Alternative Approaches to Development: Feminist Theories to Development

I. Some Basic Concepts

Gender, Sex, Sexism, Gender Equality, Gender Equity, Gender
Stereotyping, Gender Mainstreaming, and Gender-based
Affirmative Action.
II. Principles of the following Feminist theories:
a.Marxist/Socialist Feminism
b.Liberal Feminism
c.Radical Feminism
d.Cultural feminism
i. African/Black Feminism (Womanism)
I. Application/Critiques of Feminism in Development Discourse
Gender Concepts Defined:
• Sex: The biological aspects of an individual, differences between males
and females by chromosomal, anatomical, reproductive, hormonal
characteristics.
• Sex status is biologically determined but socially constructed. All
human societies make distinctions based on inborn (ascribed)
characteristics of sex, the physiological distinctions based on biology
and reproductive anatomy that distinguishes male from female.
• Gender is a status designation derived from the physiological aspects
link to males and females physiological aspects link to males and
females to allow individuals to function within particular social contexts.
Gender a Social Construct: Some
Thoughts
• All academic disciplines as they now exist, whether sociology, psychology,
medicine, anthropology, theology or chemistry, have been developed largely by
men…(largely men of certain class and racial backgrounds)…
• It is men who run governments, corporations, control education and health
systems, who earn most of the money, and who are generally consider the
movers and shakers of the society.
• Throughout history, women have been sidelined…as early as 1987 United
Nations report claimed, “women constitute half of the world’s population,
perform nearly 2/3s of it work hours, receive one tenth of its income, and own
less than one-hundredth of its property.

•Why?
 Gender a Social Construct: Some
Thoughts
Why?
Social
• Sexism and Patriarchy Poverty
exclusion

Political
• Socialization is as important Situation of
as social stratification systematical Ethnic/Racial
Discrimination

• The SYSTEM (capitalism and disadvantages

patriarchy) IS DESIGNED BY Economic for women
MEN (patriarchal) and is Geographical
UNFAIR to both men exclusion

women!! Cultural
Gender a Social Construct: Some
Thoughts
• Why? Gender stereotyping through
socialization
• Stereotypes are oversimplified ideas of a particular type of person
(or idea, or place) that many people believe are true. They are often
negative.
Women in South Africa
• Women constitute 51% of the total population
• Major forms of social exclusion
• Violence and abuse of women and young children
• Representivity and participation in terms of gender, class and race
• Land ownership and customary law
• Health Disparities (i.e. Access to reproductive health , HIV prevalence)
• Teenage pregnancies and female headed households
• Plight of older women, girls, migrant women, LGBTI women, women with
disabilities
 Gender a Social Construct: Some Thoughts
•What can be done?
Gender Equality vs. Gender Equity
Equality proposes treating everyone the same
regardless of need
Equity proposes treating people differently
dependent on need. However, this different
treatment may be the key to reaching equality.
Both equity and equality promote fairness,
but falls short of dismantling systems of
oppression
The progressive idea is to dismantle barriers
for and inequality through equity to liberate all
Gender a Social Construct: Some
Thoughts
What can be done?
Gender Mainstreaming: A globally accepted strategy or an approach for
promoting gender equality (equality for men and women).
• Recognizing interdependent or complementary roles of men and
women, one affecting another.
• Aim to transform unequal relationships between genders and the
structures that produce inequality.
• Gender issues addressed across the “mainstream”/"normal",
institutional activities, taking place on all levels and all stages of
programming cycle.
• Responsibility for gender spreads across societal structures.
 Gender Mainstreaming and Development Processes
WOMEN-IN-DEVELOPMENT GENDER-IN-DEVELOPMENT GENDER MAINSTREAMING
 Aiming at redressing the unequal relations
 Addressing gender issues across all
of power that prevent women’s full
 Aiming to counteract the exclusion of sectors, institutions, levels in any planned
participation.
women from development processes action, including legislation, policies or
 Focus on the relations between men and
programmes, in all areas and at all levels.
women.
 Women-specific projects exclude men
 Targeted interventions” that have as their  Gender addressed as part of mainstream,
and treat women’s problems in isolation to
primary goal the narrowing of gender "normal" institutional activities, e.g.
their relations with men, in both the
gaps that disadvantage women. brought into the “mainstream” of activities.
private and the public sphere.
 Responsibility spread across institutions
 Left to specialised women’s institutions.  Left to specialised women’s institutions. structures, rather than concentrated in
specialized units.
 Addressing practical needs.  Addressing strategic needs.  Addressing strategic needs.
Example: training to sensitize the judiciary on
Example: special women’s projects, designed to domestic violence or rape, or training for male Example: gender is integrated in a general energy,
increase women’s productivity or income, or to help politicians on discriminatory practices against land reform etc policies, taking into account needs
ease their domestic responsibilities. women in politics, or research on unequal effect of of women and men.
trade policies on women.
 Links between the SA Developmental Policies and Actions
and Gender: Review of MDG report for South Africa
MDG Report 2015
Pillars of the National Policy for the Advancement and Integral Development of Women
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Economic development
Natural resources
Educational equity
Health equity
Erradication of violence against women
Legal equity
Racism and Gender discrimination
Cultural Development
Equity in employment
Institutional mechanisms
Sociopolitical participation
Violence against women and girls

