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A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Michel Friedman, Gender at Work

[email protected]

Ray Gordezky, Threshold Associates

[email protected]

For more than fifteen years, Gender at Work has worked with civil society organizations to

address women’s rights, gender equality and social justice issues. What has grown out of

Gender at Work’s experiences in Bangladesh, South Africa, India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somaliland,

Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar is an evolving practice that is multi-factorial (individual,

organizational, societal) and holistic (head, heart, hands). It is concerned with the individual

psychology and consciousness of women and men, their access to resources, and the social

structures in which they live and work – both inside organizations and within the fabric of

communities. Out of these ideas, Gender at Work created the Organization Strengthening

Program. It has resulted in women and men being able to imagine and act on what was felt to

be impossible. In this paper we will describe three key elements of this program, and conclude

with some questions for those undertaking social innovation and societal change initiatives.1

INTRODUCTION

It is difficult to desire what one cannot imagine as a possibility.

– Amartya Sen2

In the sphere of women’s rights, bilateral agencies acknowledge that gender equality is critical

to development and peace3. Despite the considerable energy invested to further social justice

and major gains for women through policy reform and changes in workplace practices, positive

outcomes for women’s lives are far from the norm. We’ve found two reasons for the lack of

more progress. One reason for this situation is that insufficient attention has been given to

factors holding inequality in place, such as culturally supported traditions and norms which

determine who gets what, what counts, who does what and who decides4. These factors include

values that maintain the gendered division of labour, the restrictions on women owning land,

the limits to women’s mobility, the permissive customs that condone violence against women,

1 This paper would not have been possible without previous papers written for Gender at Work. Kelleher, David.

(2009) Action Learning for Gender Equality. Gender at Work. Friedman, Michel and Kelleher, David. (2009). In Their

Own Idiom: Reflections on a Gender Action Learning Program in the Horn of Africa, Gender at Work.

www.genderatwork.org. 2 From an interview with Amartya Sen, Nobel prize winning economist in an interview with Eleanor Wachtel on CBC

radio program Writers & Company, broadcast August 8, 2010. 3 See for example King, Angela E. V. (4 December 2000). “The Global Perspective: Outcomes of Beijing+5, Gender

Equality, Development and Peace”. Key note speech for panel discussion "Progress for Women in the New

Millennium: the Way Forward" at The Commonwealth Secretariat and the UN Information Center, London.

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/speech/bl_sp_beijing_un_1.htm 4 Friedman, Michel and Shamim, Meer (nd). Change is a Slow Dance. Gender at Work. www.genderatwork.org

A Holistic Approach to Gender Equality and Social Justice

Gordezky and Friedman IODA 2010 2

and the devaluing of reproductive work. The second reason for lack of progress is the

predominance of approaches that give preference to rationality and the mind over the body5.

Gender at Work’s ongoing efforts to address gender inequality have woven together practices

and ideas from a variety of fields to address both reasons for lack of progress in gender equality.

In what follows, we will first provide a brief description of Gender at Work’s Organizational

Strengthening Program, the foundation of our work and learning. We will then discuss three key

elements of the program: the Integral Framework, Action Learning and Capacitar practices. We

will finish with questions concerning scaling up impact and a short case study of work

undertaken in Ethiopia.

THE ORGANIZATION STRENGTHENING PROGRAM

The foundation of Gender at Work’s approach is the Organization Strengthening Program. The

program is explicitly not a training program; it is explicitly an organizational change initiative

intended to address gender inequality. Informal evaluation of impact indicates that the program

has considerable personal impact, and has resulted in organization and community change.

The Organization Strengthening Program starts with a series of meetings between Gender at

Work and the organizations that are potential partners. Once partners have decided to

participate, a three-member organization change team attends a two-day meeting at the

organization’s office, a meeting we call “Hearing Our Stories.” We reflect with them on the

history, culture, and programs of their organization, explore together how women and men live

in their region, and generate ideas for what project they might initiate to improve gender

relations either inside their organization or in a community in which they operate. In addition,

they are introduced to both Capacitar practices and the use of collage and creative expression to

release tension and free up energy for new understanding and action.

