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Women in Development (WID)

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Three main theoretical frameworks were developed by Eva Rathgeber in 1990, and they continue to serve as the foundation for current research on women and development. Women in Development (WID), Woman and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development (GAD) are these three separate concepts .This post focuses on the key aspects, traits, development, application, practise, and critique of WID, the oldest and most prevalent of these approaches.

Content

  1. Introduction
  2. Women in Development (WID): An overview
  3. Origin of Women in Development
  4. Features of WID
    1. Integration of women
    2. Improved statistical measures and sex-disaggregated data
    3. Practical needs
    4. Policy Change
  5. The World Conferences on Women: Mexico, Copenhagen and Nairobi
  6. Theoretical underpinnings of WID: Modernisation Theory, contributions and critique
  7. WID response to the changing ‘modern’ world.
  8. Major WID approaches for WID practitioners
    1. Welfare approach
    2. The efficiency approach 
    3. The equity approach
    4. The anti poverty approach
    5. The empowerment approach
    6. Mainstreaming gender equality
  9. Critique of WID
    1. Non-confrontational approach
    2. lack of focus on women’s reproductive lives
    3. Flawed assumption about women’s involvement in development
    4. Failure to question and address global systems and inequities
    5. Over-reliance on the State as provider of solutions
    6. women as tools for development
  10. Conclusion: Way Forward

Introduction

It's crucial to map out and track the changes in the relevance of women as a category across time in order to comprehend the emergence and current status of women in development discourse. Thus, it becomes crucial to comprehend the many strategies for comprehending and enhancing women's position in development, particularly through an examination of shifting viewpoints of international development organisations.

Three main theoretical frameworks were developed by Eva Rathgeber in 1990, and they continue to serve as the foundation for current research on women and development. Women in Development (WID), Woman and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development (GAD) are these three separate concepts . The course offers a module for each of these approaches because of how important and prevalent they are to study and practise growth. The current section focuses on the key aspects, traits, development, application, practise, and critique of WID, the oldest and most prevalent of these approaches.

Women in Development (WID): An overview

The Women's Committee of Washington, DC initially coined the term WID in their efforts to draw policymakers' attention to the data presented by Boserup (in its 1970 description of the regressive impact of development on women's lives). In the early 1970s, the WID approach gained popularity as a strategy for involving women in development. It asks for giving women in development programmes more consideration and aims to incorporate them into development processes and policies as a whole. The principles and presumptions of the modernization theory of development are upheld by this strategy. Thus, the emphasis of WID development programmes is on promoting western values and economic progress. Liberal feminists support modernization theory as a development strategy. After Boserup's 1970 book detailing the negative effects of development on women's life, liberal feminists first started promoting the inclusion of women in development as producers and employees. WID is an example of how modernisation and liberal feminist ideologies have converged.

Origin of Women in Development

The WID method first appeared in the 1970s. Tinker (1997) asserts that the motivation for including women in development programmes came from two different groups of women. These organisations included the US women's movement and the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The US women activists pushed for the right to equal employment, which was seen as the best way to achieve equal status for women as the society gave primary importance to income and employment status, while the Commission sought equality before the law and pushed for greater access to education for women. However, both organisations wished to see US policy changed. During the UN Decade for Women, these two organisations collaborated and promoted the role of women in development.

Women were not specifically included in the First Development Decade (1961–1970) (Kabeer, 1994), but in 1970, the General Assembly adopted a plan for the Second Development Decade that emphasised the necessity of promoting "full integration of women in the whole development effort." This brief allusion in the second decade suggested the possibility of a new awareness (Kabeer, 1994). When the WID group came across Boserup's work in 1974 while compiling a bibliography, it marked a turning point in how women were thought about and planned for. It was hailed as a foundational work for the UN Decade for Women by Tinker (1990). This book helped to legitimate the necessity for attempts to incorporate women in development policies and programmes at a time when numerous social revolutions were taking place and people were questioning everything (Kabeer, 1994). For the first time, WID proponents shaped policy debates at the national and international levels using academic research.

Boserup's findings were nevertheless used by women who used the WID technique. The First Decade for Women's experience and this together disproved earlier theories that women disproportionately benefit from economic advancement. The WID women were able to alter the UN agency for international development's policies as a result of their investigation (USAID). In order to successfully integrate women into national economies, their efforts in the US led to the Percy Amendment in 1973, which mandated that development initiatives be preceded with gender sensitive social impact studies. The liberal feminists' concept of equal opportunity for women was essential during this time. In nations like Canada, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands, certain agencies established WID offices and employed WID personnel. To significantly improve women's access to development, these staff members and planners started an examination of women's lives and experiences and gathered statistics relevant to women. The objective was to increase women's access to financing, employment, education, and training opportunities. It was believed that expanding women's influence on policy, their effectiveness, and the creation of policies that prioritise women would improve economic development. Concern over the WID approach quickly surfaced on a global scale. The United Nations Decade for Women's agenda was established by the World Plan of Action that came out of the Mexico Conference in 1975. (Moser, 1993). Offices with WID personnel were established all around the world to investigate development challenges for women.