Khalema, N. E., Ndinda, C., Moolman, B., & Makiwane, M., (2015). Gender Equality and Empower Women: Millennium Development Goal 3 Goal
Report. Statistics South Africa http://www.statssa.gov.za/MDG/MDG_Goal3_report_2015.pdf
 MDG 3 TEAM:ERDT 3(Goal 3)
Gender Equity & Empower Women 2015
MDG Indicators
• Gender parity in education (Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary)
• the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education;
gender parity index (GPI) for gross enrolment in primary education; and
the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
• Gender parity in wage employment for all women including non-
agricultural sector.
The share of women in wage employment (including women in
the non-agricultural sectors) by race and region; and the ratio of
females to males in selected occupational categories.
• Gender parity in political decision-making and leadership
the number of seats in the national, provincial, and local
government the number of cabinet positions, provincial councils,
municipal leadership who are females.
Status at a Glance: 2015
Status at a glance cont…
Limitations of the MDG3
Indicators
• Only partially measure gender equality
• Do not monitor key elements of gender equality (GBV, health outcomes
and disparities in access to productive resources such as land, credit, and technology)

• Inadequate measurement of empowerment

• National-level indicators can veil inequalities between particular
subgroups
Official MDG indicators conceal inequalities

• Ratio of girls’ to boys’ enrollment in primary, secondary, and

tertiary education –
• say nothing about educational outcomes (Completion?
Getting a job?)
• Changes in the indicators based on parity ratios are difficult
to interpret. (Increases in female-to-male ratios can result
from a fall in male rates with female rates remaining
constant)
• Measures the status of women relative to men, rather than
whether women are empowered (whether they have the
ability to exercise options, choice, and control)
 Other Indicators’ limitations:

• Share of women in non/agricultural wage employment

• Does not take into account the circumstances of each country – such as the share of
non-agricultural employment as a percentage of total employment.
• Limited use for low-income countries where wage employment is not a main source of
jobs.
• Does not capture the dimensions of job quality/ability of women to work for pay
(economic empowerment)
• Does not quantify barriers inhibiting women from participating in the labour force.

• Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments

• Captures political participation only at the national level, not at provincial or local levels,
 Silences & Interventions

• Violence against women explicit demonstration of gender

inequity
• Gender & Intersectionality
• Inequalities multidimensional
• Vertical and horizontal distances from the MDGs
• The political nature of achieving real equality
• The problem of fracturing
• Are torches enough?
Gender a Social Construct: Some
Thoughts
What can be done?
• Gender-based Affirmative Action: Positive and proactive
steps to include women representation in and remove
gender bias from our programming (eliminate present
effects of past discrimination).
• Programs for empowerment of women in the economy,
politics, in the family and so forth.
 Feminist Concerns
• The central concept of feminist theory is the social construction of gender.
• Feminists all critique the essentialist view of gender and family… (i.e. T. Parsons-instrumental and
expressive role=nuclear family).
• Feminists are committed to gender equality and social change. It is an analysis of women’s subordination
for the purpose of figuring out how to change it.
• Feminist theories question the family, capitalism and patriarchy thrive upon traditional family (father as
provider, mother as homemaker)…Nuclear family fits industrial society…invisible labour in the home…
(the personal is political).
• Feminist theory emphasizes women’s lives and their experiences. The emphasis is upon putting on a new
set of glasses.
• Feminist theorists and researcher put their beliefs into action (social justice).

Five Key general concerns

• Social construction gender, Social Change, the Family, Social theory, and Social Justice
Reading: Parpart, JL, Connelly, MP and Barriteau, VE. 2000. Theoretical perspectives on gender and
development.
Waves of Feminism
3 waves of feminism:
First Wave – In the 1830s, the main issues were abolition of slavery and
women’s rights. 1848 – Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, NY.
1920 – the 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote.

Second Wave – In the years, 1966-1979, there was heightened feminist

consciousness. The movement was linked to the Civil Rights movement begun
in the late ’50s. Key issues: antidiscrimination policies and equal privileges.

Third Wave – current…postmodernism, ideas around intersectionality and

challenge of inclusivity)
 Principles of Feminist Approaches to Gender and
Development
Liberal Feminism -seeks to make incremental changes to
legislation and piecemeal changes in attitudes. Aim is working
towards gender equality.
 Marxist/Socialist Feminists believe that gender inequality was
given an added boost by the capitalist mode of production.  
Radical Feminists - Believe gender stratification is not just the
result of capitalism….The problem is capitalism and patriarchy.
Patriarchy is much more pervasive and historical..ie. Traditional
religion-patriarchy.
 Principles of Feminist Approaches to Gender and
Development cont…
Cultural Feminists- critiques the “Othering” of women experiences
by mainstream feminists– notes advantages of ‘otherness’. Cultural
Feminist Standpoint Theory” suggests that the location of the knower
shapes what is known; not all perspectives are equally valid or
complete.
African/Black Feminism (Womanism)-The experiences of
white, middle class women are not universal and monolithic. The
cause of oppression is worldwide economic hardship. Feminism
needs to address racism and the “othering on women of color”,
whose experiences with African/Black men and White women
and whose multiple oppressions historical or contemporary
(colonialism, apartheid, slavery, etc) demands affirmation.
 Application/Critiques of Feminism in Development Discourse
• Vicci Tallis & Claire Mathonsi (2018) Shifting discourses – from gender to feminisms: Can global instruments
impact on the lives of African women?, Agenda, 32:1, 4-11, DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2018.1460109
• To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2018.1460109

Key points of the article

the context of maintaining the status quo as opposed to transforming structures and
systems that contribute to reproducing and entrenching social and gender inequalities in
Africa.
Gender gaps and tensions are clear and it is imperative then to continue to identify
opportunities to transform spaces by addressing power dynamics at global, regional and
national levels through civil society organisations of women.
This could be done by highlighting diverse and multiple actions and discussions taking
place to change the lived realities of women in all their diversity and the societies within
which they live.
Although development prescription such as MDGs, SDGs and Agenda 2063 and other
instruments provide tools to talk to the complexity of addressing women’s rights
worldwide, these approaches alone will not significantly shift and transform women’s lived
realities across the continent. We need to continue to debate and explore a new narrative,
which has at its core the resistance and activism that is needed across the regions of Africa.