I Edited by Helen O'Conne! 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.
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Front cover photo: Rashidieh refugee camp,1982, damaged in recent fighting in Lebanon. UNRWA/GEORCB NEHMBH
©Oxfam 1993 Published by Oxfam (UK and Ireland), 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK Designed and typeset by Oxfam Design department 360/PK/93 Oxfam is a registerd charity No. 202918
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This book converted to digital file in 2010 Contents
Editorial ii Helen O'Connell Gender-related violence: its scope and relevance 1 Judy El Bushra and Eugenia Piza-Lopez Conflict and the women of Chad 10 Achta Djibrine Sy Life during wartime: women and conflict in Afghanistan 13 Fiona McLachan Working on gender in conflict situations: some ideas on strategy 15 Judy El Bushra and Eugenia Piza-Lopez Refugee women: their perspectives and our responses 17 Tina Wallace Working with women refugees in eastern Sri Lanka 24 Nalini Kasynathan The psycho-social effects of 'La Violencia' on widows of El Quiche, Guatemala 27 Judith Zur 'Clutching a knifeblade': human rights and development from Asian women's perspective 31 Nelia Sancho-Liao Domestic violence as a development issue 37 Ruth Jacobson Forced prostitution of women and girls in Brazil 40 Anti-Slavery International Colombian women prisoners in Britain 42 Jo Fisher Interview with Sochua Mu Leiper, Director of Khemara 45 Letters to the Editor 49 News from GADU 50 Resource — Book Review and Further reading 55 Editorial Helen O'Connell
t is timely that in 1993, the year of the monitored and publicised by human-rights United Nations World Conference on organisations, while human-rights abuses IHuman Rights, a non-governmental of women remained largely invisible organisation, such as Oxfam, should except to the women themselves. Gender- produce a journal on gender and conflict. sensitive research and monitoring, and the Situations of conflict pose serious problems work of women's organisations, have for those caught up in them and for publicised this omission. The war in the agencies working for long-term and territories of the former Yugoslavia has equitable development. War and civil strife brought rape into public view in Europe as are widespread and work in conflict a war crime which requires full invest- situations absorbs a significant and igation and retribution. increasing proportion of the resources of Women experience conflict and violence local and international non-governmental in several ways related explicitly to the organisations. There is full-scale war in gender division of rights, roles and respon- many countries, for example Angola and sibilities. Class and ethnic differences the territories of the former Yugoslavia. overlay this gender-related experience. The There is armed conflict in the Philippines, violence suffered by the widows in the El South Africa, Guatemala, Colombia, Sri Quiche district of Guatemala, described in Lanka, Western Sahara and in many other Judith Zur's article, is inextricably linked to places. Military force is used systematically their marginalisation as Indians. Similarly, in many countries to curb any challenge or the impact of the war on women in Chad, opposition. Cambodia, and Afghanistan written about In situations of war or violent conflict all in this issue, is exacerbated because these civilians suffer. However, there are many women are from the poorest and most gender-specific human-rights issues which oppressed social groups. organisations involved in development, Oxfam has been concerned with issues relief, and emergency work need to be of gender and conflict for several years, aware of and address in their interventions. and, amongst other activities, has under- War creates specific gender-related taken a consultation with all its Field difficulties for women which are explored Offices, written papers on refugee issues, in this Focus on Gender. Until quite recently, and provided grants to organisations for example, certain kinds of human-rights working with women in war situations. abuses, those suffered primarily by men — This year the Gender and Development imprisonment, torture, killings — were Unit conducted a workshop on the theme
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 Editorial iii for Oxfam staff and partner organisations of violence by women against other in South-East Asia. women, for example, by older in-laws This issue of Focus on Gender concen- against younger, and of violence by trates on gender issues in situations of women against men. Violence may often military and civil strife. It examines the come from those from whom one most effects of armed conflict on women's lives expects protection: older family members, and the appalling situation in which many community elders, state institutions. women refugees and displaced find Violence against women is used to keep themselves. But we felt it was essential to women in their place, to limit their include other aspects of North/South opportunities to live, learn, work and care conflict, and conflict between men and as full human beings, to hamper their women, to reflect more accurately the capabilities to organise and claim their range of conflict situations which confront rights. It is a major obstacle to women's women. empowerment, and their full participation In all countries, including those in shaping the economic, social and sympathetic to women's equality, women political life of their countries. remain second-class citizens. Women suffer The departure point in the exploration daily infringement of their basic rights as of conflict in this Focus is an analysis of human beings, and live with the ever- patriarchy as an ideology which fosters present threat or experience of physical discriminatory treatment and sanctions and sexual violence. The perpetrators of violence as a legitimate instrument to violence are predominantly but not maintain the status quo. As is argued clearly exclusively male; there are many instances in the opening article by Judy El Bushra
In many countries in the South, armed conflict is a part of daily reality. This is Angola, where the war which began in 1975 has not yet ended. KEITH BERNSTEIN/OXFAM IV Focus on Gender
and Eugenia Piza-Lopez, gender-related a 'disappeared' relative, and not being able violence which 'embodies the imbalances to bury the dead. This and other articles inherent in patriarchal society' takes many draw attention to the fact that psychological forms. It can range from rape, domestic disorders frequently manifest themselves as violence and child abuse to military and physical ailments. Stigma is attached to political violence, torture, and the mental illness in almost all countries, and reduction in state services leading to misconceptions abound: physical illnesses increased stress and workload for women. are socially and culturally acceptable, Nelia Sancho-Liao's article also psychological problems are not. emphasises the extent of gender-related A number of common themes emerge: violence and is a powerful indictment of women's added vulnerability to rape and the political, economic and social structures sexual abuse in times of conflict; the rapid which institutionalise violence against increase in the numbers of households women. She provides incontrovertible primarily or exclusively dependent on evidence of the error of separating social women's labour to survive, and the and economic from civil rights. She consequent excessive burden this places on describes the position of the majority of women's shoulders at a time when they too women in Asia, who as landless peasants, are experiencing emotional and economic urban street traders, factory workers, stress; the total disruption of economic and prostitutes and migrant domestic workers, social life and, paradoxically, the oppor- are socially and economically on 'the tunities this creates for women to margins of the margins'. For them, human overcome some aspects of the traditional rights must include access to basic gender division of roles. resources and respect as human beings. The displacement of millions of women, A number of articles draw attention to men and children from their homes because the gender-related impact of war on of military conflict causes social, economic, women. Fiona McLachan writes about the and emotional disruption. The UN High trauma and hardship haunting Afghan Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) women because of the war. Achta Djibrine reports that there are presently around 20 Sy describes the dramatic effects of the million refugees worldwide who have fled 1979-1982 civil war on Chad which tore their home countries in the face of that country apart and 'forced women into persecution; over 80 per cent are women the vanguard of the struggle for survival'. and their dependent children, and elderly The interview with Sochua Mu Leiper people. UNHCR estimates that another 25 gives a vivid account of the enormous million people are displaced within their problems facing Cambodian women, now own countries. Here again, the gender over 60 per cent of the population, implications were late in receiving attention. following 20 years of war and strife. The specific needs of women for protection, Several articles emphasise the food, health care, income to provide for psychological and social impact of conflict their families, and education are now being situations on women. Judith Zur's piece on researched and documen-ted; they are Guatemala examines the psychological and slowly, but not yet compre-hensively, being social impact of government-sponsored addressed. Tina Wallace identifies a number terrorism on widows in the El Quiche of important areas where action is needed, district of Guatemala. She writes about the for example, in agencies' staffing and staff fear and insecurity that mark women's lives training, in research and policy, in the after years of violence, and the torment involvement of refugee and displaced caused by not knowing the whereabouts of women in planning and decision-making. Editorial
The opportunities for empowerment to the 1992 meeting of the United Nations and politicisation which may arise for Working Group on Contemporary Forms women in situations of conflict are noted of Slavery details how women and minors, by many writers. When men are absent, the enticed by promises of canteen jobs, are full weight of family survival falls on forced to work in brothels near mining women who are compelled, and enabled, to encampments and large civil construction take on roles from which they may have projects in the north of Brazil. The use of been excluded in more peaceful times. women's bodies to carry drugs is a rela- Although the personal costs to women are tively new form of abuse. Jo Fisher in her high in terms of physical and emotional piece about Colombian women imprisoned stress, the gains in confidence, self-worth in the UK for drug-carrying offences, and powerfulness can be enormous. The shows vividly how poverty, and the fear of challenge is, for women themselves and for violent reprisal can drive women into NGOs working with them, to ensure these dangerous situations. gains survive the conflict times. The process of empowerment, of women's self- education and organisation, needs to begin The recognition of women's immediately in conflict situations and receive all available support. human rights remains all too easily Physical and sexual violence against disregarded in times of crisis. women does not only occur in times of war. Violence by male partners against Violence against the female sex does not women in their own homes, 'domestic start in adulthood. In many societies the violence', occurs across all social groups, female foetus is subject to neglect from the races, age-groups, religious and political moment of conception; in many the girl persuasions. This universality, coupled child from birth faces subtle or overt with women's fear and unwillingness to discriminatory treatment in terms of access speak out, explains the silence which has to food, care and education. This subject is surrounded for so long this violation of raised by many writers in this Focus and women's rights. Recently, largely through will be covered more fully in a future issue. the research and campaigns of women's Many writers on gender and develop- organisations, male violence in the privacy ment issues, from both South and North, of the home has become an issue for public argue cogently that 'development' can scrutiny. Northern-based agencies involved constitute a form of violence and generate in development, wary of allegations of conflict. This point is raised in the opening cultural imperialism and mindful, however article by Judy El Bushra and Eugenia Piza- subconsciously, of the pervasiveness of Lopez. They regard Structural Adjustment violence in Northern societies too, have Programmes, as 'among the most signif- been very reluctant to address 'domestic icant factors in reducing women to poverty violence'. Ruth Jacobson's article demon- and dependence in the Third World'. In strates the scale of the problem and argues their view such programmes have often persuasively why it should be of particular given rise to increased violence in women's concern to agencies which claim to be lives and they cite women's 'overwhelming committed to improving the lives of men workload' as an aspect of this violence. and women in Southern countries. Throughout the world, women's organ- Forced prostitution is another aspect of isations and others are working for social the violation of women's human rights. and economic change, and much has been The Anti-Slavery International presentation achieved. Yet, 45 years since the adoption VI Focus on Gender
of the Universal Declaration on Human occasions, for example, in Nicaragua Rights and 14 years since the adoption of against the Contras, in Eritrea in the war the Convention on the Elimination of All for independence from Ethiopia. Women Forms of Discrimination against Women, refugees manage daily life in many refugee the recognition of women's human rights camps. Women workers in the export- remains arbitrary and all too easily oriented-industrial zones in Sri Lanka, the disregarded in times of crisis. The four Philippines, Malaysia and elsewhere have freedoms enshrined in the Universal been the first to protest at the exploitative Declaration on Human Rights and the practices of employers. Women, from consequent international human rights Scotland to Hong Kong, have organised, covenants: freedom from fear and want, often in the teeth of extreme opposition, to freedom of speech and belief, have never protect their jobs and their rights as been extended fully to women. The workers. Unarmed women are in the front economic and environmental crises of the line also in anti-apartheid struggles in late twentieth century, coupled with South Africa and have shown themselves conflict and instability in many countries, fearless in the face of all forms of jeopardise such progress as women have aggression. Women have been, and are, in made towards equality and justice. the forefront, too, of working for change, Women are not passive victims of for peace, security and equitable gender situations of struggle and conflict. Women relations — essential to the reduction of have taken leading roles, including as conflict at all levels and lasting respect for fighters, in armed conflict on numerous human rights.
Eritrean women training as fighters. Although wars are mainly waged by men, there are some women who take part in armed conflict. MIKE GOLDWATER/NETWORK Gender-related violence: its scope and relevance Judy El-Bushra and Eugenia Piza Lopez Prepared for presentation by the National Alliance of Women's Organisations (NAWO) to the NAWO Overseas Development Administration Liaison Group meeting, 29 October 1992 .
he purpose of this paper is to sketch rape, including marital rape and rape as out the parameters of this broad and a tool of repression against particular Tcomplex subject, and to identify classes or groups policy issues for further consideration. domestic violence Violence — which we can define as an child abuse assault on a person's physical and mental female foeticide and infanticide, denial integrity — is an underlying feature of all of health care and nutrition for girl societies, an undercurrent running through children social interaction at many different levels. sexual and emotional harassment How a society chooses to control the genital mutilation violence inherent in it reflects the value it prostitution places on mutual respect and tolerance of pornography difference, and on human rights, democ- population control, enforced sterilisation racy and good governance. Though some war and state violence countries may have more successful exploitation of refugees records than others in this respect, gender political violence, including that directed violence is a worldwide and ever-present at the families of political targets phenomenon against which eternal reduction in state services leading to vigilance is necessary. increased stress and workload for Gender-related violence, the concern of women. this paper, is defined as violence which embodies the power imbalances inherent in Further categorisation is difficult since patriarchal society. Though it is not there are underlying causative factors necessarily carried out by men against cutting across all these manifestations of women, this is overwhelmingly the form it violence. However, we can identify three takes. (Male rape, and some instances of levels at which violence may touch violence by women against other women, women's lives: personal, household, and such as female genital mutilation, public. footbinding and the dispossession of widows, should also be seen as gender Personal violence violence since they reflect aspects of patriarchal domination.) Gender violence Women experience personal violence as takes many forms, of which the following is both a physical and a mental affront. The a tentative list: physical toll is enormous, though not yet
Focus on Gender Voi 1, No. 2, June 1993 Focus on Gender adequately documented. Some random between households can lead to suffering examples: in the United States, battery and abuse. Forms of gender violence from husbands and partners is the leading existing at this level, which are often cause of injury to adult women; in Peru, 70 sanctioned by prevailing codes of conduct, per cent of all reported crime involves include rape, wife-beating, female genital women beaten by their partners; in Mexico mutilation, attacks on divorced women 95 per cent of women workers experience (viewed as 'fair game'), and child abuse. sexual harassment from colleagues at Worldwide, a high proportion of work; in Delhi an average of two women incidences of violence against women — per day were burned alive in dowry- between 10 and 80 per cent according to related incidents during 1983; the World various estimates — take place in the Health Organisation estimates that more home, making the home one of the most than 90 million African women and girls dangerous places for women. Discrim- are victims of genital mutilation. Violence ination against women operating at this affects women also in terms of their mental level includes discrimination against girls health, by sapping their self-esteem and in access to health and education, the self-confidence, limiting their capacity to operation of dual standards in evaluating solve their own problems, as well as their the conduct of boys and girls, early and capacity to develop relationships with forced marriage for girls, exchange others. marriage, exclusion of female household Gender violence, and the threat of it, members from participation in decision reflect culturally-defined notions of making, and exclusion of widows from the masculinity and femininity which serve to extended family. Such manifestations of reinforce women's subordinate position. discrimination foster an environment in Male and female children are socialised which physical and mental abuse of into an acceptance of gender violence; it is women is seen as acceptable, even proper. an integral part of gender identity. Women learn from an early age that their Public violence behaviour may provoke violence from men and they modify their behaviour At the public level there is both culturally accordingly. In this way they may be sanctioned violence and discrimination effectively building the walls of their own (social attitudes to rape, for example, or the prison. People who suffer violence may relatively lenient sentences meted out in themselves take their frustrations out on courts to male perpetrators) and the others whom they perceive as more violence which results from the oppression vulnerable than themselves (such as of the state or powerful elements within it. younger siblings or daughters-in-law). The latter has been given more attention However, since both male violence and internationally than less visible manifes- women's acceptance of it are learned, they tations of gender violence, having been can also be unlearned. discussed in connection with human rights issues, legal reforms, and international conventions. To a small but increasing Violence within the degree its profile has been raised by household campaigns by women's groups and Although the family may provide its organisations dealing with civil liberties members with both a physical and a and political rights. However, the issues at psychological haven, it is paradoxically the public level are wider than this. Every also true that power imbalances within and government or authority structure has the Gender-related violence
In summary, violence against women is 4' not merely a matter of private relation- ONDE ESTAN?* ships, nor simply a question of isolated aberrations that can be brought under public control. It is a wide-ranging and complex question, the manifestations of which have not yet been adequately documented, and which needs to be addressed at a number of different levels. It is, however, beyond the scope of this paper to pursue the full extent of the issue.
