Gender Works: Oxfam experience in policy and practice

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gender works^ " O X F A M EXPERIENCE IN POLICY AND PRACTICE

EDITED BYFenella Porter

Ines SmythCaroline Sweetman

X*'Oxfam


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OxfamGB1999ISBN 0 85598 407 4A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.All rights reserved. Reprod uction, copy, transmission , or translation of any part of this publicationmay be made only unde r the following conditions: With the prior written permission of the publisher; or With a licence from the C opyright Licensing Agency Ltd., 90 Tottenham Co urt Road,

London Wl P 9HE, UK, or from anoth er national licensing agency; or For quo tation in a review of the work; or Under the terms set out below.This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any metho d w ithout fee for teachingpurposes, but no t for resale. Formal permission is require d for all such uses, but n ormally will begranted immediately. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, orfor translation or ad aptation , prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher, and afee may be payab le.Available from the following agents:for the USA: Stylus Publishing LLC, PO Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605, USA;tel. + l (0)703 661 1581;fax + l (0)703 661 1501;[email protected] Canada: Fernwood Books Ltd., PO Box 9409, Stn. A, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 5S3, Canada;tel. + l (0)902 422 3302; fax +1 (0)902 422 3179; email [email protected] Southern Africa: David Philip Publishers, PO Box 23408, Claremont 7735, South Africa;tel. +27 (0)21 64 4136; fax +27 (0)21 64 3358; email [email protected] India: Maya Publishers Pvt Ltd, 113-B, Shapur Jat, New D elhi-110049, India;tel.+91 (0)11 649 0451; fax+91 (0)116491039for Australia: Bush Books, PO Box 1370, Gosford South, NSW 2250, Australia;tel. +61 (0)2 4323 3274; fax+61 (0)2 9212 2468; email bushbook@ozem ail.com.auFor the rest of the world, contact Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK.tel. +44 (0) 1865 311 311; fax +44 (0) 1865 313 925; email [email protected] by Oxfam GB, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UKPrinted by Information PressOxfam GB is a registered charity, no . 202 918, and is a member of Oxfam International.

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Contents1 PrefaceDavid Bryer3 IntroductionFenella Porter, Ines Smyth, and Caroline Sweetman

13 Timeline

15 Section I The challenges of implem entation19 Much ado abo ut knitting: Th e experience of Bosfam (Bosnia)UshaKar31 Men in th e kitch en, w om en in the office?W orking on gender issues in EthiopiaFeleke Tadele37 Gen der conc erns in emergenciesFiona Gell47 Ge nde r in tim es of war (El Salvador)Martha Thompson58 Bringing it back hom e: Gen der and poverty in the UKGeraldine Terry68 Representative systems and accou ntability structu resin refugee settlements in Ikafe, Uganda

JudyAdoko76 M ind the gap: How what we dodiffers from w hat we say (Burkin a Faso)Alice Iddi84 Th e spaces between th e weave:Building alliances at the grassroots (Pakistan)Maryam Iqbal


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iv Gender Works

95 Section II Organisational culture and procedures99 Chang ing the rules: Imp lem enting a gender policy throug h

organisational proceduresBridget Walker108 Two steps forward, on e step back: Experiences of senior m ana gem entDianna M elrose117 F rom infrastruc ture to peop le: Experiences from Ca m bod iaVisha Padmanabhan124 Gen der: Assessing the im pactElsa Dawson132 A rose by any other nam e: Feminism in development NG OsInes Smyth142 Person nel man age m ent in crisis: Experience from AfghanistanSueEmmott152 Rh etoric to reality: A psychological ap proa chWendy Carson164 Setting up the Oxfam nurseryThe editors with thanks to Norman Clift

175 Section III The role of a specialist team178 Ch ronicle of a death foretold: The bir th an d death of Oxfam GB'sGender and Development UnitSuzanne Williams187 GAD U rem em bere d: Some reflections on the early yearsTina Wallace196 Fairytales and feminism: Volunteering in the Gende r TeamAlison Farrell203 Middle-aged man seeks gender teamChris Roche

215 Section IV Working at different levels219 Regional cohesion and gende r in the Middle East prog ram m eLina Abu-Habib and Omar Traboulsi227 Th e experience of Beijing from a Za m bian perspectiveLucy M uyoyeta234 W om en's Eyes on the W orld Bank :Integrating gend er equity into advocacy workLydia Williams


