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Policy Approaches to Women and Gender Equality

Policy Approaches to Women and Gender Equality. Approaches to Women and Gender Equality. Two conceptual frameworks: “Women in Development” and “Gender and Development” Different policy approaches: welfare, equity, anti-poverty, efficiency, empowerment and gender mainstreaming.

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Policy Approaches to Women and Gender Equality

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  1. Policy Approaches to Women and Gender Equality

  2. Approaches to Women and Gender Equality • Two conceptual frameworks: “Women in Development” and “Gender and Development” • Different policy approaches: welfare, equity, anti-poverty, efficiency, empowerment and gender mainstreaming Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  3. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  4. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  5. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  6. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  7. Approaches to Women and Gender Equality Different policy approaches: • welfare, • equity, • anti-poverty, • efficiency, • empowerment • gender mainstreaming Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  8. Welfare approach • earliest approach, predominant 1950-1970. • aim is to bring women into the development as better mothers. • women are seen as the passive beneficiaries of development emphasizing their reproductive role • seeks to meet practical gender needs in that role through a top-down handouts of food aid, measures against malnutrition and family planning • not challenging, especially of gender division of labour, and still widely popular. Source: March, C., Smyth, I., and Mukhopahhyay, M. (1999). A Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks. Oxfam: Oxford Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  9. Equity approach • original WID approach, emerged during in the 76-85 UN Women’s Decade, within the predominant “growth with equity” development approach • aim is to gain equity for women who are seen as active participants in development • recognizes women’s triple role (productive, reproductive and community), and seeks to meet strategic gender interests by direct state intervention giving political and economic autonomy and reducing inequality with men. • challenges women’s subordinate position • criticised as western feminism, is considered threatening to men and is unpopular with governments and donors. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  10. Anti- Poverty approach • 2nd WID approach, a toned-down version of equity, from 1970s onwards in the context of Basic Needs approaches to development • women seen as disproportionately represented among poor • aim is to ensure that poor women increase their productivity • women’s poverty is seen as a problem of underdevelopment, not of subordination • recognizes the productive role of women, and seeks to meet their practical to earn an income, particularly in small scale income generation projects • still most popular with NGOs Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  11. Efficiency approach • 3rd WID approach, adopted since the 1980s debt crisis. • aims to ensure that development is more efficient and effective through women’s economic contribution, with participation often equated with equity and decision making • seeks to meet practical gender needs while relying in all three roles and an elastic concept of women’s time • women seen in terms of their capacity to compensate for declining social services by extending their working day Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  12. Empowerment • articulated by third-world women with aim to empower women through greater self-reliance • explicitly acknowledges centrality of power and women’s need for more power to improve position • women’s subordination is expressed in terms of male oppression and colonial and neo-colonial oppression • recognizes the triple role; seeks to meet strategic gender interests indirectly thru grassroots mobilization of practical gender needs • potentially challenging, but its avoidance of western feminism makes it unpopular except with third world women’s NGOs. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  13. Gender mainstreaming • associated with the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing and the Beijing Platform of Action that signaled the UN’s first official use of the term • call for “gender mainstreaming” was a culmination of two inter-related changes in discourse prior to Beijing: • Women in Development to gender and development • “integrating women” to “mainstreaming gender” Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

  14. Gender mainstreaming • Women in Development to gender and development • some improvements in women’s material conditions, but little progress in their status • the nature of women’s relational subordination was ignored and unequal gender power relations remained unaltered • “integrating women” vs. “mainstreaming gender” • relates to the second problem associated with WID, the continued marginalization of women and women’s issues from “mainstream” development • mainly due to how WID was implemented: the establishment of women’s national machineries and WID units and the emphasis on “women’s projects” • “mainstreaming” was seen as a way of promoting gender equity in all of the “organization’s pursuits” Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

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