Unit 2Advocacy and Academic Perspectives

Sushila C. Nepali, PhDMarch 2013

Today’s lecture

A. Development ApproachesOverview of some of the main concepts

of WID, WAD, GAD issues and concerns involved in studying gendered aspects of conflict

B. Feminist Theories

A. Introduction

Gender is a development issue. Different concepts:

• women in development (WID)• women and development (WAD)• gender and development (GAD)• the efficiency approach• the empowerment approach• gender and the environment (GED)• mainstreaming gender equality

Different issues

Gender and education Resources Work and women Maternal mortality ratio Declining sex ratio Gendered patterns of migration Gender and violence

Theoretical Framework

WID liberal Feminists (a school of thought )

WAD Marxist feminists

GAD Socialist Feminists

WED - Ecofeminists

Different approaches of WID:

Welfare approachEquity approachAnti-poverty approachEfficiency approachEmpowerment approach

Theory and Policy:‘WID’, ‘WAD’ and ‘GAD’

‘Women in Development’Rooted in modernisation theory and liberal

feminist ideas on equalityEconomic change = empowermentRise of micro-credit policies and the

recognition of women in productive economy

WID approaches Women in Development (WID) to gender and development

some improvements in women’s material conditions, but little in their status

women remained marginalized 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”

“integrating women” to “mainstreaming gender” relates to the second problem associated with WID, the continued

marginalization of women and women’s issues “mainstreaming” was seen as a way of promoting gender equity in

all of the “organization’s pursuits”

Women And Development Approach (WAD)

Origin: Emerged from a critique of the modernization theory and the WID

approach in the second half of the 1970s

Theoretical base : Draws from the dependency theory

Focus: Women have always been part of development process-therefore

integrating women in development is a myth Focuses on relationship between women and development

process

WAD Approach

Contribution :

Accepts women as important economic actors in their societies

Women’s work in the public and private domain is central to the maintenance of their societal structures

Looks at the nature of integration of women in development which sustains existing international structures of inequality.

Wome And Development (WAD) Approach

Features :

Fails to analyze the relationship between patriarchy, differing modes of production and women’s subordination and oppression.

Discourages a strict analytical focus on the problems of women independent of those of men since both sexes are seen to be disadvantaged with oppressive global structure based on class and capital.

Singular preoccupation with women’s productive role at the expense of the reproductive side of women’s work and lives.

Assumes that once international structures become more equitable, women’s position would improve.

WAD doesn't question the relations between gender roles.

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” seems to have been a culmination of two inter-related changes in discourse prior to Beijing: Women in Development to gender and

development “integrating women” to “mainstreaming gender”

What is ‘Gender’?

“Gender” is the behaviour that lets people know “he is a man” or “she is a woman”

“Gender” is socially learned behaviour and creates or CHALLENGES social expectations

Gender roles may be different in different countries Gender identities can CHANGE – this is why the

political project of GENDER EQUALITY is possible

Gender and Development (GAD) approach

Origin As an alternative to the WID focus this approach developed in the

1980s.Theoretical base: Influenced by socialist feminist thinking.Focus: Offers a holistic perspective looking at all aspects of women’s lives. It questions the basis of assigning specific gender roles to different

sexesContribution Does not exclusively emphasize female solidarity- welcomes

contributions of sensitive men. Recognizes women’s contribution inside and outside the

household, including non-commodity production.

The purpose of gender mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming is a strategy to get development organizations to promote gender equality

It is not an end in itself

‘GAD’ Ideas and Concepts

Equality vs. inequality Roles, identity and value Empowerment and power Beyond household analysis Practical vs. strategic interests Double burden Men and masculinities Gender mainstreaming

Gender and Development Approach

Features: A strategy that is designed to enable gender concerns to be built into the

analysis, planning, and organization of development policies, programs, and projects.

An approach that seeks to promote equality between the sexes through the empowerment33 of women and men in the population and in development activities.

An approach that values equality in all areas in which there are major gaps between men and women, notably in: the division of labour; access to services and resources; control of resources and benefits; decision-making power.

An approach that does not focus solely on women or on men, but rather on transforming the relationships between the genders in a more egalitarian sense.