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Contents v

243 Gender and diversity in Oxfam InternationalEllen Sprenger and D iane Biray Gregorio253 Harmonising gender and development:Th e GAD fund in South AfricaPenny Plowman andjosette Cole259 Gen der mean s doing things differently:Lessons from Oxfam's Wom en's Linking ProjectCandida March271 Participation and ma nagem ent in South Asia:Gender transform ation in the AGRA South netw orkKanchan Sinha

283 Section V Building capacity286 From the slipstream to the mainstream : Inco rpora ting gender

into The Oxfam H andbook of Development and ReliefDeborah Eade297 The 'cutting ed ge' of practice? Publishing , gender, an d diversityin Oxfam GBCaroline Sweetman305 Ma king visible the in visible :The work of the gender resources cen treSue Smith311 A history of gende r training in OxfamJan Seed318 A cademic reality: From th eo ry to practiceRajni Khanna326 Gen der train ing for policy im plem ente rs: Only a partia l solutio nFenella Porter and Ines Smyth

337 A ppen dix: Gende r and developm ent Oxfam's policyfor its programme


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Preface

David Bryer

Gender Works is the latest in a line of pub lications from Oxfam GB on gender anddevelopment issues, charting the ways in which Oxfam GB's staff and partnershave taken action to comb at women's poverty and m arginalisation arou nd theworld. This book marks a milestone in the long journey towards our goal ofmak ing our w ork, and o ur ow n organ isation, work for wo me n. We have a longway to travel still, bu t the debates included here bear witness to the imp ortance ofdevelopment workers and their organisations taking seriously the message ofgender researchers, workers, and activists throu gh ou t the world, who urge us topractise what we preach.

A concern for wom en's poverty has informed Oxfam's work with co m m un i-ties since early in its history. This was shaped in 1984 into an explicit recogn itionthat we needed to promote women's right to equal access to power, assets, andresources. In the following year, a specialist gender function, the Gender andDevelopm ent U nit (GA DU) was established at Oxfam's head office. It providedsupport, advice, and training to Oxfam's international programme, whilelobbying work continu ed inside and outside the organisation to ensure that ourcommitment to gender concerns was rendered sustainable through a formalpolicy agreem ent. In 1993, almost a decade after GAD U was set up , Oxfam'sorganisational Gender Policy was agreed. O ur organisation was am ong th e firstNorthern-based non-government funding agencies to embrace a concrete,formal c om mitm ent to the rights and welfare of women thro ugh out the world.

Du ring this process, Oxfam GB has becom e well-known for its com m itm entto integrating a concern for women's rights and gender equality into itsprog ram m e work. The stages in our journey have been mappe d by a succession


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2 Gender Works

of well-known publications, including Changing Perceptions and The OxfamGender TrainingManual. Gender Works, like its forerunners, is a book of its time;it reflects the cu rren t em phasis on institutio nal analysis, since we are now awarethat who 'we' in developm ent org anisations are has a direct impac t on the valueof the work we do. The time is ripe to deba te which values need to underpin globaldeve lopm ent. A value-free, unregula ted, 'globalised' econo my is never going todeliver the just an d fair develop ment tha t we wish to prom ote in South and No rth.The 36 writers in this book, who com e from every region of the globe, argue tha tall involved in developm ent m ust be aware of the three cultural con texts in whichwe operate. The first is the geographical and historical location of ou r work; thesecond , ou r own pe rsona l experience; and the third , easily overlooked, belongs toour organisation itself. Not only do the underlying values and power relations ofou r society shape us personally, bu t they also influence th e ethos, assum ptions ,structures, systems and proced ures of our organisations.

The diverse voices in this book provide a wealth of information and a widearray of different opin ions on the op portu nities, and the obstacles, which w ritershave encountered along the way to a common goal. This goal is to achievedevelopment programmes which enable women to meet not only all theirmaterial requirements in their many roles as producers and carers for theirfamilies and the wider com mu nity, but the less tangible developm ent aims offreedom, justice, self-determ ination, an d knowledge.

Agreeing Oxfam GB's Gender Policy was the first step ou r organisation tookin mounting a serious challenge to male bias in our developm ent work. This bookrecords key m om ents in the process of transformin g this significant com m itm entinto a living reality. While priorities and approaches to development arecontinually being re-cast, as a response to new realities, organisations such asOxfam GB must change, but remain faithful to their core motivation: that ofstruggling against injustice and its causes. Learning about the successes andfailures of ou r struggle vis-a-vis wom en, throu gh the insights offered in this book ,paves the way for renewing our efforts tow ards fighting against 'gender injustice'worldwide.

