Development and Economic Sustenance in the Third World Context - Essay Example

 Introduction The role of women in society has always been debated in the modern era. The debate received greater impetus when a need was felt of involving women in global societies and in the larger processes of development. It was Ester Boserup who brought out in the beginning of 1970’s that the role of women in development had been underestimated. This was the tipping point for research and development of theories in this critical facet of development over the years. It also led to the first International Women’s Conference in 1975 and declaration of the International Decade of Women. There was also a transformation in development of the theory of role of women in development. It shifted from, “woman and development” (WAD) to “women in development” (WID) and later to “gender and development”. (GAD). (Braig: 2000). Ironically the use of acronyms at times has led to confusion in the debate which has otherwise seen gradual empowerment of women in development from a more holistic approach to progress in the developing World of the South. Some of the key issues which need to be considered are discussed as per succeeding paragraphs. Key Concepts Linking Development and Women Key concepts linking development and women have been transforming over the years as progress is assuming a multi dimensional perspective and is viewed in differing time frames as well as stages. The progression of roles of women in development is linked with economic as well as socio-political theories. The Developed World has been able to transform a number of these theories after initialization and discussion to the developing World, which has largely benefited but with attendant malfunctionalities. Women and Development (WAD) was the initial theory evolved in relation to role of women in development. It adopted a neo-Marxist and feminist approach. Thus the interpretation of class and exploitation of the under class is inherent in this approach. The "Third World" is seen as being a victim to the class struggle imposed from the top. There were strong roots in dependency theory which implies that developed regions continue to exploit developing regions for sustained growth. WAD theory adopts a rather mechanistic outlook to the role of women in development. It thus states that women are and have always been part of the process of development. The participation of women in the process of development is said to be in the form of both paid and unpaid labor, considered an essential part of development. (Ramji : 1997). There is also a generalized inequity in role distribution in the WAD approach which assumes that women will contribute more in their traditional roles of home and hearth with supplemental roles being added through the forces of modernization. There is an implied inferiority-superiority dyad by which the determining role for development is not accorded to women. A detailed analysis of the other approaches to development will enable clarification of this concept. The, “Women in Development” approach arose from the liberal trend in feminism. It recognizes the importance of roles and status of women in the process of development. Thus women are provided a special role and status when development assistance is provided. Active involvement of women in implementation of assistance is also underlined by aid giving countries as Japan. The enhancement of opportunities for participation of women is said to lead to improvement of the status of women in society in general. (Initiative : 2006). The Women in Development approach thus caters for women as a distinct group which is homogeneuous and which strives for equaltiy in status with men. The growth of modern economies where in white collar work is assuming a significant role even in developing countries as Bangladesh and India, has led to progression of this concept. Women in Development(WID) approach is also fostered by the aspriational growth in women. Thus while neo marxism propounded a theory of gradual upliftment of the community as a whole through a trickle down effect, it is not said to have had a significant impact on women and thus there was a need to adopt a more incluvise approach in development than WAD. (Ramji: 1997) A progression of the WID approach is the Gender and Development or GAD approach which is assuming importance in the theory of role of women in development since the 1980’s with reference to developing countries. The GAD approach goes to the grass roots of gender inequality examining the entire gamut of relations between the two genders and the structure of society. It also attempts to reorder the very nature of division of labor, the institutions and systems within a society which causes these inequities. Women are sought to be empowered particularly those in the developing World. The process is being termed as gender mainstreaming and is said to include amplification of the process of development to include the different forms in which it will impact men and women. (GAD). The GAD approach is based on the significance of the social, economic and political factors which affect the lives of women in traditional societies as those of the countries in the South and thus uses a more holistic approach to view the processes of development. Development is not treated as a one off product of a gender or the other but is a more inclusive process wherein men too participate equitably and share the concerns and tribulations of women. This provides women an active role in not only construction of the development processes but also determining its objectives. This thus grants full equity to women in economic development. (Ramji: 1997). The GAD approach is said to have been evolved by the large number of women’s groups essentially from the south and was a culmination of the empowerment of women resulting from the concept of Decade of Women in 1985. Thus has been driven from the grass roots perspective as a long term process of transformation in the women’s liberation movement across the globe rather than restricting to the Western world. (Braig: 2000). The GAD approach has also been incorporated in the neo-liberal economic policy strategies. These strategies were concerned about the efficient and economical designing of development by greater economic impetus. The debate over the role of