1000 words analysis

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

1

ENGENDERING DEVELOPMENT

Historical and Analytical Perspectives ____________________________

Bina Agarwal

Development Fundamentals

www.binaagarwal.com

HOW DID GENDER EMERGE AS AN

ISSUE IN DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE?

To understand this we need to go back to

the 1960s-1970s

• Post-colonial world, people had aspirations,

national leaders had obligations

• A growing focus on citizens and their needs

• New debates on growth, inequality and

development

Bina Agarwal

TWO MAJOR DEBATES

I. Relationship between Economic Growth and

Inequality (1960s early 1970s)

II. Relationship between Economic Growth and

Economic Development (mid-1970 onwards)

________________________________

•View 1: Economic inequality helps growth since the

rich save, poor consume (Kuznets)

•View 2: Economic equality will help growth:

increase internal market demand. So we need

redistribution for growth (Leferber, 1974)

• View 3: We need redistribution with growth, since

growth and equality are in conflict (Chenery,

Ahluwalia and Jolly, 1974)

Hence all were concerned with growth but with

different perspectives on inequality

Bina Agarwal

Relationship Between Economic Growth And

Economic Development (mid 1970s onwards)

View 1: The benefits of economic growth will trickle down to

enhance well-being of citizens and reduce poverty

View 2: Growth alone will not lead to development. Development

is about:

 Fulfilling basic needs (Basic needs approach, 1975. Dag

Hammarjold foundation): faceless dev to dev with a human face

 Developing human capabilities (Amartya Sen 1980s)

Freedoms: freedom from hunger, ill health; Freedom to be

educated, participate in public life, etc. Human agency matters

 Human development approach (UNDP, 1990)

 Sustainable development (Brundtland Report, 1985 onwards)

Both views co-exist. But we also see over time an expanding

understanding of human well-being beyond income, and removal of

social and economic inequality as integral to development.

These were key elements in opening the space to recognise

gender inequalities within development discourse.

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

2

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT: SOME HISTORICAL LANDMARKS

1961-70: recognition that women were disadvantaged and needed government schemes to enhance their welfare.

1970: Ester Boserup’s book: Women’s Role in Economic Development, highlighted women’s role as producers & male bias in development

1975: World conference on Women in Mexico (divergence between feminisms: Betty Friedan & others vs Domitila de Chungara, a Bolivian labour unionist)

1975-80:

 Country reports on status of women used sex-differentiated data to show women lagged behind men in every sphere

 Women’s movements focused on violence against Women

 UN agencies took up women’s cause

Emphasis initially was on directing more state attention & resources towards enhancing women’s (and especially poor women’s ) welfare, by fulfilling their basic needs. But recognition of women as producers and hence contributors to efficiency became the basis of what was termed the WID approach (Woman in Development)

Bina Agarwal

Broadening WID and beyond WID Early WID focused on gender inequalities in welfare, such as access to basic needs. Ester Boserup’s emphasis on women as producers added an important additional dimension. It argued that investing in women was also important for efficiency. Hence

 There was a shift from the idea that development has a negative effect on women to the idea that excluding women has a negative effect on development

 Emphasis on merit and not only need BUT critique of WID:

 Ignored gender division of labour which places double burden on women

 Ignored women’s care work at home (reproduction)

 Ignored intersections (class, race etc.) and historical disadvantage

 Saw modernisation as unproblematic

 Did not question male power as central aspect of gender relations

 Did not discuss women’s agency or political participation ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTED: GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD)

Bina Agarwal

GAD vs. WID

GENDER and DEVELOPMENT vs WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT

GAD: Holistic approach of production and reproduction WID: Focus on production without recognizing constraints of reproduction (child care, domestic work) GAD: Focus on gender relations as relations of power and socially constructed. WID: Gender relations and power do not get recognition

GAD: Women are active agents in development. WID: Women as deserving but passive recipients

GAD: Recognises inequality and trade-offs WID: Win-win

GAD: Market inadequate for distributing benefits of growth WID: Focus on income in women’s hands

GAD: Looks at local communities, bottom up approaches. WID: Can be top down

In practice today: Both approaches co-exist. Important to take all aspects into account: welfare, efficiency, equality and empowerment/agency

Bina Agarwal

SOME CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS

Gender is seen as a relational category, unlike women which can be seen a

biological category.