Oxford, 1999


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4 Gende r Works

only have a beneficial outc om e for wom en wh en the working culture, structure,systems and p rocedures , and underlying values of the institutions which shapewom en's lives themselves reflect a concern for gender equity. As Aruna Rao andRieky Stuart am ong others have asserted, 'we need to think mo re deeply abou torganisations themselves. Trying to 'add gende r' into their struc ture a nd w ork isnot enough; we need to understa nd and re-conceptualise what an organisation is,and then we need to re-invent organisations and institutions of all kinds in allour societies' (Rao and Stuart 1997, p. 10).

This organisational stocktaking exercise in which gender and developm entworkers have been engaged occurs against the back drop of a long history. Sincethe UN Decade for Wom en began in 1975, developm ent practice has beenprofoundly challenged by feminist thought and action, and significant progresshas been m ade . Feminists are now widely recognised for their work question ingthe'id eal' of the family and ho usehold as beyond th e concern and jurisdiction ofpublic-policy makers, as a private space where deve lopment workers have nobusiness to pry. Paying particular interest to events in the kitchen and bed room ,they identified and prob lematised p rofoundly uneq ual power relations betweenwomen and men at the level of the household, which affect and inform socialrelations beyond it.

A noth er main line of feminist enq uiry and action has focused on recognisingthe links between w hat goes on w ithin the ho usehold and its implications forwom en's participation in the'pu blic sphere' of prod uction and de cision-mak ing.Feminist economists have criticised the lack of attention paid by mainstreameconomists to women's vast and unc ounted contribution to economic growth,through the unpaid work of caring for the family, and for ignoring the linkbetween this unpaid work and women's ability to engage in employment,incom e-genera tion, an d o ther productive activities. Feminists have challengedreceived wisdom in many other areas of development, including the segmen-tation an d stratification of the labou r ma rket, the dilemmas of reprod uction andthe con trols exercised over women 's sexuality and fertility (particularly in p op -ulation policies), and legislation which precludes women's access to property.However, despite the widespread publicity given to these insights worldw ide, ithas been a long hard task for feminists located with in development organ isationsto change the design of policy and p ractice in orga nisations.

The early 1980s saw an emerging critique of the assum ption that NG Os w ithdevelopmental aims, such as Oxfam GB, were more inherently'virtuous' than thevast multilateral organisations, including the U N agencies and the internation alfinancial institu tions (IFIs) (Tendler 1982). A tits m os t simplistic, this stereotypehad depicted NGO s as benign deliverers of developm ent to marginalised people.From a feminist perspective, this stereotype has been further challenged: the


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Introduction 5

majority of NGOs reflect 'male bias' as surely as other organisations, and, likethe m , have largely failed to'deliver developm ent' to wom en (Elson 1991).

Building on this analysis, feminist research in to NG O policy and p ractice haspaid increasing attention to organisations' cultural contexts, and their internalcultures; tracing how these organisational cultures are linked to p rocedures andperso nnel policies; identifying the problem of male bias in all these areas, and theextent to which this underm ines w omen's participation and the perceived valueof their contrib ution . There is a clear link between the participation of wom enand m inorities in organisations, and the success of our work with women in com -mu nities. Transforming the lives of wom en living in poverty will not come abou tuntil the male biases inhere nt in our o rganisations are identified and addressed.

The articles in this book are Oxfam's contribution to this wider debate,making the co nnection between the work we do, and w ho we are. While som earticles address these theoretical issues explicitly, others focus m ore directly onthe practical experience of the auth ors. The ma ny views of con tributo rs to thisboo k form a rich, diverse, and som etimes conflictual set of analytical case studiesof the process of getting Oxfam 'righ t' for w om en .Celebrating success and learning from failureAs we discuss later in this Introduction, even when they appear peaceful andunified, in reality organisations are rife with debate, dissent, and conflict. Thebook as a whole aims to capture good practice on gender issues in ourdevelopment work, and within O xfam's organisational structure itself. Many ofthe articles rightly celebrate successes. Au thors from ma ny different par ts of theworld confirm tha t gender does indeed 'work', and tha t Oxfam deserves mu ch ofits reputation for inn ovatory and inspiring work on gender over the years. Forexample, the article by Visha Pad ma nabh an tells of the transform ation of anentire country prog ram me from reactive technical fixes to a com mu nity-baseddevelopment prog ram me founded on values of equality between the sexes. Onthe other side of the South -No rth divide, Geraldine Terry discusses how genderanalysis developed in the South is being used to enrich anti-poverty work inBritain. At an international level, gender analysis is used to challenge macro-econom ic policy throu gh effective lob bying, as the articles by Lucy Muyoyeta andby Lydia W illiams of Oxfam A merica show. Oth er articles present a mo re mixedpictu re, bu t nevertheless show real progress in the face of en orm ou s challenges.

