Gender and Development (GAD)

 Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Gender and Development (GAD): An Overview
  3. Origin of GAD
  4. Theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of GAD
    1. Conceptual focus
    2. Theoretical base: Socialist Feminism
  5. Features and Focus of the GAD approach
    1. Shift from focus on women to focus on gender and social relations of gender
    2.  The shift in approach toward development
    3. Gender mainstreaming
    4. Rejection of public-private dichotomy
    5. Focus on the role of the State
    6. Recognition of Women’s agency
    7. Recognition of differences among women
    8. Focus on legal as well as customary rights
    9. Tools used in GAD
    10. Practical gender needs and strategic gender interests
  6. Practice within GAD: A way ahead
  7. Conclusion

Introduction

Gender and Development (GAD) is the most recent critical approach to the study of women, gender, and development. It is one of the three main frameworks. This post goes into detail about GAD.
The goal of the blog is to help readers: 
  1. Understand the shift from focusing on women to focusing on both men and women in development. 
  2. Getting a critical understanding of how GAD works and what it brings to the field of development.
  3. Learning how to use the GAD approach when studying or putting together development programmes from a gender perspective.

Gender and Development (GAD): An Overview

This strategy was developed as an improvement over the WID and WAD approaches to women's challenges in development. This method breaks from modernization theory and identifies the critical connections between relations of production and relations of reproduction. It draws on feminist activism and socialist feminism as its foundations (Rathgeber, 1990). In order to address all facets of women's lives, the Socialist Feminist theoretical framework of GAD stresses gender relations in both the productive and reproductive sectors of women's lives (Visvanathan, 1997), taking into account lessons from the shortcomings of WID and WAD approaches. GAD views males as equally important contributors to finding solutions for women because gender relations are the fundamental category of analysis in this disorder (Young, 1992). This framework focuses on empowerment and gender-aware planning, among other things (Connelly et al, 2000)

Origin of GAD

Feminists and development theorists who contended that neither WID nor WAD addresses the underlying factors that produce and maintain gender inequality gave rise to GAD in the 1980s (Connelly, 2000). As a result of its emergence from the writings and grassroots organising experiences of Third World feminists, this strategy is the most pertinent to the nations of the South. Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), which was established at the 1985 Nairobi international NGO summit, has done the finest job of articulating the emergence and characteristics of GAD. A strategy for women's development that addresses both global and gender imbalances were demanded at this forum (Sen and Grown, 1987). UN Women's Decade also had a major impact on the creation of GAD. Studies and actions during this decade have shown how women's efforts have been undervalued and how their status is still quite marginal. Such findings made the GAD approach necessary by the decade's conclusion. Although distinct viewpoints on gender and development are still changing today, WID, GAD, and WAD perspectives had substantially converged by 1990. (Rathgeber, 1990).

Theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of GAD

Conceptual focus:

Conceptually, the emphasis on gender as a primary area of research is significant and spread like wildfire after the 1980s. Understanding women-men relationships and interactions requires an understanding of how this category was socially constructed and how it relates to cultural contexts (Ostegaard, 1992). The main category of analysis in GAD is these social relations of gender. Gender relations are considered to be socially formed patterns of behaviour and can (and ought to) be changed as a result. GAD proponents disputed the socially created and preexisting gender roles, duties, and relations because they believed that working with solely women could not fully address the problems of women because gender relations are unequal (Hazel, 2000).

Importantly, researchers like Rubin (1975) and Moser (1993) concentrated on social relations of gender as a category that subordinate women had an impact on the GAD method. The two main conceptual frameworks employed in GAD, according to Razavi and Miller (1995), are social relations analysis and gender roles. Together, they decide what is expected of women and men in terms of power, wealth, and access. These all typically favour men and disadvantage women. While men are supposed to exercise power in both their productive and domestic spheres, women are expected to maintain homes and carry out home-based jobs. GAD consequently necessitates a study of how roles, obligations, and expectations are distributed between men and women. In such a conceptual framework, GAD develops policies that could change the way traditional gender relations are conducted. GAD proponents use gender analysis as a method to reveal the unequal power relations ingrained in conventional roles and the gendered division of work.

Working within the GAD method calls special attention to Caroline Moser's work. By focusing on gender interactions, Moser developed the Gender Planning Framework. This framework for development, which was originally developed in the 1980s for the University of London's Development Planning Unit, was later expanded into a technique for gender planning and policy making. It is based on three fundamental ideas: the three roles that women play (community management, production, and reproductive activities); practical and strategic gender interests and requirements; and classes of WID/GAD policy approaches. This paradigm explores the factors and procedures that affect access and control for both men and women in addition to quantitative factual data. It entails assessing gender needs, identifying gender roles, breaking down who controls resources and who makes decisions in the home, preparing for a work-life balance, and integrating women in organisations that are gender conscious in the planning.