An approach that does not attempt to marginalize men, but tries to broaden women’s participation at every level.

An approach that is not designed to turn women into men, but rather to make sure that access to resources is not tied to belonging to one sex or the other.

Gender and Development Approach

Integrationist or Agenda-setting?

integrationist “builds gender issues within existing development paradigms”

agenda-setting “implies the transformation of the existing development agenda with a gender perspective.” (Jahan, 1995:13).

Gender and development

All societies have established a clear-cut division of labor by sex, although what is considered a male or female task varies cross-culturally, implying that there is no natural and fixed gender division of labor.

Second, research has shown that, in order to comprehend gender roles in production, we also need to understand gender roles within the household.

The third fundamental finding is that economic development has been shown to have a differential impact on men and women and the impact on women has both positive and negative results. .

Women ,Environment and Development (WED)

Origin in 1970s (Northern Feminist ) Male control over nature and women Ecofeminism Ecofeminist (Rosi Braidotti, Harcourt, Maria Mies,

Vandana Shiva etc.) Theoretical stream within feminist movement Environment decline – patriarchal authority in

Development planning Destroying relationship between community,

women and nature

Practical Gender Needs and Strategic Gender Interests

The following is a summary of some of the principal differences between practical gender needs and strategic gender interests.

Practical needs: Short-term, immediate (e.g. clean water, food, housing,

income) Unique to particular women (i.e. site specific) When asked, women can identify their basic needs. Involves women as beneficiaries/participants Problems can be met by concrete and specific inputs,

usually economic inputs (e.g. water pumps, seeds, credit, employment)

Benefits the condition of some women Is potentially successful in ameliorating the circumstances of

some women

Strategic Gender Interests

Strategic interests :

Long-term Common to all women (e.g. vulnerability to physical violence,

legal limitations on rights to hold or inherit property, difficulty of gaining access to higher education)

Women are not always in a position to recognize the sources or basis of their strategic disadvantages or limitations

Solutions must involve women as active agents Must be addressed through consciousness raising, education

and political mobilization at all levels of society Improves the position of all women in a society Has the potential to transform or fundamentally change one or

more aspects of women's lives. This is called 'transformatory potential' of the project/policy

Gender and Security

Gender is a relationship of power: most men are more powerful than most women

Male dominated traditions about security exclude women…And are also bad for men

Vulnerability and Capacity

What makes women vulnerable in times of war and armed conflict?

What capacities do women have?

What makes men vulnerable in times of war and armed conflict?

What capacities do men have?

Men’s capacity for resistance is decreasedWomen are excluded from decision-making or

positions of authorityPost-conflict insecurity impacts people

differently Gender-based violence increasesHIV/AIDS may spread

What different problems do we see?

Security impacts of unequal power

“Men discuss politics, security, the military, everything. They are all men, speaking to each other. But on the ground, where the conflict is, women bear the consequences of these men’s decisions.”

(woman peacemaker, Bukavu, DRC)

Male violence – a gender ‘trap’

“Men here generally like to be identified with coercive measures and force. You cannot be a man unless you have power, so you cannot talk about a non-violent approach” Male peace

activist, Uganda

“Men who support women will have no respect in our communities”

Woman peacebuilder, Sudan

Security Studies

Documentation and interpretation of armed conflicts: ’All male field’

Introduction of ’Peace Studies’ as an academic field – engaged women

Discourses of war and peace are highly gendered:War is related to menPeace is related to women

Conflict - World BankGender, Conflict and Development (2005)

Intra-state conflictsConflicts whose major causes and

protagonists can be found within a particular society, but with external actors

Some form of organized combat and a planned, systematic strategy

Excludes: spontaneous uprisings of short duration, unique or single skirmishes i.e. Sporatic riots and coups d’etat, and crime

Gender - World Bank

The review tries to take a dynamic perspective: How women and men acquire and consolidate new identities and roles in conflict situations.

Focus on roles, not relations Focus on individual roles and identities, not

touching on the institutional ideological and symbolic levels

Actor-oriented, which considers agency, however, could be overemphasized, risking an individualization of power relations.