Development which abuses women Development policies and programmes have been among the most significant factors in reducing women to poverty and dependence in the Third World. Well- documented examples show how women have actually been left dispossessed and Argentina. Poster showing the faces of women disenfranchised by development projects who were among the 'disappeared' which ignore their needs, knowledge and MARIAN POCOCK/OXFAM rights. (The Jahaly-Pacharr project in the Gambia, which turned many independent women rice-farmers into agricultural power to introduce and uphold measures labourers, is the classic example.) The which guarantee women's rights in a wide prevailing development model, with its range of areas, including rights to land and stress on economic growth through other property, inheritance, employment technology as the main criterion for and access to services, family law, and so development, sidesteps the requirement for on. Such measures are not only positive in empowerment and human growth and themselves but also foster positive public hence cannot form an adequate policy perceptions of women's rights and dignity. framework for a gender-equitable approach. An issue to be addressed at the public Structural adjustment programmes, level is the apparent difference from one which have devolved the full burden of society to another in the degree of tolerance caring for the family on to the household of male violence. National leaders and and particularly on to women, must be those in authority have considerable power seen in this context. Such policies increase to influence attitudes on the acceptability women's responsibilities and workload of aggressive or abusive behaviour; at the and impose ever-increasing constraints to same time, societies that are themselves their moving out of poverty. under pressure or in the process of It is small wonder that development disintegration appear to be particularly policies and projects have often given rise to prone to victimising their more vulnerable increased violence in women's lives. members. It is not clear at present what Women's overwhelming workload is an factors may contribute to such differences aspect of this violence. In many areas, between societies. women's working day begins at dawn and Focus on Gender
continues without respite until late at night, women into physical danger. while it is rare for men to enjoy no rest or The prevailing attitude among leisure during the course of the day. Despite development planners is paralleled by increased awareness of the problem on the some governments who turn a blind eye to part of development planners, many large-scale prostitution and sex tourism projects still depend for their success on because it provides a large slice of the women taking on extra work. Projects national income. Similarly, trafficking in designed to introduce labour-saving and child brides, commercialised marriage production-enhancing technologies may arrangements, and other forms of increase women's workload, while bringing indentured or slave labour are widespread, them no compensatory benefits. For tolerated because they serve the interests of example, in agricultural systems where powerful and wealthy elites. women are responsible for routine field Areas of policy which appear well- operations, the introduction of animal intentioned may be detrimental to women. traction as a means of increasing the acreage For example, in some cases the 'Women in under cultivation provides men with Development' (WID) approach has tended increased output, while it brings women to focus on women in isolation, rather than nothing but extra work burdens. Planners addressing the causes of their subord- routinely ignore the impact on women of ination; this may result in little more than 'improved' technologies. additional demands being placed on women's time and workload. Another potentially negative policy area is popul- The impact of violence on women's ation control initiatives which see women as targets of contraceptive services and mental health is hard to overestimate. supplies rather than independent decision- makers with rights to control their own fertility. Development projects themselves may unwittingly exacerbate tendencies towards Violence against women as violence, by introducing into the commun- a barrier to sustainable ity a resource for which people compete. Women are likely to be particularly development vulnerable. Examples can be quoted of Sustainable development requires the full women farmers being attacked physically participation of all citizens in the economy, by those wishing to appropriate their land in democratisation processes, and in the or their harvests. In projects where women protection of the environment. Tendencies are openly prioritised as beneficiaries, men which foster violence against women limit may at first acquiesce and then later their ability to perform the roles required appropriate the benefits for themselves. of them in both the private and the public Projects which encourage women to gain spheres. confidence or to participate in decision The impact of violence on women's making run the risk of provoking violent mental health is hard to overestimate. reprisals against them. Without serious Violence erodes their self-esteem, and efforts being made to consult women (and confidence to work at lifting themselves men) in the design of projects, sensitive out of poverty. Social sanctions often monitoring and follow-up, and a holistic prevent women from discussing violence understanding of the problems women openly; by 'bottling it up' they compound face, projects can unintentionally lead their emotional problems, as well as Gender-related violence cutting themselves off from potential women. He went on to describe violence sources of support. (Recent cases in the UK against women as 'an overwhelming have highlighted the long-term effects, moral, economic and public health burden which can often remain suppressed for that our society can no longer bear'. The years, of routine violence on women.) The phenomenon is relatively well-documented need for support and counselling is in the United States but there is no reason particularly acute in disaster and refugee to imagine that similar conclusions might situations, since here women are not apply in any other country. particularly vulnerable to rape and other forms of sexual violence. Fear of violence limits women's ability Fear of violence limits women's ability to perform their roles in many ways. Participation in development projects may to perform their roles in many ways. be limited because women fear reprisals from their husbands. This fear may also Violence against women is a serious limit their ability to participate in aggravating factor in the spread of AIDS. organised groups, and confine them to Women who have been raped run high their home instead of working outside the risks of HIV infection; in some parts of domestic sphere or pursuing other Uganda, for example, especially where responsibilities. In the United States a there are still concentrations of armed men, survey in 1988 found that 50 per cent of counselling agencies are increasingly women missed an average of three days' having to confront the problems of women work each month because of domestic who have or may have contracted the virus violence. Violence limits women's capacity as a result of rape. Many of these women to care for their children; in parts of have no alternative subsequently but to Mozambique, for example, where a crying turn to prostitution or 'camp-following'. child is regarded as a legitimate cause for a The socio-economic vulnerability of husband to beat his wife, many women women renders them generally weak in sedate their children to keep them quiet. matters of sexual negotiation. A particu- Prioritising the needs of violent fathers and larly deplorable development in Uganda is husbands over those of other family the recent habit of some men who, having members may lead to major problems in learnt of the importance of 'safe sex', seek terms of child nutrition and may be linked, out young girls as sexual partners on the directly or indirectly, with much broader grounds that they cannot possibly be HIV problems of development such as food carriers. security and environmental protection. These consequences of violence Violence against women as represent a staggering waste of human a human rights issue energy and capacity. The cost of dealing with violence against women, even if Women suffer human rights abuses both in measured only in terms of direct costs such their own right and by association with as medical and psychiatric services, is their menfolk. At the level of the state, equally enormous and must far outweigh abuses may be directed both at individuals the cost of initiatives to contain it. For (attacks on political opponents and their example, the United States Surgeon families, abuse of women in state custody, General reported in 1989 that battered and so on) and at groups. Rape in women are four to five times more likely to particular may be used as a systematic seek psychiatric care than non-battered means of torture, as well as a means of Focus on Gender repressing the women concerned and of to be highly discriminatory against women. humiliating their families and indeed Governments tend to have little interest whole communities or classes. Uganda, and few resources for combating this Burma and Bosnia are both fairly recent situation. Even where constitutional law examples of conflict arenas in which rape provides for women's rights, knowledge of has been perpetrated on a large and these rights is often restricted. Legal systematic scale by state militia. education — for both men and women, for The capacity of the state to promote individuals and for institutions — is a basic personal rights is also important. major priority in order to provide women Georgina Ashworth (1992) maintains that with an awareness of their rights, and to women have only an 'indirect' relationship establish positive norms of behaviour and with the state, that is, one that is attitude on the part of men. channelled through their fathers or husbands; she goes on to describe how Women in war and other under Western models (exported globally during colonialism), state institutions tend crises to reinforce men's control over women's Research on aid planning in emergency sexuality and fertility, their time, work, situations has shown that a community's leisure and movement outside the home, ability to survive disasters depends on the their property and inheritance, without extent to which it has minimised 'vulner- legal retribution. Thus the issue of abilities' and maximised 'capacities'. women's civil rights must not be confined Strengthening women's status and to their political freedoms or to abuses by capacities contributes to the community's agents of the state, but must also include ability to withstand the effect of disasters. the influence of state institutions on gender The importance of women's role in war relations in the personal domain. and other crises is generally overlooked in Women's rights in international law relief and rehabilitation projects. The have only recently begun to attract potential effectiveness of women as attention, and a number.of important legal managers of relief projects and supplies is instruments do not address women's needs rarely incorporated into emergency specifically. For example, gender perse- planning. Not only do relief and cution has not yet become internationally emergency projects frequently undermine recognised as legitimate grounds for women's crisis-management role, but also asylum. The United Nations Expert Group their potential contribution in post- Meeting on Violence against Women emergency stages is often ignored, recommended in 1991 the adoption of a reducing them to permanent dependency protocol on gender violence to the on food aid. Convention on the Elimination of All Though wars may be mostly fought by Forms of Discrimination against Women, men, women are of course deeply affected which would commit states to recognising by war in a number of ways. One of the the scale and pervasiveness of the problem first effects of war may be the displacement and to taking action to eradicate it. of civilians, leading to the disintegration of In similar vein, the state has a communities, the breakdown of mutual responsibility to take action against cultural support mechanisms, and to reduced norms and customary laws which conflict access to food and shelter. Such disruption with basic human rights. Discrepancies places extraordinary stress on women as between customary and constitutional law family carers and providers, and on their exist in most countries and the former tend critical roles in maintaining the social fabric Gender-related violence 7
In May, 1992, about 60,000 Rohingya people were living in makeshift shelters, of plastic sheets and branches, on the Bangladesh/Burmese border. They are a minority Muslim group, subject to harassment by the military in Burma. There are reports of women being raped by soldiers, after their menfolk have been forcibly taken away to serve as army porters. HOWARD DAVIESIOXFAM and in managing food deficits. Other ways psychological trauma. in which women may be affected include In post-war situations, the reintegration heightened general levels of personal of (mostly male) ex-combatants into society violence and increased risk of rape. gives rise to problems of self-esteem and The extreme example of the impact of sense of responsibility for men, who may war is seen in the situation of refugee take out their problems on their women- communities. Figures from the United folk. Uganda and Namibia are both Nations High Commissioner for Refugees countries which have recently been show that women and children made up ravaged by war and where problems of around 85 per cent of the 20 million readjustment in gender relations have been refugees in the world in 1991. Whether noted. Though tendencies towards violence they flee as whole communities or as exist in all societies, it appears that in those individuals, flight makes refugees which have experienced deeply vulnerable to attack both from the traumatising events (such as war, famine, aggressors from whom they are fleeing and political oppression and drought) a from those at whose mercy they place dislocation of the social fabric occurs which themselves. Women refugees are gives rise to irreparable social divisions, to particularly vulnerable to rape and sexual an inability to maintain social cohesion and harassment as social control breaks down, unity, and to multifarious abuses at the in addition to the problems they face of level of personal interaction. The impact of resource loss, cultural dislocation, and such crises on the quality of interpersonal 8 Focus on Gender
and communal relations is perhaps a ment, the reduction of poverty, the prom- potential area for future research. otion of human development (including Despite all this, war and other sorts of education, health and the bearing of crises may have some positive aspects for 'children by choice'), tackling environ- women. In extending their roles to cover mental problems, and the improvement of those of absent males, women may disaster responsiveness. discover new capabilities which neither Combating gender violence requires they nor their menfolk thought they had. many specific measures in a varied range Communities may be jarred by crisis into a of fields, but essentially involves giving realisation that women's contribution is increased priority to equalising the well- vital and deserves to be more highly being and status of men and women across valued. Women themselves may be all spheres of development activity. The critically involved in initiatives to end only lasting solution is to reduce women's violence and repair intercommunal political and economic vulnerability, relations. raising their social status and strength- ening their ability to gain control over their own lives. Conclusion In summary, gender violence involves an Recommendations for enormous amount of human suffering and bilateral development injustice, and encompasses every country and all types and classes of people. Far cooperation policy from characterising regrettable but Bilateral development cooperation agencies isolated incidents in the personal domain, should take action in the following areas: violence — or at least potential violence — conditions every woman's life and Action on international legal dominates the lives of millions of women, instruments impeding both their personal development • Promote the Draft Declaration on and the contribution they can make to the Violence Against Women. lives of those around them. We have seen • Ensure that gender violence is an agen- how violence is a complex issue which da item in all human rights fora. needs to be analysed in relation to a web of • Promote the adoption of gender-related psychological, social, economic and violence and persecution as grounds for political factors. We have further seen how asylum in refugee conventions. development initiatives at many levels have been constrained by and contributed Government-to-government institution to problems resulting from gender building and policy support violence. • Seek ways of assisting governments in Gender-related violence is a complex receipt of bilateral aid to improve the and far-reaching issue but one which lies at capacity of state institutions to cope the heart of current debates about with rape and domestic violence, for sustainable development, good govern- example, by training professionals in the ance, and quality of life. Addressing police force and social services, promot- gender violence in all these contexts is an ing the establishment of women's police important contribution to the pursuit of the stations, introducing measures to pro- Overseas Development Administration's vide protection for women refugees, mission statement and primary objectives, assisting in constitutional reform and especially those concerning good govern- legal training for state bodies. Gender-related violence
• Seek to influence governments in the Women's Global Leadership. formulation of population policies, and MATCH International Centre (1990) Linking the provision of family-planning ser- Women's Global Struggles to End Violence, vices which do not abuse women's Ontario, Canada. reproductive rights. Welsh Women's Aid (1998) Worldwide Action on Violence Against Women: Report of the Monitoring and evaluation of _ International Women's Aid Conference in Cardiff, development and emergency projects 1988. • Introduce gender violence as a specific International Women's Tribune Centre (1991) monitoring point at all stages of the pro- 'Violence against women: confronting invisible ject cycle (including design, implemen- barriers to development', in The Tribune tation and follow-up). Newsletter 46, June. • Assess critically the gender impact of IsisWICCE (1990/91) 'Poverty and prostitution: a relief and rehabilitation projects and the call for international action', /si's Women's World involvement of women in these projects. 24, Winter. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1992) Annual Support to women's organisations and Report, London. centres working on gender violence Carney J A (1992) Contract farming and female rice • Make resources available to support and growers in the Gambia, Overseas Development strengthen women's groups working on Institute Irrigation Management Network Paper 15, solidarity, self-help, population issues, London. legal education and assistance, and Anderson M and Woodrow P (1989) Rising from the human rights; offer training to such ashes: development strategies in times of crisis, groups in organisation and manage- Boulder, Colorado, UNESCOWestview Press. ment; and promote and support net- working and exchanges between them. • Build the capacity of documentation and Judy El Bushra has been Gender Officer since 1988 research centres working on issues of at ACORD, a consortium of NGOs supporting gender violence and promote the widest development programmes in Africa. She is particu- possible circulation of information on larly interested in the issues of gender and conflict. the subject. She worked in Sudan for six years from 1978 to 1984.