Features of WID

Integration of women:

The WID approach is frequently praised for helping to start and improve awareness of women's development needs. The most important corrective action recommended by WID was a focus on the necessity of actively integrating women into development for successful and efficient development to occur. They attributed women's subjugation to their lack of access to the market and their restricted control over productive resources. Women, who were formerly seen as passive recipients of development processes, were actively included in development by WID proponents. Without really bringing about any structural change or advocating for women's own voices for their development, developmentalists who use the WID approach urge for such inclusion of women in the system. WID thus solely emphasises the productive aspects of women's life.

Improved statistical measures and sex-disaggregated data:

WID called for improving statistical measures of women’s work so that a better understanding of women’s development needs can be achieved. For the first time, sex segregated data as made available on women’s work and development needs under WID approach (Overholt et al, 1984).

Practical needs

The WID's emphasis on addressing women's practical needs through expanding options for paid labour is one of its key components. Numerous economic initiatives were attempted to guarantee credit opportunities, employment, etc. The WID strategists and practitioners used a variety of welfare-oriented programmes that offered credit options, technology transfers, and jobs in addition to advocacy efforts. Additionally, WID concentrated on initiatives to improve women's family planning and household management techniques. The advocates saw women more in terms of what they could contribute to the advancement of development than in any other way.

Policy Change

Additionally, changing policy was a top priority on the WID agenda. By urging development planners to reevaluate and implement policies with women in mind, they attempted to start some reforms. Several key goals have drawn the attention of several WID supporters, either individually or jointly. Some of these are highlighted by Tinker (1997) and include access to education, economic development, employment, and equality before the law.

The World Conferences on Women: Mexico, Copenhagen and Nairobi

The formal conferences on women were crucial for advancing and solidifying the idea of women in development, even though it had already been integrated into UN publications before the inaugural World Conference for the International Women's Year in Mexico in 1975. Such UN-led international conferences gave women's causes legitimacy in the eyes of world administrators and state heads of state.

The conferences were highly helpful because each conference's required documentation demanded that member nations present data that was divided by sex. The compilation of such data forced the planners to consider how differently development affected men and women. Scholars researching topics related to women's health, employment, and education found these statistics to be helpful as well. The organising and mobilisation of women across nations was the most notable outcome of such sizable conferences. Even though there was little attendance at the conferences, a number of gatherings of women's NGOs and other groups were held outside of the formal gatherings, and these allowed for free-flowing discussions on global women's issues. WID was a key idea in the development processes impacting women by the year 1985. Additionally, it expanded beyond just being an idea, and numerous academics and professionals accepted it in order to forward their objectives for the advancement of women (Tinker, 1997)

Theoretical underpinnings of WID: Modernisation Theory, contributions and critique

Over the past several decades, liberal market concepts of economic growth have structured and driven development planning around the world. Liberal neo-classical economics has been instrumental in shaping development as a field of study as well as in development practise and policy (Kabeer, 1994). Although the WID approach is informed by economic theories (liberal neoclassical economics and liberal market models of economic growth), modernization theory is principally responsible for its inception and development.

One of the earliest sociological theories of development, modernization theory attempted to supplement the assertions of economic theory with a social and cultural perspective. It views the transition from a conventional pre-modern society to a modern society as an evolutionary and unilinear process. It sees this movement as going through several stages, each one being better and more contemporary than the one before it. The traditional, pre-modern culture, institutions, and habits are considered as obstacles to the development of the desired goal. As a result, highly individualistic systems replaced kinship and family-based ones in modern cultures. Instead of assigning statuses to the accomplishments, the modernization framework attributes them to individual efforts. Different modernization theorists used various social and economic variables to explain this transition from the pre-modern to the modern era, but they all shared the idea that for underdeveloped countries to become developed, changes in culture and beliefs were necessary. They singled out the Third World nations as having structures that support those cultural ideas as well as a lack of reasonable, individualistic endeavour. Talcott Parsons, a modernism theorist, offered a practical interpretation of the division of labour, arguing that since women and men are socialised into different gender roles, it is desirable for them to fill those duties both within and outside the home. Men were expected to work outside in the market as women procreated, making domestic duties their area of expertise. The division of labour within and outside the home was also explained and rationalised by the perception that men and women had and were acquiring different features and attributes. Women were perceived as emotional, illogical, and lacking in risk-taking and competitiveness (good for taking care of the household and its members). Men, on the other hand, were viewed as having a place in the market because it was thought that they were reasonable, objective, and competitive. As society transitioned from family-based to market-based civilizations, women were "free" to choose on their own whether to work in the market. They had to balance their responsibilities as moms with their jobs in the workforce, though.

