Gender and Power in Nyanza Kenya: Analytical approaches and study results

Presentation by Noora-Lisa AbermanBased on two studies from the project: “Enhancing Women's Assets to

Manage Risk under Climate Change: Potential for Group-Based Approaches”

Coauthors: Julia Behrman (NYU), Regina Birner (Hohenheim), Elizabeth Okiri (KARI), Mary Anyango (KARI), George Otiep (CARITAS) and Barack

Okoba (KARI)

Overview of Presentation

1. Exploring the choice of analytical approach• What type of question(s) do you have?• Is qualitative analysis less rigorous?

2. Different approaches to qualitative analysis: methodologies and results• Open coding of power as a sensitizing concept• Pre-defined coding with gender-inclusive group governance

Choice of Analytical Approach What types of questions do you have? What are you trying to understand?What is your epistemological approach? Does a quant, qual or Q2 approach fit best?

What types of questions do you have? What are you trying to understand?

• Are you trying to understand perceptions, ideas, social structures and norms, institutional arrangements? Are you trying to understand an unusual social phenomena?• Do you have a hypothesis you want to test? Do you want to measure

the effect of some intervention on some specific indicator? Measure the specific relationships between two things?

What is your epistemological approach? Epistemology: theory of knowledge productionWhat do you think is “knowable”? Or what are you interested in knowing about today?• Post-positivist: Interested in measuring an objective knowable reality.

“Just the facts, mam.”• Interpretivism/Social-constructivism: Interested in understanding how

people make sense of their realities – such as specific concepts or experiences. “What does it mean to you?”• Critical Realism: Interested in examination of conflict, power and

injustice, given assumption in inequality of relations in the world. E.g., feminist research/Marxist research/political agendas and bargaining for political change.

Quant, Qual or Q2?

• A given research study or program will likely have many questions, and so may have room for multiple integrated analytical approaches. • A qualitative study may raise questions for a follow-up quantitative

study, or strange results in a quantitative study may lead to a follow-up qualitative study to better understand what’s happening.

Does qualitative research lack rigor?Is it just anecdotal?Is it just descriptive?Does it lack generalizability?

Is it just anecdotal?

Sometimes. It depends on your sampling approach.• A convenience sample would probably be politely described as

anecdotal evidence • A random sample – not relevant for qualitative research because

analysis not based on probabilistic theory• Purposive sample / snowball sample / theoretical sample – depending

on the research design

Is it just descriptive?

Sometimes. It depends on your analytical approach. • Ethnography, phenomenology are meant to be purely descriptive• Analytic induction – the process of coding data to establish patterns

and draw conclusion about fundamental principles of social action and human behavior• Scoping research/ Formative research – often not based on any

particular analytical approach, and it may not need to be.

Is it generalizable?

No. It shouldn’t be. No statistics involved.• A rigorous qualitative study tries to improve understanding on

complex human issues• Some will develop empirically based social theories that will be transferable to other contexts

Different approaches to analytic inductionOpen coding of power as a sensitizing conceptPre-defined coding with gender-inclusive group governance

2 Studies on Gender and Power in Nyanza, Kenya• Both Social Constructivist/ interpretivist epistemological approach –

interested in how people interpret, understand, describe their realities. • Analytic induction – want to develop social theory of relevance beyond

the community of study (transferable)• Sampling – purposive sampling of 26 sex-disaggregated focus groups,

20 of them were in self-help groups (second study only used these). • Nyazaa, Kenya chosen because of safety, interesting gender and tribal issues,

prevalence of development project meant high number of active visible self-help groups.

• Presence of active/functioning groups, women and men members, varying distance from town center.

Open coding of power as a sensitizing conceptHow do socially constructed definitions of power in rural Kenya contribute to the current body of theory on gender, power and decision making?• Sensitizing concept: allows the community of study to define the

concept of interest rather than coming in with predefined concepts• Focus group discussions explored concepts of power and decision

making in groups and in families• Translated transcribed interviews were open-coded; emphasis on local

perceptions and empirical grounding; “close to the page”. • Deep detailed literature review only took place after initial coding of first round

of data collection.

Pre-defined coding with gender-inclusive group governance What governance mechanisms promote substantive participation of women in self-help groups in rural Kenya?• Existing frameworks on gender and institutions • Existing evidence on women and conservation group in South Asia• We developed a framework for analysis that fed into focus group

discussion guides and top line codes

Sub-themes and Meta analysis – same for both• Next round of coding developed sub-themes, revised/added

themes•Meta-analysis: patterns of codes across FGs, across

communities, sex• Logical structuring of codes, how they fit together meaningfully• Implications for theory/practice

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Literature describes some common conceptualizations of power:

• Power over (domination)• Power to (agency)• Power with (unity)• Power within (self-worth)

• Debate on structure vs agency• Agency: individual power to act• Structures: social structures determine what individuals can do • Kabeer (2001) false dichotomy? “actions and choices of individuals and groups

can in turn act on structural constraints”

• Neo-classical economics considers one’s “outside option” as critical to HH bargaining power

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Power defined as “voice”• Taking two key forms: leadership and domination• Not mutually exclusive (both showed up in all communities)• Both “power over”, but dominance sought to impact actions of

others while leadership content to be opinion leader• Facilitators of voice: • wealth and ownership of resources, • hard work and accomplishment, • ability to provide for the family, and • unity and consultation.

