Sanitation in Developing Countries A review through a gender lens Sabin Bieri & Petra Kohler.

Sanitation in Developing CountriesA review through a gender lens

Sabin Bieri & Petra Kohler

Content

• Introduction, background NCCR, RP09

• Introduction to the article

• Background; Entry points for a gender analysis

• Overview of the article:

Policy and programming

Technology

Methods

Conclusions + recommendations

• Outlook

• Discussion with the group

Introduction

UNICEF

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and sanitation

‘‘…cannot be met without the full participation of women – ascare-givers, workers, beneficiaries of services and decision-

makers in homes, communities and at national levels – and without addressing the inequities suffered by girls.”

(www.unicef.org/wes/index_womenandgirls.html, 2008)

Introduction

Fields of interest/lack of data

1. Gender and water/sanitation2. Time use3. Decision making and policy4. Costs and benefits

Introduction

Structure of the article

1. Introduction2. Conceptual thoughts on Gender & Sanitation3. Policy and programming4. Technology5. Adequate methods for investigating delicate subjects6. Conclusions and recommendations

Background: Entry points for a gender analysis

The primary concern is to theorise a social identity not predetermined by ‘sex’ and free from arbitrary naturalisations of a given gender order.

(adapted from: Jackson & Pearson, 1998)


sex: biological categorygender: social and cultural implications of what it

means to be a man or a woman


Gender is something that we do.Gender is something that is done to us.


What is at stake is the question of what the categories ‘man’ or ‘woman’ signify and which social realities and cultural norms are described and contained therein.


“… gender becomes a powerful sealant for multiple dimensions of social inequality.“

(Chari, 2004)


…to genderize sanitation for our purpose here means to conceive the gendered sanitation experience as much as a social product as it is a material reality.


The goal should be for women and men to feel as comfortable as possible when they practice their daily hygiene.

Policy and Programming

• Paradigm shift from technology- and supply-oriented towards demand-oriented and user-centred approaches

User-driven approaches offer entry points for a gender-considerate analysis and for corresponding technologies to address specific sanitation requirements of women and girls

Questions to check up on reality:

Whether and how have respected development agencies incorporated this shift and by which means?

In what way has “gender” been applied as a concept, a buzzword, and a tool for development?

?

Technology

Programming of gender-considerate sanitation technology should reach beyond the concept of a “project for women” only. Its selection must be embedded in the understanding of:

• Intimate needs• Personal hygiene• Social constructs of dignity• Social positions of women and men in the

correspondent community

Arguments for improved sanitation for women and girls (are):• Health + safety issues • School absenteeism

Technology

Toilet room technologies: few data about what women look for in a toilet

Menstrual hygiene technologies (MHT):

• Menstruation management technologies: i.e. what women use to absorb menstrual blood

• Access to sanitary products: limited due to cost, poor demand and cultural barriers

• Washing and drying technologies: i.e. how MHT are washed and dried

• Disposal technologies: i.e. how non-reusable menstrual management technologies are disposed of

Maintenance: Maintenance & Operation rather than the technology itself pose the greatest challenge

Methods

• Little work to date which addresses the methodological challenges of working on gender and sanitation topics

• Count on proven methods developed for eliciting sensitive information

• Attitude of the researcher which determines effectiveness and outcomes

• Relevant method approaches which meet a list of minimal criteria that were discussed in an interdisciplinary team:

• Inclusiveness: integration of different social groups and participants to express their views

• Confidence: for authentic answers

• Neutrality: discuss taboo topics without someone loosing his/her reputation

• Social exchange: promote mutual exchange and learning

Methods/Approaches

Learning from individuals:• In-depth Interviews: privacy and room for upcomingtopics• Third person reports: expressing experiences and opinions via an anonymous distant person without exposing oneself• Computerized self-completion questionnaires: a means to reduce the social desirability bias, applicable also for non-literate persons

Aim to elicit personal topics, attitudes, practices, and even individual norm violations

Methods/Approaches

Learning from groups:• Participant Observation: researcher spends time in

a certain community + shares live and activities with its residents• Focus Group Discussions: interaction between

group members should be facilitated• Pocket voting: gendered + democratic one person – one vote set-up

Serve to get insights into the knowledge and perceptions of the community and the socially

(re)produced group norms

Methods

Emphasis on:

• Both, the attitudes, beliefs and expectations of the individual and those of the group

• Differences between diverging groups

• Triangulation; combining different methods and various approaches to answer a research question

• Question design; adapt questions on sanitary practices and facilities to the target population and to local concepts of hygiene practices, menstrual management and sanitation facilities

• A good relationship between interviewer and respondent is crucial for the outcome

Results and Conclusions

Policy & Programming:

• Comprehensive sanitation approaches include gender

• Pragmatic, hands-on approach

• A Gender lens brings up new themes

• Gender fatigue


Technology:

• Mismatch between the needs of specific groups of people and adequate technical solutions

• Methodological shortcomings in technical science

• Technical sciences are obliged to think through the concepts of the “user”, “user-friendliness” or “simple technology”


Methods:

• Proper gender-conscious methods for use in Developing Countries are either lacking or undocumented

• Adoption, validation and improvement of appropriate methods

• Application of recommended methods needs to be field tested


Genderizing sanitation exceeds asking women for their preferences, having them represented in planning committees or providing them with tampons. It implies the attempt to understand the constitutive function that meeting an intimate need assumes for the self and his/her position in the community. And it calls for a design that is sensitive to the respective implications, guaranteeing a maximum of personal dignity and safety. This is how we suggest to apply the notion of gender in its sense as a tool for thought and for transformation (Cornwall, 2007). A tool for thought the gender lens provides us with distinctive measures to analyse a sanitation situation close to the user’s intimate needs. A research situation in which these needs can be articulated and made explicit by a range of users bears a transformative element which is also implicated in the technical solutions to be developed.

Recommendations

Sanitation work requires a proper interdisciplinary perspective; tools from Social Sciences need to be targeted for technical sciences.

Using gender as a tool for thought to develop adequate sanitation for women and men, and to improve designs.

Using gender as a tool for transformation by developing methods for elaborating sensitive topics such as intimate needs.

Outlook

• Publication of the article “Sanitation in Developing Countries: A review through a gender lens” in Geoforum

• Publication of a detailed paper on methods

• Publication of an NCCR Dialogue; “Manual and toolkit on appropriate Methods for the elicitation of sensitive data in the field of Gender and Sanitation”

Discussion

Thank you!

Sanitation in Developing Countries A review through a gender lens Sabin Bieri & Petra Kohler.

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