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GENDER and DEVELOPMENT

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2021 RISC-RISE Doctoral and Post-doctoral School
06 -17 September 2021

GENDER and DEVELOPMENT

by
Prof. Dr. Djénéba TRAORE
WEST AFRICA INSTITUTE - WAI
10 September 2021

https://wai-iao.ecowas.int/index.php/en/
2021 RISC-RISE Doctoral and Post-doctoral School

PLAN of PRESENTATION

1. Introduction
2. What is Gender?
3. Gender Terminologies
4. What is Development?
5. Why do we have a Gender Issue worldwide?
6. Where does the Gender Gap come from?
7. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)5: Gender Equality
8. Link between Gender and Development
9. Conclusion
 2021 RISC-RISE Doctoral and Post-doctoral School – Gender and Development

1. Introduction
My Doctoral theisis:
Women destinies and relationships between men and women in social distress times -
Fundamental models of topics and conflicts creation - presented through examples chosen
in the literature from the German Democratic Republic and the literature from French-
speaking countries of West Africa.

(Frauenschicksale und Geschlechterbeziehungen im Epochenumbruch – Grundmuster von Sujets und

Konfliktbildung – dargestellt an ausgewählten Beispielen aus der DDR-Literatur und der Literatur der
frankophonen Länder Afrikas.)

Supervisor / Betreuerin:
Prof. Dr. Eva KAUFMANN
29 October 1930 – 18 July 2019
https://www.brigittereimann.de/aktuelles/?p=3016
2. What is Gender?

 «Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions

and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. It
influences how people perceive themselves and each other, how they act
and interact, and the distribution of power and resources in society.
Gender identity is not confined to a binary (girl/woman, boy/man) nor is it
static; it exists along a continuum and can change over time. There is
considerable diversity in how individuals and groups understand,
experience and express gender through the roles they take on, the
expectations placed on them, relations with others and the complex ways
that gender is institutionalized in society.»
Source: Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Retrieved from: https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/48642.html
2. What is Gender? (Cont´d)

«Gender refers to the economic, social, political, and cultural

attributes and opportunities associated with being women and men.
The social definitions of what it means to be a woman or a man vary
among cultures and change over time. Gender is a sociocultural
expression of particular characteristics and roles that are associated
with certain groups of people with reference to their sex and sexuality.»

Source: Gender Analysis Toolkit for Health Systems. Retrieved from: https://gender.jhpiego.org/analysistoolkit/gender-
concepts-and-definitions/
3. GENDER TERMINOLOGIES

• Gender Assessment examines how a program or project addresses and responds

to gender disparities and inequalities through its objectives, activities, and
policies. It responds to two key questions:
How will the different roles and status of women and men within the community,
political sphere, workplace, and household affect the work to be undertaken?
How will the anticipated results of the work affect women and men differently?
And their relative status?
• Gender Equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness,
measures must be taken to compensate for historical and social disadvantages
that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field.
• Gender Equality is the state or condition that affords women and men equal
enjoyment of human rights, socially valued goods, opportunities, and resources.
3. GENDER TERMINOLOGIES (Cont´d)

• Gender Integration refers to strategies applied in program assessment, design,

implementation, and evaluation to take gender norms into account and to compensate for
gender-based inequalities.
• Gender Mainstreaming is the process of incorporating a gender perspective into policies,
strategies, programs, project activities, and administrative functions, as well as into the
institutional culture of an organization.
• Gender Stereotypes are ideas that people have on masculinity and femininity: what men and
women of all generations should be like and are capable of doing. (e.g., girls should be
obedient and cute, are allowed to cry, and boys are expected to be brave and not cry, women
are better housekeepers and men are better with machines, or boys are better at mathematics
and girls more suited to nursing).
• Gender-Based Violence is violence derived from gender norms and roles as well as from
unequal power relations between women and men. Violence is specifically targeted against a
person because of his or her gender, and it affects women disproportionately. It includes, but is
not limited to, physical, sexual, and psychological harm (including intimidation, suffering,
coercion, and/or deprivation of liberty within the family or within the general community). It
includes violence perpetuated by the state.
Source: https://gender.jhpiego.org/analysistoolkit/gender-concepts-and-definitions/
4. What is Development?
 Development is “the process in which someone or something grows
or changes and becomes more advanced….” (Cambridge dictionary)
Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/development
 RISC-RISE Doctoral School – Gender and Development
4. What is Development? (Cont´d)
Development can be defined as a process of economic and social advancement in
terms of quality of human life. It can be measured in terms of culture, wealth,
education, healthcare, opportunities and can be commonly classified by the
following terms: HDI- human development index, a UN standardised measure
based on 3 factors: life expectancy, literacy/education, and standard of living. GDP-
Gross domestic product, value of goods and services divided by the number of
people in the country. Development has been traditionally classified into first,
second, third world countries, or the global north/ south. However this is where we
reach a problem. There is a 'development continuum'. This means that there is not
a gap separating rich from poor countries, North from South. All countries are at
different stages of development- the Asian Tigers, BRICS, America- how do you
actually define the term if it incorporates so many different types, levels and
stages? The second problems is that the term 'development' can be seen as
'western centric' - destructive to traditional cultures and ways of life, damaging to
indigenous populations or sustainability. Therefore in conclusion, development is a
complex and difficult to define term that requires unpicking and deconstructing,
not simply taking for granted its meaning at face value.
Source: https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/13171/A-Level/Geography/What-is-development/
 The Gender Gap (Cont´d)