However, the boo k also includes articles focusing on wha t has not worked sowell. In d oing this, writing an d editing this book is a brave (and some may say arash!) attem pt to m eet anothe r goal much discussed in developmen t circles that of organisa tional 'transpa rency ', in the sense of giving details of failures aswell as successes, in the interests of acco untability to all wh o have a stake in o ur


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6 Gender Works

work. This is one of the m ore unusu al elements of the book , and will, we hope ,contribute to the development of better development practice both inside andoutside our own org anisation.

Key issues in this bookContinuous change: the gender perspectiveChange is the context for allour w ork, and a central them e of this book.This bookis itself a testimony to the hard work of man y comm itted wo men and m en w hohave engaged with the threats and opportunities presented by upheavals bothinside and outside Oxfam, as well as the slower changes occurring in the widercontext of societies in which we work. Writers show that change is both anop po rtun ity for o rganisations to take on gender issues, or potentially an excusefor gender issues to be 'lost'. For example, as this boo k goes to press, a new way ofworking, using com m on 'strategic change objectives' is being introduc ed intoOxfam and an explicit objective on gender issues has been included, despitesuggestions from some that the struggle to integrate gender issues into ourorganisation is now com plete. There will be other such m om ents in future.

On the plus side, change processes can represent opp ortun ities to ensure thatgender work remains relevant, innovative and challenging in developmentprocesses. Many of the articles here show how gender advocates havetransformed themselves and their location to keep up with the constantlychanging character of Oxfam and development work, bringing new andchallenging perspectives to each 'era'. The current interest in networking and'harm oni sing ' the work of our orga nisation w ith that of others in the family ofOxfams has rejuvenated debates and analysis in each mem ber organisation.

More widely, entering a dialogue with wom en's mo vem ents throu gh ou t theworld has been an exciting and p rofound ly challenging process for m any w ithinOxfam. Internationally, the women's movements have been enormouslysuccessful in harnessing change to positive effect; this work has brought abouttransform ations in the thou gh t and practice of societies in South and N orth . Theactivities of the international women's movement have provided vital supportand insp iration for feminists like us working within developm ent organisationsas they cope with changing contexts within and outside their organisations.Together, we have engaged in a dialogue which is som etime s difficult, b ut alwayscreative and challeng ing.

However, change also presents a potential threat. It is during processes ofinternal chang e, such as structu ral change or cu tbacks in resources, that genderexpertise and com m itm en t to wom en's rights is often lost, or at least marginalised.


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Introduction 7

These changes are most often spurred on by unpla nne d changes in the externalcontext, such as economic recession o r a change of govern men t, which obligeorgan isations to scale down or modify the ir activities; developm ent agencies areno exception. Gender-sensitive development or relief work is endangered ifgender-related w ork is seen an optional 'add -on ' perspective, which is inessentialin situations where resources are scarce. This is a fundamental miscon ception:good quality developm ent or relief work mus t be based on an u nders tandin g ofhow social relations operate to disadvantage marginalised groups in society,including women. As Ines Smyth has observed elsewhere, 'insecurity has apersonal dimension, in that it is experienced differently and to varying degrees byeach individual. But it has also a structural dimension, since the overall con-ditions un der w hich people live can eliminate o r at least reduce such insecurity, orexacerbate it' (Smyth 1995, p.6). Development organisations which successfullywork to promote women's rights and interests need to be part of the positiveforces which assist wom en living in pove rty to cope, and to harness change.

