioning in the developmental process. Porter and Judd (1999) illuminate that the women and development approach proved to be more centred on the acquaintance of women with the developmental process and their active contribution to the economic growth. It did not struggle to contrive policies to integrate development into women. He further states that the women and development approach more critically the importance of women in the economic growth and their emplacement in the society in a much better way than the women-in-development approach. Welfare Approach Karl (1995) illustrates the welfare approach as being confined to the analysis of women development in the domestic sense. It focused on the generative and procreative task performed by women in the context of family care and children upbringing. It further converged its attention on the availability of food, health, educational and other welfare facilities to the women and their children. According to World Bank (1990), it emphasised on the World Bank’s top down approach to development and consequently became more favourite option for the apportionment of development funds by the banks as compared to the women-in-development approach. Anti Poverty Approach Moser (1993) explains the anti poverty approach that it emerged in the period mid 1970s with an objective to provide basis amenities of life to the deprived and oppressed sections of the society. Under this approach, women were considered to be the most deprived and the poorest group in the society and thus the development of women became the major goal underlying the emergence and existence of this approach. Karl (1995) says that the approach was centred on eradicating the poverty from the society furnishing the basic necessities of life to the poor, which was supposed to be the women most particularly. This approach emphasised on the provision of income and wages for women with the help of making available the productive resources and utilisation of these resources fully and equally by men and women both. Efficiency Approach Palmer (1991) expresses that the development of women as well as their contribution towards economic growth were solely concerned under this approach of women and development. This approach focused on the recognition of efforts exerted by the women towards the fulfilment of their and their families’ economic needs. It asserted that the economic contribution by women could only be enhanced with the help of promotion of equal opportunities among men and women in the society. Karl (1995) says that this approach originated in the early 1980s with an emphasis of World Bank on economic freedom and privatisation of market with equal opportunities to women for the enhancement of productivity in the society. Therefore, the emphasis of this approach was particularly on the consolidation of women efforts towards the achievement of economic aims. Empowerment Approach Karl (1995) explores that this approach originated in the 1990s for the purpose of endow the women in third world countries with the power to work independently and self-sufficiently. It concentrated on almost all the facets and directions of a woman’s life including their domestic and working life. It conceptualised women as active and agile participants in the economic development and not as just a group deserving for international aid and assistance. It investigated the facts and realities relevant to the discrimination based on the gender, caste and creed of different members of society, striving to coordinate their efforts towards political advancement. Moser (1993) expresses that empowerment approach relied basically on the experiences of all the groups in a society i.e., both men and women from South than the western world. It worked towards the empowerment of poor women in the economic field so that they could they can utilise fully their abilities towards the economic growth. This demands equal powers attributed to women concerning the crucial decision-making and planning process. WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES: THE PROBLEMS OF WOMEN IN GLOBAL SOUTH The women and development approaches proved to be transitory and fugacious. There have been several reasons behind their application as being counterproductive to the solution of problems faced by the women belonging to the southern part of the globe. Porter and Judd (1999) agrees that although the women-and-development approaches critically evaluate the positioning of women in different social aspects, they fail to assess insightfully the elements of male-dominance, productive methods, and the subjugation of women in the society. Karl (1995) presented evaluation of all the above-mentioned women and development approaches to analyse their effectiveness in solving the problems faced by the women in southern region of the world i.e., the third world countries. He states that the welfare approach to women development was less efficacious in the eradication of poverty faced by women. He says that the approach aggravated the situation for women rather than rather alleviating it, as it focussed on women as being receivers of economic benefits instead of treating them as active participants in the development of economy. He condemns anti-poverty approach as being irresponsive to the fact that women in the third world countries were already loaded down with a lot of work suiting their capacities. Moreover, not every woman could easily strive to conserve a sum of money out of her minimal resources and it was also not possible for the government to provide employment and income opportunities to every single woman in a third world country. His views on efficiency approach was that it failed in its scope to identify women as a social being and emphasised on their abilities to work longer and harder towards productivity, thus the approach was impractical in its application to the third world