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Power was zero-sum game: if you gain I must loose

Zero-sum PowerFemale respondent - I have taken 2 [a low power score] because I am a member of the group and the leaders that we have are good, that is why I don’t have to go beyond them because I don’t see anything bad about them.

Female respondent – [the man] doesn’t want to be questioned after he has done something and there won’t be peace if the woman is also high.

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Gendered Power• Definitions and drivers same for men and women• Characterization systematically different:• Men dominate absolutely while women dominate

conditionally (power allowed from men, or power in domestic domain)• Power over a woman (in marriage) common; extreme

control over woman’s resources for livelihood (land) and basic needs (shelter)

Power to take a woman home

Interviewer: Can you tell me what makes man powerful than woman

Male Respondent: Men have power to marry a woman and take her to their home, that is one power from where I may decide to send her away if we disagree. But if the two could marry and leave their home and stay at a central place they would be have equal power.

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Drivers of power almost entirely based on individual actions or

attributes (agency)• Only structural aspects, in terms of gendered power hierarchy (male

power absolute female conditional). Also customary practices related to marriage and property.• Need for family consultation is new and potentially transformative,

but coexists with male domination

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Shifting gender norms• Community typologies• Regressive: men are superior (from god or innate ability)• Circumventing: he has the power, but I speak softly or disobey• Transformative: women can succeed on their own – improves outside

option• Many communities “in conflict” with views across the spectrum

Regressive

Female respondent - A man is like a cornerstone of the home, even the kids that we have with him. He can assist in things like taking the kid to the hospital when the kid is sick. And also when it comes to school it is the husband who says that the kid is supposed to go to school or to be taken from school. And even if there is something bad that is going to happen he sees it first before a woman. A man is focused unlike a woman, they also plan the things that they do before doing them but a woman do not. A woman just does things generally.

Circumventive

Female respondent – [when there is a disagreement] you should sit down when things have cooled down and talk and be humbled also look for time when he is in his best moods and talk to politely then you will win him back.

Transformative

Female respondent - In the recent world women can have a voice or good ideas because of this gender thing and people are mixed in terms of gender in our group and the men know it.

Male respondent - I think women are very powerful because they are the ones who raise the status of the family and even if a woman were to be widowed then women would always work hard in the family more than a man would do.

Defining power: power as a sensitizing concept• Measuring women’s decision making power: • consultative decision-making process in this context is not necessarily

indicative of women’s agency• Improved outside option: perception of one’s ability to succeed if man leaves

may be indicative of shifting norms and worth testing

• Zero-sum power: implications of developing women’s resources /power? Will men be threatened?

Gender-inclusive group governance

• Men and women participate in groups based on different interests, priorities and abilities• Benefits of participation are many, particularly for women, but likely

constrained but substantiveness of participation (ability for groups’ to address their particular concerns/priorities)• Participation often defined as attendance

Gender-inclusive group governance

Adapted from the Social Relations Framework (Kabeer 1999; Kabeer and Subrahmanian 1996), the Framework for Institutional Analysis (Kirsten et al. 2009) and the Bargaining Framework (Agarwal 2000b).

Gender-inclusive group governance - Self-help groups: mix of traditional

and formal institution- In recent years supported by NGO’s

and government - Gender inequality but new

constitution starts to acknowledge and address

- Examine de jure and de facto governance structures

- Participation: attendance and speaking up - Idealized view of democracy (de jure

rules) and harmony over transparency- Group typologies - Female leadership not important, except

when only women

- Personal endowments seen as important for group decision making power (“she’s just shy”)

- Driven by social context related to gendered power

Gender-inclusive group governance • Taking responsibility for inclusiveness: trainings for gender-inclusive

governance linked with a better understanding of structural inequalities and governance mechanisms to address them• Rules and governance structures explicitly favoring women increase

their feeling of legitimacy: The rules themselves address structural challenges while the concept behind the rules strengthen women’s agency• Lack of political experience can hinder women’s ability to critically

assess group governance: Incorporating role playing of conflict situations and governance challenges into trainings may help• Variations in context -- gender norms -- will greatly impact gendered

group dynamics