Modernization theory

A collection of theories known as modernization theory attempt to explain how societies change and develop. The conventional and modern poles are essentially at odds with one another in this idea. Social change is confined by the old pre-modern society's technologically constrained values, behaviours, and beliefs, which result in a social system that is static and unchanging. It is said that old institutions and attitudes are inherently backward. The ideal modern system can be found at the other pole. The West is thought to possess the cutting-edge morals and ideologies that promote the best kinds of capitalism, democratic government, and technological superiority. This idea promotes modernization as the primary path for development, focusing on these two poles. According to the notion, Third World undeveloped cultures can best evolve into modern, self-sufficient civilizations by adopting Western modern capitalist practises and beliefs. It is proposed that undeveloped nations can progress economically by adopting industrialisation, contemporary technological processes, and a shift toward agricultural output for commerce. It utterly disregarded the issues surrounding the effects of colonialism, global institutions, and its injustices. Talcott Parsons, Walter Rostow, and Daniel Lerner are some of the most prominent defenders of the modernization idea.

WID response to the changing ‘modern’ world. 

Many changes in development policies and how they perceived women were made as a result of the responses of WID scholars and advocates to development from a modern perspective. The market- driven economic growth-led development and its effects on women were some of the questions raised by WID. Economic expansion had not been able to relieve women of their domestic toil, and they were not sharing the new opportunities, technologies, or productive resources. Prejudices and gender roles persisted, and the market also treated women differently according to their gender. While maintaining a fundamentally liberal worldview, WID proponents diverged from conventional development wisdom. They highlighted the fact that women were not gaining from this type of economic expansion. Boserup's book served as the foundation for WID's important analysis of how women's reproductive and productive lives varied among cultures, despite the fact that they shared similar reproductive functions. In the Third World, markets preferred men because they had access to formal education and because they had socialised themselves into developing market-friendly views. In the Third World, modernity did not aid women as much to improve their productive lives, which resulted in the emergence of a sex-based occupational hierarchy. Women have been further pushed to the periphery of progress by the modern economy. Since of their rigid gender norms and gendered socialisation, women were considered second-class workers in the economy because they lacked the training and credentials that were crucial. In order for women to be fully integrated into the competitive economy, Boserup therefore called for improved education and training options for them.

Additionally, the sex-role theory was questioned by WID proponents. They argued that instead of having a balancing effect on the lives of men and women, it relegated women to inferior status within the family and society. Sex role theory was a key element of modernization theory, and WID challenged it by demonstrating how this theory had a negative impact on policy creation and implementation by favouring males and resulting in an unequal distribution of productive resources and responsibilities between women and men. Additionally, the criticism of sex-role theory prompted a focus on creating sex-disaggregated data for development planning that is more grounded in actual research.

Additionally, WID proponents argued against lumping women into a category with those who required welfare and switched from a welfare to an efficiency-focused strategy. The emphasis switched from women's needs to efficiency and merit (Kabeer, 1994). Rogers used the efficiency defence to argue that while development needs women, women do not need development in the context of the Third World's economic woes. Development planners were more drawn to the requirements of development than to the needs of women. In national and international development policies, the WID efficiency method has become more prominent.

Major WID approaches for WID practitioners

It was challenging for both men and women working inside WID development agencies to understand how to incorporate women in development. Within the WID paradigm, they employed numerous strategies. Those approaches have been classed and classified in various ways by different philosophers. Three strategies for including women in development were laid out by Buvinic (1983). Welfare, anti-poverty, and equity were among them. Efficiency and empowerment were two further classes made by Moser (1989). Later in 1993, Moser added mainstreaming gender equality as a category to his classification of WID approaches. These methods each put forth distinct replies to various sets of imperatives, yet they are not sequential nor mutually exclusive (Kabeer, 1994). As a result, this section lists all of the development strategies that are a component of the WID approach generally below:

Welfare approach

Up until the 1970s, this strategy governed initiatives to advance women in development. Targeting women as mothers and spouses, it was believed that macroeconomic growth would flow down to benefit the underprivileged and that the economic success of their husbands and dads would enhance the status of women. Such a strategy strengthened the stereotype of women as conservative and archaic. This strategy overlooked women's roles as economic players and reduced them to being merely mothers. According to Moser (1989), the idea of "social welfare" from the European Poor Laws of the 19th century served as the inspiration for the welfare concept. Women were viewed as being unable to better themselves and in need of ongoing welfare help as a result.

The efficiency approach

This method neglected women's reproductive experiences and concentrated on them as primarily economic actors and producers. This strategy addressed a core WID concern that programmes should be designed in a way that incorporates women's participation in the productive realm in response to the inability of economic development programmes to benefit women. In order to plan development interventions, it was stated that gender analysis of gender roles made sound economic sense and improved the outcomes of numerous development programmes. This strategy has drawn criticism for emphasising the part that women play in development rather than the part that women play in development.