countries. It evaluated women on the basis of their economic contribution and not as a social being. The empowerment approach was not adopted by most of the southern governments because of its concern into the political aspects of their people. According to World Bank (1979), the welfare and anti-poverty approaches of women and development were proximately associated to the generative and reproductive activities of the poor women in third world countries. The main factor hindering the approach to be appropriate for the economic development of women was that they attempted to conceptualise the poverty and maltreatment of women in the southern region of the world through the glasses of western civilisation. Palmer (1991) remarks that the efficiency approach led to the enhancement in the problems faced by the women in poor countries and thus the theory ended up as being troublesome for women rather than solving their issues and concerns by facilitating their lives and economic growth. The reason behind this fact was that the approach heightened the existing awesome workload on women both domestically and economically. It over accentuated the economic abilities of women and brushed off the domestic unpaid labour performed by women in their daily course of life. The World Bank (1990) paper indicates that the efficiency approach was also based on the impractical idea of curtailing third world women problems in the light of western thoughts. The major factor handicapping this approach was the fact that it endeavoured to attribute the concept of women and development to the economic dependency of poor women in South rather than giving focussed consideration to their economic involvement and participation in the development process. Following is a discussion on the circumstances confronted by Southern women at all stages in their social, economic and political lives: Women And Development in South Africa For South African women, the past colonial era was specifically very tough and troublesome. Walker (1990) states that the colonial rulers in South Africa imposed restrictions of various forms to the women. On the breach of rules and principles these rulers also imprisoned the women. These women had no right to own their property or land and bind themselves with any contract unless they seek permission from their guardians that are necessarily males. The women had a right to manage and supervise business operations in the absence of their husbands, fathers and other male guardians, but they were supposed to use the property as a security in banks due to the lack of ownership. Seidman (1993) affirms that before the 1960s, the women were not able to get work outside the country because of their inabilities in the fields of education and social freedom. Walker (1990) further comments that women in South Africa were required to stay within the boundaries of home for the purpose of fulfilment of their domestic responsibilities and await the money supposed to be sent by their migrated spouses. Bernstein (1985) reflects that in terms of employment, women were given the secondary treatment. They had to confront a male-mastered society for the purpose of getting a respectable job in South Africa and most of the females ended up in getting needful jobs as domestic menials and agricultural workers. He further remarks that African women labour still play a predominant role in the region’s agricultural sector. In the year 1980, out of quarter of women employed as menials and domestic servants, 86% were African. Therefore, it illuminates that even today the women in South Africa continue to do the same kind of job that they previously did i.e., domestic services and agricultural labour. The Central Statistics Service (1995) explore that about 50% of all women employed in Africa remain to be working as low category jobs such as domestic services, garbage and agriculture etc. 19% of African women are engaged in doing comparatively well off jobs whereas, 3% of them are working on leading terms and conditions including 1% of the women represent a professional career in management positions. These statistics also confirm that the African women are mostly paid at a very lower scale with negligible education, knowledge or skills required for the job. Hay and Stichter (1995) observe that male-dominancy still prevail intensively in the African society. Men remain to be the guardians of the families taking the important social and economic decisions. Women in South Africa are willing to work in different economic sectors to control their earning competencies, but could not strive to be working outside due to the social restrictions on their performance. Women and Development in Latin America The Latin American region comprises varied cultural, social, economical and political circumstances prevailing in different countries. Creevey (1996) describes the gender diversity in Peru that the country has a range of cultural differences existing in its various parts. He says that women are given secondary treatment in the country’s social, economical and political life. Most of the women are engaged in agricultural services being farming and animal stock keeping. The people do not allow females to work independently and equally in any field of work leading to inefficient utilisation of their capabilities and strength. In Peru, men work and earn a lot more than the women, and their minor work is considered worthier than a women’s major work. The reasons behind this perception are considered to be the strength and forcefulness of a male worker in handling heavy machineries and other stuff. The women farmers working in the field of Peru work industriously and untiringly towards the achievement of some economic benefits. They work hard for longer hours and keep on evaluating new opportunities and ways for crop cultivation. These women bank on their children a supportive labour to a