GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT THEORY, POLICY AND PRACTICE THROUGH A FEMINIST POSTMûDERN LENS: A CASE STUDY OF CIDA'S POLICIES ON WOMEN 1995-2000 ELIZABETH ASIEDUA ASANTE A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada August, 2000 copyright (c) Elizabeth A. Asante, 2000 National Library Bibliothèque nationale If of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, nie Wellington OttawaON K1AON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your fi& Votre reference Our b& Narre raMrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts kom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenirise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT This thesis infums the debate about the potential contributions of postmodern feminist thought to gender and development theory, policy and practice . Through critical examination of how the Canadian International Development Agency has incorporated strategies and criticisms of the Gender and Development approach in its policies on women, the study illuminates the contributions of postmodern feminisrn as an oppositional discourse. DEDICATION EBENEZER Thus far has the Lord brought us. iii 1 wish to acknowledge with thanks the help 1 have received from many people who, in diverse ways, made it possible for me to write this thesis. My first sincere gratitude is to Professor Roberta Hamilton for her careful and patient supernision of this study. Without her kind support, generosity and constant encouragement throughout my time at this Department, I would not have completed this programme or this thesis. My special thanks also to Professor Ena Dua for her constant support, kindness and for the benefit of her authoritative insights. I wish also to express my deepest gratitude to June Pilfold for her thoughtful kindness and help which 1 cannot ever repay. 1 am also grateful to Professor Bruce Berman, Political Science Department, for suggesting important reading material. My special thanks to the department faculty, especially to each of the professors in whose class 1 sat with my baby. 1 would also like to thank my fellow graduate students in the Department of Sociology, QueenfsUniversity for their sympathy and constant support. To the CIDA staff who took time to partake in interviews, 1 am deeply grateful. My deepest gratitude is to my farnily, co my husband and friend, Prince Yaw Donyina, for always putting my needs above his, and to my mother and sister for their help and prayers. Finally, 1 am grateful to each of the authors listed in the bibliography. Their work was a joy of learning. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .............................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................... v PREFACE .................................................. vi INTRODUCTION ............................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE: History of Dsvelopment Theory ............... 21 CHAPTER TWO: Integrating Women into Development ......... 49 CHAPTER THREE:C1DAts Policies on Women and Gender ....... 79 CHAPTER FOUR: Analyais of CIDArs Policies on Women and Gender .......................... 94 CHAPTER FIVE: CIDAfs Policies . A Critique .............. 112 CgAPTER SIX : Conclusions .............................. 147 =NOTES ...............................+................. 161 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................. 173 APPEM)IX A ............................................... 188 APPENDIX B ............................................... 190 APPENDIX C ...............................................203 VITA ..................................................... 204 PREFACE My interest in pursuing this subject stems from my previouç work experience in development assistance and rny fascination with the possibilities that postmodern feminism offers development theory, poiicy and praccice. Tnis nes sis is mainly to contribute to the debate on the relevance of postmodern feminist thought to gender development theorizing. 1 attempt to make this contribution through an empirical analysis of the Canadian International Development Agencyts policy documents and data from interviews with CIDA staff. In analyzing this data, 1 focus on how recent development priorities are reflected in CIDAts recent adoption of gender and empowerment approaches. Analyzing transformatory development strategies from the postmodern perspectives of the politics of participation and context, reveals inherent differentiation and power relations that are continually played out in the development arena and in North-South relations. My analysis revealed that power relations that discriminate against women and people in the South are not necessarily only included in the dynamics of gender relations of a country as CIDAts policy indicates. Decisions about the development path the South is to pursue continues to be the prerogative of the North in spite of the adoption of empowerment and participatory approaches to development. 1 Say this because of two main failings in CIDAts policies and strategies on women in the South. The first is that participation continues to be an elusive concept for CIDA. Policy is still dictated from the North in spite of policy rhetoric on participation. The second is that CIDA1s policies do not challenge global cqitalist hierarrkical stxxtrirec cf pmor in which the South is located. In its policy dialogues therefore, CIDA continually fails to successfully address gender equality in structural adjustrnent. My analysis shows that feminist postmodern approaches offer possibilities for the theoretical reconceptualization of development. Feminist postmodern approaches to gender and development reveal the political nature of development. Development is revealed to be another major category of social life which is contested and politicised and which has also become a privileged and contested site for questioning and negotiating control of the Southfsdevelopment and North-South relations. vii INTRODUCTION In recent years, transformatory paradigms have been adopted by the international development enterprise in which development as an empowerment concept shifts decision-making to the people of the South and development discourses towards North-South partnership. Development assistance agencies targeting women in the South have sought to employ these progressive transformative strategies on women. The emphasis has turned from integrating women into development to identifying and addressing gender-based constraints in key sectors of the economy. Many development assistance agencies have expanded their policy not just to include women but to infuse gender into al1 their programme operations. Such processes of mainstreaming aim to transf orm exis ting development agendas with a gender perspective in which women and men not only become a part of the mainstream, but also actively participate to re-orient the nature of development (Jahan, 1995, 1997; Staudt, 1997, 1998). These gender approaches to womenls development aim to transcend the limitations of previous integrationist policies of Women in Development (WID) programmes where women were added onto programmes without any fundamental change in the general policy or direction of development assistance. Several development assistance agencies have adopted different strategic frameworks to reduce gender inequalities and poverty and bring about transformation. 1 In the 1960s development meant an acceleration of economic growth measured by gross domestic product (GDP) or GDP per capita, while the approaches used emphasized acceleration of industrialization and import-substitution of rnanufactured goods and capital equipment (United Nations, i999! . The development enterprise at thls tirrie saw the economic role of women only in reproduction, as home-makers, bearers and rearers of children and as housewives. Development policy and strategy targeted men only. It was expected that whatever resulting benefits would trickle down to wornen. In the 1970s pioneering research on womenls role in economic development gave birth to the Women in Development (WID) regime which, translating the findings of these research into development practice, sought to integrate women into the development Stream: In the 1980s it became clear that development, which had been conceptualized as a Western project to modernize post-colonial nations, was not achieving the promised improvements in the lives on the people in the South. Rather the development process was contributing to the growth of poverty, increasing structural and gender inequalities, environment degradation and further intensifying the hardship faced by poor people especially women.- From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, there has been a shift in positions