Some con tributors to this boo k express a profoun d unease with the outcom eof many recent processes of organisational chan ge, viewing these as con trary tothe values of feminism and gender equality. Oxfam has attempted to meld the1980s trend to increased organisational 'professionalism' with the values ofegalitarianism, altruism, and commitment to fighting poverty and injusticewhich have shaped its work since its inception as the Oxford Comm ittee for FamineRelief in 1942. Some writers in this book see the gradual evolution of thespecialised team at the centre of Oxfam which started as an advisory unitformed on co-operative principles and re-formed as a team in a hierarchically-managed structure as representing these changes in microcosm. Othersdisagree that there was ever such a 'golden age' of gender in our organisation.What is certain is that, over the past 15 years of Oxfam GB's formal engagementwith gende r issues, there has been an im po rta nt shift in the way gende r issues areunderstood and accepted in development work. The principles of equalitybetween women and m en.a nd w orking with wom en to pro m ote their rights, havelargely been accepted: attention has now m oved to p utting such principles intopractice. Alongside this general acceptance of the principle of addressing theinterests and needs of women, mainstream development practice has adoptedconcepts such as 'participation' and 'empowerment' which are also central tofeminist analyses of power and tran sform atory change. These stress the need toensure that marginalised groups can gain access to the process of development.However, while celebrating this general interest in the principles of particip ationand empowerment of communities, we should not lose sight of the fact thatwomen in all social strata and contexts continue to experience poverty anddisemp owerm ent differently from me n, due to gender-based discrimination.


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Introduction 9

worldwide and S outhern wom en's indepen dent strategies of resistance to maledomination have gone relatively unnoticed. However, our locations are notisolated or static. Engagement with issues of gender equality is informed n ot onlyby ou r own iden tity and context, bu t by intern ational thin king and analysis, rela-tionsh ips both locally and across the globe with colleagues and friends, and mediaincluding newspapers, books and journals , television, radio, and the Interne t.

Ensu ring shared und ersta nd ing of the different experiences in this book was akey issue for us , as editors of this multi-a utho red book.We recognise that we areourselves guilty of using words such as 'gend er' and 'fem inist' imprecisely, andsome articles highlight the difficulties presented by this constant slippage interminology for gender and developm ent wor k'on th e ground'.A related poin t isthat this book attemp ts to bridge the 'languages' of theory and practice, and todraw on feminist perspectives as well as those from development studies. Thecomplex interactions and the tensions between knowledge gained from others,and ou r own experience, as feminists and developm ent workers, is eviden t in allthe articles in this book.Ourselves and our workA constant the me in this book is the interconnec tion between the personal andthe professional. Just one example of this is the num ber of articles included whichanalyse how wom en balance productive and reproductive w ork bo th from theautho rs' own experience, and from that of the wom en w ith whom they work.While man agem ent theorists are now mo re widely recognising and appreciatingth e value of 'm ale' and'female'qualities within the workplace, in practice womenface both tangible and intangible barriers in the ir working lives. W ho you are, andthe responsibilities you carry outside your paid work, definitely do determinehow you work and what you can achieve. The linkage between personal andprofessional is also present in the balance between th oug ht an d em otion in someof the articles. In m any ways, the writers of this book are telling stories abou t the irow n lives, as well as abo ut O xfam's experience of working on gender. Th us, thearticles here can claim only to be versions of events as their writers see it. The truthis that ou r Gender Policy has been, and co ntinues to be, difficult and challengingto implement. Success and failures, and innovative work and resistance, co-exist.

Ano ther po int which resonates from the many con tribution s to this boo k isthe importance of personal conviction and commitment of staff, includingsenior management, in ensuring that organisations turn their gender policiesinto practice. While this needs to be matched by consistent an d co herent systemsand proce dures, it cannot be replaced by them. Personal com mitm ent to the spiritas well as the letter of gender equality is the only means of ensuring thatdevelopm ent for gender equity remains a political project.


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10 Gender Works

The process of producing this bookFrom its inception, Gender Workshas been seen asbo th a process and an outcom e:the writing of the boo k has in itself helped Oxfam to take stock ofits successes andfailures in gender work. The bo ok was conceived as a participatory project, and itsoutline was shaped by staff from across Oxfam's internationa l pro gram m e, whowere asked to suggest topics and potential writers, including themselves. Mostcontrib ution s were instigated at this point, and others com missioned as a resultof the debate which started between th e editors and oth er staff me mb ers.

Many of the writers have never before recorded their experience in a formalmanner, let alone been published; writing in itself has for many been a processof legitimisation of their experiences, and a consolidation of their thinking.W riting for publication is often a me ans throu gh w hich comm itme nts are made,both personally and for the organisation itself. In this way, the p rodu ction ofGender Works is a recognition of the work of each writer, a record of theirachievements, and a plea to learn the lessons for the future. For some authors,writing was a way of coming to terms with painful experiences.