Limitations – World Bank

Little on men and masculinities, or the social and historical construction of the male gender, including the role of masculinized institutions (army, business and the bureaucracy)

Literature is biased on experiences of agencies involved in conflict settings, mulitlateral and international NGOs, at the expense of grassroot civil society organizations

Bias towards post-conflict: little focus on before and during a conflict

World Bank Agenda: 8 Themes

Gender and Warfare Gender-Based and Sexual Violence Gender and Formal Peace Processes Gender and Informal Peace Processes, and

Rebuilding Civil Society Gender-Sensitizing the Post-Conflict Legal

Framework Gender and Work Gender and Rehabilitating Social Services Gender and Community-Driven Development

Policy Documents Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women,

Peace and Security (2000) Both stressed the importance of women’s equal

participation and their full involvement in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, as well as the need to increase women’s role in decision-making in conflict prevention and resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction.

Gender and Warfare

Myth: Men are more violent, women peacefulMen in resistence or peace movements?Women as combatants

Between 1990-2003, girls/women were part of the fighting forces in 55 countries, involved in armed conflict in 38, and comprise between 10-30% of the fighting forces

Sri Lanka and Nicaragua: 1/3 of the forces El Salvador: ¼

Gender and Warfare

Symbolic roles created Serbian feminine ideals (the patrotic mother or the

occasional promotion of the woman fighter) were deliberately constructed to bolster the militarization of masculinity (Enloe 1998)

’the male soldier’s construction of his gender identity – masculinity – molds boys from and early age to supress emotions in order to function more effectively in battle. Women support this system in various ways. The militarized masculinity of men becomes prominent in conflict and is reinforced by women’s symbolic embodiment of ’normal life’ and by women witnessing male bravery’ (Goldstein 2001).

Gender and Warfare

Women’s roles in armiesCombatantSupporterDependent

Implications for how they are treated after the war in programs of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR).

Gender-Based Violence

’GBV is frequently rooted in pre-conflict conditions, but it increases and often becomes an accepted practice during conflict and the post-conflict phase. In addition, with the transition from conflict to peace, a shift in GBV seems to take place from the public to the private domain through an increase in domestic violence’. GBV against boys and men, understanding

perpetrators, power issues...

Gender and Formal Peace Processes

Women seldom involvedNo connection between women’s

political agency during the conflict, and their participation national post-conflict decision-making processes

Once peace returns, traditional social structures and gender divisions often return also. Changes in gender ’roles’ rather than ’ideologies’.

Gender and Informal Peace Processes

Conflict offers many women the opportunity to enter into peace processesThey assume the roles of public institutionsCan contribute to conflict managementHowever, their roles in the informal sector

can also be considered as an extension of their traditional gender roles, reinforcing inequality – not taken seriously

Women in Sierre Leone

Alternative approaches to studying gender and conflict?

Peace-building? Livelihood development? Study of conflict management as part of

everyday life, before, during and after ’escalted’ conflict

Study of Resistance (Kjersti Larsen) Indicator of changing power relations?

Study of powered negotiations over control of resources?

Social networks?

Negotiation

Negotiation over resourcesFormal vs informal foraDynamicPoweredExtensive use of social networks

FamilyOther allies

Negotiation

How do women and men negotiate over resources? Negotiating land rights (custom, Islamic law etc) Negotiation over time Morality and negotiation: firewood Flexibility/Ambiguity and negotiation Silent/muted negotiation

Covert strategies, where negotiations are concealed, muted, or embodied in action, to be used when risk of conflict is high

Negotiating mobility

Context- The Term Excluded Group

We have challenges and issues

We have policies and Acts addressing exclusions

GM and SI in Nepal’s development

"Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development." (Kofi Annan)

Development process is sustainable when it ensures participation of all the sectors of population in decision making processes and maintains true democratic governance systems.

GM and SI in Nepal’s development

Guiding International Conventions: Convention for Elimination of All Forms of

Discriminations Against Women (CEDAW),1979

Beijing Platform for Actions (BPFA),1995 UN Security Council Resolution, 1325 ILO Convention 169 (social inclusion)

GM and SI in Nepal’s development

Four main areas of GM: Gender disaggregated data and gender

analytical information Influencing development agenda Context specific actions to promote

gender equality Organizational capacity building

…and therefore must be addressed at many levels

IndividualRelationship

CommunitySociety

B. Feminist theories

Feminism

The term "feminism" originated from the French word féminisme, first used in 1837 by the French philosopher Charles Fourier. Fourier wanted to improve the status of women in society, but he did not advocate equality between the sexes.

