The Family Edited by Caroline Sweetman
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Women • and the Family Edited by Caroline Sweetman 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 (formerly Focus on Gender). Gender and Development 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 Company, PO Box 25, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3UE, UK; Fax: +44 (0) 1235 553559. In North America, please apply to Carfax Publishing Company, 875-81 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139; Fax: (+1) 617 354 6875. In Australia, please apply to Carfax Publishing Company, Locked Bag 25, Deakin, ACT 2600, Australia; Fax: +61 (0) 6282 3299. 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: Off to school at Kwa Ngema, Eastern Transvaal. GILL DE VLIEG, AFRAPIX © Oxfam (UK and Ireland) 1996 Published by Oxfam (UK and Ireland), 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK. Designed and typeset by Oxfam Design Department OX 808/MCA/96 Oxfam is a registered charity No. 202918 Oxfam (UK and Ireland) is a member of Oxfam International ISBN 0 85598 352 3 This book converted to digital file in 2010 Contents Editorial 2 Caroline Sweettnan A voice of alarm: a historian's view of the family 8 Anna Arroba Patriarchy and development in the Arab world 14 Suad Joseph Fighting female infanticide by working with midwives: an Indian case study 20 Ranjani K Murthy Female-headed families: a comparative perspective of the Caribbean and the developed world 28 Sheila Stuart Structures and processes: land, families, and gender relations 35 Susie Jacobs Women, the law, and the family in Tunisia 43 Hafidha Chekir Marginalisation and gay families in Latin America and the Caribbean 47 Dinnys Luciano Ferdinand Child-care and the benefits trap: a case from the UK 52 Annie Oliver Interview: Maria Isabal Plata of PROFAMILIA 54 Resources 57 Book review: Kampala Women Getting By: Weil-Being in the Time of AIDS by Sandra Wallman et al 57 Ambreena S Manji Further reading 60 NGOs and UN organisations 62 Audio-visual resources 64 Gender and Development Vol 4, No. 2, June 1996 Editorial /1 I lhe meaning of work and existence as daughters, wives, and mothers, I definition of output come into through exploiting their care and commit- JL question once non-market work is ment to their families; women commonly admitted into the economic picture, prioritise the interests of other family because this involves emotional labour or members above their own well-being - caring work' (Folbre 1994, 37). Examining termed 'maternal altruism' by Ann the family from a gender perspective Whitehead (1984,112). demands that we consider how the roles expected of women and men, the old and Recognising the cost of the young within the family affect the ways in which people are able to participate in caring the wider community, economy and state. A wide and varied literature on the family It is no accident that the rhetoric of gives us perspectives on what the many conservative forces, including reproductive role, in its widest sense, religious leaders, about women's role as means for women and men, and their wives and mothers tends to stress the relationships within the family (see literally priceless nature of in-family care Resources section for suggestions for for dependents. Research by feminist further reading). Women are viewed in economists and social scientists and the most communities as primarily responsible women's movement continues to empha- for all kinds of domestic activity, despite sise - as it has done for the past three the fact that there is no biological reason for decades - that this care is mostly provided taking on this work in addition to their sex- by women as daughters, mothers and specific role in pregnancy, childbirth, and wives, and that the economic and political breast-feeding (Oakley 1971). This associa- forces which enmesh households create tion of femininity with domesticity has societies which ignore the cost of this profound implications for women's status, caring (Young et al. 1981; Kabeer 1994). well-being, and participation in economic Development built on this invisible, and political activity outside the home. uncounted work is unsustainable as well as An aspect of reproductive work which inequitable. A dual concern for women's is of little importance to economists and rights and welfare demands that we technical planners is the affection and examine how membership of a family can emotional support inherent in caring for curtail women's chances of participation in children, marital partners, and the elderly. economic and political life outside the For most people, the focus of their emotion- home, and defines their day-to-day al lives is the family. This aspect of Gender and Development Vol 4, No. 2, June 1996 Editorial 'women's work' has been used cynically by of life within all families is often a paradox- planners who trust women to shore up ical blend of love, companionship, and inadequate social provisioning through support, combined with friction, domina- extra hours and energy put in at home, at tion, and even cruelty. Family members no cost to the state. Socialist feminists have have different interests which may clash stressed the value of the work women with each other, and their status in the perform in their role as carers, arguing that household will determine their negotiating women, through their unpaid reproductive power. Added to that, 'in some contexts the work, are directly contributing to produc- family identity may exert such a strong tion by subsidising the cost of reproducing influence on our perceptions that we may the workforce (Folbre 1994). Because not find it easy to formulate any clear women's work in the family involves an notion of our own individual welfare' (Sen identification of interests with 'children, 1987, 6). husbands or lovers', it is 'difficult for The perception of the family as a benign women to take an oppositional stance of the institution, free from the conflicts which sort necessary to acknowledge [their] characterise life outside, is accompanied by involvement in an exploitative exchange of a second myth - of a senior male household labour' (Ferguson 1989,97, quoted in Folbre head who holds everyone's best interests at 1994). heart - which runs parallel to a more complex reality (see, for example, Sen 1987, Standing 1989). The patriarchal family Perceptions and reality structure is widespread throughout the In examining the family, we need to recog- world, and the power relations within it nise that there is a profound difference cannot be narrowly compartmentalised between popular conceptions of what from what goes on outside, in the 'public families are, and the reality. Most people sphere' of the market, the state, and the are confident that they know what a family community. In this issue, Suad Joseph is, or is should be; our ideas about this defines patriarchy (the rule of male elders) primary social institution are shaped by in the context of the Middle East, and what Gramsci called 'common sense'.1 discusses the way in which power is held However, as articles in this issue argue, our and retained by older men not only in the perceptions of family may be quite different family, but in commerce, politics, and from the realities of family life in our own religion. Joseph argues that it is the communities, and these in turn differ from pervasiveness of patriarchy, and the fact those in other times or places. What we that it is part of 'common sense', which believe to be 'common sense' is actually make it resistant to attempts from different shaped by a constant contest between the quarters to end it. ideas of those who wield power in our societies, and those they dominate. In addi- tion to changing awareness of gender Family and household: inequalities at national level, changes must defining the concepts take place in hearts and minds. In her The need to care for children is a primary article, Hafidha Chekir examines how the rationale for the existence of the family, civil law of Tunisia interacts with custom to which has been defined as a primary social limit women's chances of realising their group consisting of parents and their rights as individuals. offspring, the principal function of which is Ideas of family life are usually based on provision for its members.2 The belief in an ideology of caring and co-operation most if not all societies that a family is between family members. In fact, the reality centred on children has profound 4 Gender and Development implications for childless couples and An assumption on the part of national households made up of adult siblings, and international policy makers that the friends, or same-sex partners. Policies at nuclear family form is superior to, and state or NGO level may marginalise such more desirable than, other forms has families, or try to coerce them into con- caused the failure of many development formity. interventions, and marginalised house- In most communities, women become holds which have alternative character- associated with another family through istics, as Sheila Stuart points out in her marriage. As Anna Arroba discusses in her article on female-headed households in the article, the need of patriarchy to ensure Caribbean.