Specific areas of Gender Gap

Participation of women in decision-making bodies and in all sectors of
development process ;
 Women´s access to basic social services, land, credit, inheritance, etc.
 Rights : Women don´t often have the same rights as men ;
 Remuneration (for the same work and qualification, women receive a
lower salary) ;
 Benefit : For instance women who struggle for social achievements are
«forgotten» or simply excluded, when it comes to earn the benefits ;
 Opportunities or chance for employment or promotion: Generally, men
have more opportunities than women in these domains ;
6. Where does the Gender Gap come from?
Friedrich Engels “The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State” (1884)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/origin_family.pdf & https://readingfromtheleft.com/PDF/EngelsOrigin.pdf

Lewis Henry Morgan who spent several years among the Iroquois Indians and
whose work “Ancient Society” – 1877, inspired Marx, divides the development of
mankind like follows :
1. Savagery – the period in which man’s appropriation of products in their natural
state predominates; the products of human art are chiefly instruments which
assist this appropriation.
2. Barbarism – the period during which man learns to breed domestic animals
and to practice agriculture, and acquires methods of increasing the supply of
natural products by human activity.
3. Civilization – the period in which man learns a more advanced application of
work to the products of nature, the period of industry proper and of art.
 6. Where does the Gender Gap come from? (Cont´d)
* DIE WELTGESCHICHTLICHE NIEDERLAGE DES WEIBLICHEN GESCHLECHTS
 1884 stellt Friedrich Engels in einem epochemachenden Essay fest: Am Beginn unserer Zivilisation stand die gewaltsame
Unterdrückung der Frau und die Aberkennung ihres Erbrechts. Ein Textauszug.
 Der Umsturz des Mutterrechts war die weltgeschichtliche Niederlage des weiblichen Geschlechts. Der Mann ergriff das Steuer
auch im Hause, die Frau wurde entwürdigt, geknechtet, Sklavin seiner Lust und bloßes Werkzeug der Kinderzeugung. Diese
erniedrigte Stellung der Frau, wie sie namentlich bei den Griechen der heroischen und mehr der klassischen Zeit offen
hervortritt, ist allmählich beschönigt und verheuchelt, auch stellenweise in mildere Form gekleidet worden; beseitigt ist sie
keineswegs. Die erste Wirkung der nun begründeten Alleinherrschaft der Männer zeigt sich in der jetzt auftauchenden
Zwischenform der patriarchalischen Familie. Was sie hauptsächlich bezeichnet, ist nicht die Vielweiberei, wovon später,
sondern „die Organisation einer Anzahl freier und unfreier Personen zu einer Familie unter der väterlichen Gewalt des
Familienhaupts“ (Lewis H. Morgan, Anm. der Redaktion).
 Das Wesentliche ist die Einverleibung von Unfreien und die väterliche Gewalt; daher ist der vollendete Typus dieser
Familienform die römische Familie. Das Wort familia bedeutet ursprünglich nicht das aus Sentimentalität und häuslichem
Zwist zusammengesetzte Ideal des heutigen Philisters (Spießbürgers, Anm. der Redaktion); es bezieht sich bei den Römern
anfänglich gar nicht einmal auf das Ehepaar und dessen Kinder, sondern auf die Sklaven allein. Famulus heißt ein Haussklave,
und familia ist die Gesamtheit der einem Mann gehörenden Sklaven […]. Der Ausdruck wurde von den Römern erfunden, um
einen neuen gesellschaftlichen Organismus zu bezeichnen, dessen Haupt Weib und Kinder und eine Anzahl Sklaven unter
römischer väterlicher Gewalt, mit dem Recht über Tod und Leben aller, unter sich hatte.
 Marx setzt hinzu: „Die moderne Familie enthält im Keim nicht nur Sklaverei (servitus), sondern auch Leibeigenschaft, da sie
von vornherein Beziehung hat auf Dienste für Ackerbau. Sie enthält in Miniatur alle die Gegensätze in sich, die sich später breit
entwickeln in der Gesellschaft und in ihrem Staat.“ Eine solche Familienform zeigt den Übergang der Paarungsehe in die
Monogamie. Um die Treue der Frau, also die Vaterschaft der Kinder, sicherzustellen, wird die Frau der Gewalt des Mannes
unbedingt überliefert: Wenn er sie tötet, so übt er nur sein Recht aus.
https://www.fraeulein-magazine.eu/die-weltgeschichtliche-niederlage-des-weiblichen-geschlecht/
* Original texto in German
 DIE WELTGESCHICHTLICHE NIEDERLAGE DES WEIBLICHEN GESCHLECHTS (CONT´D)

