GENDER & DEVELOPMENT - QUICK MCQ REVISION NOTES

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SECTION 1: KEY DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS

1. GENDER vs SEX
• Gender = Socially constructed roles & relationships between women/men
• Gender Equality = Equal opportunities & outcomes for women/men
• Equality does not equal women same as men (different roles/needs recognized)

2. GAD (Gender and Development)

• Emerged: Mid-1980s
• Focus: Mainstreaming women's needs into all activities
• Requires understanding BOTH women's & men's roles
• Strategic + practical approach
• Active participation of men & women needed

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SECTION 2: DEVELOPMENT THEORIES (1950s onwards)

1. MODERNIZATION THEORY (1950s-1960s)

• Emphasized: Economic growth + "trickle-down" approach
• Belief: Modernization would emancipate women
• Technology would undermine patriarchy
• Western capitalist modernity promoted
• RESULT: Failed to benefit women, adverse effects

2. UNDERDEVELOPMENT/DEPENDENCY THEORY (Late 1960s-1970s)

• Challenge to modernization theory
• Reaction to classical Marxism
• Recognized: Capitalism = exploitation, especially of women

3. NEO-LIBERALISM (1980s onwards)

• Free market policies dominant
• Structural adjustment programs
• Appears gender-neutral but assumes certain gender relations
• Women subsumed within household
• Privatization reduced jobs for middle-class professional women

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SECTION 3: FEMINIST WAVES

1. FIRST WAVE (First 2 decades of 20th century)

• White middle-class educated women
• Suffragists won vote for white women (Western countries)

2. SECOND WAVE (1960s-1970s)

• Collective identity of women (universalize)
• Similar experiences of oppression

3. THIRD WAVE (Since 1980s)

• Called: Post-feminism
• Sensitive to local & diverse voices
• Rejects universalistic perspective
• No single feminist standpoint

4. WESTERN vs THIRD WORLD FEMINISM

 • Western: Focus on oppression, sexuality, body issues
• Third World: Economic & social issues primary concern

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SECTION 4: UN AGENCIES & DEVELOPMENT

1. KEY UN BODIES
• World Bank Group
• IMF (International Monetary Fund)
• ILO (International Labour Organization)
• IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction & Development)

2. IMF
• Voting power = size of contribution
• US casts approximately 1/4 of total votes
• Third World countries borrow to make payments

3. WORLD BANK & WID

• First working group: 1972 (status of women)
• 1980s: Formal increase in gender resources
• 1994: Operation Policy Directive (April) - integrate gender issues

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SECTION 5: WID APPROACHES (Women in Development)

1. WELFARE APPROACH (Pre-WID, 1950s-1960s)

• Earliest approach
• Focus: Reproductive role
• Practical gender needs (food aid, nutrition, family planning)
• Most popular TODAY in Third World (despite claims otherwise)

2. EQUITY APPROACH
• Acknowledged: Productive + reproductive roles
• Bring women into development process
• Access to: employment, marketplace, technology, education
• Emphasis on equality & reducing inequality
• Redistribution of resources needed

3. ANTI-POVERTY APPROACH (Late 1970s)

• Second WID approach
• Income-generating projects for poor women
• Ignored reproductive roles & interconnections
• Less emphasis on women's autonomy than equity approach

4. EFFICIENCY APPROACH (Third variant, dominant)

• Emerged: Economic crisis in Third World
• Equation: Women + Production = Efficiency
• Development more efficient through women's economic contribution
• Neglect of women's productivity = costly mistake
• Shift from welfare to efficiency (need to merit)

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SECTION 6: MODERNIZATION FAILURES

KEY FINDINGS (1960s-1970s research):

1. BOSERUP (1970) - Critical findings:
• Development projects benefited men at women's expense
• Women displaced from traditional productive functions
• Power, status, income diminished
• Men got new resources; women marginalized
• Economic modernization marginalized women
• Increased women's dependence on men

2. ROGERS (1980):
• Planners ignored women's productive activities
• National accounting ignored household/subsistence work
• Women assumed to be housewives
• Credit/assistance went to men

3. REASONS FOR FAILURE:

• Female farming systems deprived of: training, land rights, education,
technology
• Colonial/post-colonial bias favored male farmers
• Women's projects ghettoized
• Cultural context differences ignored

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SECTION 7: GAD vs WID

GAD APPROACH:
• Focus: Gender relations (not just women)
• Tackles: Inequalities in power
• Goal: Empowerment in all fields
• Examines: Power, decision-making, work allocation, resource ownership
• Household as economic unit linked to global economy
• Active participation of men & women
• Example: Green Revolution in India altered class positions

WID LIMITATIONS (criticized by DAWN):

• Homogenizes women (treats as single category)
• Ignores differences
• Third World women as passive objects (not agents)
• Top-down policies imposed

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SECTION 8: DAWN (Development Alternatives for a New Era)

