Lecture number 4

Gender and Development

Amna Baig
Gender and Development
 A look at how development decisions and
practices affect both men and women and
developmental impact on gender. It further
explores how gender allots specific roles to
men and women, addressing the issue of
control over resources and power.
Colonial Perspective of Gender
 18th century ---- Colonies
 Women's work was unappreciated – lower
class women suffered more
 Social Pressure to Marry --- Marriage was for
economic benefits
 Husbands were responsible for wives –
economic dependency – could beat wives
 Revolutionary war – new causes --- boycott
of British goods and women's role
Capitalistic Perspective
 Exists in almost all countries
 Means of production are owned by small
minority with a profit motive – reinvest to stay in
business
 Majority are laborers – wage problem – women
have lower wages than men .77$ - 1.00$
 Increased work hours with no decrease in social
responsibility – Presence of children and impact
on women's participation in work
Modernization theory
 To develop means to become modern by
adopting western values and social institutes.
Underdeveloped societies subscribe to value
systems and institutes that hinder development
 Macro theory – historical + social inspiration
 Investigates the effects of modernization process
on human communication and its changing ways
+ Media use in traditional and post modern
societies
Modernization theory
 Modernization means the appearance of modes of social
life or organization which emerged in 1700 and spread
worldwide
 Three Main phases:
1 – 1950, explains the diffusion of western styles of
living, supports westernization Highlights the role of
media in:
Economic development – Global Diffusion
Literary and cultural --- State of mind favoring
modernity
National Identity development – Promotes democracy
Modernization theory
2 – 1970s Criticizes western modernization –
Imperialism
3 -- 1990s Neutral – unearths the contradictions
and tries to explain the consequences,
Traditional societies – direct contact + Modern
societies – mass media interaction
Modernization theory
 Bill Rostow’s Modernization Model – 5 stages
1) Underdeveloped society – Traditional society
dominated by values, roles are ascribed not achieved
2) Preconditions for take off – FDI, Capital flows in,
Aid
3) Take off – Traditional attitudes are replaced by their
western equivalents
4) Drive to maturity – Export of manufactured goods,
ITS
5) Age of high mass consumption – development is
achieved rise of urban cities
Modernization Theory
 Cultural change and modernization – Parsons
“Cultural change is imperative if LDCs want to
achievement development”
1) Anti science + Anti secular
2) Restrictions on mobility
3) Population explosion
 Criticism
Traditional values have no value – Japan + Asian
Tigers
Ignores social and economic problems on Western
societies
Under estimates external obstacles to development
World Systems Theory
 Modern World system originated in 1500 –
Immanuel Wallenstein
 Feudalism gave way to Market institutions
 Long distance trade established Economic
Ties
 Europeans established occupational and
geographical division of labor
 A social system that led to global inequalities
World Systems theory
 Core Countries
Dominant Capitalist Countries – strong in
military, not dependent, serves the interests of
economically powerful
First Europe now USA -- Strong central
governments Economically diversified –
exploit the periphery
Sufficient tax base – highly industrialized R&
D
World systems theory
 Periphery Countries
Other end of the Economic Scale – Controlled
by other states
Export Raw material to Core states
Low skilled – Labor intensive production
Weak Governments – least economically
diversified
Small elite – large peasant class
Poor and uneducated – exploited by
Multinationals
World Systems theory
 Semi-Peripheral Countries
Midway b/w the aforementioned
Apply protectionist polices
Moving towards industrialization – more
diverse economies, but not dominant in IT
Export to peripheral countries and import
from Core countries
Buffer states b/w core and periphery
World Systems theory
 Criticism
Too focused on economy not enough focus on
culture
Prone to generalizations
Lacks quantitative data
Too core centric and state centric – blurring
boundaries between state and businesses
State should be the central unit of analysis
Dependency Theory
 How developing and developed nations
interact
 Formulated in 1950s – Marxist analysis of
global economy as a direct challenge to free
market economic polices of post war era
 Free market ideology propagates open
markets to achieve higher efficiency which
maybe hurtful in the start but beneficial in the
longer run
Dependency Theory
 Dependency theory holds that there are a small
number of established nations that are continually
fed by developing nations at the expense of their
own health – acting as colonial dependencies
sending their wealth to developed nations with
minimal compensation
 Developed nations actively keep developing
nations in subservient positions through economic
forces – sanctions and free trade policies IMF
World bank
Dependency theory
 Degree of dependency increases as time goes
on – developing nations stuck in the vicious
cycle
 The process reinforces disparities between
Developing and developed nations
 Economic and political arrangements of the
global economy exacerbate the third worlds
dependency instead of alleviating it
Structural Functionalism
 Society is a complex unit made up of
interrelated parts
 Gender roles arise from the need to establish a
division of labor that will maintain the smooth
running of the family and contribute to
society as a whole
 Deviance is necessary to reinforce social
order – right and wrong, affirmation of social
norms, unification in the society
Structural Functionalism
 Strain theory of deviance
to achieve culturally approved goals, people
deviate if they don’t have access to
institutionalized means
 Mostly people adapt their goals in response to
the means that the society provides – five type
of reactionists: Conformists, Innovators,
Ritualists, Retreatists and Rebels
Women In Development (WID)
 Modernization impacted men and women
differently – development process appeared to
be contributing to the widening gender
inequality gap
 Second wave feminism --- body of research
regarding role in economy
 WID advocates reject the narrow view of
women's role as mothers and wives and
present them as productive
WID
 Women shouldn’t be seen as passive recipient of
welfare programs rather as active contributors to
the society. They are the missing link in
development
 Woman’s subordination is linked to economic
framework – Status and power relative to their
economic contributions
 Goal is to direct scarce development resources to
women – inefficiencies are caused by restricting
women to houses
WID
 Impact of WID movement
1) Generated discussions and research
2) Institutional machinery was made active to
integrate women in development
 Criticism
Neglects welfare concerns
Production and reproduction are interlinked –
health concerns are ignored
Improvement Strategies