References and further Eugenia Piza-Lopez is co-ordinator of Oxfam's reading Gender and Development Unit and Gender Ashworth G (1992) 'Women and human rights', Adviser for Asia and Latin America. Her previous (Background Paper for the OECD Devalopment experience was as a researcher on images of the Assistance Committee Expert Group on Women Third World in the UK, and work on popular edu- in Development), London, Change. cation with Central American women. In Costa Bunch C (1991) Women's Rights as Human Rights: Rica, where she was born, she was involved in a Toivard a Re-vision of Human Rights, New York, participatory research project with the University Center for Women's Global Leadership. of Costa Rica, and produced films on development Carrillo R (1991) Violence Against Women: An Obstacle to Development, New York, Center for Conflict and the women of Chad Achta Djibrine Sy (Translated by Bridget Walker)
hroughout the world, wars, whether Chad is a vast country comprising three within the same country or between types of landscape: the Sahara to the north, Tneighbouring countries, lead to the the Sahel at the centre, and the Sudan dislocation and disarray of populations. region to the south. In each region there is a National and international conflicts have different way of life, economic activity, and terrible repercussions for different social culture. The north and centre are Arab groups. While every family experiences Muslim by culture and the people are these conflict situations, the most largely nomadic pastoralists; whereas the disadvantaged families are further south is Animist and Christian and the marginalised. Different analyses of the people are settled farmers. These contrasts condition of populations experiencing are part of the circumstances at the roots of conflict conclude that women and children the long war which has lasted for more are the most affected. The case of Chad is than two decades. We are talking, therefore one example. of a war provoked by psychological
Commissaire, sub-Prefect and military officer watching an Independence Day parade in Chad in 1985. JEREMY HARTLEY/OXFAM
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 Conflict and the women of Chad 11 difference. But these differences pale into husbands could challenge these social insignificance in comparison to the constraints by engaging in income-earning profound change which has taken place in activities. the situation of women all over the country. It was the great civil war of 1979 that The position of women tore the country apart. The year 1979 is significant because it marks the start of an during the conflict unforgettable event burned into the The conditions of life changed in the period memories of every family in Chad. It tore of the civil war, 1979 to 1982. Many men apart the social fabric, broke up families, went into exile in the Central African and forced women into the vanguard of the Republic, Cameroon, the Congo, Libya, the struggle for survival. It particularly affected Ivory Coast and elsewhere, sometimes women — married, divorced, single and abandoning their wives and children. widows — in the large urban areas where Other men remained but were unable to the administrative, commercial and earn money, since the state ceased to economic activities were concentrated. function and many other activities were suspended; the majority of men were state employees or worked in the private and Position of women before informal sectors. Some had difficulty the conflict adapting while others started to fish, hunt The conflict struck at the heart of Chadian and work the land. Women were fortunate society, caused a rupture in social structures if their husbands were still alive even if the and created new tensions. Before 1979, men were away from home or unable to Chadian society was patriarchal. The man make a financial contribution. alone was recognised as the head of the Social disorder changed gender rela- household. The man was regarded as the tions. Women invented and developed sole producer and therefore had to provide new ways of making money in order to for the family. The woman was the enable their families to survive. These recipient. There was one decision maker: the survival strategies were as varied as the man gave orders, the woman carried them social position of the women concerned. out. All the household goods belonged to The poorest women sold their labour: they the man. This was the context in which became maids in the houses of richer children were socialised and educated. families or went from door to door offering The woman's role was that of biological to pound grain. Women who were better- and social reproduction. Giving birth was off sold their possessions to get working the only role which conferred status on capital: they sold their jewellery, cooking women and this status was reinforced by utensils, bedding and clothes. large numbers of children. Every action Whether they remained in the capital and every movement made by a woman city, went back to the village, took refuge was done under the authority and control in Kousseri (in Cameroon), or on the of a man. Certain women, particularly outskirts of the capital, women all discov- Muslim women, lived in seclusion. A wife ered sources of income. Some produced who went out during the day, or engaged shea nuts, groundnut oil, dwede (the local in commercial activity, would attract the spaghetti), or doughnuts. Others produced mockery of both family and friends as she alcoholic drinks made from millet or would be exposing her husband's inability sorghum, such as bill bili, cochat and corde, to meet her needs. Only widows, divorced or a drink distilled from cassava, called women, and women married to very poor argui. Yet others cooked and sold food, or ]2 Focus on Gender
thanks to their domestic skills and expertise, they were able to provide for their families. Women also created and developed commercial and banking systems amongst themselves. Problems of purchasing and marketing were resolved by relationships and networks created between the women from a region with a surplus of a particular product trading with those in a needy region. As there was no access to banking institutions, women developed a system of tontines, a compulsory saving system established by groups of women who each agree to put in a certain sum of money for a given period. The total is then paid out to the members of the group in rotation. The security of the money was assured: the money collected allowed women to improve their business and reinvest significantly, as well as improving the material conditions of their lives. Selling spices in the market at Am Timam, Chad, 1985. JEREMY HARTLEY/OXFAM In conclusion, it is possible to see that the conflict enabled women to leave their private sphere and take part extensively in bought and resold products like condi- the public domain. Although the conflict ments or fresh, dried or smoked fish. has increased the numbers of women In addition to petty trading, many living in poverty and has exhausted women started agricultural and market- women physically, financially, and gardening enterprises. Others learned psychologically, it has been the foundation dressmaking, embroidery, knitting, or of an awareness by women of their hairdressing while some learned how to essential role in the survival of their organise the sale of drinks at home and in families and communities. clubs. Some women joined the army. Women are no longer regarded as Others turned to prostitution. consumers but also as producers. The war Faced with the increasing needs of their helped them to break with their traditional families, women had to trade over long submission, to acquire more autonomy distances both inside and outside the and personal self-confidence. The percep- country, buying and selling grain, beans, tion of marriage and children has changed groundnuts, squash, sesame, wrappers, too: children are no longer seen as the only cloth and Gala beer (beer produced by the guarantee of life for women or the survival national brewery). Women defied danger, of the household. Today, women's role as fatigue and all other constraints to bring in producers receives, and reinforces, consid- and increase income. Opportunities to eration both from their husbands and from make money were very limited; for Chadian society as a whole. example, women did not take up activities requiring new technology. Instead, they Achta Djibrine Sy is Oxfam's Women's Project generally chose food processing by which, Officer in Chad. Life during wartime: women and conflict Afghanistan Fiona McLachlan
There is no life in Afghanistan. Everyone has time to consider sensitive topics such as died. Even in 100 years I could not regain the rape and other traumatic incidents. life I had before. Nevertheless, the extensiveness of the general psychosomatic disorders is serious. oobshina is a widow, displaced from 'The kind of pain we have, you can not her home village, now living in a really explain. We do not feel well. We ask Bsmall, damp, mud house in Kabul God, if life is so bad then why have you with her three children. She cannot afford created us?' explained the widow Samaha to buy fuel and so does not cook. Her and her sister, Obeda. But to try and neighbours help her when they can. Yet distinguish between the material and Boobshina's statement given above refers emotional causes of mental ill-health not to her poverty but to the mental trauma would be difficult if not misguided. she has suffered during Afghanistan's 14- Among the women interviewed trauma year civil war. was predominantly associated with the The interview with Boobshina was part loss of relatives through death, disappear- of a three-month study on the impact of the ance or imprisonment. 'I've been losing civil war on Afghan women's lives. close relatives one by one... You can stand Growing insecurity in Kabul cut short the hunger and thirst, but losing people, that study; 40 women were interviewed, the you can't stand', said Samaha. Although sample was biased towards poor women in the concept of martyrdom gave death a Kabul, but included some refugees in meaning that made grief easier to bear, Pakistan. The study aimed to elicit women's there were limits to this solace. Some attitudes and experiences. This approach women's grief was so great that they had resulted in women revealing the more attempted suicide. 'I no longer want to be intangible aspects of their lives during alive', said Safura, a widow living with her wartime. father. One brother was killed and two disabled because of the war, which 'killed One of the study's main findings was my mother with grief. All three of the high incidence of psychosomatic Mastourah's sons had fought in the army; disorders among the women since the war. two were killed and one was missing. All complained of headaches; some had 'Until I die and am buried beside my sons, them permanently. Other symptoms the I cannot forget. If a chicken dies it is hard women cited were worry, premature to forget it, so how can you forget a child?' ageing, inability to concentrate, inexplic- With the news of the third son's death, she able aches and pains, fainting and temp- had attempted suicide by throwing herself orary paralysis. The study did not have out of a first-floor window.
Focus on Gender Vol 2, No. 2, June 1993 14 Focus on Gender
Many women became heads of house- hold following the loss of menfolk. This often brought new economic demands and hardship. Although many women found ways of coping, they continued to feel overwhelmed and worried about the future. As Bibifatma said, 'When my husband was killed I forgot about caring for myself. Now I think only of my children.' She had just lost the job she had had for two months, cleaning dried fruit in a factory, and did not know where to begin to look for more work. Women talked of the loss of the 'good life'. Although this might be a romant- icisation of their past, the women constant- ly linked the destruction of houses, land and livestock with the loss of a sense of home and social order. For many women the changes in their mental health meant that they no longer attended social occasions, or no longer enjoyed them. Mariam is a widow with four young boys. Bibi Tula and her surviving children, back in She does not have women to her house any Afghanistan after years as a refugee in Pakistan, more because: 'I am ashamed of its poverty DIANNA MELROSE/OXFAM (and anyway)... Afghanistan is too angry to trust people.' She locks her boys in the former Soviet Union. Now he is 18 years house everyday while she is out at work. old and beginning a six-year medical Weddings used to be social occasions degree. Bibishiriin had not heard from him which women valued and enjoyed. Now for four months and this was causing her many women found that even if they great suffering. attended weddings, they no longer felt like The widespread incidence of psycho- celebrating. The refugee women in Quetta, somatic disorders caused by grief and Pakistan, said they sometimes cry at poverty represent a serious health problem weddings, remembering those people who among Afghan women, and recovery will have died. Fariida, displaced in Kabul for take time. However, the women were keen 12 years, said, 'Now we sing songs about to talk about the impact of the war, and revolution, fighting and war as these are one positive outcome of the study was the the only things that we know.' Shamahana, forum it provided for such discussions. a widow with four children said, 'Now I go The study concluded that the emotional to weddings mainly for the children's sake. and material consequences of the war are Since becoming a widow, I get headaches inextricably bound up together, for the for three days afterwards so I do not like women of Afghanistan. Agencies working weddings any more.' with women in the rehabilitation process Amid the general despair women felt should therefore consider programmes that about their lives, children were seen as the address the issues of emotional trauma and great hope for the future. Bibishiriin had poverty together. seen her son only once or twice in nine Fiona McLachlan studied anthropology. She ha? years. He, like thousands of Afghan lived in Sudan and Afghanistan and is particularly children, had been sent to study in the interested in the problems of refugee women Working on gender in conflict situations: some ideas on strategy Judy El Bushra and Eugenia Piza-Lopez
n developing strategies for effective same search for emancipation. However, to gender work in conflict situations, enable local NGOs to move forward in such Iagencies must give attention to the circumstances, agencies need to raise their question of how they can build relation- own awareness and skills in dealing with ships with local non-governmental gender issues. organisations (NGOs) which will enable Raising gender issues with local NGOs gender to be addressed jointly in a con- can either strengthen or weaken working structive way. This is a necessity in all relationships: it can strengthen them if it is circumstances, but in conflict situations done as part of a long-term strategy of additional questions need to be addressed, permanent dialogue; it can weaken them if and a number of additional sensitivities done on an ad hoc basis, which can lead to may be present which require confidence issues of imperialism and cultural and skill on the part of agency staff. Above inappropriateness being raised. all, the special dynamics of armed conflict A long-term strategy for working with place particular difficulties in the way of local NGOs should be characterised by agencies which are drawn into an open dialogue, the ability to listen to critical emergency situation only at the moment of questions from partners, transparency in conflict. Building constructive relationships approaches to work, recognition that with local NGOs demands that the agency learning is a two-way process, sufficient establishes a credible profile which can time and resources, and clear prioritisation normally only be developed through a long on where to start, who to start with, and period of collaboration. why. In critical circumstances it is all too easy In relations with local NGOs, an to see the needs of gender equity as being agency's aim should be to focus on secondary to other goals, such as the identifying blockages, which should be political viability or even the survival of the dealt with in a constructive and collab- community in the face of oppression or orative way. Options for working on disaster. Important as these are, the gender and empowerment in response to community will be constrained in meeting conflict depend on the opportunities these goals if over half the population is available at the moment of the response; living under impossible burdens. Thus agencies must be culturally sensitive and overarching social goals and goals of avoid preconceived notions of what gender gender equity should not be seen as either- and empowerment does or does not mean or alternatives, but as part and parcel of the in a particular environment. Agencies must
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 16 Focus on Gender
recognise, too, that partners face significant • Inviting local NGOs to participate in practical problems in discussing and agency meetings and workshops. dealing with these issues, and provide • Providing gender-sensitive local NGOs assistance that takes this into account. with opportunities to contribute to the Possible components for a strategy for design of agency strategies in, and long- working with local NGOs on gender and term planning for, conflict situations. conflict include: • Encouraging agency staff to develop • Joint training workshops on gender and skills as 'trainers of trainers', conflict. strengthening local NGOs' ability to • Strengthening ties with and under- explore gender issues in their own standing of women's organisations and work; providing resources such as time, movements who have information and training and technical resources to insights about the situation of women in facilitate this. the country. • Exploring mechanisms whereby • Strengthening and developing a dialogue can be established with local consistent strategy for networking and NGOs, so that experience on gender can information exchange between those be incorporated in concrete ways during working on gender issues and those project design and implementation. working on development issues in • Encouraging the development of general. networking between local NGOs on a • Commissioning research which regional or cross-regional basis. documents and synthesises the • Aiming through research and practical experiences of men and women in experience to discover the concept of conflict situations; contracting local and gender as it is expressed in each society, regional researchers for this task and and discussing with local NGOs the investing resources in documentation liberating and oppressive aspects of this and communication of the research concept. findings. • At grassroots level, seeking out • Strengthening the agency's resource- individuals holding moral and spiritual base of local women consultants, authority who are committed to equity trainers, and experts for employment in and social justice, and who can become conflict situations, which will enhance allies, and strengthening them in their the likelihood of culturally-sensitive, work. gender-balanced perspectives being (From a paper prepared for a workshop in incorporated into planning. Thailand, in February 1993, organised by Oxfam on • Prioritising the integration of gender gender issues in situations of conflict.) into technical issues in conflict situations by supporting the training of specialist gender staff to work with or in technical teams. 17
Refugee women: their perspectives and our
Tina Wallace
efugee policies are usually devel- learning to involve women in the planning oped and implemented without the and delivery of refugee assistance; Rinvolvement of refugees. Emergency increasing their access to essential goods; relief work with refugees — and displaced working with their own organisations, and people — has traditionally been very top- learning to listen to them. down, involving 'bringing relief to the poor'. The corporate culture and admin- Staffing and policy istrative procedures of many aid agencies reflect this approach, which effectively While there are some women staff denies access to refugees and prevents concerned about refugee and displaced dialogue with them even at the grassroots women to be found in UN and NGO level. In the comparatively few cases where headquarters, they remain few and far refugees are given some part to play in the between. In 1990 the UNHCR drew up delivery of refugee care, they are still guidelines for working with refugee excluded from the policy and planning women which emphasise that programmes levels; and at the grassroots level women 'can be effective only if they are planned refugees are almost inevitably excluded. with an adequate understanding of, and Needs and policies are defined, often consultation with, women and their thousands of miles away, by those who dependents'. (UNHCR, 1990:4) may not have a good understanding of the The guidelines stress the protection and reality of the situation of the refugees. legal rights of women, their need for It is imperative to change this way of resources and for special programmes to working with refugees, and to take into ensure women's access to them, and the account their perspectives: not only for need to employ staff who can integrate this policy making and service delivery but also way of working into their area of to restore self-respect and self- competence. determination to refugees themselves. Preliminary work on policy in one In order to take the women refugees' agency has highlighted the importance of perspective into account action has to be incorporating refugee women from the taken to counteract the factors which have outset. This means having a competent prevented their voice being heard. This person on the assessment team to carry out means addressing the lack of gender- community and gender assessment; sensitive staff and policy within aid recruiting women who can work directly agencies; undertaking relevant research; with the refugee women; briefing all staff
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 18 Focus on Gender
about the issues; setting up women's need to be assessed, together with possible committees as soon as possible; recruiting ways of overcoming them. These include women refugees to do health and sani- using female staff, women-only meetings, tation work; designing community-based working with the men to explain the work, projects in, for example, public health; and and developing and encouraging women's evaluating the work from a gender groups. Which strategies are most perspective at the end. However, this way appropriate will depend on factors, such as of working is still in its earliest stages. cultue, women's workloads and gender relations.