The first English definition of "feminism" appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1895: "advocacy of the rights of women (based on the theory of equality of the sexes).“

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. In addition, feminism seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment.

Epistemology

From the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge.

Refers to our theory of knowledge, in particular, how we acquire knowledge (Hirschheim, 1992).

Research background

Epistemology

objectivism

subjectivism

Theoretical perspective

positivism

Interpretativism

symbolic interactionism

phenomenology

hermeneutics

feminism

(post)modernism

Social-constructivism

Methodology

experimentaldescriptivesurveyethnographyheuristicaction researchdiscourse anal.evaluation

Methods

scalingquestionnairesobservationinterviewfocus groupcase studynarrativesethnographicstat analysisdata reductioncognitive mappinginterpretative methdocument analysiscontent analysisconversation anal.

Crotty, 1998

Is Knowledge Possible?

Epistemology – the study of knowledge (how we know)

Empiricism – theory that knowledge comes through experiencing with the senses

Rationalism – theory that reason is the source of knowledge

Skepticism – “to reflect on,” “consider,” or “examine”. Doubting or suspending judgment.

is there a feminist method?

method: research techniques/practices – e.g. ethnography, survey, interview (choice of recipe)

methodology: theories of how research is conducted – e.g. qualitative or quantitative (cooking process)

epistemology: theory of knowledge – (kind of meal produced)

according to Stanley & Wise (in Stanley 1990:26):

who can be a knower?what can be known?what counts as valid knowledge?what is the relationship between knowing and being (ontology)

what makes feminist research ‘feminist’ is the methodology and epistemology NOT the method

Feminist epistemology and philosophy of science studies

the ways in which gender does and ought to influence our conceptions of knowledge, the knowing subject, and practices of inquiry and justification

Its needed because: (1) excluding them from inquiry, (2) denying them epistemic authority, (3) denigrating their “feminine” cognitive styles and modes of

knowledge, (4) producing theories of women that represent them as inferior,

deviant, or significant only in the ways they serve male interests, (5) producing theories of social phenomena that render women's

activities and interests, or gendered power relations, invisible, and (6) producing knowledge (science and technology) that is not

useful for people in subordinate positions, or that reinforces gender and other social hierarchies.

How to overcome the failures

(1) explain why the entry of women and feminist scholars into different academic disciplines, especially in biology and the social sciences, has generated new questions, theories, and methods,

(2) show how gender and feminist values and perspectives have played a causal role in these transformations,

(3) promote theories that aid egalitarian and liberation movements, and

(4) defend these developments as cognitive, not just social, advances.

gendered knowledge?(e.g. Letherby 2003)

reason and the ‘gendered metaphor’ – dualistic, oppositional, and hierarchical:

men - women culture - nature reason - emotion mind - body public - private

‘authorized knowledge’ - basis of academic knowledge

(institutionalised and legitimate), scientific, reason, objective, associated with men?

‘experiential knowledge’ – everyday, emotional, subjective, associated with women - dismissed?

feminists claim that knowledge is not gender neutral

‘malestream knowledge has been used to control women, and feminist knowledge is an aid to the emancipation of women’ (Abbott et al 2005: 366)

‘a feminist sociology of knowledge’(according to Lengermann & Niebrugge-Brantley in Ritzer 2000: 477)

claim that knowledge and understanding of the world:

from the standpoint of groups of people

is always partial and interest laden

varies within and between groups

power relations

‘feminist standpoint epistemology’ – standpoint of women

feminist sociology and knowledge

‘sociology for women’ (Smith 1987)

women’s ‘outsider status’

‘epistemic privilege’

Factors that effect knowledge

embodiment: experience of world by bodyEmotions, attitudes, interests, and values. Social situation: Gender

gender roles, gendered traits and virtues, gendered performance and behavior, gender identity

For more details : http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

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GENDER DEFINED SOCIALLY AND CULTURALLY

