Note No. 12 June 1995 GenderIssuesinParticipation Thefullparticipationofbothmenandwomeninpolicymaking,ineconomicandsectoralanalysis,andinproject designandmanagement,maybeimpededbyculturalandlegalconstraintswhichlimitwomen'sparticipation,and bywomen'srelativelackoftimeandmobilityduetotheirworkloadandmultipleroles.Ifparticipatorydevelopment istobenefitfromwomen'scontributions,andmeettheparticularneedsofwomen,arangeofstrategicandpractical measuresmustbetakentoovercomethesebarriers. WhyaPro-activeApproachisNeeded · unpaid domestic and farm workloads which impose severe time burdens on women. Experience in participatory development has made clear that, unless specific steps are taken to Imbalances in the division of labor between ensure the full participation of men and women, men and women and in access to education and that women are very often excluded. As a result, productive resources have important implications, projects fail to benefit from women's contributions not only for equity, but also for economic output, and fail to meet the particular needs and interests productivity, food security, fertility and child of women. A World Bank evaluation of 121 rural welfare. And they profoundly affect men's and water supply projects, for example, found that women's different capacities and incentives to even in a sector where women carried the greater participate in economic and social development. share of responsibility, they appeared to benefit only in the 17% of water projects which had been Overcoming these systemic biases requires a pro- specifically designed to involve women. active approach. In the long run, the equal participation of men and women depends on The causes are deeply embedded in social and strategic measures, policy and institutional changes, legal institutions. Men and women play different to tackle the root causes of gender inequalities and roles, have different needs and face different remove the constraints to women's involvement in constraints in responding to macroeconomic or public life. Examples of such measures in Bank sectoral policy changes, and to the specific supported programs include: legal reforms granting opportunities provided by development projects women full rights to land tenure and ownership in and programs. Systemic gender biases often exist Honduras (a condition for tranche release under the in the form of: Agricultural Sector Credit); incentives to encourage the enrolment of more girls in secondary schools in · laws and customs which impede women's Bangladesh; and efforts to make government access to property ownership, credit, agencies more accountable to women in El Salvador. In productive inputs, employment, education, addition, a variety of practical measures, taking information, or medical care; account of existing gender-based constraints, can facilitate the participation of women in specific · customs, beliefs and attitudes which confine projectsoractivities. women mostly to the domestic sphere; and This note is based on the paper written by Michael Bamberger, Mark Blackden and Abeba Taddese as a contribution to the Participation Sourcebook. This note was originally published as Environment Department Dissemination Note Number 25 (now out of print). Copies of the Sourcebook are available for sale from the World Bank Publications, Fax: 703-661-1501, Telephone: 703-661-1580, website: http:// www.worldbank.org and click on publications. Theviewsexpressedinthisnotearethoseoftheauthor(s)anddonotnecessarilyreflecttheofficialpoliciesoftheWorldBank. for strengthening women's participation, is to Box1. InvolvingWomeninPolicyWork obtain good information--on gender roles, In the Morocco WID Sector Strategy, poor rural and existing institutions, and the constraints operating urban women were given the opportunity to articulate against women's participation--through a their needs and priorities through a participatory rural combination of quantitative surveys and appraisal (PRA) process which provoked discussion qualitative social assessments. To be effective, among community members about development and assessments must be designed specifically to elicit gender issues, and sought their views in formulating the views of women. Often, gender awareness national policy objectives. training is needed for facilitators or interviewers. The women's concerns and priorities differed from those of the men and from those of other stakeholder AtthePolicyLevel groups. First and foremost, before progress could be Gender issues are receiving more attention in made on other objectives, was the need to reduce the Bank's country economic and sector work. women's daily burdens, by improving their access to fuel and water, introducing collective ovens for bread However, it is still rare, even in participatory sector baking, and improving health care. Second were operations, for women's participation to be sought measures to improve their incomes, where women explicitly in carrying out this work. The Morocco viewed agricultural extension services and access to Women in Development Sector Strategy (box 1) credit as most important. Third were measures needed provides a model for involving women in policy to secure the future, including female education and work which could well be replicated in other strengthening community based institutions. The group interactions helped men to understand how the sectors and countries. constraints on women impact on the family and the village as a whole. The collective solutions which Women in Development assessments (which emerged were supported by men as well as women. were completed for 40 countries in the five years The new perspectives gained from the PRA surveys to 1994), and recent Poverty Assessments which were applied in defining the recommended program were designed expressly to yield gender- of action. differentiated data (box 2), have usually involved less intense participation by women. Nonetheless, they have produced valuable gender analysis and AddressingGenderIssues policy