Research Case study 1: Disregarding women's There is only a small body of research and needs in water distribution evaluations available within aid agencies While women are the main collectors and which include data on refugee women. users of water in most camp situations, they There is still very little known about are usually excluded from participation in refugee women, especially in new refugee water-supply planning or management. crises. This is not a problem that can be This project was no exception; the work was quickly resolved, but it is essential that done by the agency through all-male research institutes and aid agencies start to refugee committees. Water shortages were collect more data on women's issues common in the early days: among refugee populations, and that these 'It was clear from discussions with the data are shared. newly formed Women's Committee ... that There are many sensitivities involved in they had little idea who was responsible for research with refugees, including the fears different aspects of water supply or what of the refugees themselves and of the host the problem had been during the times government, and concerns about how the when there were limited supplies. data may be used. This is an area where During the times of greatest pressure, collaborative work with refugee organi- women were waiting three to four days at sations in some cases, and with universities the water points to collect water... they in the host country in others, could could not leave their children to keep their fruitfully be developed. Closer links places in the queues, although some between existing research institutes, both women did help each other out by holding Northern and Southern, and aid agencies places for each other. Most were also busy could also help in providing information collecting or buying firewood, taking and understanding about all refugee children to clinics or supplementary issues, including those of women. feeding centres, cooking, perhaps selling things in the market and carrying out Involving refugee women other household activities... in decision making These times of high tension and long queues resulted in frequent fights at water For refugee women to be involved in points. Eventually, the Refugee Committee planning, and making decisions that effect assigned men to assist the water-point their day-to-day lives is still quite rare. The watchmen in controlling the women — case studies below illustrate both the cost mainly by standing at the sites and yelling of this lack of active involvement, and the at everyone to stand in order. No attempt real potential and benefits of involving was made to discuss the situation with the women right from the beginning. women or inform them of the problems that The difficulties of involving women were causing the inadequate supply. One Refugee women 19
Water-collection point in Hartesheik refugee camp in Sudan. LIBA TAYLOR/OXFAM
cannot help thinking that if the women had Case study 2: Involving women in been included in these discussions, they planning for agriculture might have been more amenable to ... an In this case a woman project staff member orderly queuing system... At the very least, talked with the women early on in the life the refugee women, who already have a of a transit camp. The issues that needed desperate feeling of powerlessness and resolving were those of land allocation, dependence, were entitled to be informed...' and seed and tools distributions. Only two (Hodgkiss, 1989:17-18) per cent of the camp leaders were women — in spite of the fact that at home women It was recognised during the evaluation had been organised in women's groups of this project that liaising with the refugee and organisations, and some had community must involve liaising actively leadership skills. with the women too. This community liaison work must be an integral part of The discussion started by considering one staff person's job description, the crops the women grew at home and the otherwise the technical problems and crops they could grow in the camp which demands will always overshadow the were most like these. The women were social aspects of the work in highly actively involved in choosing which seeds pressurised situations. they wanted — and these differed from those originally planned — and how they wanted the land allocated. Then they discussed the tools they needed, and it was 20 Focus on Gender
discovered that the first distribution of Access to essential hoes had been made only to male house- resources hold heads, and women-headed house- holds had been excluded. The resources needed by women differ These discussions led to the setting up according to the household structure and of a women's committee which worked the existing gender relations and with the woman staff member on the seed male/female divisions of consumption and and land distribution. production — for example, who has respon- During the course of the discussions and sibility for feeding the family. However, in distributions, the woman project officer most refugee situations women need proper learned a great deal about the survival access to food, materials, land, income- strategies of these refugee women, know- generating activities, training, and health ledge which will be useful in planning care. Thus, these resources should not be viable economic activities for the women in automatically targeted to males. Two case future. studies below illustrate the possibilities of By working in a way that was sensitive targeting women directly and the need to to the needs of the women and the men in include them in education and training this situation, women were able to make schemes in order to enable them to make decisions and take control of issues that the best of the resources available. critically affected their survival — land, seeds and tool.
Cambodian women, displaced from their homes because of fighting between Khmer Rouge and govern- ment forces, leaving a distribution point, having been given tools, buckets and other essentials. MARCUS THOMPSON/OXFAM Refugee women 21
Case study 3: Distribution of resources problem must relate to issues of water to women usage. Food, seed and materials distributions can In many situations, if women are to successfully target women in the house- obtain the full benefit from the resources hold (whether as wives or heads-of- available, it is not only necessary to talk to households) rather than the men. In this women, or to target them, but also to particular case the distribution was carried provide education and training about, for out through the local structure run by men, example, water, food preparation (where and the decisions about allocations were new foods are introduced), agriculture in made by men removed from the grassroots new conditions, and health care. Usually situation. While it proved a positive step to female rather than male staff will be give the food directly to the women appropriate for carrying out this work with responsible for provisioning the family, the women, and often it can best be done they remained only beneficiaries. They by training groups of refugee women. were not actively involved in the distri- bution, had no information about what they were entitled to, and no control over Building up women's own what they received. organisations The women lacked any decision-making In some cases, NGOs can work with and power, and this inevitably led to support women's organisations which are accusations that food was being misap- already in existence. Examples include: propriated before it reached the women. widow's organisations in Guatemala and When a subsequent distribution of El Salvador and organisations which materials such as hoes and buckets was specifically work on issues of cultural made, efforts were made to involve a identity; support for literacy work with woman staff member, who talked to the women refugees in Sudan through the women about the allocations and assisted Eritrean Relief Association and the Relief in the distribution. This was much more Society of Tigray; and income generating acceptable to the women. projects set up through women's organ- This illustrates the fact that, for women isations in the refugee camp, as in Somalia. to have proper access, it was necessary to Working with refugee organisations, do more than just target them as benefic- especially those concerned with women, is iaries; they also needed to be informed often a slow process demanding time and about what was available, and to assist in support from agency staff. The need for a the distribution. change of pace as refugee situations develop is critical. All too often it is the Case study 4 : The need for training and initial emergency requirement for speed education that continues to dominate the way in In a project with displaced people, efforts which agencies work. This militates against were made to relate to women in the camp involving refugees, especially women, and through a woman health-officer and the can set up patterns that prove impossible establishment of women's health commit- to break later. Learning to work with tees. refugee organisations demands a change of However, in spite of the improvement approach. and increase in the water supply, cases of In many situations women's groups do diarrhoeal disease continued to occur. The not exist and so need to be developed. The woman health-worker felt that this needed following case is one where this was done to be followed up with the women as the undervery difficult circumstance, where 22 Focus on Gender
women feared to be known as refugees for fied as the urgent need for women. In both security reasons. cases this was not what agency staff or the researchers had originally planned to Case study 5: Forming a group to deal deliver. with mental health problems When women are consulted, issues of A project was started some years ago to education, cultural identity and psycho- work with Guatemalan refugee women in logical health are frequently stressed, yet Mexico city. They were suffering from a these issues are largely overlooked in much range of physical and mental health refugee work. Listening to women requires problems common to refugees. A small time and the design of appropriate struc- group of women was established which tures for meetings — or using existing began by looking at their lives and trying channels previously overlooked — emp- to answer questions such as: Why are we loying staff who are ready to talk and poor? Why are we malnourished? From listen, and being willing to change policy looking at their poor health they moved and practice where necessary. into wider issues which enabled the women to put their very negative feelings and experiences into a wider context. They Work for the future came to see that their reactions were There is a need for many changes in the normal in an abnormal situation. The way refugee work is perceived and carried women learnt a great deal over a long out. As women refugees have argued, period — it was a slow and painful process these changes will lead to better, more — and then decided to produce a booklet appropriate programmes in future. on ways to live in Mexico, and their There is a need for wide-ranging perspective on the need for change at home research into the situation of refugee and in their gender roles. women in different areas. Indicators for This project had to work to develop the needs' assessment must be devised. group and to work gradually through the Agencies need guidance as to what women's trauma in order to focus on indicators they can use in an emergency in improving their mental health. Women order quickly to assess women refugees' could only start this process once they had basic needs. the confidence to work together as a group. There is also a need for research into women's changing roles and responsi- Listening to women bilities as refugees Gender relations often change dramatically in times of crisis. The process of listening to women has Training of staff working with refugees started at international and national level is necessary, to enable them to listen to with the calling of conferences involving women, and to design programmes taking refugees, for example, in Costa Rica, them into account. Training programmes Mexico and at the World Council of should cover decision-makers, policy- Churches in Geneva. It also takes place at makers and planners, as well as field grassroots level in some projects.. workers. Listening to women can lead agencies in Staff should be recruited who under- directions they did not expect; in stand the issues and can work directly with Mozambique women prioritised clothes as refugee women. In most countries these their major need, while in Uganda a staff should be women, drawn from the research project on conflict and suffering in host or refugee society. war led to rape counselling being identi- Time needs to be allowed for working Refugee women 23 with refugee women, and developing References structures for this where they do not exist. Ball, C (1991) 'When broken heartedness becomes a Effort should be made to listen and learn political issue' in Changing Perceptions: Writings from all refugees — including the women. on Gender and Development, Oxford, Oxfam. Refugees should be seen not as passive Berry, B (1988) 'Refugee Women Case Study: recipients of aid, but as active participants, Somalia' paper prepared for the International Consultation on Refugee Women in Geneva, people who develop their own survival November. strategies and who do most of the work for Camus J G (1986) 'Refugee women: the forgotten themselves. The agencies need to act in a majority', Oxford, Queen Elizabeth House, way which affirms, rather than denies that. November. Demeke, T (1990) 'Refugee women's survival strategies and prostitution in Eastern Sudan', in Adapted from a paper written in September 1990 Refugee Participation Network 7. by Tina Wallace, then in Oxfam's Gender and Ferris, E (1988) 'A background paper on refugee Development Unit, for a seminar at the Institute for women' prepared for the International Development Studies in The Hague, Netherlands. Consultation on Refugee Women in Geneva, Tina Wallace is currently the Coordinator of November. Ferris, E (1990) 'Refugee women and violence', Oxfam's Planning and Evaluation Unit. Geneva, World Council of Churches. Hall, E (1988) Vocational training for women refugees in Africa: guidelines from selected field projects, Training Policies Discussion Paper 26, Geneva, International Labour Organisation. Hodgkiss, P (1989) 'Somali refugee programme (Ethiopia) evaluation report' for Oxfam, unpublished. Kelly, N (1989) Working with Refugee Women: A Practical Guide, Geneva, International NGO Working Group on Refugee Women. McGregor, J A and Adam, A (1990) 'Refugee women: the Port Sudan small scale Enterprise Programme', Refugee Participation Network 7. Neugue, L M D (1988) Run for your life: peasant tales of tragedy in Mozambique, Trenton, Africa World Press. Report on the National Conference of Refugee Women, Mexico, November 1989. Truong, T-D (1990) Refugee perspective: Issues and Concerns, The Hague, Institute for Social Studies. UNHCR Guidelines on working with refugee women, May 1990. Urdang, S (1989) And still they dance: women, war and the struggle for change in Mozambique, London, Earthscan Publications. Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (1990) 'Report of the Delegation of the Commission to Hong Kong', January 5-12.
Refugee women in Saba'ad Camp, Somalia, selling 'basta' (spaghetti), flour, rice, and onions. Refugees are not simply passive recipients of aid, but actively pursue their own survival strategies. JEREMY HARTLEY/OXFAM 24 Focus on Gender
Working with women refugees in eastern Sri Lanka Nalini Kasynathan
ri Lanka has experienced continuous cultural implements, seeds and fertilisers. conflict for more than a decade. The The programme initially was not gender- Swar in the north-east has claimed tens specific; it aimed at helping those displaced of thousands of lives, caused extensive to resettle in their new environment. damage to infrastructure and led to People were organised into groups and massive displacement of people. Over 1.5 given the essentials to start life again. million people are displaced internally, of Distribution of protein supplements for whom 250,000 are living in camps within mothers and children was an important Sri Lanka; 50,000 people have fled to component of the programme. Canada, 210,000 to India officially and While the displaced men could not find probably another 150,000 unofficially, any employment and tended to remain 100,000 to Europe and 10,000 to Australia. idle, the women took up the main burden People continue to be displaced as villages of caring for the family. They picked grain are attacked either by the government from fields harvested the previous year; security forces, para-military groups, nursed children who were suffering from Home Guards or the militant groups. malaria, diarrhoea, and many other infec- Community Aid Abroad (CAA) started tious diseases; fetched drinking water and working in the Batticaloa district in eastern gathered firewood. Sri Lanka in January 1991 with displaced people who had lost their homes, liveli- Loans requested for hood and some of their family members. Following major fighting between the agriculture government forces and the militant groups At the end of six months, an evaluation in this district, which began in June 1990, was done to assess the efficiency of the 30,000 persons fled into the jungle, 150,000 programme. The women, especially, others moved out of their villages and indicated that they would prefer a portion went to live with friends and relatives in of the funds previously allocated for and around the town, and 50,000 more consumable items to be given instead in took refuge in government-run camps. the form of loans for agriculture. CAA With funding provided by the agreed to provide agricultural assistance to Australian Government, CAA started a the families, particularly to the women. As relief and rehabilitation programme for it was mainly women who were involved, 2,000 families, providing them with basic vegetable cultivation, rather than rice- shelter materials, cooking utensils, agri- growing, was identified as the most
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 Working with women refugees in eastern Sri 25 suitable income-generating activity. It was were women. These societies elected a possible for women to participate fully, as central executive committee of five vegetables could be grown around their members to manage the programme; four houses, and watering and tillage was of them were women. At the request of the therefore manageable. committee, CAA assisted in establishing During the first season many families handloom centres and providing skills- were able to earn between 1500 and 2000 training in cane handicraft, and the rupees from vegetable cultivation in preservation and processing of agricultural addition to meeting their own consump- produce. tion needs. Following this success, the Soon the women members began to see programme was expanded to include inadequacies in the way the credit prog- another 700 families. Agricultural exten- ramme was run. CAA's partner organi- sion officers provided advice and training. sation in the programme was not easily or Functional literacy skills, health education, readily accessible. Furthermore, the and basic financial management were also women felt that they were being excluded included in the programme. from the decision-making processes in the After a year, it was clear that the women organisation. They called a general meeting and their families had grown out of the of the membership, discussed their relief phase of their resettlement. By this concerns openly and decided to form their time, 47 societies had been formed with a own organisation to implement the second total of 1800 members, 70 per cent of whom phase of the project.