The Organization Strengthening Program then unfolds with a pattern of three action-learning

workshops, one-to-one consultations with organizations between Action Learning meetings, and

a writing workshop at the end.

The First Action Learning Workshop: The first Action Learning workshop brings together

the change teams from five to eight organizations (12 – 24 individuals) to build a climate

of collaboration and trust for peer learning. Participants are introduced to the Integral

Framework (see below) and how to use it as an analytical and action planning tool.

Participants are also supported in developing plans for change projects. The session often

challenges existing perceptions and offers new ways of seeing. Following the workshop,

participants work for six to eight months to implement their change plan, supported in

their work by a Gender at Work facilitator who visits them at their organizational setting.

The Second Action Learning Workshop: During the second Action Learning workshop

change teams share what they have done and how they have done it. Some teams have

been unable to change anything. Other teams have altered and sharpened the focus of

5 Keller, Catherine. (1986). From a Broken Web: Separation, Sexism, and Self. Beacon Press.



their change projects. Change team members reflect on lessons learned, and get advice

from their peers and Gender at Work staff. Facilitators introduce concepts and processes

for use in working with personal and organizational power, help participants deepen their

peer-learning practice, and support the use of the Integral Framework to assess their

organization and change initiative. Finally, change teams review and re-plan their change

project work based on their insights and advice received. During the next six months, or

so, change teams continue their work, supported by a Gender at Work facilitator.

The Third Action Learning Workshop: The third Action Learning workshop invites

participants to tell stories of their change process and to identify the factors responsible

for what they’ve changed and how change came about. Where relevant, the Gender at

Work team provides ideas to assist participants in developing deeper insight and

understanding of the issues that emerged during the change projects.

The Writing Workshop: Writing is a particularly powerful means of undoing the silence

that has built up from years of exclusion, We make use of different writing techniques as

tools for reflection, self-reflection, self-discovery, and learning throughout the Action

Learning meetings. Writing about their experience of the process builds a personal sense

of power, for many women participating in the program have not been in the position of

expressing their thinking in a way that gets read and listened to.

A key theory underlying the Organization Strengthening Program is Ken Wilbur’s Integral

Theory.

INTEGRAL THEORY

Integral Theory emerged from philosopher Ken Wilbur’s synthesis of Western and non-Western

understandings of consciousness with accepted wisdom about cosmic, biological, human and

divine evolution6. An Integral approach to community development draws on moral,

sociological, psychological and cognitive research to more fully address the complexity of long

standing social and cultural issues. The theory has helped advance an approach that weaves

together divergent disciplines, such as psychology, policy- and law-making, capacity

development and spirituality, into a pragmatic multi-disciplinary approach.7 One of Wilbur’s key

developments has been the Integral Framework that distinguishes two major polarities: 1)

individual and collective; 2) interior and exterior.

6 Wilbur, Ken. (1996). A Brief History of Everything. Shambhala. 7 Hochachka, Gail. (2009). Developing Sustainability, Developing the Self: An Integral Approach to International &

Community Development, http://www.drishti.ca



The matrix resulting from combining the two polarities produces four quadrants, or lenses, that

guide exploration of complex issues. Many proposed solutions to global problems (and to

organizational problems) focus on only one quadrant, or perhaps two. According to Wilbur,

interventions will be more comprehensive, effective and sustainable when change efforts focus

on all four quadrants.

The Experience Quadrant concerns the invisible, or interior, aspects of individual consciousness.

This is the area of individual values, intentions, thoughts, principles, morals and religious beliefs.

The Behaviour Quadrant is the external view, what we can see and measure of individual

consciousness. This includes hormone levels and blood pressure, as well as observable skills and

physical manifestations of feelings such as a loud voice and red face. The Systems Quadrant is

about the institutional and material forms of the collective aspects of consciousness. These

include social, political, economic and ecological systems, from systems of governance and

finance to architectural styles and population levels. Finally, the Culture Quadrant is about the

interior of our collective experience. This quadrant includes collective beliefs, traditions, values,

mindsets, and ways of doing things that community’s share, such as how women are treated.