proposals for enhancing women's capacity to contribute to, and participate in, the Surprisingly few developing countries development process. systematically gather and report statistics disaggregated by sex, or carry out systematic The crucial next step, which is starting to gender analysis. The first step towards receive more attention, is integrating the results of incorporating gender issues in the policymaking this work into the Bank's country assistance process, and determining appropriate measures strategies. The 1993 Country Economic Box2. AddressingGenderIssuesinPovertyAssessments Poverty assessments, through quantitative survey methods as well as qualitative methods used in Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs), can provide important information on gender differences in labor force participation, coping mechanisms, and how men and women perceive poverty and ways to reduce it. Some of the most recent poverty assessments have been designed explicitly to generate gender-specific data on a wide range of questions. In the PPA in Cameroon, fifty percent of the interviewers and fifty percent of those interviewed were women. The resulting information was fully integrated in the subsequent analysis and recommendations, with strong policy implications. For example, women in Cameroon were found to be shouldering most of the burden of producing and marketing food. One of the specific actions proposed for improving food security was to target small scale women farmers with a "productivity package" of critical agricultural inputs. The PA confirmed the heavy workload of women. As a result, urgent action was recommended to give women access to transport and to time and labor saving technology, to allow them the opportunity to develop their own skills and participate in community projects. The Zambia Poverty Assessment also focused on collecting sex-disaggregated data related to the division of labor and the implications of time constraints on female labor. Most poor households in rural Zambia were found to be male- headed, using traditional technologies, and practicing gender-specific labor allocation which put extreme pressure on women's time, especially in the peak months of planting and harvesting. In modelling rural household behavior, the study estimated that the value of crop production per household member was more than doubled in those households where labor was allocated between tasks on a gender-neutral basis. 2 Memorandum for Uganda, for example, was capacity of these organizations increases women's combined with the Poverty Assessment and ability to find ways of meeting their own needs highlighted the economic and social implications and of contributing to community development. of various forms of gender discrimination. The For example, the Poverty Assessment in Kenya poverty profile was supplemented by the results highlighted the importance of the many rural of a rapid poverty appraisal soliciting the women's self-help groups in the coping strategies opinions of rural men and women. In response to of the poor. Proposals to strengthen these groups, the problems identified, the Ugandan based on the findings of this assessment, include government is giving priority to reforms, legal registration, so that groups are eligible for including legal reforms, that will raise the credit; technical and business management incomes and status of women. training of group members; and the extension of micro-enterprise credit to the groups. AttheInstitutionalLevel Designing and implementing gender responsive AttheProjectLevel policies depends on developing appropriate If both men and women are to participate, institutional capacity, including changes in the gender issues must be addressed from the outset, responsible public agencies. When sociocultural gender constraints identified, and steps taken to constraints are severe, promoting separate units ensure that the perspective and concerns of within government ministries to provide segregated women are incorporated fully in project design women's services may be the only workable strategy. (as in the Togo Urban Development Project However, this tends to result in limited, small scale described in box 3). women's programs which are peripheral to mainstream activities. With sufficient general Appropriate measures vary depending on the awareness of gender differences and inequities, it is particular social and political context, the exact possible to incorporate gender in mainstream nature of the constraints operating against programs, create incentives to support gender women, and the type of activity in which their responsiveness and make line agencies accountable to both men and women clients. Box3. GenderAwarenessinProjectDesign In El Salvador, for example, public agencies IndesigningtheTogoUrbanDevelopmentProject, are moving away from a segregated strategy to a gender awareness was explicitly incorporated in the more systematic gender approach. The National participatory process. Initial studies revealed that Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology women had almost exclusive responsibility at the household level for the sanitary environment, for (CENTA) eliminated its women's program in providing water, managing waste and for family 1994. It is taking steps to incorporate gender health. They also found that knowledge of the links systematically into planning, monitoring, training, between health, clean water and hygiene was extension and research and has modified its extremely limited. organizational structure to ensure that gender During the pre-appraisal mission, the first two issues are addressed effectively. Since putting meetings with community elders, held in the chief's these institutional changes into effect, CENTA has compound, included no women and the Bank team been able to increase the participation of women suggested holding a separate meeting where the in its extension programs. Other agencies are women could articulate their priorities and concerns. The