Muslim woman, beside her burnt-out home, after an outbreak of violence in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. JEFF ALDERSON/OXFAM 26 Focus on Gender
Lessons learned seek to build on the urgency and the opportunities provided by the situation of CAA's work confirms that in times of war war. Income-generation activities must be and total disruption-, as has happened in used to build women's organisations, eastern Sri Lanka, it is both necessary and which focus on conscious empowerment. efficient to work with women. In war It is important to distinguish between situations women and children are the the practical difficulties of working in most affected and most in need. More than hazardous areas and the suitability or 40 per cent of the women in the project otherwise of income-generation and area had become heads of their organisational work in war situations. It is households, because their husbands had not true that only disaster relief work can been disabled, or killed, were fighting with be done in such situations. In fact, CAA's one or the other of the warring factions, work in Sri Lanka has shown that had disappeared or were hiding to avoid development work may be the most arrest or conscription. The men remaining effective way of dealing with the damage in the village, unable to carry out their caused by protracted war. traditional occupations, did not have sufficient resourcefulness to cope. The Author's note: immediacy of women's feelings for the In writing this paper, I have drawn extensively on survival of their families gave them the factual information in field reports, and on a paper initiative and flexibility to find new by Shanthi Sachidananthan, CAA's Project Officer resources. in Sri Lanka. Participating in income-generating activities, and taking responsibility for Nalini Kasynathan is Programme Director for others in an environment of collective South-East Asia for Community Aid Abroad. action, served as effective therapy for women who had been traumatised by the conflict. Engaging in collective and meaningful work enabled them to recover sanity and dignity. In a war situation, when everything else has been lost, it is even more important to encourage reliance on the only thing that is left, that is, the will to survive. War provides an opportunity for women's empowerment. The disruption of established structures, guidelines and taboos has made room for women to move into areas from which they were previously excluded. The challenge is to make women conscious of the empower- ment issues so that the gains they have made survive the war. Therefore, em- powerment must be seen as a continuing process, through women organising them- selves collectively with an understanding of their position. Workwith women must not confine itself to relief work and to trauma counselling. It must deliberately The psychosodal effects of 'La Violencia' on widows of El Quiche, Guatemala Judith Zur This is a brief account of the psychosodal impact of the civil war in Guatemala on Quiche Maya Indian Women and is based on 20 months' anthropological research with widows from the department of El Quiche between the years 1988-1990.
uatemalan Mayan Indian women massacres and other atrocities. These were have been affected by government- carried out by army irregulars — the local Gsponsored terrorism directed at 'voluntary' civil patrols, a coerced and Guatemala's civilian population during the unpaid service. The patrols, organised years 1980-1983 (called La Violencia), as a under local chiefs, installed in all villages in counterinsurgency strategy in the 30-year 1982, served as the army's eyes and ears, civil war. The strategy consisted of army though ostensibly they were set up to 'scorched-earth' tactics including incur- eradicate 'subversives' and 'bandits' in the sions into the villages, indiscriminate local area. After carrying out a massacre torture and killing of individuals, families they silenced villagers by threatening them and even entire communities. A subse- that if they spoke about what had hap- quent, so-called, 'low intensity warfare' pened they would suffer further violence. continues to the present day, involving Their activities effectively destroyed all random government-sponsored terrorism social relationships, networks, and soli- by medium to small military units that darity among civilian populations. sneak up on isolated rural settlements. It is difficult to generalise about the Between 1978 and 1985 at least 112,000 meaning of war and its psychosocial political killings and 18,000 'disappear- effects, because they are determined by the ances' were carried out by army, police, particular manifestations of violence within and paramilitary government forces (GVIS, each village, which depend on the vagaries 1992).1 Over the past two decades at least of the social structure, culture and history 120,000 women have been widowed in of the village, and the characteristics of the Guatemala, many of whom have also lost local perpetrators of violence. For example, other relatives. violence tended to operate along the The province of El Quiche was among divisions between factions already existing the most severely affected areas of the within any particular village. The meaning country and approximately 11,000 widows of war and its psychosocial effects are also were left in this department alone. Its determined by the attitude of the state with people bore the brunt of selective guerrilla reference to any specific group of people, in actions followed by further army retal- this case, women. The position of women iations in the form of public village- in the family, the kinship structure, and the
Focus on Gender Vol l,No. 2, June 1993 28 Focus on Gender
Civil patrol, Cohan. ANA CECILIA GONZALEZ/OXFAM
fact that they were widows (now deemed lives, and sexual harassment by the local 'wives of the guerrillas') related to the type men who had killed their relatives. Women of violence encountered, not only during were threatened with further rape, and the drastic experienceof La Violencia but with death; and they knew that the threats also in the course of subsequent events. were not idle. Any woman who joined a La Violencia became a crisis in the human rights organisation such as GAM,2 everyday life of the community. An explicit CONAVIGUA3 or CERJ4 or even 'neutral' and implicit renegotiation of power took NGOs (non-governmental organisations), place, with the chiefs controlling the village were threatened with kidnapping or death, along with the military commissioners for themselves or their children. The range (local men who remain in the pay of the of violence they suffered ranged from army after completing military service), abuse and obscenities thrown at them to who displaced civil authorities, catechists, further murders or kidnapping of their health promoters and teachers. relatives or themselves. There was also The impact of La Violencia went far symbolic violence, in the shape of the beyond the years of violence. For La imposition of forms of language, such as Violencia did not erupt and then disappear, euphemisms and Spanish terms which it was a continual source of insecurity in were never explained, by the dominant women's lives. This was not only because forces, and the internalisation of state of the sporadic incidents of violence, which repression. On several levels, then, the continue to the present. There was also violence has had repercussions which far intimidation of women from within the exceed the moment of its occurrence. community, in the form of threats to their The divisions which existed in the The Psychosocial effects of 'La Violencia' 29 community along religious grounds as mothers and wives, and as carers and proliferated and intensified. There are now complementary partners, respectively, were rifts and mutual suspicion among groups of destroyed. On a practical level, women had women, for example, between those who to become the household head, the main participate in human rights organisations bread-winner and generally take over men's and those who do not. Internalisation of this responsibilities, particularly if all the grown divisive tendency, which the army built men in the family were dead or missing. upon in order to prevent the formation of This not only meant an extra workload for resistance groups, led to splits between the women who already worked tremendously groups of women themselves. They fought hard but also the humiliation of taking on over many things including men and aid. men's tasks in a society with a strict division The scarcity of men in the village meant of labour. The reformulation of family life that, even if they wanted to, women had also meant, in turn, that the relationship to little opportunity to remarry. Some chose the past was altered. not to marry, in order to honour the dead The over-riding emotion I encountered in and to avoid the violent 'macho' stance the women was fear. When a war is waged which has been strengthened by men's by a hostile, foreign force, the members of a internalisation of military attitudes. community can use their national or ethnic These problems were mainly between identity to rally their members in self- widows and non-widows, for among them- defence. When civil war is waged, however, selves the widows displayed considerable the identification of the enemy, as well as dignity in the way that they requested and the organisation of self-defence, is more received aid. Resentments built up problematic. And terror is made even more between women when a widow managed intense when a population faces to survive without a man and a married government-sponsored terrorism perpet- woman felt threatened in case the widow rated by an extension of the army in the should steal her husband. On the other form of local villagers themselves; and hand, those who had lost their husbands when human rights and the due process of and sons suspected that others in the law are suspended by the very institution community had betrayed them. The claiming to be their guardians. conflicts were further intensified from in- The deaths and disappearances which fighting among families who felt entitled to have taken place over the years, and the land of those who had died, and to aid especially the massacres they witnessed, offered by agencies. created a new awareness among the What the violence and loss meant for survivors of their vulnerability. This was widows was a virtual reformulation of heightened by the fact that killers and family life. This took place at various levels, victims continued to live in close prox- from the roles taken up by women and imity. It was not an anonymous person or children to replace those of missing male crowd who had done the killing. The kin, to attitudinal changes regarding the killers were known and continued to be the security that one could expect from the authorities in the village. The bodies of the family. The threat to the family meant that dead were also hidden in clandestine members had to disperse spatially in order graves which people were forbidden to to survive (owing to an efficient intelligence approach. One of the many questions that network, they were often traced and then haunted the living was how to fulfil their 'disappeared'). As a result of witnessing obligations towards the dead, because they relatives being massacred, and being unable had been deprived of the opportunity to to respond, women's images of themselves bury them properly. In the case of the 30 Focus on Gender
'disappeared', not knowing the where- headaches, stomach aches, back aches and abouts of a relative causes immense dis- general pains throughout the body. It is tress, fear and near paralysis. difficult to separate these out from the pain The war experience has also politicised which comes as a result of arduous work women. It has made them aware that with and malnutrition, given the impoverished their passive stance towards the political conditions in which Indian families live. problems and their 'lack of ideas', they However, I believe that the pain women were as harmful as those who acted suffer in their bodies reflects the fact that wrongly and brought the enemy to the they have become the repositories of village. Many also realised that violence painful experiences — experiences which and war created more problems for woman they have been unable to articulate both than for men, and that men did not care because they have been silenced and also about women's problems, nor about because of the impossibility of speaking abandoning women. about such atrocious experiences. The women who were best off were those who began to comprehend the violence in political terms through partici- Notes pation in human rights agencies and 1 Guatemala Geo-violence Information Systems, women's groups, notwithstanding the risks c/o Guatemala Human Rights Commission, Washington DC. involved; those who began to learn to read 2 Grupo Apoyo Mutuo. and write and to speak Spanish and gained 3 Coordinacion Nacional de los Viudas confidence in negotiating with the outside Guatemaltecas. ma\e/ladino world; and those from the 4 Comite de los Etnias, Runujel Junam. handful of villages where exhumations took place, because they could bury their Judith Zur is a psychologist and anthropologist. dead in a dignified and proper way. She worked in El Quiche from 1988-90 and is writ- Psychological symptoms among women ing a book on Guatemalan war widows. She also resulting from the experience of so much works as a family therapist at the Medical pain were mostly expressed in a physical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, in way. Women's problems took the form of London
A widow in her home in El Mezquital, Guatemala City. ANA CECILIA GONSALEZ /OXFAM 'Clutching a knifeblade' Human rights and development from Asian women's perspective Nelia Sancho-Liao
here is a popular Filipino idiomatic destitute than when they first came to the expression that aptly describes the city looking for work. Tplight of the majority of Filipino Kapit sa patalim describes the circum- women and those of other Asian countries. stances of women workers in foreign- The expression is kapit sa patalim. Literally, owned garment factories in the Bataan it means 'clutching a knifeblade'. For the export-processing zone in the Philippines, Filipino, these words sum up a person's who are forced to work in 36-hour shifts utter despair, and the sacrifice called for during which they are allowed only two under extreme adversities. It describes hours' sleep and a few minutes' break each what women or men, in their helplessness, day. would do in response to their human This Filipino expression also applies to desire to continue living today and, the similar state of despair and sacrifice perhaps, for another day. required of women in other Asian Kapit sa patalim is the situation of countries. It aptly describes the experience thousands of Filipino domestic helpers of tens of thousands of Sri Lankan women who were stranded in the deserts of Iraq who migrate to countries in the Middle and Kuwait two years ago. Some of them East to work as nannies and domestic were raped at the height of chaos and war helpers; of 200,000 Nepali women who because they hesitated to leave the country earn a living in various brothels of India; of immediately for fear of losing their once- Indonesian women workers employed in in-a-lifetime, dollar-paying jobs. transnational factories, half of whom are Kapit sa patalim is the lot of 16,000 afflicted with kidney ailments because of Filipino girls, mostly coming from landless mercury contamination in and around their peasant families in the provinces, who factories. have become prostitutes, catering to the Kapit sa patalim describes the victims of sexual whims of American servicemen in wife abuse in Papua New Guinea, who Clark Air base and Subic Naval Base, both represent, according to a reform law US military installations in the Philippines. committee, 67 per cent of the country's These girls thought that perhaps, through rural women and 56 per cent of its urban luck and hard work, they might some day women; it describes the battered wives in land a more dignified and better-paying Bangladesh who, despite their husbands' job, but most of them have ended up cruelty, would not file for divorce nor leave afflicted with sexually transmitted home because in their country separated, diseases, including AIDS, and more abandoned, or divorced women are
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 32 Focus on Gender
considered social outcasts; it describes the and have fewer job opportunities than Indian brides threatened by dowry death, men. which, according to estimates made by the Massive urban immigration of unskilled Ahmedabad Women's Action Group, rural labourers owing to increasing reached 1,000 in 1988 in one state alone; it landlessness and low productivity of describes the Indian mothers of 78,000 agriculture has been particularly harsh on female foetuses who, succumbing to a women. In many cities most jobs are low- dominant cultural bias against female paying and there is a huge army of children, agreed to an abortion after unemployed people. While both men and undergoing sex-determination tests. women migrants have difficulty in finding Extreme, but not uncommon, situations jobs in the cities, men usually land more such as these underscore the pathetic state stable and better-paid jobs, such as those in of women's human rights in Asia. If these construction and in small factories. Women cases are so gross and skewed, if these are have to take low-paid jobs as domestic too concentrated forms of discrimination helpers or street vendors, if they manage to and violence against our gender, it is find gainful employment at all. because Asian women live on the margins The high urban migration rate in Asian of a region where two-thirds of humanity countries has resulted in rapid and exist in hunger and squalor. They have unplanned urbanisation, exhausting the actually been pushed to the edge where basic services delivery systems in the cities every human being's rights to dignity, to and causing severe overcrowding. The life and development are not only pieces of number of slums and squatter areas has empty rhetoric but have become cruel risen dramatically in recent years in major ironies. In Asia, women are on the margins Asian cities. of the margins. Women have borne the brunt of the Women in export-processing adverse consequences of complex historical zones processes of economic stagnation and exploitation plaguing most Asian nations. The thrusts of Asian governments' These processes have denied the peoples of development policies have also been the region their most basic rights. The discriminatory to women. In the last two denial, however, is of a bigger dimension decades, several governments in the region for women. have set up export-processing zones: industrial enclaves designed to attract From the impoverished transnational corporations by providing them with necessary infrastructures and countryside to the city 'most-favoured status', guaranteeing them slums various exemptions from tax, labour, and Most Asian countries are agricultural wage regulations. economies, with the majority of the Most workers in the foreign-owned population living in rural areas, where factories in these export-processing zones landlessness has increased at an alarming are women. Their traditional docility and rate, pushing down the wages of farm their vulnerability to physical, psycho- workers and intensifying competition for logical, and sexual harassment are the limited number of jobs available. These characteristics exploited by employers to trends have been most burdensome for prevent the growth of trade unionism in rural women because, following tradition, these enclaves. Asian women generally they receive less pay for agricultural work receive only a fraction of the salary paid to Clutching a knifeblade 33
Shanty town, Manila. NANCY DURRELL MCKENNA/OXFAM workers in industrialised Western Prostitution in Asian countries, of countries; their basic wage level, with the course, did not start with tourism; the exception of Japan and Singapore, problem is made worse by extreme under- represents only about half of the amount development and vestiges of colonialism. needed for a decent family life, and this has But prostitution has certainly been aggra- even diminished in the last ten years; and vated by government tourism schemes. moreover, women workers earn less than There are reported to be as many as 800,000 their male counterparts. child prostitutes in Thailand, and 400,000 adult and child prostitutes in the Tourism: a cloak for Philippines. prostitution The presence of US military bases in the region have led to an increase in prosti- The aggressive and misoriented promotion tution. In the Philippines, for example, a of tourism is another government 'develop- decent job inside these foreign military ment' thrust that has been extremely installations is not possible for Filipino inimical to women. The aim is to make the women. They earn a living as prostitutes in tourist industry a principal dollar-earner for 'amusement places' around the immediate Asian economies. Promotional schemes vicinity of the two largest American bases. such as those of Thailand and the Philippines often stress 'service attractions', which tacitly include sex services. 34 Focus on Gender
Bangladesh. Women showing their bruises, after being beaten up by the police. They were trying to claim their legal right to land. One said 'You see us with our heads covered today, but on the day of the demon- stration our heads were bare and we were ready to fight for what is our right.' SUE GREIG/OXFAM
Political repression endure sexual harassment, molestation, Political repression, a characteristic feature and even rape from their captors. In the of both the authoritarian regimes and the Philippines, there are reports that wives of elite democracies common to Asian political prisoners are asked for sexual countries, is particularly wicked to women. favours by military guards in exchange for In an effort to stem serious social strife being allowed to see their husbands. An arising from mass poverty and popular intensifying policy of state repression in dissatisfaction, many governments of the many Asian countries provides male region have adopted stringent legislation enforcers with a powerful political curtailing mass protests, trade unions and rationale and plenty of opportunities for political associations, and freedom of unleashing sexual aggression against expression. While these measures whittle women. down the democratic rights of both women Civil wars in a number of Asian and men alike, the way in which they are countries have caused serious distress to enforced on women by men in authority is women. In the Philippines, for instance, the strongly influenced by male aggression Aquino government has launched a policy and machismo. of total war against all suspected guerrilla Thus women trade unionists, peasant strongholds in the countryside. Today activists, poor urban protestors, there are more than 200,000 internal community workers, and militant students refugees in the country. They are mostly not only suffer arrest, detention, and women and children. Their husbands, physical torture. In addition, they have to brothers, and grown-up sons have been Clutching a knifeblade 35 forced to migrate temporarily to faraway private researchers have uncovered these provinces to escape constant harassment sources and presented them as evidence by the military. against the Japanese government. It was Patriarchy and male domination, only in July 1992 that the Japanese Foreign prevalent in traditional Asian societies, Minister finally admitted Japan's have also spawned widespread gender- responsibility and publicly apologised for specific crimes such as rape, physical this war crime. The case was also presented assault, wife-beating, and dowry deaths. at the UN Sub-Commission on Human These crimes recognise no distinction of Rights in August 1992, and a Committee on race, class, or ethnic origin, only the fact Post-War Compensation has been set up to that the target of violence is a woman. In study what could be done to redress the most Asian countries religion, culture, laws violation of women's human rights. and courts, as well as public opinion, discriminate against victims of gender These crimes recognise no crimes. These traditional institutions favour the male assailants - a reality that distinction of race, class, or ethnic inhibits victims from fighting back and forces most women to suffer in silence. origin, only the fact that the target of violence is a woman. Military sexual slavery One major current issue we are now Only now have women started speaking working on in Asia is the issue of military out, with the support of the women's sexual slavery, perpetrated by the Japanese movement in Asia, after the 50 years of Imperial Army during World War II. This shame and silence that they have had to issue has resulted in an Asia-wide suffer because of Asian patriarchal culture. campaign on the part of the Asian But military sexual slavery and violence Women's Human Rights Council together against women is still going on today in with organisations in Korea, Taipei or the current war in the former Yugoslavia, Taiwan, and in the Philippines. for instance. It happened to 200,000 There are an estimated 200,000 Asian Bangladeshi women in the Bangladeshi/ women who were conscripted as 'comfort Pakistani border war. It is also the women' by Japan from 1942 to 1945. experience of some 12,000 Bhutanese Eighty per cent of the women were from refugees in Nepal, who have been raped by North and South Korea, which were Bhutanese soldiers; and of women in the provinces of Japan at the time. Philippines in the context of the The Asian women were raped, tortured, Philippines government's 'total war and massacred by Japanese troops. The use policy'. of 'comfort women' is a form of sexual We are demanding that the United slavery, a war crime against Asian women, Nations and the international community and illustrates how women are system- address this issue. The women's movement atically abused and degraded sexually, around the world needs to study the physically, and psychologically by milit- phenomenon more closely and to adopt arism and war. recommendations to governments and the For 50 years the Japanese government United Nations system to create effective kept its involvement in the conscription safeguards to prevent the occurrence of and procurement of the Asian 'comfort this war crime. women' hidden. But they kept documents and records, and in the last two years 36 Focus on Gender
The Asian Women's Advocacy of human rights for Asian Human Rights Council women should mean, in addition, working for their total liberation from all the forces Because of the massive problems we are that oppress them and ensuring their facing not only on this issue but on other development and empowerment. It should human rights violations against women, mean opposing the domination and the Asian Women's Human Rights Council exploitation of poor nations by a few rich was set up as an addition to three regional and powerful ones, and promoting a new commissions of women's organisations in world economic order and the genuine Asia. We feel that we cannot be content development of Third World countries. with just presenting the image of women It should include working for the as victims. We feel that Asian women have eradication of the unjust and repressive a big role to play in changing their structures of most Asian societies and situation, and the AWHRC is a result of promoting an equitable distribution of this belief. We have come together in order wealth and the development of democracy to bring a human rights perspective to and popular initiative. It should involve a development concerns. In the next three consistent struggle against patriarchy and years, AWHRC is planning a series of six male domination in all their tribunals: public hearings to highlight manifestations, to raise the status of important issues to women in Asia. The women as coequal partners of men in all tribunals will tackle the following issues: spheres of life. • Sex trafficking (Japan, May 1993) And, most important of all, human • Violence against women (Pakistan, rights work to deal effectively with December 1993) women's human rights violations involves • Militarism, environment, and violence of necessity empowering women against women (Korea, March 1994) themselves. There is a need to support the • Crimes of development against women proliferation of women's initiatives and in Asia (India) resistance, harness women's creative • Religion and violence against women energies to analyse and to work on (Malaysia, 1994) strategies, whether this be at the personal • Indigenous women (December 1994). level, the community and national level, or the regional and international level.