Applying Wilbur’s Model: The Gender at Work Framework8

Wilber’s framework has been applied to a number of complex issues, particularly environmental

and poverty issues, yet as far as we know has not been used to support efforts to address

gender inequality. Gender at Work evolved Wilbur’s framework, altering some of the terms to

encompass actualizing women’s rights at the individual, organization and community levels.

8 The following tables are adapted from Hochachka. op. cit.

Experience Mindset Consciousness Commitment Feelings

Behaviour Physical aspects

Competencies Skills

Culture Worldviews Shared Values Traditions Beliefs

Systems Policies Assets

Processes Governance

Individual

Collective

Exterior

Interior



The Experience Quadrant focuses on women’s and men’s consciousness at the individual level,

such as knowledge of and commitment to change toward equality and women’s rights, and

willingness to take action to empower women. It also includes the psychological and cognitive

processes by which individuals make meaning and construct identity. For example, women in a

Kenyan community, after much self- and collective-reflection, banded together to plant shrubs

around their homesteads so that they could get firewood close by, thus enabling them to earn

money and spend more time at home. While this is an example of behaviour change (and thus

an action addressing the Behaviour Quadrant), it also is an example of women (and men) who

shifted their mindset to one where it is women’s right to claim income for themselves and their

families.

Experience Quadrant

What We are Trying to Change Practices We Use

– Inter- and intra-personal consciousness and

commitment to gender equality

– Commitment of leadership to gender

equality

– Capacity for dialogue and conflict

management

– Experience of feeling whole and valued

– Self- and collective-reflection

– Coaching

– Free writing and journaling

– Meditation

– Setting intentions

– Yoga and tai chi

The Behaviour Quadrant focuses on resources for women. In the community context, resources

refer to such “assets” as access to health, education, leadership positions; as well as the access

Experience Women’s & men’s consciousness

Behaviour Resources for women

Culture Cultural norms & exclusionary

Systems Formal

policies & arrangemen

Individual

Collective

Formal, Explicit

Informal, Tacit, Hidden



to the presence of increased security and freedom from violence, and the communication skills

to productively discuss highly sensitive issues such as shutting women out of the power to make

decisions and set direction within organizations. Research has consistently shown that women

benefit less then men from income generation activities; services such health and education,

access to land ownership, and security.9 Thus this quadrant still receives the bulk of attention in

work on gender equality. There is no doubt that access has needed this attention. As an

example, an organization providing credit and saving services in Ethiopia within Islamic

communities, initially conceived of its change project as improving access to paralegal services

(access to courts, law, justice) to address gender-based violence. (During the Organization

Strengthening Program, the organization expanded its focus to training community change

agents to discuss and educate community members on underlying misconceptions about

gender.

Behaviour Quadrant


– Budget and training devoted to projects to

advance equality

– Women’s involvement in leadership

positions

– Freedom from fear

– Deep listening

– Skill building (asking questions, making clear

requests, planning projects, working with

people in positions of power)

– Setting intentions

– Monitoring and evaluation

– Tai chi and strength building

– Writing

– Systems Thinking

The Systems Quadrant concerns formal policies or arrangements. This includes visible social and

power structures, laws and policies, strategies, work processes, modes of production and

income generation, the natural and built environment. An example of action taken in this

quadrant is an Indian NGO, which successfully brought about a law enabling the NGO to audit

whether or not officials were giving poor women their rightful money. A Pakistani NGO was able

to include a more gender-sensitive curriculum for early childhood education. In both cases, the

relevant authority agreed to a formal arrangement intended to advance women’s interests.

9 Corner, Lorraine and Repucci, Sarah. (2009) A User’s Guide to Measuring Gender-Sensitive Basic Service Delivery.

UNDP.



Systems Quadrant


– Mission includes gender equality

– Policies for anti-harassment, work-family

arrangements, fair employment, etc.

