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Gender in the 21St Century w "•& f ff %• Gender in the 21st Century Edited by Caroline Sweetman TUV'r * 4 Oxfam Focus on Gender The books in Oxfam's Focus on Gender series were originally published as single issues of the journal Gender and Development, which is published by Oxfam three times a year. It is the only British journal to focus specifically on gender and development issues internationally, to explore the links between gender and development initiatives, and to make the links between theoretical and practical work in this field. For information about subscription rates, please apply to Carfax Publishing, Taylor and Francis Ltd, Customer Service Department, Rankine Road, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 8PR UK; Fax: +44 (0) 1256 330 245. In North America, please apply to Carfax Publishing Company, Taylor and Francis Ltd, Customer Service Department, 47 Runway Road, Suite G, Levittown, PA 19057-4700, USA; Fax: (+1) 800 821 8312. In Australia, please apply to Carfax Publishing Company, PO Box 352, Cammeray, NSW 2062, Australia; Fax: +61 (0) 299582376. You can also e-mail [email protected] or visit their website at http: //www.tandf.co.uk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the Publisher. Front cover: Araba Derow taking photographs in Wajir, Kenya. Photo: Geoff Sayer 1993 © Oxfam GB 2000 Published by Oxfam GB, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK. Oxfam is a registered charity No. 202918 Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International ISBN 085598 427 9 This book converted to digital file in 2010 Contents Editorial 2 Caroline Sweetman Moving the goalposts: Gender and globalisation in the twenty-first century 10 Ruth Pearson Gender, globalisation, and democracy 20 Sylvia Walby Globalisation and gender training for the media: Challenges and lessons learned 29 Patricia A. Made Women's labour and economic globalisation: A participatory workshop created by Alternative Women in Development 35 Carol Barton and Elmira Nazombe 'We are forgotten on earth': International development targets, poverty, and gender in Ethiopia 45 Fra von Massow Rethinking gender and development practice for the twenty-first century 55 Judy El-Bushra 'Put your money where your mouth is!': The need for public investment in women's organisations 63 Siobhan Riordan Culture as a barrier to rural women's entrepreneurship: Experience from Zimbabwe 71 Colletah Chitsike 'Queering' development: Exploring the links between same-sex sexualities, gender, and development 78 Susie jolly Challenging machismo: Promoting sexual and reproductive health with Nicaraguan men 89 Peter Sternberg Women's health and HIV: Experience from a sex workers' project in Calcutta 100 Madhu Bala Nath Resources 109 Compiled by Erin Murphy Graham Publications 109 Organisations 115 Web resources 118 E-mail lists 119 Video 119 Editorial his collection of articles aims to around the world? How can development identify a few of the many issues that workers understand social marginalisation Tare critical for women — and men — in the context of world cities where today, and that look likely to remain so for McDonald's outlets are located beside the next ten or 20 years. It recalls why the shanty towns, and trafficked sex workers project of promoting gender-equitable and international financiers increasingly development continues to be critical in the coexist within a few metres of each other? twenty-first century; identifies some key The concepts of difference and diversity challenges which face those working on — of individual identity, experience, and gender and development in this rapidly attitude — invite us to narrow our focus to changing field; and takes a brief look at the particular, in order to understand the some examples of innovative work. world at the start of the twenty-first century. People all experience poverty differently. The key themes in this collection are Over the past two decades, this simple fact globalisation and diversity. Globalisation is has become more recognised in develop- an issue for gender and development work ment debates, and many of the concepts and because of its sheer scale, and the far- assumptions that were common currency in reaching implications it has for the lives of the twentieth-century context of colonialism women and men living in poverty. It offers and its aftermath have been called into a challenge to development researchers and question. In a globalised world, crude workers who seek to analyse, address, and models of Northern/ Western, rich, ultimately eradicate human poverty and industrialised countries on the one hand, marginalisation. How can they respond to and Southern, poor, 'developing' countries poverty in a world where financial deals are on the other, must finally be laid to rest. made in seconds on the internet, where This vigorous questioning of stereotypes of governments are powerless in the face of poverty and marginalisation is familiar to international trade flows and economic gender and development (GAD) workers, policies, and where transnational corpo- who have seen similar challenges mounted rations can move their operations freely by Southern activists and researchers Editorial against racist caricatures of 'poor Southern How can gender and development women' and assumptions that a strong researchers, practitioners, and policy- women's movement is led from the makers respond to women's and men's North/West (Mohanty 1988). poverty and marginalisation, now and in Globalisation has been associated with the future? A second group of articles human exploitation and environmental invites us to revisit the basic concepts and degradation, as well as the creation of new terminology used in gender and develop- opportunities. This collection begins with a ment work, and to enrich them by taking on group of articles examining economic, insights from academic research, as well as political, and social changes associated with feedback from practitioners. We must re- globalisation, and analysing their positive evaluate our analytical tools and concepts of and negative impacts on different women gender analysis and our professional and men. In a globalised economy, with its practice, in order to develop the mature concomitant political and social change, understanding of development, poverty, development policy-makers and prac- and marginalisation that we need. How can titioners need more urgently than ever to our tools be sharpened, so that they take understand the very different impact of into account the widely varying experiences international macroeconomic policies on of different women — and men — living in individual women and men within the the same global context? Failure to ask these household, community, region, and state. questions may lead us to misunderstand The current processes of globalisation need how to address gender inequality. We need to be seen in the context of earlier global to recognise that gender discrimination is processes of wealth-creation and impov- interlinked with other factors of social erishment, including colonialism. It is these differentiation, and that men's lives, like processes which have led to the current women's, are shaped by gender issues. gender- and race-biased patterns of Finally, where do we look for new ways marginalisation and poverty throughout forward? The third group of articles in this the world, and which are a significant collection offers innovative, interesting case factor in people's ability to respond to studies of current gender-sensitive global change today. development work. Writers focus on topical The articles here trace the ways in which issues, including acknowledging sexuality specific aspects of globalisation affect as a development issue, critiquing the gender relations, and shape women's and assumption of entrepreneurship as gender- men's choices and chances. In particular, neutral, and asserting the need for writers highlight the failure of governments mainstream institutions, including govern- and development agencies to challenge ment and development funders, to work fully the false assumptions about the nature with women's organisations. Here, too, of women's and men's roles in society upon diversity is a key concern. which global economic activity is based. They have yet to move beyond verbal acknowledgements of the worth of unpaid What is globalisation? reproductive work, or to develop policies Globalisation was defined in 1996 as 'a that enable women to share the burden of process whereby producers and investors caring with men and the state (Folbre 1994). increasingly behave as if the world Until this happens, women face structural economy consisted of a single market and and cultural barriers to taking advantage of production area with regional or national the economic and political changes sub-sectors, rather than a set of national associated with globalisation. economies linked by trade and investment flows' (UN 1996, 6). While transnational non-market activities so critical for human corporations and international financial development. Because of a fiscal squeeze, the institutions have stressed the benefits of public provision of social services is being globalisation for human development, constrained. Because of a time squeeze, the others see the process as an enforced personal provision of (unpaid) caring opening-up of fragile developing country services is being reduced' (UNDP 1999, 84). markets for the benefit of the post- As a result of this
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