Theoretical base: Socialist Feminism

Theoretically, the experiences and analyses of Western Socialist feminists concerned with development issues (Young et al., 1981; Moser, 1989) have greatly influenced the formation of GAD. The social construction of reproduction and production is combined by socialist feminists to explain how women are treated less favourably in society. They cast doubt on the applicability of gender norms and concentrate on the social dynamics of gender. Socialist feminists understand that more women need to participate in sociopolitical and economic life. However, they place more emphasis on figuring out how and why women have historically been given subordinate responsibilities. Socialist feminists combine the study of capitalism and patriarchy to comprehend and explain the systemic exclusion of women from leadership roles in all spheres of life (as under classic Marxist analysis). They regard both as equally responsible for establishing and upholding the subjugation of women to men.

This school of feminism concentrates on both the public and private spheres of women's life while synthesising the arguments and justifications of Radical Feminism and Marxist Feminism. By asserting that the liberation of women can be attained by eradicating both the economic (capitalist structures and processes) and cultural (patriarchal norms and practices) sources of women's oppression, it broadens the arguments of both Marxist and Radical Feminism (the role of gender and patriarchy in the oppression of women) (Buchanan, 2010).

Features and Focus of GAD approach 

Shift from focus on women to focus on gender and social relations of gender

To begin with, GAD is not just focused on women; rather, it investigates how gender is socially constructed as well as how gender-specific duties and responsibilities are created and maintained. In order to comprehend, justify, and propose solutions for women's subordinate situation in society, proponents examine all facets of social, political, and economic existence. GAD, in contrast to WID and WAD, investigates and profoundly reexamines the current social structures and institutions rather than translating them into building intervention programmes for better integrating women.

The GAD method acknowledges that women's status in society is determined by their place in the national, municipal, and regional economies as well as by the material circumstances of their life, drawing on the Socialist Feminist perspective. The GAD approach, which places a strong emphasis on the patriarchal allocation of power, maintains that the gender norms for women and men in a given society are what produce and sustain women's material conditions as well as their lack of authority and power (Sen and Grown, 1987).

Sen and Grown (1987) emphasize that the GAD perspective's unique quality is in how it treats men. The GAD approach supports men's contribution to a more gender-equal society based on social justice rather than pushing for women-only and women-specific organising and characteristics in development projects.

The shift in approach toward development

GAD researchers examined how development shapes and reshapes power relations based on the concepts of gender and gender relations (Momsen, 2010). Compared to its earlier equivalents, this theoretical perspective is more comprehensive and sees development as a complicated process shaped by numerous socio-political and economic influences (Visvanathan, 1997). It shifts the focus beyond just production to include the field of social reproduction in its analysis, transcending Marxist theories (Kabeer, 1994).

Gender mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming is a tactic employed by gender analysts as part of the GAD approach to demonstrate dedication to changing the power structures in domestic and international organisations (Derbyshire, 2002). Such a strategy has effects on both men and women and de-empowers some influential elite persons and institutions (Rathgeber, 1990). Planning for the establishment of a gender-aware strategy to development must have gender inequity as its foundation.

Rejection of public-private dichotomy

This method disregards the distinction between the public and private spheres and analyses both the reproductive and productive lives of women. The proponents of GAD address the mechanisms and viewpoints that undercut women's domestic and reproductive work by focusing on the nature of the work done by women within and outside of their homes. This strategy explores the private spheres of women's lives and considers the family as a place for women's oppression, drawing on the principles of socialist feminism.

Focus on the role of the State

There is also a call for increased state responsibility in emancipating women within GAD approach. The state is seen to be having the duty to provide social services that take load off women. The State, within GAD, is expected to support women’s social reproduction tasks like care of children, etc. Kabeer (1994) highlights that, unlike early Marxist feminists, GAD has wider approach and calls for working with official development agencies.

Recognition of Women’s agency

The emphasis placed on women acting as agents of their lives is one of the GAD approach's most distinguishing characteristics (Momsen, 2010). The acknowledgement of their agency marks a change from prior strategies in which they were treated as passive beneficiaries of development aid. Women are viewed as their own agents of change who ought to band together and develop a stronger political voice.

Recognition of differences among women

While the emphasis on the power of women's organising by banding together around their causes has been a characteristic even earlier, what distinguishes GAD from prior approaches to women in development is the understanding of the differences within the woman class. It is acknowledged that patriarchy affects all women and operates inside and across all social classes. Differences in class, age, religion, ethnicity, and other factors are thought to have a significant impact on how women grow (Momsen, 2010). Within the GAD viewpoint, the intersections, relationships, and tensions of gender, racism, class, and development are adequately acknowledged (Maguire, 1984). It is acknowledged and stressed that these categories are social constructions and that they have an impact on how differently women view the world (Moser, 1993)

Focus on legal as well as customary rights

Within the GAD method, the legal protection and promotion reforms from earlier approaches were maintained. To enhance the legal standing of women, the inheritance and land rules were revised. Importantly, the GAD approach acknowledges the conflict between legal and customary rights and the harm it causes to women. (1990; Ratgeber)

Tools used in GAD

GAD highlights the significance of political activism while also acknowledging the needs and concerns of women in terms of their finances (Visvanathan, 1997). GAD favours using community organising, public education, the creation of transformative forums, coalition building, and other tactics for this type of activity.