– Accountability mechanisms holding

authorities and organizations responsible to

women

– Systems thinking

– Office and room layout

– Operational and strategic plans

– Power analysis

– Policies and budgets

The Culture Quadrant focuses on traditions, norms and practices that devalue women and

privilege men, limit women’s opportunities to exercise their rights, limit interventions for

change, and override formal laws or constitutions that mandate equality. We have heard

countless stories of how challenges to inequity are silenced by the threat of violence and fear of

social ostracism. For example, in India, there’s a law that provides a number of seats for women

on local elected councils. However, it’s not unusual for women to be prevented from running,

or, if elected, relegated to powerless roles. The Hunger Project, an Indian NGO, challenged such

practices by helping women candidates organize, and offered them leadership training. The

NGO also took action to protect women candidates from harassment and monitored election

processes for abuse. Such interventions slowly change the cultural practices in communities.

Culture Quadrant


– Acceptance of women’s leadership

– Organizational ownership of gender issues

– Acceptance of needed work-family

adjustments

– Women’s issues firmly on the agenda

– Valuing of women and women’s experience

– Respectful and inclusive work practices

– Dialogue

– Participatory methodologies, including

action learning

– Collective visioning

– Appreciative inquiry

– Storytelling

– Group Tai Chi and relaxation exercises

– Respectful and open hearted relating



The Advantages Of The Integral Framework

As we work with organizations and discuss the Integral Framework, we hear four recurring ideas

about how it helps them:

1. The framework allows people to see “the whole picture” and to locate their efforts

within it. This holistic view enables them to think strategically about where their work is

enough by itself, where it can be expanded to other quadrants, and whether their

partners can work in quadrants where other efforts are required.

2. Insufficient attention has been given to underlying factors holding inequality in place.10

The framework offers a tool for organizations to explore their beliefs about how efforts

in the formal or explicit quadrants (providing resources and working on policy and other

formal arrangements) can be undermined or limited by unexamined cultural practices

and individual mindsets. For example, the framework encourages people to explicitly

see how cultural norms and beliefs keep the best-intentioned programs and efforts

from realizing lasting change in the lives of women. As one participant from Kenya

wrote: “… on the surface, the organization has a policy where gender is recognised as a cross

cutting value … Imagine my shock when I figured out that our programmes did not specifically

make considerations for Gender. I thought all development agencies did this as a rule.”

3. There has been little work on changing the consciousness of men and women beyond a

generation of gender training. (With gender training there is always the hope that

consciousness will change.) The framework challenges people to test their own biases

and theories about the natural order of things between women and men, and women

and society. Using storytelling, collage making, and movement can help people discover

their mindsets in ways that bypass normal defensive reasoning that tends to keeps

things as they are. Such practices surface for discussion unexamined assumptions

embedded in how people speak about what women and men should do or how they

should be.

4. Through examining how the different quadrants influence each other, the Integral

Framework offers a process to open up possibilities for action where there was little

more than anger and helplessness.

The Organization Strengthening Program helps participants integrate previous and new

practices (such as the use of the Integral Framework) into untried areas of inquiry and action.

This is done through the used of Action Learning.

ACTION LEARNING FOR INQUIRY AND ACTION

Gender at Work provides a series of reflective spaces that allow individuals and organizations to

inquire deeply into their work for gender equality, explore how they are framing the way they

think about gender equality (triple loop learning), and plan and implement high-leverage action.

Using an Action Learning approach enables organizations to discover their own trajectory of

change and to work with change on their own terms. The sense of ownership this creates is

10 Friedman, Michel and Shamim Meer (nd). Change is a Slow Dance. Gender at Work.



particularly important for work on gender equality because of how mired it is in complex

debates around tradition, culture, and externally driven (often Western) agendas.

The essential idea in an Action Learning program is: learning through work and reflection on real

projects. It goes way beyond participants coming up with a feasible, elegant solution on paper.

Action Learning has been implemented in a number of different ways over the many years since

first conceived by Reg Revans11

. Consequently, there is a great deal of variety in how it is used.

At its heart, however, Action Learning is a process that links collaborative learning closely with

work and action. It also draws on the power of learning with and from others to create insight

and new action.