1. FORMATION
• NGO'85 Conference, Nairobi, July 1985
• 22 activists, researchers, policy-makers
• Third World women's perspective

2. KEY ARGUMENTS
• First World marginalized some groups
• Equality with unemployed/poor men = inadequate goal
• Criticized WID/early GAD on 3 grounds:
1) Homogenizes women
2) Women as passive objects
3) Top-down policies
• Advocates: "Bottom-up" approach
• Empowerment critical for accountability
3. AAWORD (Association of African Women for Research & Development)
• Network of African researchers
• Rejected western feminist analysis
• Opposed: Prioritizing sex equality as fundamental issue
• Opposed: Men & women interests as mutually exclusive

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SECTION 9: WOMEN'S LABOR & GLOBAL ECONOMY

1. KOREA EXAMPLE (Park, 1993)

• Women's participation crucial to manufacturing
• "Engine" of economic development

2. MNCs (Multinationals)
• Employ female labor
• Capitalize on skill notions
• Pay lower wages to women
• Transform outworking & household production

3. NEW INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOR

• Women's labor = crucial role
• Global accumulation of capital

4. GENDER WAGE GAP

• Gender-specific occupational segregation
• Men in higher-level jobs
• Women in lower jobs
• Women paid lower wages (same occupation)
• Gender discrimination = possible explanation

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SECTION 10: WOMEN & ENVIRONMENT

1. GED (Gender, Environment & Development)

• Not just women; social construction of gender
• Gender distinguishing factor in human-environment relationships
• Access to natural resources (land, water, forests) = gender position indicator

2. WOMEN & NATURE CONNECTION

• Women closer to nature (procreative function)
• More dependent on nature (sexual division of labor)
• Gathering: fuel, fodder, wild foods, subsistence crops
• Main victims of environmental degradation
• Primary collectors of wood, wild foods, herbs
• Traditional sustainable practices knowledge

3. RIO DECLARATION (1992)

• Earth Summit
• Principle 20: "Women have vital role in environmental management"
• Essential to achieve sustainable development
• Women historically excluded

4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS (Late 1980s onwards)

• Studies on women's role in: water, energy, forests, settlements
• Community initiatives over resource conflicts
• NGOs motivate poor peasant women for group action (e.g., JFM)
• "Bottom-up" development schemes
 • Grassroots collective organization

5. WORLD SUMMIT (Johannesburg, 2002)

• August 26 - September 4, 2002
• Women's organizations determined: "Women's Action Agenda for Peaceful &
Healthy Planet"
• GED = coalition theme building bridges

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SECTION 11: WOMEN & CLIMATE CHANGE

1. KEY STATISTICS
• 60% of world's poorest 1 billion = women & girls
• 1.3 billion in deepest poverty: approximately 70% women
• Women work 2/3 of world's hours
• Women produce 1/2 world's food; 60-80% staple crops (rural)
• Women earn only 10% world's income
• Women own less than 2% of property

2. VULNERABILITY FACTORS
• Less access to: land, credit, education
• "More assets, less vulnerability"
• Gender inequality intersects with climate risks
• Climate change = social justice issue (NOT gender-neutral)
• Exacerbates existing inequalities
• Existing discrimination determines disaster impact

3. CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON WOMEN

• Feminization of poverty + gendered labor divisions
• Clear differences in impacts & coping capacities
• More time collecting water, food, fuel
• Less time for education/income-generation
• Unsustainable coping strategies
• Lessened coping ability
• New constraint on adaptation capacity

4. WOMEN'S ROLE
• Been adapting to environmental changes for decades
• Women's coping ability = community's capacity measure
• Knowledge of environmental products
• Active caretakers
• Women projects = more sustainable (on average)

5. ABSENCE/GAPS
• Absent from decision-making
• Institutional absence/not vocal
• Semantic absence
• Financial absence
• Information-related absence
• Gender = low priority/dismissed
• Lack of women's participation = gap in climate resources

6. WHY WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION NEEDED

• Efficiency
• Equity
• Sustainability
• Rights-based, gender-sensitive approach
• Women as leaders can address specific needs
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SECTION 12: MICRO-CREDIT & ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

1. WORLD BANK INITIATIVES

• April 1994: Operation Policy Directive
• Reduce gender disparities
• Enhance women's participation in economic development
• Integrate gender issues into country strategies

2. CHALLENGES
• Custom: Men = head of household
• Direct efforts for women's access to productive resources
• Land titling programs to grant land rights to women

3. MICRO-CREDIT SUCCESS
• Group-based micro-credit schemes
• Enormous potential for: poverty reduction + women's empowerment
• Examples:
- Grameen Bank (Bangladesh)
- BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee)
• Focus mostly on women
• Economic route with "bottom-up" approach
• Women's active involvement

4. EVIDENCE OF BENEFITS
• Raising women's education leads to increases efficiency as producers
• Increases adoption of new technologies
• Efficiency in using resources
• Women farmers need: agricultural extension, credit, productive inputs
• More equitable distribution leads to higher economic growth & productivity