The equity approach

This approach was popular among development advocates during the UN Decade for Women (1976-85) and advocated for feminist organizing calling for gender equality. There was UN backing for such organizing for equal rights and this had reasonable impact on social legislations. This resulted in affirmation of women’s civil and political rights of women in many countries.

The anti poverty approach

This strategy was required since the equity approach's women-only focus on equal rights was encountering resistance, and women's concerns had to be positioned within the wider course of development. Meeting people's fundamental needs was the approach's main goal. While strategic demands were downplayed, women's practical needs were highlighted.

The empowerment approach

By mid 1990s, mainstream development agencies adopted the key word, ‘empowerment’. This approach was significant in the rise and popularisation of participatory approaches to development planning and intervention. It called for working with women at grassroots level to exercise their agency in deciding for their development.

Mainstreaming gender equality

At the Beijing conference, the phrase "gender mainstreaming" became popular as the participating nations agreed that issues of human rights and social justice include the empowerment of women and gender equality. This method makes the claim that it combines the advantages of the empowerment and efficiency approaches in the context of mainstream development. It demands that the issues and experiences that affect both men and women at all stages of development be taken into account.

Critique of WID

Non-confrontational approach 

There has been a lot of opposition to the WID strategy. First of all, it has come under fire for adopting a conciliatory stance and for failing to inquire into the reasons why women have not benefited from development policies. It did not acknowledge or deal with the part that patriarchy played in the exploitation of women. It neglected the fact that women have inferior positions in all societies and social strata, with patriarchy being the primary offender. It failed to recognise that women's exclusion and gender subordination are caused by unequal gender relations and roles (Bradshaw, 2013). The bigger societal processes that have an impact on women's lives and their responsibilities in reproduction were not questioned under this strategy since it placed more emphasis on the productive public sphere.

lack of focus on women’s reproductive lives

WID's transformational potential is constrained because it primarily emphasises productive lives. This perspective, which was based on modernization theory, ignored women's reproductive and domestic work in favour of focusing only on the productive parts of their life. Women's workload only rose if they took on more paid job and men didn't share their home duties. Working just with women led to ongoing gender inequality as long as socio-cultural practises and institutions were the same. The basic issues behind women's inferior status in society were left unanswered.

Flawed assumption about women’s involvement in development

Further, WID is criticized for its underlying assumption behind the call for the integration in economy that women were not already participating in development. Such an assumption downplays women's (particularly third world women) roles in household production and informal economic and political activities (Koczberski, 1998).

Failure to question and address global systems and inequities

The importance of other identity categories, such as race and class, in the lives of women was largely disregarded in favour of a narrow focus on economic issues and because of erroneous assumptions. Thus, WID is subject to harsh criticism from Third World nations. It ignores the advantages of traditional indigenous knowledges and makes the incorrect assumption that western institutions are the solution to all development issues. It also falsely thinks that integrating into the modern workforce and finding gainful jobs are necessary for the advancement of women (Razavi and Miller, 1995). This presumption suggests that traditional workplace structures and responsibilities are obstacles to women's personal growth.

Over-reliance on the State as provider of solutions

WID heavily relied on government funding, but in Third World nations, women organised themselves with little assistance from the state. Additionally, the NGOs operated independently of mainstream initiatives to advance women since they were unsatisfied with them. Working alone, they discovered that women's initiatives were also hampered by a lack of money and political clout. Additionally, it is becoming more apparent that the State may be confirming women's inferior status in society, while the WID approach views the State as the ultimate source of solutions. Women's offices and personnel were frequently incorporated into general development projects, even in the West.

Women as tools for development

Lastly, but most significantly, WID sees women’s claims as conditional and does not see them beyond their potential to contribute to economic prosperity and overall development of the society (Razawi and Miller, 1995). It fails to give women’s issues their due, unconditionally.

Conclusion: Way Forward

According to Kabeer (1994), policy and research interventions made by WID activists and practitioners allowed for the first-ever global recognition of the diverse complexity, shared, and unique realities of women's lives. The WID approach has also made it regular practise to collect development data that is sex-disaggregated, and many anti-discrimination legislation are currently in effect all across the world. Women's ministries and central organisations for women's empowerment are established by the state governments. However, women continue to be the undervalued and oppressed group in communities all throughout the world. While some organisations have made gender equality a priority and a serious concern, most local and international development organisations still co-opt women's issues and treat them as a mandate. Today, there is a feminization of poverty, making women more susceptible to any catastrophe. The WID approach has encountered difficulties, and the objectives of structural change and gender equality call for more robust and all-encompassing approaches. In such circumstances, the methods are changing and various alternate viewpoints are being promoted.
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