Gender is a social construct, and gender relations are seen as socially rather

than biologically determined.

Gender relations – relations of power between women and men – are

complex but impinge on economic and social outcomes in multiple ways,

and in multiple arenas: the family, the community, the market and the state.

Empowerment is a process that enhances the ability of disadvantaged

(`powerless') individuals or groups to challenge and change (in their favour)

existing power relationships that place them in subordinate economic, social

and political positions. (B.Agarwal, 1994)

The understanding of gender as a relational category, which is central to

the GAD approach, is especially important in measuring gender

inequalities.

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

3

THE INTERSECTIONALITY OF CLASS AND GENDER

The First UN Women’s Conference in Mexico in 1975:

First there was disagreement between Domitila Barrios de

Chungara (activist, wife of a Bolivian miner) and Betty Friedan

over the World Plan for Action

Then there was an interchange between Domitila and the President

of the Mexican delegation, to whom Domitila said:

Bina Agarwal

“Señora, … Every morning you show up in a

different outfit and … I don’t. Every day you show

up all made up and combed .. and … can spend

money on that, and yet I don’t… I’m sure you live

in a really elegant home … [while] we miners’

wives only have a small house on loan to us, and

when our husbands die or get sick or are fired

from the company, we have ninety days to leave

the house and then we’re in the street.

Now, señora, tell me: is your situation at all

similar to mine? … So, what equality are we

going to speak of between the two of us?” (Let

Me Speak!, 1978, 202-203).

From policy shifts to quantification:

landmarks

Conceptual shifts (1970s-1980s)

• Economic growth ≠ Economic development

• Basic Needs approach (ILO, 1976)

• Capabilities Approach (Amartya Sen)

• Women in Development, Gender & Development

• Environment & Development (Brundtland R)

Quantification, evaluation, monitoring

(1990s)

• Human Development Index (1990)

• Millenium Development Goals (2000)

• Sustainable Development Goals (2016)

Bina Agarwal

GENDER INEQUALITY INDICATORS AS

MEASURES OF DEVELOPMENT

•Early 1990s: Human development Reports focused

on gender inequality

•Mid-1990s- : Multiple approaches to gender

inequality

•Multiple indicators:

•Human development indicators: health, education,

•Economic indicators: employment, property, unpaid

work

•Social indicators: care work, mobility, autonomy,

social norms

•Political indicators: participation, etc.

•2000s-MDGs and SDGs

Bina Agarwal

GENDER INEQUALITY

INDICATORS

• Human Development Indicators

• Economic Indicators

• Social Indicators

• Political Indicators

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

4

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

Survival

 Sex ratios: female adverse ratios even with

high economic growth (e.g. India and China)

 Maternal mortality

Poverty: women and children can be poor within well

off households

Education

 School enrolment

 Drop outs

 Subjects taken

Health: inequalities in health care and nutrition

 Girls and boys: anthropometric indices

(malnourishment, stunting, etc.)

 Females and males: hospital admissions

MULTIDIMENSIONAL INEQUALITIES

Bina Agarwal

Female adverse sex ratios:

Females/1000 males

• The term "missing women" was coined by

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, in an essay

in The New York Review of Books in1990. It

indicates a shortfall in the number of women

relative to the expected number of women in a

region or country if there was no gender

discrimination.

• The phenomenon is found especially in India

and China, but it also spreads over northern

South Asia, the Middle East and northern

Africa.