Conclusion Nelia Sancho-Liao has been involved in the popular movement in the Philippines for 20 years, This, in brief, is the human rights situation more than half of that working in the areas of of the majority of women in Asia. I believe women's and children's rights. She was a political that the advocacy of women's human prisoner for over two years and through that rights in the region should be put in this experience she has become involved in the defence perspective. Advocacy of the human rights of human rights for political prisoners. She has worked for democratisation and people's of Asian women should deal effectively empowerment and is now the Regional with the fact that the strong system of Coordinator of the Asian Women's Human Rights patriarchy and male domination in the Council, an Asia-wide organisation promoting a region has made the burden of oppression new understanding of human rights and development, based on the realities of Asian and exploitation of women far worse and women. more unbearable than that of men. Women constantly face violence and assaults on their dignity and their lives simply because they are women. Domestic violence as a development issue Ruth Jacobson
n development theory, there are some resonate in the North. Among these are: interesting analogies between the • Domestic violence in the Third World, as 'discovery' in the 1960s and 1970s of in Britain, cannot meaningfully be I 1 women as economically productive and described as 'abnormal' in its incidence current concern around domestic violence or social acceptability but available against women. This has major policy statistics are very often misleading.3 implications for development organisations • Contrary to many stereotypes, it is not in the North and raises complex and confined to any one particular socio- difficult questions. Northern women's economic class but is closely associated movements have engaged with the issue with male control of female sexuality within an analytical framework which and culturally-specific definitions of changed the prevalent terms of discourse 'women's place'. Women all over the but which was also subject to eurocentric world are subject to an implicit contract bias and racist stereotyping.2 whereby their societies offer them Western agencies need to take steps to economic and social security provided define what constitutes their specific they do not breach these boundaries — 4 legitimate areas of concern. An initial step find your own examples! would be to ensure that work already being • Theories based on a single premise such done by Southern women (and some men) is as 'All men are violent' or 'modern- given practical support and made accessible isation is to blame' are inadequate, and to their constituencies. This process is under women must be prepared to confront way in some organisations (see for example the complicity of other women in some GADU's Newspack 15) but needs consistent forms of violence.5 monitoring to ensure that it does not • These commonalities must not lull us into become marginalised as 'another women's universalising notions of 'women's issue'. This could be an appropriate task for oppression', ignoring factors of race, all supporters of Oxfam and the other ethnicity and class. To take just one British Third World NGOs at local level. example, Western analyses frequently Once the material is made accessible, refer to battered 'wives', with an assum- then the question is how to use it ption that domestic violence takes place effectively. One approach could be to look only within a (heterosexual) partnership. at areas of commonality and difference. In other contexts, however, women may Work being done by Third World women be assaulted by brothers, uncles or male contains a number of features which also in-laws.
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 38 Focus on Gender
In looking at areas of concern, here they identified a problematic area. development agencies must further be Noting that the increase in women's prepared to confront the fact that their incomes was taking place in the context of interventions may affect those power male unemployment, they concluded that relations which are inseparable from 'the impetus given by the credit facilities of domestic violence. Investigating these the Gampubuduwa Village Society has would involve raising questions of project accelerated the disparities in the expected and planning, monitoring and evaluation. In actual roles of men and women.' (my empha- the past, these have generally been regar- sis) This was illustrated by the fact that ded as a professional preserve, but under village women are convinced that alcohol the new language of accountability should consumption by village men was higher become part of an open agenda. than in other areas without the credit A case study contained in my original scheme. One case study concerned a paper6 looked at the result of intervention woman who became so successful through by a NGO in a Sri Lankan village. For most the credit scheme that she felt able to households, women's economic contri- consider a legal separation from her violent bution was vital for survival and this husband. The hostility this aroused from principally took the form of processing her husband and his friends is such that cashew nuts for domestic and export sales. she is now branded as 'hard' and The sexual division of labour was marked allegations of prostitution are made against so, despite high unemployment, men her. (At the same time, it should be noted would not consider doing cashew-nut that another instance is given of a couple processing themselves. where the husband is actively supporting The NGO in question was small-scale, his wife's new economic role.) sensitive to local culture (with joint The object of this analysis is not, of involvement of Christian and Buddhist course, to argue against credit schemes for clergy), and reliable access to outside funds women but to reinforce the point already — the ideal project partner. It even took made in other GADU publications, such as women's economic needs as a priority Changing Perceptions, that interventions by from the outset. A loan scheme was development agencies are rarely, if ever, established, on much more helpful terms gender-neutral. Project staff who are than the village money lenders, to allow seriously concerned with gender equality women to expand processing in their must be prepared to tackle this issue, as homes. The scheme certainly achieved its must those staff who produce publicity initial objectives: not only did women who and information material for home borrowed from the fund significantly consumption. expand their production and income; this What then constitutes a 'legitimate' had the effect of pushing up the wages of concern? Given the overwhelming preval- those women who continued to process ence of negative and racist images of Third cashew nuts for wages. As a result 'the World societies in the British media, remarkable increases in income were development agencies have understand- clearly manifested in improved living able reservations about how explicit their conditions, particularly in housing.' material should be on the topic of domestic So far, this would seem to read like a violence. On the other hand, surely sensi- text-book example of a 'good' development tively presented information on, for scheme. Yet the authors took the unusual example, the work being done by groups step of being prepared to evaluate it from like SOS Corpo in Brazil could be a the perspective of gender relations, and constructive contribution to the empower- Domestic violence as a development issue 39
5 The work of Third World feminists on dowry is ment of women. For me, the only 'non- of particular relevance: 'In many instances, the legitimate' response would be to keep the in-laws and co-wives, instead of intervening, issue hidden. actively aid and abet the husband in his violence against the wife. ... the in-laws may take on the responsibility of chastisement, Notes which may end in severe injury or even death.' (Jahan p215) 1 This paper is adapted from a longer one whose 6 The following section is a highly compressed starting point was an analogy between the ways version of material presented in the paper by in which women's economic participation was Casinder, Fernando & Gamage in Momsen and largely 'invisible' until the work of Boserup, Townsend Geography of Gender in the Third Beneria, Dixon-Mueller. World. 2 Amina Mama, author of the first comprehensive study of domestic violence against black women in Britain, comments on the lack of material which considered black women's References specific experience in any depth. Where Agarwal, B (ed) (1988) Structures of Patriarchy, references to black women were found, they London, Zed Books. were often incidental, relegated to a footnote Casinder, Fernando and Gamage (1987)' Women's and more often than not perpetuated Issues and men's roles: Sri Lankan village stereotypical notions such as the passive Asian experience' in Momsen and Townsend (eds) women and the strong matriarchal (1987) Geography of Gender in the Third World. African/Caribbean women.' (Mama 1989 p xi) Jahan, R (1988) 'Hidden wounds, visible scars: 3 The difficulties in reaching some sort of violence against women in Bangladesh' in quantifiable base line are very complex. Jahan Agarwal (ed) (1988) op.cit. covers some of them in her comment on reports Mama, Amina (1989) The Hidden Struggle: statutory in the Bangladeshi press from 1980-1984 which and voluntary sector responses to violence against appear to show an increase from 12.4 to 32.7 per black women in the home London, London Race cent in the proportion of women in the total and Housing Research Unit. number of victims of violence: 'It is unclear, Momsen J and Townsend J (eds) (1987) Geography of however, whether the noted increase in crime Gender in the Third World, London, Hutchinson. reflects an actual increase in the number and Selassie, T (1984) In search of Ethiopian Women, frequency of incidents during this period or Change International Report No 11, London. whether it reflects better coverage resulting from pressures from women's groups.' (Janan 1989 pl98) 4 There can be instances where the simple fact of Ruth Jacobson is a researcher on gender issues in women being together constitutes a threat to Southern Africa, currently working on gender and male control. Thus, in Ethiopia, women's democratisation. She has worked in Mozambique everyday coffee gatherings provide an as a teacher and community development worker. opportunity to 'think about, and to some extent define, their own lives and positions in society' She is currently at the Department of Peace Studies and as a result 'many husbands beat their wives at the University of Bradford. to stop them participating' — to no effect! (Selassie 1984 pl4) Forced prostitution of women and girls in Brazil Anti-Slavery International
77ns is adapted from a submission by Anti-Slavery International to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Seventeenth Session, Geneva 1992.
n the last five years there have been owner by the intermediary, who has increasing reports of 'white slavery' and effectively sold them on. Iof a traffic in women and young girls 'The brothels's debt (the transport costs) I enticed from towns in the south of Para and paid off quickly, but now I have to pay off my Maranhao States to work in brothels near own price ... She (the brothel owner) paid the mining encampments and large civil (intermediary) and now I have to pay her,' construction projects. The question of child explained a 22-year-old prostitute from prostitution is not limited to the north of the Maranhao working in one of the mining country, but information about such activity encampments in Itaituba, Para in May 1990. in the region has recently been given greater Money for sexual services is paid directly public attention. In 1987 the State Deputy by the mining workers to the brothel Joao Batista repeatedly tried to draw the owners who hold the money against the attention of state and federal authorities to women's debts. Since transport costs out of conditions of lawlessness in Itaituba, Para the area are high, and the prostitutes rarely State, including the employment of minors have access to money they have earned, as prostitutes in mining encampments. In their freedom to leave is curtailed. Women 1988 he was shot dead. also reported being physically coerced and According to interviews conducted by confined to the brothels, and complained of the Para State Industry Secretariat in 17 'ill-treatment, beatings and imprisonment', mining encampments in the municipality of and that those trying to escape were killed Itaituba in 1990, young women and girls are or tortured. They also alleged that local enticed to mining camps with promises of police connived in holding them in these high wages in canteens and restaurants. conditions, arresting and ill-treating those When they reach the mining settlements who tried to complain publicly. they find they are to work as prostitutes, to National attention was drawn to this pay off transport and other debts incurred, question by a series of articles on child including medicines to treat malaria. In prostitution in the north and north-east of addition women and girls often have to pay Brazil published in the Folha de Sao Paulo in off their own 'price' charged to the brothel February 1992. Following a public outcry,
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 Forced prostitution of women and girls in brazil 41 federal police raided a number of brothels problem of prostitution of children and in the mining town of Cuiu-Cuiu, Itaituba, adolescents is not confined to this or that Para and released some 74 prostitutes, mining camp or town. We have evidence to many if them minors, and arrested ten suggest that it occurs throughout Amazonia brothel owners. Had the raid occurred and is deeply linked to other systems of during the season when mining activity is exploitation and family disintegration in the highest, the number of prostitutes and region. It is vital to carry out a large-scale brothel owners encountered is likely to investigation, to have firmness of purpose and have been much higher. measures to curb this criminal activity which Some of the girls, as young as 15, already relies on networks for the abduction, explained to journalists after their release transport and enslavement of girls. that they had been duped, believing they Brazil has ratified several relevant would work in restaurants, and had been conventions such as the Convention on the forced into prostitution. They said that one Rights of the Child, the 1956 Supple- of the girls who tried to resist had been mentary Convention on the Abolition of beaten with a chair. While other women Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions released stated that they considered and Practices Similar to Slavery, as well as themselves prostitutes, had known they the Convention for the Suppression of the would be working as such in the mining Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of camps, and were willing to return to this the Prostitution of Others. activity in other locations, one of their Anti-Slavery International urges the spokeswomen told the press, 'No-one Working Group on Contemporary Forms imagined they would become slaves'. of Slavery of Children to draw attention to Father Bruno Sechi, Amazonian Co- this matter and to work with the Brazilian ordinator of the Street Boys and Girls government to seek ways of combating Movement, said of the police action: The traffic in women and girls.