following day the chief's wife chaired a meeting following CENTA's lead. The government is now attended by about 50 women from the community. supporting an initiative, to be funded by the The same questions were asked of them as were asked Bank's Institutional Development Fund, to of the men, and a local consultant served as translator promote public sector capacity building and and intermediary. The main concerns, which differed accountability in gender. from those of the men, were: men's unemployment; the need for market upgrading, including standpipes, When public agencies are not responsive to latrines and central play space for children; access to drinking water; access to finance and credit; and the particular needs of women, and when cultural training in management, hygiene, health and literacy. constraints inhibit women from voicing their The women's agenda was incorporated in the final opinions freely, women's groups at the project design which included employment generation community level--and the regional or national through labor intensive public works, and a training NGOs which are supporting them--play a program in environmental management geared to the particularly important role. Strengthening the needs of a largely illiterate and mostly female population. 3 participation is sought. Constraints affecting installing standpipes which reduce the time spent women more than men may include any in fetching water, can make it easier for women to combination of legal or cultural obstacles, time attend meetings or training sessions. In particular, constraints, lack of access to information, the choice of time and place for meetings must illiteracy, lack of transport, or lack of access to take account of women's schedules (see Box 4) finance. The following are some examples of the and the availability of safe transport. approaches taken to facilitate women's participation in recent Bank supported projects. Similarly, special measures may be needed to ensure that women have equal access to project When the obstacles to women's participation information and are not prevented from are severe, there is a case for targeting women's communicating their concerns or participating in needs and designing projects exclusively for decisionmaking by illiteracy or relative lack of women--as in the Women in Agriculture Project education. This may involve, for example, in Nigeria, and the Women in Development targeting women in promotional campaigns, Project in Gambia. Integration of the women's training project staff in gender awareness, hiring activities into mainstream programs can occur female community workers, ensuring that once the environment for their participation has meetings are conducted in the local dialect, or been created. finding creative ways (akin to the techniques used in PRA) for illiterate women to take responsibility In some cases, the representation of women for project monitoring and evaluation. has been ensured by making it mandatory. Under the Yemen Education Sector Credit, for example, For instance, after the initial promotional it was specified that at least one third of the campaign for the pilot phase of Ethiopia's Social workshop participants should be women. Rehabilitation Fund, it was learned that women Similarly, in the Benin Health Services Project, it were not submitting proposals. In the next phase, was stipulated that each village health committee therefore, promotional activities are targeting must include at least one mother. more women's groups, community organizers are being sensitized to the important role played by Working through separate, women-only women, and more women are being hired as groups is often the preferred option and, community organizers. A particularly successful depending on cultural conditions, there may be technique for disseminating information in the little alternative. In the Phalombe Rural Gambia WID Project has been to train women in Development Project in Malawi, women opted for operating video cameras and in documenting their own women-only farmers' groups instead of their activities, to share and exchange information mixed sex groups. They felt freer to discuss and with other women. develop their ideas with extension workers. Also, having better repayment rates than men, they Box4. EnablingWomentoAttendMeetings preferred to obtain credit in women-only clubs. In the Matruh Resource Management Project in IntheNigeriaWomeninAgriculture(WIA)Project, Egypt, when no women showed up at the public specific steps were taken to reduce the conflicts in PRA sessions, parallel women-only sessions were women's schedules and facilitate regular attendance at held to ensure that the project design reflected meetings. Each group meets on the same day at the same time and place; reminders about the meetings are women's views as well as men's. posted at highly visible and accessible locations; and, if the scheduled day conflicts with a market day, the Whether women meet with men or on their women are consulted in advance and an alternative own, their workload often makes it more difficult time agreed. Consequently, women rarely face the for them to attend meetings. As their domestic problem of not knowing where and when the meetings responsibilities often require them to stay close to are held. The meeting site is selected after the WIA agent has introduced herself and explained the the home, lack of mobility may be a constraint as purpose of her visit to the village head. He, in turn, well as shortage of time. Various practical informs male household heads who then give their measures, from providing childcare facilities to permission for wives to attend meetings. Social Development Notes are published informally by the Social Development Family in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. For additional copies, contact Social Development Publications, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, Fax: 202-522-3247, E-mail: sdpublications@worldbank.org. 4 Printed on Recycled Paper