Lecture 1 Gender (LIHernandez)

Women And Development (WAD)
 Theoretical and practical approach to
development – A departure from WID
 There should be only Women-only development
projects that remove women from patriarchal
hegemony
 Focus on both Patriarchy and Capitalism
 Criticism
Women only projects are not realistic
Focuses on a particular group of women
Ignores the reproductive side of women
Gender And Development (GAD)
 Focus on socially constructed basis of
difference between men and women – need to
challenge the existing gender roles and
relations – Unequal relationship b/w two
genders hinders development.
 Social relationship b/w man and woman lead
to subordination of latter
 Gendered division of Labor and gender as a
relation of power embedded in institutions
GAD
 “Maleness and Femaleness in their relative
access to resources”
 Focus on a society where men and women
work together
 Aims to redefine traditional gender roles and
expectations
 Criticism
Emphasis on social difference no mention of
Social bond
WID & GAD
Structural Adjustment Programs
(SAPs)
 Economic Policies for Developing countries
that have been promoted by World Bank and
IMF – provision of conditioned loans
 Aim to achieve long term accelerated
economic growth in poor countries
 Emphasis on market as the main allocator of
economic resources and a corresponding
decreased role of Government – Focus on
Privatization and opening up markets
SAPs
 Haven't been able to achieve the set goals in
majority of the countries
 Alternative programs have never been
implemented
 In Pakistan’s case, major policy makers were
employees of IMF or World Bank
 The country still suffers from major economic
challenges despite being in IMF program for
forty years
Globalization and Gender
 Globalization refers to the economic, social,
cultural and political process of integration
that results from the expansion of
transnational economic production, migration,
communication and technologies.
Globalization and Gender
 Economic Globalization:
Unregulated Capitalist economy maximizes
efficiency. Trade liberalizations, Privatization,
Elimination of social welfare programs.
 Feminists argue that the impacts of economic
globalization have been negative on women
who make up most of the poor. 70% The
inequality between rich and poor is ever
increasing
Globalization and Gender
 Political Globalization: Changes in exercise
of political power that have resulted from
increased transnational engagements.
 Prior to WW2 = Westphalia Model i.e state
sovereignty was supreme
 Now, Polycentric Model involving non state
actors that exercise power from above and
below the state
Globalization and Gender
 Supranational institutes exercise power from above
e.g UN, EU WHO etc creating international rules
that constrain sovereignty.
 Feminists believe these institutes have had limited
success in achieving their goals
 Transnational Political movements have emerged
from below. Communications have given way to
transitional political movements “Global civil
society”. Movements for the cause of women, more
successful than economic
Case Study
 Mukhtara Mai
 Malala Yousafzai
 Shermeen Obaid
Status of Women in Pakistan
 Pakistan is a third world country with
countless economic, political and social
issues.
 Traditional and cultural barriers are impeding
women’s empowerment. Socially defined
roles.
 80539 women faced violence in 2011 alone.
Rape, Acid Attacks, Domestic violence are
common throughout the country.
Status of Women’s Health
 System based on gender inequality – policies
don’t target pregnant, powerless and poor
women.
 Maternal mortality rate is 340/100,000.
Anemia and Malnutrition are prevalent.
 375,000 women suffer from pregnancy
related complications
 Tertiary and Secondary healthcare centers are
not available 24/7
Status of Women’s Health
 Four delays in Pregnancy
Decision, Transportation, Emergency care,
Recognition of post-natal complications
 Girl Child and infant mortality rate. Unsafe Abortions.
Women are blamed for giving birth to girls. Leading to
not only physical violence but also mental torture.
 Menopausal Women – no awareness and no care,
osteoporosis.
 Cancers – Breast, Ovarian and Cervical. Detection is
late and treatment is expensive.
Status of Women’s Education
 Disparity between men and women but also
between women of Urban areas and Women
of Rural areas. 74% to 7%.
 Conservative thinking and ignorance about
religion. More than 40% girls never enroll in
school.
 More specifically women of KPK and
Baluchistan are severely bound by cultural
restrictions
Status of Women’s Education
 Inaccessibility to education is because of
distance, child labor, male preference, scarcity
of teachers, fear of extremists and patriarchy
– girls are supposed to stay close to home.
 Solutions:
Change of mentality
Better policies for education
Awareness through practical action
Equal Access
Women and Employment
 Out of 180 Million only 12.5 million women
employed.
 Overall Unemployment rate 8% whereas for women
its 16% -- Wages are also lower
 Factors contributing to low employment
low literacy rates and social and cultural norms
 Quaid’s stance – ‘No nation can rise to the height of
glory unless your women are side by side with you.
We are victims of evil customs. It’s a crime against
humanity that our women are shut up within the four
walls of our house as prisoners.’
Women and Law
 Within the ambit of constitution of Pakistan,
all citizens are equal. The constitution
specifically prohibits discrimination on the
basis of gender.
 But coexistence of multiple legal systems, e.g
Jirga, allows for discrimination against
women.
 21-23% women parliamentarian but no
significance legislature to protect women
Women and Law
 Protection of Women Act – 2006
 Anti Honor Killing Law – 2014
 Protection against harassment at work place –
2010
 Acid crimes prevention Act – 2010
 Domestic Violence Act – 2012
 Anti –Rape Bill – 2011
 Women protection bill – Punjab – 2016