An Action Learning process is a laboratory where participants:

• Collaboratively explore, through questions, ways of conceiving an issue or task;

• Learn about how they work together in groups to solve problems;

• Learn about themselves as learners and as problem-solvers;

• Become conscious of themselves as women and men, and what it means in their

cultural context.

Action Learning assumes that learning is social. What this means is that understanding of

content is negotiated through conversations about that content; and through interactions with

others around challenges, goals or actions. The focus is balanced between what people are

learning, and on how they are learning. As a learning group’s work evolves, members develop

skills of collective and individual reflection, as well as peer coaching. The more the group

balances individual and collective learning with seeking pragmatic answers and solutions to the

issues they face, the more members develop a greater understanding of their problem-solving

processes.

As participants spend more time together in learning exchanges, they inevitably assume

leadership roles, acquire conflict-management skills, discuss and clarify concepts, and grapple

with the questions and complexities of the areas being investigated.

Gender at Work uses Action Learning and the Integral Framework, not prescriptively, but to

enable participants to look at their organizations and communities in new ways.

11 Revans, Reg. 1980. Action Learning: New techniques for management. London: Blond & Briggs, Ltd.



For more information about what Action Learning is and how it works, refer to publications

below12

.

Our hypothesis is that the Action Learning process creates four conditions for change:

� Willingness – Willingness is the mindset and energy to make things happen in the face

of long-standing biases and emerging obstacles. Willingness is required to help

overcome generations of prejudice, systems that provide incentives for staying the

same, and lack of power on the part of women and their allies who would change these

arrangements. The Action Learning process builds willingness through collective

reflection, visualization and action undertaken to advance desired changes.

� Understanding – Participants build understanding as they work through the Integral

Framework in Action Learning groups. They embody this understanding as they plan and

implement projects to address gender inequality. A visceral understanding develops of

how women have been systematically deprived of power and resources for equal

citizenship and how these have blocked community and cultural development. As one

Gender at Work participant told us, “We can’t build our country with one arm.”

� Capacity – Capacity is more than knowing about something or knowing how to do

something. It is an embodied form of knowing, like the knowing hands of a woman

weaving a basket out of grass. Organizations that work for gender equality require

resources, tools, skilled people, and systems to support their work. Through Action

Learning participants acquire resources; their confidence grows, as does their

competence in their work towards greater gender equality.

12 Kelleher, David. op. cit.; Revens, Reg. op. cit.; Marquardt, M.J., Leonard, S., Freedman, A., and Hill, C. (2009). Action

Learning For Developing Leaders And Organizations. American Psychological Press; O’Neil, Judy and Marsick J. (2007).

Understanding Action Learning. American Management Association.

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� Embodiment – Embodiment takes place through the experience of planning,

implementing and evaluating change projects; and then more deeply while reflecting

with peers in Action Learning groups. Embodiment develops in groups as participants

share their feelings and thoughts, and experience trust and connection that grow from

the non-judgmental setting.

To bring about these conditions, facilitators strive to:

� Create a safe, open environment that allows participants to build a community of

learners;

� Use self-reflection and meditation to help participants find the “still point” and create

coherence among participants;13

� Bring clear intentions to work that challenges personal and cultural beliefs; 14

� Provide support for learning over eighteen, or so, months.

Willingness and capacity without understanding leads to wrong actions; understanding and

capacity without willingness leads to cosmetic action; willingness and understanding without

capacity leads to failure and potential disillusionment15

. Action without embodiment leads to

unsustainable change.

Over time, we have also been experimenting with methods to deepen the experience of

willingness, understanding and capacity. One approach that has proven surprisingly effective is

Capacitar16

.

CAPACITAR PRACTICES

At the beginning of this paper we suggested that one of the reasons for lack of progress in

overcoming women’s unequal position in society is the failure to engage the spirit and body. Our

hypothesis is that given the high incidence of violence against women, not addressing the

trauma, historical and current, and how it is carried in the body, perpetuates helplessness and

fear of taking action. A body grown numb from trauma demobilizes the person, withers her

spirit. Integrating more holistic mind-body practices such as Capacitar’s adapted Tai Chi exercise

frees up energy for action and reintegrates the mind and body. These simple and powerful

practices enhance individuals' capacity for personal transformation, which in turn assists

broader organizational and social transformations17

.