 Ihr endgültiger Sieg (der Monogamie, Anm. der Redaktion) ist eins der Kennzeichen der beginnenden Zivilisation. Sie ist
gegründet auf die Herrschaft des Mannes, mit dem ausdrücklichen Zweck der Erzeugung von Kindern mit unbestrittener
Vaterschaft, und diese Vaterschaft wird erfordert, weil diese Kinder dereinst als Leibeserben in das väterliche Vermögen
eintreten sollen.
 In ihrer ganzen Härte tritt uns die neue Familienform entgegen bei den Griechen. Während, wie Marx bemerkt, die
Stellung der Göttinnen in der Mythologie uns eine frühere Periode vorführt, wo die Frauen noch eine freiere, geachtetere
Stellung hatten, finden wir zur Heroenzeit die Frau bereits erniedrigt durch die Vorherrschaft des Mannes und die
Konkurrenz von Sklavinnen. Man lese in der Odyssee, wie Telemachos seine Mutter ab- und zur Ruhe verweist. Die
erbeuteten jungen Weiber verfallen bei Homer der Sinnenlust der Sieger; die Befehlshaber wählen sich der Reihe und
Rangordnung nach die schönsten aus; die ganze Ilias dreht sich bekanntlich um den Streit zwischen Achilleus und
Agamemnon wegen einer solchen Sklavin (Briseis, Achills „Lieblingssklavin“, Anm. der Redaktion). Bei jedem homerischen
Helden von Bedeutung wird das kriegsgefangene Mädchen erwähnt, womit er Zelt und Bett teilt […]. Von der Ehefrau wird
erwartet, daß sie sich das alles gefallen läßt, selbst aber strenge Keuschheit und Gattentreue bewahrt. Die griechische Frau
der Heroenzeit ist zwar geachteter als die der zivilisierten Periode, aber sie ist doch schließlich für den Mann nur die
Mutter seiner ehelichen Erbkinder, seine oberste Hausverwalterin und die Vorsteherin der Sklavinnen, die er sich nach
Belieben zu Konkubinen machen kann und auch macht. Es ist der Bestand der Sklaverei neben der Monogamie, das Dasein
junger schöner Sklavinnen, die dem Mann gehören mit allem, was sie an sich haben, das der Monogamie von Anfang an
ihren spezifischen Charakter aufdrückt, Monogamie zu sein nur für die Frau, nicht aber für den Mann. Und diesen
Charakter hat sie noch heute.
 So tritt die Einzelehe keineswegs ein in die Geschichte als die Versöhnung von Mann und Weib, noch viel weniger als ihre
höchste Form. Im Gegenteil. Sie tritt auf als Unterjochung des einen Geschlechts durch das andre, als Proklamation eines
bisher in der ganzen Vorgeschichte unbekannten Widerstreits der Geschlechter. In einem alten, 1846 von Marx und mir
ausgearbeiteten, ungedruckten Manuskript finde ich: „Die erste Teilung der Arbeit ist die von Mann und Weib zur
Kinderzeugung.“‚ Und heute kann ich hinzusetzen: Der erste Klassengegensatz, der in der Geschichte auftritt, fällt
zusammen mit der Entwicklung des Antagonismus von Mann und Weib in der Einzelehe, und die erste
Klassenunterdrückung mit der des weiblichen Geschlechts durch das männliche.
Text: Aus Friedrich Engels. Der Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigentums und des Staats. 1884. Kapitel II: Die Familie.
 6. Where does the Gender Gap come from? (Cont´d)
According to Friedrich Engels in his essay «DIE WELTGESCHICHTLICHE NIEDERLAGE DES
WEIBLICHEN GESCHLECHTS» - 1884 (The world historical Defeat of the Female Sex).
In the prehistory (Neolothic, Iron Age), women were considered goddesses and
were respected because they could give birth to children ;
 The defeat of the matriarchate and the rise of the patriarchate is the
consquence of the knowledge that men play a role in the pregnancy ;
 Therefore, the family was created, the division of labour and the private
proprety were established at the moment when a man said “This belongs to me!”
 Meaning of the latin word “Famulus”: house slave. “Familia” means the whole
slaves of a man. Average men had a legitimate wife and often several female
slaves whose lives and destinies depended on his whim. As husband, father and
chief of family, he enjoyed all kind of privileges.
 The children had to be legitimate in order to get his inheritance .
«7. Empowering women and promoting gender equality is crucial to accelerating
sustainable development - Goal 5: Gender Equality

Ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, but it also has a
multiplier effect across all other development areas.
Since 2000, UNDP together with our UN partners and the rest of the global community has made gender
equality central to our work, and we have seen some remarkable successes. More girls are now in school
compared to 15 years ago, and most regions have reached gender parity in primary education. Women now
make up to 41 percent of paid workers outside of agriculture, compared to 35 percent in 1990.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to build on these achievements to ensure that there is an
end to discrimination against women and girls everywhere. There are still gross inequalities in access to paid
employment in some regions, and significant gaps between men and women in the labour market. Sexual
violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public
decision making, all remain huge barriers.»

Source : https://www.sdgfund.org/es/node/229
 8. Link between Gender and Development

 There is no sustainable development without the participation of women who

represent more than the half of the world population.
 Women have the same intellectual capacities and artistic abilities as men. Thus we
have to change our mindsets about imposed stereotypes and the division of labour.
Women must have the same rights as men.
 Thus, governments and civil society organizations must work in synergy in order to
put an end to all forms of discrimination against girls and women.
 The empowerment of women must be a priority, so that they can fully participate in the
social and economic development process.
 Gender parity must be implemented in the sectors of administration and politics.
 Departments of Gender Studies should be created in higher education institutions in
order to foster scientific research on the topic.
RISC-RISE Doctoral and Post-doctoral School – Gender and Development

9. CONCLUSION
 It can be stated that the SDGs 2030 represent a great opportunity to creating equal rights for women and
men ;

 The real issue remains the changing of mindsets and the removal of patriarchal rights that prevail since
two millennia ;

 The changing of mindsets concern women too because they are responsible for perpetuating an
education based on stereotypes, the division of labour, woman´s obedience and submission to man, etc.;

 Education systems have to involve boys and men in the transformation process of a society based on
Gender equality (same rights for women and men) ;

 Women and men are not each other enemies. They should work together in order to remove the gender
gap and build a better world based on gender equality and human rights.
 2021 RISC-RISE Doctoral and Post-doctoral School

RISC-RISE: https://www.facebook.com/RISCRISEConsortium/
 Videos by the students (most of them at least)
: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThIileED4Qs03A5PQ9uJ1DX8c9Ta79og
 Sandra Häbel - Associate Director, RISC-RISE Consortium, South Africa
Ph.D. in Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Luxembourg
2019 Taiwan Fellow, NCCU, Taiwan
 https://www.sandrahabel.eu
 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9465-0279
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandrahabel/
 https://www.risc-rise.org

 RECENT PUBLICATIONS
 Häbel, S. & Hakala, E. (2021) Policy coherence for sustainable development and environmental security:
A case study of European Union policies on renewable energy. Environmental Policy and
Governance, https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1962
 Koff, H. & Häbel, S. (2021) Normative coherence for development – What relevance for responsive
regionalism? Development Policy Review, https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12586
RISC-RISE Doctoral and Post-doctoral School – Gender and Development

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION!

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