women in development was thus transformed to that of accepting women as an integral part of the development process and not just overcoming the unequal treatment of women in development or creating development for the purpose of overcoming inequities in the WID concept. As the global economy emerged from purely agricultural and particularly the industrial mode to a service and information mode even in the developing countries, women could be considered as an integral part of the development process by being equal and effective contributors to it rather than being considered as a special entity. (Braig: 2000) The progression of WAD to WID and to GAD demonstrates the subtle nuances of development as being viewed for the welfare of women in the Third World. From being regarded as a part of the development process in WAD, there were focused attempts to direct development for the upliftment of women in the WID. While in the GAD a holistic process of equity has been evolved wherein women are participants in the overall economic process rather than having development targeted towards them thereby creating equity between genders which also has legal sanction. The WID and the GAD concepts overcome the ideological underpinnings of the WAD approach which views development of women as a process which cannot be achieved under capitalism. However it is commonly believed that the system of patriarchy and subordination of women under WAD continues as it fails to address the core issues which are detrimental to lack of growth of women’s rights in the socialist context. Thus there is really no attempt at reordering traditional society and it is expected that women will participate as a process of change in institutional structures. While there is great regard for the work of women both at home and out side it, the productive rather than the reproductive facet of the work of women is emphasized in WAD. (Ramji: 1997). As per Boserup, the process of development projects per se acted to the disadvantage of the women in neo Marxism directed as these were in the public sector and towards greater industrialization, in which men were the major participants both in the processes as well as the decision making loops and women were considerably marginalized. Development per se seems to have been against the interests of women. (Braig: 2000). These are the key variations of the concepts of WAD, WID and GAD. The effectiveness of WAD in resolving the problems of development of women from Third World countries is discussed within this paradigm. Analysis of Inequities of WAD Realization of the inequities of WAD as a process of holistic development for women first came to Western countries as the failure of development policies to fulfill the goals of upliftment of women were evident in the USA and Europe. Thus a number of feminist movements called for a change of perspective from that of equal rights to removal of discrimination from the roots of societal thinking affecting the psychological, social, sexual and cultural facets. WAD could not make an impact on any of these spheres and expected that with the growth of infra structure and the creation of assets, women’s welfare will be taken care of. However since it was not seen to be forthcoming, women’s groups opened up new perspectives towards the debate of both development as well as role of women therein. (Braig: 2000) The movement for inclusive development by women spread from the developed World to the urban middle and upper class of women’s groups in the developing world. It is observed that in developing societies such a consciousness arose from the social and political problems faced by women. This was evident in Latin America where the struggle against dictatorships resulted in women leading the processes of political transformation more actively than their male counterparts. (Braig: 2000). The issues for betterment of living conditions in these states such as land and housing, water supply and waste disposal were the other drivers for change from the WAD to the WID perspective. Women were the most affected by these grass roots issues and thus deemed to bring about change though the process of development in the social and the political spheres and many dictatorships were also overthrown thus. (Braig: 2000) WAD was also seen to accept gender hierarchy. Thus while issues of better public health systems and provision of services were considered priority areas for development considering women’s rights, these did not attempt to reorder the existing social hierarchy wherein in women were seen to have a limited role and participation in the processes of decision making in general and not just those that are directly affecting them. WAD approach was seen singularly lacking in balancing the power relationships between the sexes to include women’s rights for self determination. (Braig: 2000). These issues have been divided by some analysts as Molyneux as practical gender interests and strategic gender interests. Practical interests are perhaps reasonably accounted for in the WAD concept and cover issues which are of immediate interest. However WAD fails to address the strategic issues thereby providing scope for an enlarged perspective for viewing development as the core to empowering women and balancing gender relations in society. (Braig: 2000). Analysts as Caroline Moser have gone further by stating that women have the triple role of proactive, reproductive and community related activities. These need to be integrated in the community planning processes, which it is not possible to do so in the WAD perspective which only seeks to address the productive processes. These are distinguished as gender planning processes and gender conscious planning processes. The latter are provided for in WAD but it is in the gender planning processes where the approach is lacking. (Braig: 2000). By graduating from WAD to WID and then to GAD these problems are to an extent overcome. This shift in perspective has for the first time granted the women not just development rights or human rights but basic rights. (Braig: 2000) Another issue of concern in the debate is the problem arising from the dichotomy of public-private economic configuration of the liberal system which is said to further the productive role of women at the cost of the reproductive. This was also a misgiving as much in the WID