great extent and thus child labour forms a very vital element of the society. These women are low in skills and wages but they happen to be adept at growing a variety of crops ranging from food crops to medicinal crops that serves different needs of human beings. Women and Development in South Asia South Asian region consists of countries with poor and substandard financial position. Although over the last few decades, the countries’ current economic position has improved, which implies that changes have been beneficial for the economic development of the country. However, it does not necessarily reflect a better position of the country in terms of women’s participation in the economic walk of life. It needs to be analysed deeply so as to realise the development of women in certain aspect of life in the context of a particular country. Bangladesh and India are among low-waged economies in the South Asia. The economic development of women in South Asia depends upon the willingness of Asian women to accept the challenge of economic growth and development after the utilisation of economic resources and facilitating the developmental process. For the successful utilisation of economic and natural resources, it is imperative for the country to devise strategies and policies to ensure that women as an integral factor of economic growth take active part in the development of a country’s economy such as decision-making in the context of society, family and politics. South Asian activists aroused the political activity of women in Bangladesh in order to develop the political understanding among the women. This further does not authenticate the development of political aspects for women in the country. The Bangladeshi government has imposed quota on the women’s participation in the political scenario of the country. The implementation of such a policy did not turn out to be a success because of its perception and implementation of strategy because most of the time, the people’s elected woman might not have the same heap of interests as the people of a society may have. Women seem to have been allowed to be participating in the social activities in Bangladesh, however, it is apparent that they cannot take positive part in the political and economical factors. There needs to be more emphasis on the development of women as an active member to raise her voice for her political rights and freedom. Nzegwu (2002, p18) remarks as: “The value of these political activities for development analyses is that they reveal the diverse and unique ways women in different parts of the South made their relevance felt and insisted on their participation in the policy-making side of national development”. CONCLUSION The extent to which the different approaches of women and development turned out to be counterproductive in solving the issues faced by women in southern world could be traced out with the help of the flaws that come with an approach. Most particularly, when a person who has no experience in the life of southern women and their feelings develops the approach, the probability is there that the theory might not be developed accurately. This inaccurateness of the approach has led to the failure of success thinking approaches in determining the problems and the solution for women. All the above-mentioned approaches have been put forth by Northern theorists and activists; therefore, their perception about Southern world seems to be quite rigid. Nzegwu (2002, p16) explains that: “This misguided expectation underpins the production of a body of literature in which African women are represented as ignorant, Asian women as passive, and Central and South American women as submissive. Invariably, only European and North American women are the ones endowed with the requisite attributes of leadership to articulate strategies for women in international development”. Therefore, the real problem lies beneath the cultural and social differences in human attitudes. Charlton (1984) confirms this idea that westerners would always face problems in the pursuit of conceptualising a theory on the ideas termed as development, as apparently it is not similar to western culture and norms. These concepts and approaches have been explicated for historical and scholarly studies and literature available at the North on the issue of women belonging to the West. For instance, it greatly emphasises on economic and monetary benefits, and rather can be called a materialistic approach that segregates a woman’s activities as being domestic or working, and on the basis of monetary gains. The women and development approaches remained far from success because they were not properly evaluated for the woman of South. She is poor and unskilled but she has a mind of her own. Most of the approaches failed because they solely focussed on one aspect of a woman’s life while the others were entirely ignored. The life of a Southern woman is quite diverse and thus her domestic life cannot be separated from her economic life. This is the reason it is said that the approaches of women and development served to aggravate the situation for women in the third world countries rather than mitigating it. References Bernstein, H. (1985), “For Their Triumphs and For Their Tears: Women in Apartheid South Africa”, London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa Boserup, E. (1970) “Women’s Role in Economic Development, St. Martin’s Press”, New York Change”, Women, Work, and Development Series, Geneva: International Labour Organization Vol. 19 Charlton, Sue Ellen. (1984), “Women in Third World Development”, Boulder: Westview Press Creevey, L. (1996), “Changing Women’s Lives and Work”. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. Gringeri, C.E. 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The World Bank Initiative for Women in Development”, A Progress Report, Washington, D.C.: World Bank Read More