Capacitar practices interweave a mixture of ancient traditions, including Tai Chi, meditation,

13 Cane, Patricia. (2005). Living in Wellness: A Capacitar Trauma Manual, Capacitar International. www. capacitar.org. 14

Wordsworth, Chloe Faith. (2007) Quantum Change Made Easy. Resonance Publishing. 15 Gallopin, G., Scenarios, “Surprises and Branch Points,” in L. Gunderson and C.S. Holling (2002). Panarchy,

Understanding and Transforming Human and Natural Systems. Island Press. 16 www. capacitar.org. 17

Cane, op. cit. See also, Friedman, Michel. (2010) Becoming the Change You Wish to See in the World, Gender at

Work. www.genderatwork.org.



fingerholds, singing, and dancing to work with the physical energy of the group. Capacitar was

developed by Patricia Cane as part of a popular education framework initially intended for use

with resource poor communities needing to heal from various traumas (political, economic,

environmental, wars, and so on)18

. The practices harmonize and balance one’s sense of self

through movement and build personal strength to help women and men address years of

powerlessness and exclusion from shifting oppressive practices and norms.

Cane’s research on Capacitar develops a compelling case for how seemingly simple body

movements and physical touching awaken people to the power and capacity to heal in body,

mind, and spirit.19

She outlines some typical post-traumatic stress symptoms that are

particularly important for projects concerned with transforming power and gender equality:

detachment or estrangement from others, loss of the capacity for love or intimacy, inability to

nurture or bond with others, feelings of hopelessness for the future; living with a sense of

meaninglessness. Other symptoms include: anxiety, chronic fatigue, depression, immune

system problems, feelings of detachment, alienation and isolation, feelings of helplessness, and

a diminished interest in life.

After doing a set of Capacitar exercises, participants describe their feeling state as “lighter” and

more connected with others. In a sense, these practices contribute to a softening of rigid ways

of being and thinking that have been supported by cultural norms and traditions, creating a

greater spaciousness and openness for participants to receive from others.

Capacitar's practices are used at the start of each day during the Organization Strengthening

Program. While these exercises follow a few set forms, they are easily adapted to local

traditions. For instance, a facilitator from KwaZulu/Natal, an area where water is scarce, told

one of the authors she converts the Tai Chi exercise using the image of the ‘shower of light’ to a

huge bucket of pouring water over members of the group, seeping deep within their body,

swirling softly around places that are feeling pain and gently easing them.

Our hypothesis is that the Capacitar practices not only help individuals reconnect with

themselves, their bodies, mind and spirit; they also help awaken people to their capacity for

taking greater control over their own energy and moods, revealing a capacity for choice, agency,

and forward movement. One participant described her insight that arose from the Capacitar

practices: “It’s possible to make a choice not to be frustrated all the time – it is possible to let go,

this is a choice we make”.

At first, people report feeling strange about doing the exercises. With experience, this feeling

diminishes. As one participant said:

I was confused at the beginning and I thought ‘we are like crazy

people’. But when I was stressed at home I tried to do it on my own.

And it's where I found it working because I was relaxed and I was

peaceful inside. So I am saying when a person is doing Tai Chi fully

focused on it, one will get the meaning of it.

18 Freire, Paulo. (1970). Pedagogy Of The Oppressed. Continuum. 19

Cane, op. cit.



In summary, Capacitar exercises go beyond something that makes people feel good, a set of

activities intended to break the ice. They integrate the body, mind, and heart as people address

long-standing issues of gender inequality. New ways of relating are nourished and taken forward

into the participants' own lives and organizational cultures.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO SCALE UP AND SUSTAIN PROGRESS ON GENDER

EQUALITY

In many of the contexts where Gender at Work is invited to facilitate this work, participants are

deeply embedded in cultural norms and assumptions that perpetuate practices of exclusion and

social inequalities, including that of gender inequality. The Organization Strengthening Program

challenges the meanings of gender equality, that are limited to gender audits and quantitative

measures. The Integral Framework helps to disrupt existing discriminatory practices by asking

participants to explore the interior and exterior personal, social, political and cultural domains.