Bina Agarwal

15

2011 2001

State Sex Ratios Change

India 940 933 7

Kerala 1084 1058 26

Tamil Nadu 995 986 9

Andhra P. 992 978 14

Meghalaya 986 975 11

Orissa 978 972 6

Himachal P. 974 970 4

West Bengal 947 934 13

Maharashtra 946 922 24

Gujarat 918 921 -3

Bihar 916 921 -5

Punjab 893 874 19

Haryana 877 861 16

Sex ratios: no of girls per 1000 boys, India

Bina Agarwal

16

Bina Agarwal

Can economic growth improve sex ratios? India

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

5

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Employment

Property and wealth

Bina Agarwal

GENDER GAP IN EMPLOYMENT

• Nature of Jobs: Formal/informal

• Continuity/interrupted (life time

earnings)

• Discrimination

• Glass ceilings

• Wage gap:

Developed cts: 10-25%

Developing cts much higher

Bina Agarwal

Bina Agarwal

GENDER WEALTH GAP:

developed countries

______________________________________________ Country Category Women Men ______________________________________________

UK (1996) Total wealth 43.6% 56.4% Pension wealth 29% 71% Richest individuals 78 per 1000 men

USA (2004) Richest individuals (Forbes list) 12.8% 87.2%

______________________________________________

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

6

Gender inequality in land ownership

Region Indicator Source

ASIA

women landowners

as a % of all

landowners

Four countries

other than India

14–37% Kieran et al.

(2015)

India 14% Agarwal

(2019)

AFRICA

Ten countries

(average)

22% Doss et al.

(2015)

L. AMERICA

Five countries 11–27% Deere &

Leon (2003)

Bina Agarwal

SOCIAL INDICATORS

Division of tasks at home

Social norms

and mobility

Autonomy in decision-making

Bina Agarwal

UNEQUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR:

CHILD CARE & ELDER CARE

24

MOBILITY: PURDAH NORMS

South Asia

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

7

POLITICAL INDICATORS

Membership in decision-making bodies

 Parliaments

 Village councils

 Community institutions

Voice in decision-making bodies

 Attendance rate

 Speaking up in public forums

 Influencing decisions

Gender gap high in most developing countries

Bina Agarwal

Source: Ventures Africa, data from UN women

Women in Parliament in Africa

Bina Agarwal

PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY

INSTITUTIONS

Can you spot the women?

Bina Agarwal

GENDER INEQUALITY & DEVELOPMENT:

INTERACTIVE EFFECTS

Low education of mothers linked with high infant and

maternal mortality

Mother’s lack of assets and employment negatively affects

child survival, child education, child health

Gender unequal access to land and inputs leads to lower

agricultural productivity

Gender unequal access to house and land leads to higher

domestic violence, negative effect on maternal health

Gender unequal voice in public institutions, flawed

democracy, poorer governance outcomes.

Basically, gender inequalities adversely affect development

both instrumentally (as above) and intrinsically (women’s well

being is itself a measure of development & social justice)

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

8

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower

women

3.1 Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary

education

3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-

agricultural sector

3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Gender and the MDGs

(Millennium Development Goals for 2015)

Bina Agarwal

SDG ambitions

• In January 2016, the UNDP launched The

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as “a

universal call to action to end poverty, protect the

planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and

prosperity.”

• The agenda contains 17 Global Goals and 169

targets to be achieved by 2030.

Bina Agarwal

Ownership and control over land and property

Access to financial services

Access to natural resources

Participation in all levels of decision-making

Eliminate all forms of violence

Eliminate Child Marriage, etc.

Access to reproductive health

Redistribute care work

Ensure equity at all levels

SDG 5: Gender Equality

Main targets

Bina Agarwal

POTENTIAL

• Access to and control over land

• Access to financial services

• Access to natural resources

• Full and effective participation in public life

SDG 5: Gender Equality

Need for critical analysis

LIMITATIONS

• Land via inheritance only and

in accordance with national laws

• Social norms restrict implementation of laws

• Inputs other than financial services?

Bina Agarwal

MGDI 60411, Engendering Development:

Bina Agarwal, Semester 1, 2024

9

Sustainable Development Goals:

Need to create synergies

Gender equality impinges not only on Goal 5 but also on

Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10 12, 16 among others