This book is emphatically not a comprehensive record of Oxfam's work ongender, nor of the m any wom en a nd m en w ho have worked to m ake a vision ofgender equality a reality within Oxfam and the communities with whom wework. There are many w ho could n ot record their stories for a variety of reason s.In particular, the pressures of over-work have been a consistent problem . O neauthor apologised for being late with her final draft, because she had beenoverseeing emergency work after an earthquake in her region killed 10,000people. U nder such con ditions, it is wonderful that this boo k exists at all. Time forthinking and writing simply is not available to most of the women and menworking in development organisations. If we add to this the clash between thedem ands of our jobs and the other com mitm ents to life beyond the office, it is notsurprising tha t in many cases it had to be contributin g to the book th at has beensqueezed ou t. We would therefore like to acknowledge the eno rm ou s c ontr ib-ution of those women and men w ho were not able to write for this book .

ConclusionGender Works is in no w ay designed to be the last word on gender issues in Oxfam:as stated earlier, it is clear from the diversity of contr ibu tion s to this book that therou te followed by different advocates for gend er equa lity in Oxfam has been long,som etime s tor tuo us , and reflects very different ideas on how (and even where!)we should be travelling. There certainly has no t been a linear evolution of a single


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Introduction 11

set of ideas abou t how'gend er in Oxfam' should look, and how to get therejustas there is not, an d never has been, one 'position' on gender equality. This bookseeks only to be a modest contribution to a dialogue between ourselves in O xfam,and oth er organisations and individuals aiming to change gender pow er relations,focusing on the work in which we all continue to be engaged. In deciding topublish the book, we recognise the importance of the continuous flow ofinformation, experience, and u nde rstand ing o n gender issues between differentorganisations and individuals working in many different enviro nm ents.

As we finish editing this book, we would like to acknowledge that howevervaluable and necessary it is to focus on our own organisation as we have don e, thisactivity has its limitations. The achievement of gender equality in development isnot simply a case of institutional learning and change. This book, and otherstudies of institutions from a gender perspective, can be a contribution tolearning about the need for collective action of com mitted wom en and men bothwithin and outside our own institutions, in a mutual effort to achievedevelopm ent which is equal and just for all mem bers of our comm unities. But wenow need to broaden ou r gaze, away from a narrow focus on our own institutionsand their work, to a wider view of the ways in w hich organisations mu st w orktogether in different contexts to address women's continuing marginalisationfrom econom ic and political power. This implies recasting the term s of our workon gender to remind ourselves that it is a political project, involving people,com mitm ent and power.

ReferencesElson, D. (1991), Male Bias in the Developmen t Process, Manchester University

Press, UK .Goetz, A.-M. (1995), 'Getting institutions right for w om en in development', ID S

BM//etin, Vol. 26, N o. 3.Mo hanty, C , 'Cartog raphies of struggle: Third w orld wom en an d the politics of

feminism', in Mohanty, Russo and Torres (eds.) (1991), Third World Womenand the Politics of Feminism.

Mukho padhyay, M. (1995), internal paper, Oxford: Oxfam.Rao, A. and Stuart, R. (1997 ),'Re-thinking organisations: a feminist perspective'

in Gender and Development,Wo\. 5, N o. 1.Sen, G. and Grow n, C. (1988), Development Crises and Alternative Visions,

London: EarthScan.Smyth, I. (1995), 'Gender, change and insecurity: theoretical issues and practical

concepts', Gender and Development,Vo\. 3, No. 3.


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13

Timeline

1984 The Gende r and Deve lopment Unit (GAD U) is established, with askeleton staff work ing on a co-opera tive basis.

1984 The staff netw ork Action for Ge nde r Relations in Asia (AGRA) isestablished.1986 A strategy to sensitise staff at all levels thr ou gh gende r train ing is

developed.1988-91 National and regional policies are developed.1989 Ge nde r awareness is systematised in job des criptio ns, gra nt reques ts,

procedu res, and guidelines.1990 GAD U initiates a publishing strategy with book s, newsletters, repor ts,

guides, and so on.1992 The Wom en's Linking Project netw orking as a developm ent tool is introduced.

1992 GA DU becom es the Gen der Team, an advisory function, located in thePolicy D epartm ent.

1993 Oxfam UK/I (now Oxfam GB) trustees agree a G end er Policy.1993 Th e Inte rnati ona l Division Strategic Aim includes gende r analysis as

integral to program mes.1994 Wom en's Linking Conference in Thailan d.1994-95 Twen ty-three Oxfam cou ntry offices take part in prepa ratory process for

the Beijing Fo urth World Conference on W om en.1996 The Gen der Team merges with the Pro gram me De velopm ent Team to

create the Gende r and Learning Team (GA LT).


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14 Gende r Works

Gender Works: Oxfam experience in policy and practice

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