Feminist Epistemology: A Non Western Perspective

Feminist epistemology began as a critique of existing theories

Argues ways of knowing are not universal “standpoint” epistemology – acknowledges

that all knowing substantially involves the social and historical context of the knowers

Positivism – theory that modern science and its methods of empirical and experimental verification are the only sure guide to knowledge

feminist standpoint epistemology

sometimes called ‘women’s experience epistemology’- because experience is the considered the basis of knowledge

‘standpoint’ – ‘what we do shapes what we know’

builds on and adapts Marx’s insights of the proletariat / particular emphasis on the sexual division of labour – women are particularly aware of and responsible for the grounded responsibilities of everyday life

women – oppressed class – comprehend their own subordination and those who oppress them (men) – this affords a ‘truer’ understanding of social reality – not distorted by ideologies of power

claim that feminist knowledge is less biased than malestream knowledge

BUT

feminism motivated by political interests too?

are all women the same – is there a common basis of oppression – can some women share more in common with

some men than with other women?

hierarchy of oppression?

are some women more oppressed than others e.g. Black women – hence do they produce truer or different version(s)

of reality?

problem of relativism?

is it more accurate to speak of standpoints?

feminist empiricism

accepts the norms of positivist science – change ‘bad’ and ‘sexist’ practices instead (compatible with liberal feminism - reform)

‘faulty science’ becomes more ‘accurate’ and ‘good science’ (assumes a realist ontology)

promote ‘non-sexist’ research e.g. language; concepts; implications of findings

research designs and samples include men AND women

correct androcentric biases in knowledge and research

BUT

perpetuates and leaves intact the myth of ‘hygienic research’ - many feminists reject this

assumption

i.e. notion of a neutral researcher who attempts to access and represent an objective reality

people are objects in such research

lacks reflexivity and transparency of research process?

summary of main issues

feminist critique of sociological research and methods

counting or quoting?: debate over the appropriateness of quantitative or qualitative research methods in

feminist research

tend to favour qualitative methods

e.g. refer to Oakley’s (1981) study – transition to motherhood - and the idea of a ‘participatory model’

is there a feminist method?

summary of main issues

gendered nature of knowledge

feminist sociology of knowledge

feminist epistemologies: e.g. standpoint and empiricism

some final points to think about

Feminist Methodology and its principles

Origin: Second wave women’s movement ( 1960’s) with realization that what they have learnt was mainly produced by males and based on male experience.

Also with the establishment of “women’s studies”, “feminist studies”, “gender studies” as an academic discipline.

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Principles of feminist research ( Acker, 1994)

Feminist research involves an acute sense of the injustice women suffer because of their sex. in between the lines........feminist methodology can

be used in study of men as wellFeminist research asserts the centrality of gender to all

aspects of human experience and existence Importance to subjective, lived, embodied experience

of women ( and men)

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Cont ( Reinharz, 1992)

Feminist research not only aims to understand the society but attempts to create social change ( policy, ideology, behavior, programmes) researcher is obliged to contribute to social change

through consciousness raising or specific policy recommendation

Feminist research strives to recognize diversitysexual orientation, class, caste, ethnicity, regional

location Involvement of Researcher as a person

Rejection of subject/object separation that is advocated in other social sciences

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Researcher as person ( cont) Feminist’s rejection of myth of “value free” research How a positionality of researcher shapes research

What she or he views as important topics for study. How participants respond (e.g., in face to face interviews). How she or he interprets data.

The researcher should enter into the same space as the subject rather than taking up a powerful or detached position. Using “reflexivity” about how the researcher’s identity, values might have shaped research process and findings

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The Project of Feminist EpistemologyUma Narayan

Critiques western feminist epistemology from an Indian feminist perspective

Feminist epistemology poses political problems for nonwestern feminists due to traditions

Positivism is not necessarily the main target of feminism for nonwestern feminists

It is not always advantageous to have the “epistemic advantage,” which is the ability to see a situation from more than one context

Methods

Feminist research methods mainly use the research methods frequently used by other social sciences

But the way they use it may be different as influenced by feminist epistemology and the principles of feminist methodology ( based on feminist epistemology)

More focus is on use of qualitative tools than quantitative, but often feminist researchers use both approach/tools in order to practice “triangulation”

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