In doing so, they experiment with new possibilities, possibilities they could not even imagine

with any hope of change. Through Action Learning, participants become more open to co-

creation of new cultural norms and traditions that value difference, inclusivity, equality,

connection and respect. As partners in learning and action, participants surface into awareness

the unconscious perceptions and habits that support unequal prejudicial behaviour at personal,

organizational and community levels. Finally, integrating the mind, body, and spirit with

playfulness and creative expression enables more inclusive ways of seeing and being.

This is a far from straightforward process, and a key question for us is: how sustainable and

scalable are the gains participating organization have made? Anxiety is inevitable when the

stakes are high, issues are emotionally charged and complex, and perceptions divisive such as in

communities where Gender at Work’s partner’s work. Our suspicion is that it is critical to create

supportive structures under which those involved in address gender equality can meet, share

learning and develop new approaches to societal change.

In a number of areas in our world we have witnessed expert practitioners connect and

collaborate on a global scale to solve complex problems. For example, we have survived global

threats such as SARS (Acute Respiratory Syndrome) through the collaborative efforts of

specialists world wide. Many complex issues have had only partial or limited success. Efforts to

combat global warming is one such area. Similarly, efforts at eliminating gender inequality have

seen some success, and much inertia. However, the kinds of collaboration that does exist, even

on a limited basis, suggest a metaphor inviting the consideration of global stewardship for

gender equality20

.

While we have not yet begun to discover the mechanisms for creating this kind of stewardship

at a global level. Such stewardship would put to the test the often-quoted idea to “think

globally and act locally.” There are numerous questions, among them: Does this kind of

stewardship imply building international organizations that address gender issues to

counterweigh for the emphasis on economic growth? Is such a broad stewardship effort

20 These ideas draw inspiration from personal communication with William M. Snyder, a leader in the field of creating

global communities of practice.



sufficient to address gender issues that are essentially local? How can we connect the power

and accessibility of local civil society organizations and faith-based organization with

stewardship at national and/or international levels? What are the design criteria for such a

system and what might such a system look like?

Based on our experience, there are at least three design criteria to consider for building a global

learning system capable of successfully addressing in a sustainable manner the complexity of

gender inequality.

Action Learning: As we’ve seen at the local level, Action Learning assists organizations

to reflect on what approaches are working and why; then using the insights gained to

guide future action. The same could happen at a global level connecting those

organizations already working on gender equality.

Bridge-Spanning Capability: This suggests a system capable of bridging between civil

society, government and for-profit organizations and across sufficiently diverse

constituencies, jurisdictions and disciplines to equal the complexity of factors and

stakeholders keeping the current situation in place.

Global Learning Platform: This suggests a learning system capable of connecting actors

and activities at the local, national and international levels.

It is an open question whether or not organizations involved in addressing women’s rights,

donor’s who can support this work, governments with their policy making and enforcement

mechanisms, and businesses that generate opportunity and economic power have the collective

will, capability and understanding to make such global stewardship for gender equality a reality.

Our work suggests there’s reason to hope.



ADMAS CASE STUDY21

History and purpose

ADMAS is a network of seven founding organizations in Dire Dawa, a town in Eastern Ethiopia.

The network’s inception grew out of the intervention, in the mid-90’s, of ACCORD, an

international organization providing development assistance. ACCORD’S strategy focused on

supporting the development of community based organizations (CBOs) capable of running

micro-credit facilities in poor neighborhoods. To this end, it facilitated the transformation of

selected traditional burial associations (Idirs) into credit and saving associations. The

membership base of the Idirs was carried through into the CBOs and the CBOs formed the

network, ADMAS.