A women's section in a police station in Brazil. In some Brazilian cities, special sec- tions for women have been set up within police stations, where women who have suf- fered violence or abuse can receive sympathetic advice. JENNY MATTHEWS/OXFAM Colombian women prisoners in Britain Jo Fisher
n 1988, Marta was sentenced to nine her story is not untypical. years in prison for importing 400 / knew what he was doing, but I was happy Igrammes of cocaine into Britain. She is because we had enough to pay for the one of 31 Latin American women, the children's clothes, the rent and food, majority Colombians, serving between four whereas before we always had money and 14 years in British jails for drug problems. The more involved he got, the smuggling. Like Marta, many feel they more money he made. In the end we had a passed through the courts simply as big house, cars, shops and a restaurant. 'another Colombian' with little effort made When they get money, men go crazy. They to determine the individual circumstances think money is everything and they act like of their cases. The majority had lawyers they are God. This is why I did not want who spoke no Spanish at all, only rarely him to get involved with the mafia. He were reports into their backgrounds used to fix up 'shows' for his friends with produced at their trials, and fear of prostitutes and cocaine and he gambled. reprisals prevented many women from He spent a fortune. I knew all this was speaking out in their own defence. going on because I signed all the cheques. I The stories of these Colombian women managed all the money but I was not are closely tied up with their roles as allowed to spend any on myself. He always mothers and wives in a society torn apart by made it look as if I was controlling every- violence and where one quarter of the thing. He could not spend anything and I population live in absolute poverty. They was totally under his control. I was show the daily reality of life behind the terrified of him. He was very violent. He newspaper reports of atrocities committed beat me badly. I would stand between him by warring cocaine barons, mafia hit-squads and the children and he would beat the and contract-killers in a country notorious three of us senseless. as one of the most violent in the world. For I think he had always planned to use me. the majority of Colombian women in British He knew I was a very hard worker and that jails, it was poverty, ignorance and fear I would keep the business running while he which drove them, wittingly or unwittingly, was out spending. If the police came he into the cocaine trade. could say the business was mine, I would According to Susana, who was 26 when get the blame and he would look like the her husband left his job as a clothes law-abiding, honest one. I was very young salesman to work as a local drugs courier, when 1 fell in love with him and it was
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 Editorial 43 only much later that I realised it was not took everything. When I got back only the true love, because when he was killed, I felt beds were left. Then the police called me to relief, like a load had been lifted front me. I got to the station to identify a man they always though that without him, I would caught running away from the scene of the not be able to support my children. I murder. It was the friend I had seen him thought that for better or worse, there was talking to. Now he knew I had seen him always food, money for their education, a and this caused problems for me. Danger. roof over our heads, even if the price was When I got back to the house there was a his violence. The most important thing to car waiting with skarios to kill me. The me was my children. police protected me and took me and the The mafia also saw how degenerate he children away. had become and they got rid of him. We lost Eight days later the partner came and everything. We had a lot of debts, so he said that my husband owed him eight began to start working again. He went to million pesos and that I had to pay up. I Peru, carrying drugs. He was caught and said, 'How am I going to pay it? I have put in prison and I went to look after him nowhere to live, nothing for my children, for a few months. He had been badly absolutely nothing.' He said there was no tortured and the other prisoners were problem because he had a plan. 'You will praying for him, expecting him to die. I had work to repay the debt.' 1 had no choice. If I to find the money for a doctor and a lawyer did not work we would all have been killed. and take him in medicine and food, while I could not risk the lives of my children. my children were with a relative in That is how I began carrying drugs. Columbia. After 18 months he was released. Once you get involved, they do not let In prison he made international connec- you get out in case you grass on them. Of tions that he never had before. This is the course you are afraid, but you get used to reason why I say prison is never good. it, like you get used to being beaten every When he got out he began to work with a day. It becomes a way of life. man he had met there, buying and Most of the Latin American women carrying drugs. He returned from a trip serving sentences in British jails turned to one Friday and the following Monday drug smuggling as a desperate attempt to morning they killed him. escape poverty. More than one quarter of I watched him from the window talking households in Colombia's towns and cities to a friend and then the skarios (hired are headed by women, social security is killers) pushed him into a car. They practically non-existent, public health cracked his chest with a rifle, burnt him provision is limited and work oppor- with cigarettes and in a country lane they tunities have been severely hit by the broke his spine. When I saw him in the economic crisis. Poor, inexperienced morgue his face was all swollen and his women are easy prey for the drug dealers, chest and his back was completely black who appear to offer quick and easy with bruises. Then they finished him off solutions to their problems. For the safe with six shots and left him at the edge of delivery to Europe of an average of 500-700 the road. grammes of cocaine, usually carried in I did not have a penny. My husband had their stomachs in small packages sealed in invested everything we had in the condoms or the fingers of surgical gloves, business. I rang his partner to say I needed drug couriers can expect to earn several money for the funeral and to live on. He thousand US dollars. They are not told of gave me money. But while I was at the the fatal consequences if the cocaine funeral someone went into my flat and packages burst in the stomach, nor of the 44 Focus on Gender
risk of arrest. Most are told that the worst almost two-thirds of their sentences. The that can happen to them is that they will be distance from home, and language sent back to Colombia on the next flight. problems, mean the women suffer loneli- Cristina was in her mid-thirties when she ness and isolation, many have no one to was arrested at Heathrow airport with 500 visit them and no one to talk to. Long grammes of cocaine inside her stomach. prison sentences also spell disaster for the My daughter is nine years old and needs women's families. an operation to restore her sight. Without Marta has served three-and-a-half years it she will almost certainly go blind. We of her nine-year sentence. She carried 400 are poor and we could not pay the oper- grammes of cocaine in her stomach, ation and when someone offered me money unaware that she was two months preg- to travel abroad, I felt I had no choice but nant. Her daughter was taken from her to accept. I was told that I would have to when she was one year old and for the past take some medicine to Italy for someone two years Marta has seen her only once a who had become ill. I knew it was prohib- week on prison visits. ited to take it out of the country, but I The judge said he would be lenient because believed its sale was not illegal in Europe. I I was pregnant and he gave me nine years. brought it in my stomach and to be able to Being Colombian is enough to give you a swallow it I had to be injected with long sentence. But they do not understand something. The customs detained me at the the situation. When you do not give airport, but until that moment I did not names, the judges think you do not want to really know what a 'bad' drug was. co-operate. They do not understand that Since my arrest I have always told the you are not protecting the guilty, you are truth. I told the court exactly what made protecting your children. me commit the crime, that I only wanted to My children were 17,18 and ten when I cure the sight of my daughter, which is was arrested. They were left alone because I something any desperate mother who loves am head of the family. It is the same for all her children would do. The judge hurt and of us. You worry all the time, that they have humiliated me, saying that in sentencing not got food, that they are sick, that they are me he would take into account the getting involved in drugs. extenuating circumstances, even though I As long as there is a demand for cocaine was probably lying. He sentenced me to in the US and Europe, and as long as there eight years. is fear and poverty and ignorance in Latin My 18-year-old son wanders the streets. America, the dealers will always find I don't know what's happening to my women to carry their drugs. Putting us in daughter. She is with her father, and this is prison for years and years isn't going to a danger for her, for reasons of a personal change that. nature. Note While many judges recognise that women For their protection, the names of the women have such as these are dispensable to the drug been changed. barons, and that lack of information about the tough European penalties for Jo Fisher is the author of two books on Latin smuggling ensures that couriers will be America. Her first, Mothers of the Disappeared, easily replaced, long sentences are still published in 1989, is about the human-rights considered to be a deterrent. struggle in Argentina. Her second book, Out of the Like all foreign prisoners in British Sliadoxvs: Women, Resistance and Politics in South America, tells the story of women's fight against the prisons, Colombian women cannot expect generals in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and early parole and will, on average, serve Paraguay. INTERVIEW
Sochua Mu Lei per, Director of Khemara
ow that the peace agreement for The second problem is the breakdown Cambodia has been signed, and of the community system. Under the Pol Naid embargoes are beginning to be Pot regime, people were moved from one lifted, foreign agencies are falling over place to the other, because the regime was themselves to offer assistance to that afraid of people having too much power beleaguered country. Just a matter of within a community. They killed people, weeks ago, however, the very first local they moved members of families to indigenous Cambodian agency was different parts of the country, they asked launched, which aims to work exclusively children to spy on their parents, they killed with women. Its director, Sochua Mu anybody who could read or write, anybody Leiper, interviewed in her busy offices in who had any kind of leadership. Phnom Penh, talked about the work of The third problem is the total Khemara. breakdown of the family system. It will be a difficult task for Cambodia in the future What are the particular problems that to rebuild the community because of the are facing women in Cambodia? destruction during the four Pol Pot years. I think the most difficult problems that Cambodian women are facing these days How can Khemara help? are first of all the sudden changes in their Khemara can help in a very, very small roles. They used to be just caretakers of way, but at least we are starting, and we their children and now they have to be are the first local, indigenous organisation caretakers, breadwinners, and the core helping our people. We can help by support of the entire family. She has to do looking at the problems of women as a that without the help of a husband because whole and the family as a whole. We do during the Pol Pot years, between 1975 and not want to address just one issue. For 1979, half of the population — over 2 example, we will not just look at income million Khmer people — died. Nowadays generation, or at child-care, or at literacy, 60 per cent of our population are women, we will have an integrated approach. We and of that, 30 per cent are widows. In the will have these three services in each old days Khmer women were not project that we design and we will very educated. Even now they are not educated. much promote community participation. They lack economic support, educational We want to empower women, but they background, and the emotional and need the skills, they need the tools. psychological support from partners.
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, ]une 1993 46 Focus on Gender
money should we contribute, what is the interest rate for the loans, when can you come to the literacy class. Those tasks will be put in the hands of the participants of the projects.
There are lots ofNGOs now in Cambodia — there's a new one starting almost every week. Khemara is the first indigenous NGO. Are there problems that Khemara can tackle, which foreign NGOs would not be able to address quite so easily? As a goal we want to work with the Women's Association in the municipalities — in fact we are already doing it. The Women's Association plays the role of a welfare department but since they do not Learning to weave, at a Khemara workshop. Khemarahave the budget from the government they are pretty much under the control of the local authorities, and not really addressing What sort of tools are they? How do you or responding to the needs of the people. go about building up that sense of trust They have very many representatives, and and community in people who have lost a very good organisation, but they do not it? have the resources. But we have the means, First of all they need to trust themselves, and we will work closely with them. We they need to come together, and function will train members of the Women's together as a group. The trust that was lost Association together with our staff. We has to be built up. For example, when we believe that our contribution in the training were training our staff, it was clear that is very valuable because we take into even among our staff members the women consideration the values of Cambodian do not have trust among themselves, society, the Cambodian family, the because during the genocide years they community. Those are the things that a were taught not to trust, and in the past ten local NGO like us can do for the nation. years life has been so difficult that one lives only for oneself. When I ask people 'do you Do you think there is a value in having know your neighbours?' they answer, 'No, all Cambodians as staff? Will they be we do not have the time to know our able to empathise more closely with the neighbours.' So we want to build up trust, people they are working with? otherwise we could not do a community Yes. We selected our staff in a very special development programme. way. We selected former members of the After that we will have to give the Women's Association because they have women responsibility, and not just talk worked closely with the community for the about their needs but really make it past 12 years. We selected only women, and possible for them to do something one of the criteria for selection was the themselves. They have to design the attitude of the person towards community, projects, and come up with strategies, even the disadvantaged, the handicapped, the very simple ones, as to who will take care poor. It is our principle to say that we will of the children, whose turn is it, how much not serve the poor, we will work with the Sochua Mu Leiper 47 poor. The other criterion was that the staff our staff is that they have gone through the member has to have gone through the Pol difficult years with the people that they Pot regime. I think development in will be working with. But it can also be a Cambodia will face problems at first, weakness. Because they have suffered with because of too much aid coming in at the them, they do not see that all their pain can same time — international aid organis- be changed, can be challenged. So, for ations with expatriate staff wanting to 'save' example, if a woman is beating her child, this nation too fast, without local input. I why is it an issue? If she is under stress, think that will be the danger for Cambodia. she beats her child. So in the training, we ask that question, why is it an issue? How The fear of a kind of a take-over — is would you respond to this situation? that what you mean? Secondly, in community development I fear a take-over, yes. I think in the first we want to stress that women need to be five years it will be that way. People organised. We really want to emphasise coming from outside being so willing to participation of women in the project, and help, people from inside having gone not just serving them. Because in the old through so much. We are so tired that we days, this type of work was done as charity want nothing else but assistance, and I fear work. Community development did not that the two sides do not communicate. exist and still does not exist. We will spend three months learning how to do a survey. Khemara is a women's organisation, run The staff will design the questionnaire and by women, for women. Has that been a collect and analyse the data. We really problem? What do Khmer men feel about need to know, to have the data, to analyse it, and what is the attitude of the public ? As far as the organisation is concerned, we almost have the blessing of the government and the community — I have felt so much confidence and so much support from the community. But when it comes to reality, I have had to stand up and stress our goals to men; they are afraid that we will be pampering the women, and that we will take over without preparing the women. Also they are afraid that we might go too fast, because Cambodian society is run by men, even though they are the minority. We have to tell the public, mainly men, about what we are doing — and that we are not going to take over. The reality is that women have to take care of themselves and women are the roots of this society. So where will you start? There are so many areas that you could work in, how have you prioritised? We have given first priority to training. We will be training our staff for nine months in Creche at a Khemara project. Khemara community development. The strength of 48 Focus on Gender
it, to sit down with the community, and from scratch. It will take another say, what is it that you want us to do? generation of Cambodians to put the country back on its feet. The Peace agreement has been signed For example, the children of this now in Paris. What do you think the generation — what have they seen, what future is going to be like? Does the future have they witnessed in the past 10-20 look bright? How optimistic are you? years? Nothing but war and instability in Well, I have to have some hope, you know! their lives. The people who lived in the But I see that it is going to be a very, very refugee camps have been away for so long long, difficult fight. Peace is on paper right and their children were born in the refugee now. What does it really mean? We do not camps. Now they are coming back, to know. I think there will be some chaos, uncertainty, to their homes that have been because you are dealing with four different destroyed, they are coming back with the groups and you have to face the Khmer refugee mentality. For over ten years they Rouge coming back; you are dealing with lived in the camps where the UN took care the political leaders who have been away of their needs. Now they are returning to a from the country for 10-20 years. I have country that has to start from zero — worked with them on the border where the building your own house, ploughing your refugees are and where the resistance own fields — a country that lacks even group have control; they have no idea what basic things like clean water, electricity, the country inside is like or what people education for children and women. inside are facing nowadays. There is a great deal of misinformation in the resistance So if you had a message for the inter- areas and I fear that the people who have national community, what would it be? gone away for so long have lost touch with I would say, let us come out of it slowly. the reality in Cambodia. Yes, we need assistance; yes, the children Secondly, the Khmer Rouge is coming need to go to school; yes, the women need back. People really do not feel right about to have a better life. But it has to come out that. They know that the Khmer Rouge have of the context of this society. Giving too not changed. I think the government knows much too fast can only destroy the society, but the government wants to stop this war and already we see so much of that. Within that has gone on for too long. I think in that the past two years since I came back, sense it is right. But I hope that international people talk in terms of dollars even in the communities and other countries realise that countryside. In the capital, you see foreign the government almost had to say yes to developers coming in looking at the signing the Peace Agreement and that they resources that are still available in will still have to face the Khmer Rouge. The Cambodia, coming to take advantage of Khmer Rouge will not let their people come what is left. out of their zones. Neighbouring countries will take You know, Cambodia has gone through advantage of Cambodia; and that is very so much. The country economically is ironic, because during the difficult years, totally destroyed, physically we lack so they said, 'No, we do not want to handle many resources, and then the people are the Cambodia problem.' And now that very tired. They need to have some kind of Cambodia is open, they say, 'Oh!, now, hope. So in the beginning of the recon- Cambodia has problems, we should come struction years it will be very hard. As I and take care of Cambodia.' say, I have hopes, but it is difficult, because we have to rebuild from almost nothing, Letters to the Editor