Practical gender needs and strategic gender interests

The most important aspect of the GAD framework is its multifaceted approach, which makes distinctions between capitalism, race, and patriarchy. Feminists can identify weaknesses in the development agencies' tactics and policies thanks to this differentiation. Overall, GAD addresses the underlying class and gender disparities that result in and limit women's ability to meet a variety of practical requirements. The fulfilment of strategic interests is thought to empower women and, in the end, change gender relations. It also targets the strategic interests of women. One notable feature of the GAD perspective is the politicisation of practical requirements and their translation into strategic goals.

Practice within GAD: A way ahead

There is a growing trend among national and international developmentalists to create and use gender analysis frameworks for evaluating gender differences in the allocation of power and productive resources, not only within households but also outside of them, as a result of the relevance of the category of gender having been established by GAD proponents (Visvanathan, 1997). In NGOs that operate in the fields of agriculture and the environment, gender analysis frameworks are prevalent. Today, the GAD method and its tools are widely employed to advance knowledge of women's issues and their application in various contexts (households, farms and communities). To influence gender-aware policy changes, a number of GAD techniques are recommended and in use, including coalition building, political advocacy, public education, and community mobilisation (Visvanathan, 1997).

Practical programming, project creation, and efforts to effect power transfers and structural changes have all been impacted by GAD. However, Rathgeber contends that fully articulated GAD projects are uncommon in national and international contexts and that GAD has only been partially incorporated into development practice. As a result, these efforts are sparse and have little impact.

In her essay from 1984, Maguire makes the case that the development work was done within the framework of pre-existing social systems. The work demonstrates WID's bandage strategy and suggests some sort of intervention for issues once they are made visible. For instance, offering women technological training or community education to solve their difficulties with schooling. The attempts have disregarded how international institutions contribute to widening inequality, escalating reliance, and the ongoing marginalisation of women in both rich and developing country communities due to societal constructions of gender. There is a perception that third-world nations are somehow to blame for their citizens' poverty and other problems. Rathgeber (1990) builds on Maguire's (1984) observation that development programmes continue to lack a fully developed GAD viewpoint. The gender roles and responsibilities are hardly ever actually questioned in projects. Fundamental societal change is still just a pipe dream. Although the significance of the gender/sexual division of labour in women's status has come to be more widely acknowledged, men's growing involvement in domestic duties does not help women's increased participation in paid work. The technologically assisted programmes might reduce some of the workloads for working women, but they go far short of changing gender roles, obligations, and expectations.

Criticism

GAD has drawn criticism for not being as effective in practise as it was claimed to be, while having promising ideas and characteristics. Additionally, it has come under fire for highlighting the social divides between men and women while ignoring the ties that unite them. Another type of criticism contends that GAD does not conduct a deeper investigation of its approach of social relations, leading to an inadequate explanation of how social relations affect and influence development programmes geared toward women. Another flaw with GAD, according to Hazel (2000), is that it neglects to look at the different trade-offs that women must make in order to be married and have children. Additionally, despite accepting that women are a diverse population, GAD neglects to address gender differences and how they affect women's experiences with development.

In essence, GAD has not been fully embraced in practise. Any development programme often includes components from WID, WAD, and GAD. Even though they use a gender-based approach, GAD programmes also have a WID focus at the institutional level, despite their theoretical differences. The term "gender mainstreaming" is being co-opted in development and is frequently used as a shorthand for including women's issues. For development organisations, gender equity continues to entail improved financial conditions.

Conclusion

This method views development as a multifaceted process impacted by numerous political and socioeconomic players. GAD thus covers people's social and political demands in addition to their economic well-being. GAD recognises the importance of the state in creating gender equality as well as the empowerment of women, male accountability, and other factors (Young, 1997).

Rathgeber (1990) asserts that the shortcoming shared by all three perspectives—WID, WAD, and GAD—is their tendency to view women as a single entity when discussing developmental processes. These frameworks have, nevertheless, increased awareness of women and their problems. According to Moser, the three approaches have shifted from emphasising national character and culture to focusing on structural elements both inside and across nations. Many women now hold high-level positions in the development sector. Resources are distributed more fairly than they once were, and platforms for collaborations between men and women as well as among women have increased. Numerous national and local organisations as well as the majority of UN agencies have changed their perspectives on how to advance women's rights and roles in development. This is not meant to minimise the existence of numerous women who continue to lead constrained and marginalised lives in places and contexts where their rights are either ignored or not respected. These three approaches have paved the way for a society that is more gender equal and provides better lives for women, but they fall short of expressing and addressing women's lived experiences of their gender in development.

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