concept as WAD ideology. Thus work place improvements were considered as adequate to meet the needs of women and provide them space for growth and equal participation. These however are considered peripheral issues and did not consider the reproductive aspect of a women’s role. This major problem is sought to be overcome by the GAD concept. (Barriteau: 2000) Inequities Viewed From the Perspective of Developing World The traditional practices of neo Marxist ideology which were at the roots of development in the South did not produce balanced results. The development practices in the South had seen growth and modernization which was rapid in some cases but slow in others. However it was seen that increase in economic growth was not balanced with the increase in rights of women in most cases. The developments continued to be based on the dependency syndrome and the antiquated view of economic development as a means for increasing production. This resulted in a number of inequities in the developing countries summarized as under (Barriteau: 2000):- (a) India experienced an increase in economic growth but not corresponding employment generation. (b) Brazil saw increase in economic growth but at very significant costs of environmental and human degradation. (c) In the case of the Caribbean countries there was both a decline in economic growth accompanied by declines in human and physical infra structure. Women activists in the South as Gita Sen have brought out that these models of economic growth were traditionally against women and devaluated their reproductive role. Thus women become marginalized by the very structure of the economic activity as it is formalized and is involved in large scale production. Under representation of women in these fields does not lead to the concept of true emancipation. Thus while WAD ensures that there is all round effort at development, this is not balanced development within the overall economic and social structure and in relation to women’s growth does not make a dent beyond the productive role and ignores the reproductive role altogether. (Barriteau: 2000) The over emphasis on economic growth in developed countries implies that there is focus on facilities of production and increasing labor productivity. Women also have a limited role in savings, thus their role in development is also restricted. This is the classic approach of neo Marxism applied to the Third World. The result is an enhancement of physical production. Women are typically poorly represented in these spheres. Thus as a natural corollary their participation in the development process is minimal. Thus women are marginalized at the basic stage in the philosophy of WAD. (Barriteau: 2000) Another typical role of women in the South is that of sustaining cultural traditions. Thus they utilize indigenous institutions, attitudes and practices as a part of their survival strategies. This is evident from the representations made by the black and post modernist women of the Third World. These are seen to act as substantial barriers for development. (Barriteau: 2000). By building in gender perspectives, Third World feminists believe that WAD biases can be limited. Thus strategies which incorporate reproduction and production will facilitate WID and GAD. (Barriteau: 2000) An issue of concern has been raised by some political analysts as Jane Parpart and Marianne Marchand who feel that colonial constructions of women in the Third World reinforces divides between men and women creating gender dualisms. Modernization is based on masculine norms and the need for a break from tradition and stasis. Both need to be supplemented by an approach which goes beyond that represented by WAD. (Scott: 2003). The debate is being progressed one remove further to highlight that even WID approaches do not supplement holistic developmental role of women and the reliance perforce has to be on GAD. WAD - Other Issues Dependency theory is based on the premise that developed regions have achieved growth through exploitation of other regions. Thus there is always a need for the wealthy to have a group for poor nations to retain their wealth. (Dependency: 2006). Thus modernization and dependence and also development policy has sought to measure success from the manner in which the modern industrial society has emerged. WAD tends to support this premise. The informal nature of establishment of a social security system implies that the role of women in the society is not pre dominant and traditional structures support the same. The gender specific division of labor which is inherent in the productivity of the neo Marxist theory and which sees that dependency is the essence of exploitation and development finds a reflection in the lower order society thereby further marginalizing the role of women in development. Production in the Third World is designed to subsist the First world countries as a result whatever development takes place is for the purpose of sustaining the larger economies of the developed countries. Developmental role of women in such a structure is only incidental as is incumbent in the WAD concept. (Braig: 2000). A study of women garment workers in Sri Lanka tends to support this premise as industrial development through free market channels is said to support the WID concept and deflates the exploitation role accorded to the dependency theory of Marx. (Currie.Wickramasinghe: 1997). This clearly highlights the deficiencies of the concept of WAD in the context of fostering the dependency theory. Development has been defined as socially responsible management to overcome the subordination of genders and social inequality by organizational restructuring and efficient management of resources. Thus it entails a need for economic and social change as well as empowerment. This transformation has to be holistic and should include changes in the public as well as private spheres for the overall benefit of women. WAD approach assumes that women are active participants in development. (Barriteau: 2000). However this view of the WAD approach is narrow and includes only the physical infra structure. Larger issues in development are invariably left unattended. This is a considerable drawback which is sought to be eliminated through the WID and GAD approaches. Lack of attention to the productive roles of women in WAD implies for the Third