The Editor welcomes correspondence from readers inshould have spotted this in the journal's response to articles published in Focus on Gender. Wesubtitle, which, like the rest of the journal, would like the Letters Page to be a place where the focuses on women rather than on gender views and experiences of readers can be shared. issues. A glance down the contents page General comments on the journal are also welcome. Ifshows that women writers, writing mainly you write to the Editor, please indicate whether or not about women, outnumber men 15:1; the your comments are intended for publication, and first two pages of Geraldine Reardon's please give your full postal address. The Editor Editorial set the tone with 28 mentions of reserves the right to abbreviate letters published in women and not a single mention of men, this section. I commend the efforts of the 'Women in Here are two contrasting responses to the first Development' movement to offset male issue of Focus: bias by enhancing the visibility and participation of women in planned social Congratulations to GADU — for your change. But do the editors and contributors lovely publications on gender and really believe that we can solve gender development! Thank you for the copy of asymmetries by simply substituting one Focus on Gender. I was very thrilled and I kind of gender bias for another? It is have read each and every page of my copy nothing short of scandalous that a new and I think it's wonderful; the new format journal which claims to concern itself with is very appealing indeed! I always look gender issues should be written almost forward to reading your publications and I entirely by women and about women, with always get a feeling that GADU is ever so men censored from the picture except as vibrant and lively! blurry, threatening background figures. All It is a reminder of the importance of this creates the unfortunate impression that linking women's projects, as we all have so 'gender issues' are only the concern of much to learn and share. I feel quite in a women and that they are concerned with celebrating mood as I write to you. women rather than men. I sincerely hope that future editions of the journal will treat Nawina Hamaundu us to something more substantial than the Oxfam Office sound of one hand clapping. Lusaka, Zambia Dr Neil Thin I hope you will be able to publish all or part Department of Social Anthropology, of the following letter, for which I The University of Edinburgh, recommend the title 'Gender blurred'. Adam Ferguson Building, George Square, How disappointing to discover that the Edinburgh, EH8 9LL, UK Focus on Gender doesn't apparently intend to focus on gender at all, but on women. I
Focus on Gender Vol 1, No. 2, June 1993 News from GADU
1994 UN Meeting on human rights: the satellite meeting 'La nuestra', women women's lobby organised platforms of black, Women's rights as human rights is the indigenous, prisoners, and disabled rallying call of the women's lobby in the interest groups to gain a broader build-up to the Vienna UN Conference on understanding of the issues. A total of Human Rights in June 1994. This will be 19 recommendations were put forward only the second conference on the subject and 37 women's organisations and convened by the UN, and a great deal has networks gained consultative status at happened during the 25 years since the regional level. first one took place. As the UN's role as Asia is about to have their regional perceived guardian of democracy and conference with a high level of peace within the new world order expands, participation by women's networks and the 1994 Conference must recognise the groups. A three-day NGO meeting, on ways in which women's rights are Women's Rights, Human Rights and the systematically violated, and the need to Right to Development in Bangkok last integrate them into the concepts, summer had a single coherent focus on mechanisms and institutions of the UN 'The Right to be A Woman', and system. children and minorities were also high GADU Coordinator Eugenia Piza-Lopez on the agenda. attended meetings in February 1993 in The recommendations of the Africa Costa Rica with members of the Latin regional meeting in Tunisia held last America Steering Committee, and DAWN November include a demand to (Development Alternatives for Women for recognise violence against women as a a New Era) groups on development and violation of human rights. reproductive rights. She was briefed on the The International Women's Tribune different UN processes and their outcomes, Center and the Center for Women's and the role of international NGOs in Global Leadership in the US are organ- supporting initiatives promoted by ising a series of international hearings women's networks, as well as the key on the violation of women's human issues for defining human rights from a rights, to inform the UN Commission on gender perspective. Human Rights and the April Prep- aratory Committee. Lobbying around the conference Fringe activities for the Conference • For the Latin America/Caribbean include a world tribunal to feed docu-
Focus on Gender Vol I, No. 2, June 1993 News from GADU 51
mentation on women's rights violations The clothes line has special relevance to to the UN Commission. This will be an this issue's focus on conflict. It aims to pro- extremely important event, setting a duce t-shirts made by survivors of vio- precedent and providing the first tools lence, or friends of women victims. WILPF for monitoring abuses and violations of hope that community women's groups will women's rights, and integrating new organise local shirt-making sessions and definitions from a gender perspective of displays of the Clothes line. The variety of what constitute human rights. There designs on display will show that violence will also be nine regional panels and a against women can take many forms, can permanent open-ended short-wave help break the silence surrounding gender radio station to follow the NGO and the violence, assist the healing process for UN meeting. those who have suffered, and act as a focus to bring about an end to violence against • In Europe: two Oxfam staff attended the women. The t-shirts will be brought General Assembly of Women in together in November around the Development Europe (WIDE) in Madrid International Day to End Violence Against in February, on the theme of women's rights. Speakers from Zimbabwe, Philip- Women. A similar project in the US was pines, Mexico, Tunisia, Nigeria/UK and felt to be very successful as a focus for Croatia raised many serious issues, awareness-raising and solidarity. including the human-rights implications of growing conflict and migration in Community report cards: WILPF are hop- Europe. Although current human-rights ing for a strong women's perspective on activities fail to consider women's rights, environment and development at the 1994 the UN's international instruments still Global Forum in Manchester, UK. Based on provide a useful framework for analysis. the healthy planet report cards developed As in previous WIDE assemblies, North by WEDO (Women's Environment and and South were challenged on the need Development Organisation) they have to find a common language and strategy. developed a paper (more environmentally Workshops were held on reproductive friendly!) version which they hope will be rights, economic rights, ethnic conflict useful for groups auditing their natural, and racism in Europe. A full report of the political, and social environment at local WIDE meeting will be available in April level. Social concerns might be such things 1993. as the number of people living below the poverty line, levels of violence against Women's International League for Peace women and minorities, or access to and Freedom equal-opportunity employment. WILPF has been lobbying, campaigning and networking for peace and justice in the We wish WILPF every success with these context of poverty, exploitation, violence, creative ventures! Their international secre- and discrimination since 1915. It is still tariat is based at 1, Rue de Varembe, CP28, alive and kicking today - not bad going 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. after nearly 80 years! It has branches in many countries of the world, and an inter- New opportunities for funding national coordination office in Geneva. EC Budget Lines B7-5051 and B7 5052: Role Recently members have been involved in of women in development: Opportunities linking with women's groups in former for funding of awareness-raising activities Yugoslavia. Here are details of two UK ini- about gender are currently available tiatives just launched. through the European Community in 52 Focus on Gender
Brussels, Belgium. The funds will be used ioners from a wide range of disciplines to primarily within the European Commission share insights and the results of research to make project officers more aware of and to explore issues of importance to women in development issues, and to help women throughout the world. set up WID Units in the ministries of Previous venues have included uni- developing countries. Research, publica- versities in Israel, Netherlands and Ireland: tions, seminars which contribute to better 2000 women attended the fifth Congress in integration of women's role in policies, February this year in Costa Rica. The would be eligible for grants, and NGOS can success of the Congress is its diversity: 800 apply. The line does not finance activities in papers were presented bringing together the field. For more information, contact Mrs feminist research and gender and develop- E. Hernandez, DGI, Tel: 299 0739, Building ment issues from many countries in a Science 14 (Asia, Latin America and the range of areas — literature, violence Mediterranean), or Ms Chapman, tel: 295 against women, sexuality, disability, 0030, Building Evere Green (African, psychology, and religion. Papers ranged Caribbean and Pacific DCs). from the very specialised (gender roles and homicides in British Columbia 1920-1923) World University Service scheme: Under to the very broad (gender training and a scheme operated by WUS, money is development planning). available until June 1993 to pay for African At this Congress black women's pers- nationals to receive training in the North. pectives were of great significance, and a Women are preferred, working in the field panel discussion focusing on cultural with a senior role in their organisation. identity raised the issue of similarities Please apply as soon as possible to Nick within diversity: black and white women Alcock, Training Department, Oxfam, 274 must define their own struggle in their Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ. own terms. Black Caribbean women's identity, for example, is forged by slavery INTRAC (International NGO Training and myths of the exuberance of slave Centre:) There are still places available on women, whereas white women's sexuality INTRAC courses, including management is conditioned by their protected status and strategies, appraisal of development domestication. agencies and programmes, and improving A discussion panel of indigenous the effectiveness of Northern NGOS and women from Mexico, Costa Rica, Southern partners. The courses, which are Guatemala, and Belize highlighted the aimed at programme and project need for indigenous women to find their managers, last three to five days, and take own identity, linking feminism with place in the North, including some in sustainable livelihoods and land rights. Oxford. More information is available from Indigenous women see their identity as INTRAC, PO Box 563, Oxford 0X2 6RZ, closely related to their physical environ- UK, tel/fax (44) 0865 201851/2. ment, and their perspective on reprod- uctive rights emphasises the importance of Tolerance and respect for diversity and having many children because of the threat difference of extermination for many indigenous The strength of the triennial International peoples. Interdisciplinary Congress on Women lies One of the interesting aspects of this in the opportunity it offers for the sharing Congress was its departure from the usual of experiences from diverse points of view. format of individual speakers to include It brings together scholars and practit- discussion sessions presented by panels, News from GADU 53 which encouraged networking and enabled gency interventions must serve the long- issues raised by black women to be term development goals of strengthening transmitted to the academic mainstream. the community's own capacity for dealing Its weakness was a lack of papers on with rapid and turbulent change. Agencies popular social movements, which emphas- must take responsibility for deepening ised the divide between activists and their understanding of what happens to academics, and may indicate an absence of communities in conflict, and for devel- research on these issues. oping more sensitive means of commun- Eugenia Piza-Lopez of GADU attended icating with the people they aim to help. the Congress, giving a paper entitled The workshop report looks at how 'Towards a new dimension of North-South conflicts develop, their impact on gender cooperation', on the role of development relations, coping with conflict and trauma, agencies in the new world order, and how assessing gender needs in conflict the development paradigm put forward by situations, the nature of empowerment and Southern women can be effectively disempowerment, and the response of integrated into the agenda of Northern Oxfam's partners to conflict. It is very agencies. On the social side, the Congress useful as an analysis of an area of gender offered a huge activities programme, and development which up to now has which included exhibitions, sports been rather neglected. activities,cinema and dance. The sixth Interdisciplinary Congress will be held in How do we discover our gender? three years' time in Australia. How do we know what it means to be female or male? How do we know when Crisis has become normality we are grown up? Is it the same when girls The Oxfam AGRA (Action for Gender become women as when boys become Relations in Asia) meeting in Thailand in men? What influences our decisions? Is February 1993 was entitled 'Development 'growing up' the same all over the world? in conflict situations: the gender Leeds Development Education Centre, dimension'. It was attended by represent- UK, has recently established a gender and atives from Community Aid Abroad, development project to reflect the Oxfam UK and Ireland, Oxfam Hong experience of young people in Europe, Kong, Burmese Relief Centre, and ACORD, Africa, Asia and South America. This who provided a facilitator, and Oxfam exciting new initiative seeks a global representatives from East, South and West perspective on these and a range of other Asia attended, as well as representatives gender issues. It will produce interactive from the Gender and the Emergencies teaching materials for use with young Units based in Oxford. Case studies were people aged 9-14, and hopes to support presented examining in depth the effects of teachers and students in their exploration conflict on different countries, including of the issues surrounding the concepts of Lebanon, Burma, Somalia and Uganda, gender and development. For more details, and on the programmes of development contact Chrys Ritson, coordinator of the agencies such as Oxfam. project at Leeds DEC, 151-153 Cardigan The workshop report questions the Road, Leeds LS6 1LJ, UK, who hopes to assumption that emergency crises are a work with gender and development momentary blip in an otherwise regular workers and field staff to draw on a wide progression towards the goal of long-term range of perspectives. development. It calls for a new model of development which recognises that emer- 54 Focus on Gender
Wotnen-in-development perspectives policy to be circulated to EC ministers and practices of the European responsible for development cooperation. Commission: a progress report It recommends: Eurostep, a network of 22 NGOs from 15 • staffing of the WID Desks of DGI (Direc- European countries working for justice and torate General I, dealing with External equal opportunities for people North and Affairs) and DG VIII (Development and South, is currently lobbying hard to Cooperation) with 2 WID coordination persuade the EC to give a higher profile to posts, supplemented by WID experts on its women-in- development (WID) work. long-term contracts, and gender special- Progress on implementation of the EC's ists on the staff of the five technical gender policy has been slow. Although the divisions; EC Council of Ministers took a decision to • gender training should be provided for integrate gender into EC development all EC staff who deal with project policy in 1982, there has been some planning and implementation; resistance from implementors and project • EC delegations appraising projects officers, and WID officers were not should establish regular contacts with appointed until recently (funded by the women's organisations and national Netherlands and Danish governments bodies with gender competence; rather than from the EC). • gender criteria should always be taken In preparation for a meeting of the EC into consideration before approval of Development Committee in May when a projects, supplemented by gender- review of the implementation of WID specific target analyses to enable better policies will be on the agenda, members of understanding of the different activities the Eurostep gender group have just of men and women. drawn up an evaluation of the EC's gender
Workshop at the AGRA meeting in Thailand. OXFAM Resources 55
common patterns in all four countries, Book review illustrated by the way in which women became aware of their oppression and Out of the Shadows documents the began to organise in the face of the reign of growth of grassroots women's organisations terror unleashed by brutal dictatorships. in the countries of the Southern Cone of The women's lives were also affected by an Latin America. It illustrates how women ideological offensive which called for a emerged into the public arena in reaction to return to traditional values, and the economic and political excesses of the proclaimed that women's place was in the military dictatorships and to demand an home. Ironically it was their roles as wives end to human-rights violations. It also and mothers and their concern for the examines what the recent return to welfare of their families which drove democracy in the Southern Cone has meant women into the public domain. to the lives of women who are among the Jo Fisher shows how grassroots organi- most socially marginalised. sations represent a potential for trans- Until the 1970s Argentina, Chile and forming women's lives and revitalising Uruguay had enjoyed a higher level of working class organisation. She describes development than most other countries in the form 'popular' participation takes, the Latin America, which meant better health variety of women's organisations, and their care, education and economic development, role in the workplace. For example, the but all this was lost following the military Union of Housewives in Argentina has coups. The regimes' economic and political raised housework as an issue with trade programmes provoked the surge in unions. In Uruguay, women trade unionists women's public participation, as falling have challenged traditional practices, and living standards, growth in unemployment, introduced gender issues into political life, chronic poverty, and cuts in state welfare with the result that changes are slowly forced women to look for communal taking place in the private sphere. solutions in order to feed their families. This book does not offer any general There are few publications about the prescriptions nor suggest how to ease the lives of people in Paraguay, even fewer immense burdens shouldered by working about women's organisations. The book class and peasant women in developing provides us with an insight into the harsh countries. But it does portray women's self- reality for Paraguayans who lived under a reliance, giving us an insight into their dictator-ship for 34 years. There are lives, the hardships they confront, and in
Focus on Gender Vol I, No. 2, June 1993 56 Focus on Gender
particular, the constraints that women face hasn't changed. Women still have to work to participation in activities to bring about in the house and look after the children and changes in their situation. on top of that there's the organisations and The book makes it clear that a return to the communal work... democratic government does not mean One of the biggest obstacles for women immediate benefits for all women. Public organising in strongly 'machista' cultures spending cuts imposed by structural- is male opposition. The slogan picked up adjustment measures mean that poverty is a by some of the women's organisations — major reason for women organising. Self- Democracy in the Country and in the help and communal responses are still Home — clearly expresses the struggle essential for survival in shanty towns, and ahead. The book portrays the women's women need support to organise at a strat- efforts in dealing with male opposition as a egic level in order to make their demands gradual process of re-educating partners known to decision makers. The benefits of and colleagues. Jo Fisher points out that democracy are not automatic, and develop- women have democratised politics by ment aid to support these initiatives there- bringing gender issues into the political fore continues to be a priority. parties and trade unions where they are This book is very readable and should learning to stand up for themselves and the be of interest to the non-specialist. Much of issues that immediately concern them. the information in the book was gathered The book does not attempt to measure by extensive interviewing, and the book the changes for women in the Southern gives a voice to women whose experiences Cone. But what is very clear is that women are usually left out of the analysis. In their have challenged the traditional image of the own words, they tell us of the impact of subservient housewife and developed new repression and debt crisis on their lives. relationships with other women based on Jo Fisher sensitively explores the solidarity and shared experiences. Women diversity of interests of women from have also begun to resist sexism, expressed different social backgrounds. In Chile in different forms in political parties, (where there is a growth in grassroots unions, in the community and the home. feminism) domestic violence, sexuality, An important message from this book, education, and childcare have become and a challenge for the women's move- issues for some organisations, but others ment in Britain and around the world, is are deeply suspicious of feminist ideas. the need to search for common ground, to Flora, one of the women interviewed, feels respect the diversity of women from that while all women face gender different cultures and classes and convert it discrimination, working-class women are into a source of strength to challenge confronted with different problems: cultural values, influence decision makers, We have things in common with middle- and transform development policy. class women but we also have other Marilyn Thomson is a writer, researcher and problems they don't have, like the housing consultant on gender issues in development. shortage, debt problems, unemployment, and we're not going to advance as women if Out of the Shadows is written by Jo Fisher the two aren't closely linked. and published in 1993 by Latin America While in Paraguay, where peasant Bureau, London, UK. women only began to organise for the first ISBN 0 906156 77 7 (paperback) £7.99. time in 1985, the issues are more basic as expressed by Pastora: Women still work more than men, that Resources 57
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