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SECTION 13: SDGs & GENDER (2030 AGENDA)

1. 2030 AGENDA ADOPTION

• September 25, 2015
• UN General Assembly
• More ambitious than MDGs
• Goals: Eradicate poverty, tackle climate change, build inclusive societies

2. GENDER IN SDGs
• Stand-alone Goal on gender equality (unlike MDGs)
• Gender equality targets in other Goals
• Sex disaggregation of data across indicators
• Gender inequality makes & keeps women poor
• End of poverty needs end of gender-based discrimination

3. KEY SDGs WITH GENDER FOCUS

SDG 1 (Poverty):
• Poor girls: life-threatening risks (early pregnancy, lost education/income)
• Women's right to equal access to end poverty
• UN Women: training, loans, skills for economic empowerment

SDG 2 (Hunger):
• Women prepare 90% meals globally
 • Women/girls may eat less when times tough
• Women-headed households: lower earnings, less prepared for crisis
• Women's role in food security critical
• Women = cornerstones of food production & utilization

SDG 8 (Economic Growth):

• Women need equal access to: decent work, productive resources, financial
services
• Equal voice in economic decisions
• UN Women: advocates equal pay, employment opportunities, workplace safety
• Measure & redistribute women's unpaid care work

SDG 12 (Consumption & Production):

• Women need equal access to: land, technology
• Equal leadership in communities/families
• UN Women: advocates property/resource equity
• Property titles focus (legal/social barriers)

Climate Action:
• Women = stewards of natural resources
• Right to protection capacities & decision participation
• UN Women: advocates gender equality in mitigation/adaptation
• Global climate negotiations: promotes commitments to gender equality

Oceans/Marine:
• Women earn approximately 64% of men's wages (aquaculture)
• Women face ocean degradation with fewer assets
• Less resilience against natural resource loss
• Limited representation in marine science

SDG 15 (Land & Forests):

• Women among first/most affected by deforestation
• Charged with making up food/fuel shortfalls
• Limited land ownership reduces adaptation capacity
• Women = much of agricultural labor force (developing countries)
• Women's traditional sustainable practices knowledge excluded
• Indigenous women need inclusion in ecosystem decisions

4. UN WOMEN'S ROLE
• Vision: Equality (UN Charter)
• Works for: Elimination of discrimination, empowerment, equality
• Places women's rights at centre
• Coordinates UN efforts on gender equality & mainstreaming

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RAPID RECALL - CRITICAL FACTS FOR MCQs

YEARS TO REMEMBER:
✓ 1960s - First Development Decade, Modernization Theory
✓ Mid-1980s - GAD approach emerged
✓ 1972 - World Bank first working group on women
✓ 1985 - Nairobi Conference (NGO'85), DAWN formed
✓ 1992 - Rio Declaration/Earth Summit
✓ 1994 - World Bank Operation Policy Directive (April)
✓ 2002 - Johannesburg World Summit (Aug 26-Sept 4)
✓ 2015 - 2030 Agenda adopted (Sept 25)

KEY ORGANIZATIONS:
✓ DAWN - Development Alternatives for a New Era (1985, Nairobi)
✓ AAWORD - Association of African Women for Research & Development
✓ Grameen Bank - Bangladesh (micro-credit)
✓ BRAC - Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee

APPROACHES (Chronological):
1. Welfare (1950s-1960s) - Reproductive role, food aid
2. Equity - Productive + reproductive, mainstreaming
3. Anti-poverty (Late 1970s) - Income generation
4. Efficiency (Dominant) - Women + Production = Efficiency
5. GAD (Mid-1980s) - Gender relations, empowerment

STATISTICS:
✓ 60% poorest billion = women/girls
✓ 70% of 1.3 billion in deepest poverty = women
✓ Women work 2/3 world's hours
✓ Women produce 1/2 world's food; 60-80% staple crops
✓ Women earn 10% world's income
✓ Women own less than 2% property
✓ Women prepare 90% meals globally
✓ Women earn 64% men's wages (aquaculture)

KEY TERMS:
✓ WID - Women in Development
✓ GAD - Gender and Development
✓ GED - Gender, Environment and Development
✓ CBDR - Common But Differentiated Responsibilities
✓ JFM - Joint Forest Management
✓ MNCs - Multinational Corporations

THEORIES:
✓ Modernization (1950s-60s) leads to Failed women
✓ Dependency (late 1960s-70s) leads to Recognized exploitation
✓ Neo-liberalism (1980s) leads to Free market, structural adjustment

PIONEERS:
✓ Boserup (1970) - Women marginalized by development
✓ Rogers (1980) - Planners ignored women's work
✓ Ortner (1974) - Women closer to nature

WID CRITICISMS (by DAWN):

1. Homogenizes women
2. Women as passive objects
3. Top-down policies

RIO DECLARATION:
✓ Principle 20 - Women vital role in environmental management

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END OF NOTES - BEST OF LUCK!