World that women are not a part of the unpaid role which is incumbent and which is atypical to women. In the Third World women’s productive role has been emphasized as a part of a strategy to reformulate women’s identity and create a feeling of greater contribution to society. (Razavi.Miller:1995) This has resulted in a welfare approach rather than a self sustaining capability building move. In this nutritional education and home development is emphasized. The role of women as producers has limited focus. Thus equity in paid and unpaid roles is not evident. WID on the other hand provides social education benefits to women and also highlights their role as productive members of society and not just passive recipients of welfare programmes. Women are part of the mainstream and not just welfare oriented initiatives. While in WAD it was sufficient to rely on special projects for women under WID gender equity and economic efficiency are said to be concomitant gains in the social process. (Razavi.Miller:1995). Women’s role in economic productivity is affected by the social and cultural factors which influence these. (Barriteau: 2000). Thus there is a need for specific interventions particularly by Third World countries and these will not come about as an addendum to existing processes as is deemed in the WAD concept. The World Bank has taken special note of this aspect and has provided for six areas of emphasis to include policy evolution, collection of data to support the analytical foundations, focus on women’s issue in policy dialogue with governments, result orientation of government actions, testing and monitoring activities by the Bank and increased training to staff on the role of women in development. (Barriteau: 2000). This highlights the insufficiency of the WAD concept to support a holistic policy of development for women in the paid and unpaid labor sphere without specific interventions. Patriarchical ideology is said to be a set of beliefs that are held in society that preserve the dominance of men in relation to women. The privileges accorded to men are also greater than those to women. A separate set of controls operate in the patriarchical structure which results in exclusion and marginalization of women from society in all its dimensions, the social, economic and political. WAD approach does not call for special interventions to ensure empowerment of women and these are said to come about through natural processes evolving from the inclusion of women in the productive facets of economic activity. However it is believed that gender empowerment cannot come about without a change in the structures and systems which are at the roots of the patriarchical system. WAD is based on age old social institutions, systems and values which have to be challenged. Thus it fosters the patriarchal system rather than empowering women collectives. (Gender Mainstreaming). Thus the belief that women’s mere participation in projects of which they have no control and by institutional changes as envisaged in WAD needs to be questioned. (Gender Mainstreaming) Women in the Third world have been performing a large number of agricultural tasks however their role is undermined, never highlighted and invariably underestimated. There are a number of studies which denote that 75-79 percent of rural women participate in agricultural production, (Fleck: 2000). This makes the women’s productive role visible but women also have a reproductive and community role which needs to be highlighted. Thus in the case of working women, promotion frequently implies greater work load and there is thus a need to recognize the private sphere of women through gender analysis to enable them to carry out their responsibilities of sustaining households and family structures. There are also fears of exploitation of women by integrating their productive role and ignoring the other functions incumbent on women. It is also said that in the South by propagating faulty policies based on WAD, it is not just the women themselves, but also children, men and households and families suffer as women carry a number of multiple responsibilities.(Barriteau : 2000). It is also feared at times that women only projects will have a back lash as is seen in many Third World countries. These qualms will not arise through adoption of holistic approaches as WID or better still GAD where active involvement of society and both the genders implies that resistance is quelled in the planning stage through greater participation. Conclusion The relevant assumptions in the WAD that development is a natural process which occurs through the natural course of development and economic sustenance in the Third World context has limited relevance as has been highlighted in the paper. There is a need to emphasize on WID and the GAD precepts if development is seen as a holistic and not a gender centric phenomenon. The aim should be to provide for gender rights to women as their basic rights. Reference 1. Barriteau, Eudine, V. Feminist Theory and Development: Implications for Policy, Research, and Action. http://www.idrc.ca/es/ev-27445-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. (5 May 2006). 2. Braig, Marianne. W. 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The Gender Dimension From Modernization and Development to Globalization and the New Imperialism. Development and Modernization, Vol. 25 (1) - Spring 2003http://hir.harvard.edu/articles/1225/(5 May 2006) 9. Fleck, Susan. Extension "Woman-to-Woman" in Honduras - Experiences of an FAO Project Based on a case study prepared by Susan Fleck, FAO Women-in-Development Consultant http://www.fao.org/sd/WPdirect/WPan0005.htm (5 May 2006) 10. Razavi, Shahrashoub. Miller, Carol. (1995). From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse. Occasional Paper 1, February 1995. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development United Nations Development Programme 11. Ramji,Shiraz. (1997). The Peak, Simon Fraser University's Student Newspaper since 1965, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/97-2/issue13/femfeat.html(5 May 2006) 12. Initaitve. Initiative on Gender and Development (GAD) http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/category/wid/what.html(5 May 2006) 13. GAD. http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/category/wid/gad.html. (5 May 2006) Read More