As of early 2007, the network had about 3000 members, two-thirds of whom were women. All

their members are poor and represent the most disadvantaged segments of the local

community. Their membership is diverse, including people from different ethnic and religious

groupings. The network employs about 25 finance officers, with a large portion of its activities

undertaken by volunteers. Since its’ founding, ADMAS had expanded beyond the core activity of

providing access to income (through savings and credit) to include access to legal and emotional

support, information and vocational training.

When Gender at Work began working with ADMAS, the network was already involved in

building relationships between affiliated CBOs to facilitate sharing of experience and learning

among their membership. The network would raise awareness among members to help them

better understand their roles and responsibilities in changing their circumstances of poverty.

Gender

Before the Organization Strengthening Program started, ADMAS members were already aware

of problematic gender injustice related issues in the Dire Dawe area - for example, some of the

association members were paying visits to families to encourage them to provide education

their daughters. (Daughters are regularly prevented from attending school.) The ADMAS

member organizations had learned that women’s membership does not always lead to a

meaningful contribution due to lack of self-confidence. The network had developed ways of

growing such confidence by encouraging exposure and experience with active women role

models. This succeeded in attracting more women to become active participants in the CBOs.

The Association was working on addressing the consequences of social injustice, but had not

been unable to challenge the root causes that underpin the injustice. The Association hoped the

action-learning program would assist ADMAS to break through cycles of injustice, and address

other factors that contribute to the cycles of HIV, Poverty and Violence.

21

Admas is one of the six organizations from Ethiopia, Sudan and Somaliland, that participated in a Gender at Work

led action-learning process, facilitated by Oxfam Canada, from early 2007 to end 2009. For full details of this

experience see Friedman, Michel and David Kelleher. In Their Own Idiom: reflections on the Oxfam Canada PACE

Gender Action Learning (GAL) program. 2009. http://www.genderatwork.org/learning-centre



Project

Each of the seven CBO’s was represented at the initial meeting – what we call Hearing the

Stories meeting. At the end of that meeting the group nominated three people to represent the

Association during the Action Learning Program. Two of these representatives remained

constant; the third person rotated. They participated in three peer-learning sessions.

At the Hearing the Stories meeting, the team said they would like to focus on addressing

gender-based violence. Their initial thinking with respect to their internal membership was to

build a greater awareness of gender equality between women and men in the broader

community, and to expand existing membership to better access credit and saving. Externally,

their initial thinking was to use a paralegal model with an advocacy focus targeting policy

makers and government to implement existing laws and policies with respect to women’s

property rights.

At the first peer-learning event, the ADMAS team showed a shift in awareness by articulating

their goal as follows: to create a core group of change agents and a critical mass of people who

believe in the need for and take part in raising awareness about gender equality. Their vision for

of their work after 5 years was that in parts of Dire Dawe there would be gender equality. Their

vision for 18 months was - seeing the core change agents change themselves, their families,

CBOs, and their neighbors.

The core of the ADMAS strategy included face-to-face dialogue, employing great respect and

understanding of diverse cultural factors. Initially they started with 'gender equality' but

changed their strategy to identifying the misconceptions and root causes of gender inequality.

“We did this, said a change team member, because Dire Dawa is a big city and is exposed to a

number of media influences. People are already exposed to the issue of gender equality and it

didn't work much in terms of changing the behavior of the people. So we shifted our strategy

towards identifying the root causes and decided [to work] with people in changing their hearts

and minds”.

Their activities included:

• providing an educational forum in the seven Association offices

• facilitating learning forums for 245 members (35 members from each of the seven

Associations)

• collecting and discussing traditional proverbs, folklores, stories and songs that influence

gender relations - classified into cultural, religious and social norms

Ultimately, ADMAS trained 140 change agents (60 women, 40 men) and chose to give them

freedom to confce facilitate 'change conversations' in whatever way made sense to them. The

network supported the change agents by facilitating regular monthly meetings and dialogue

where the change agents could discuss their experiences.

There were no formal guidelines to direct the change agent led conversations. Rather, they

drew upon their initial in-depth and detailed reflections where they examined myths, proverbs

and misconceptions. They also used personal stories and inputs from religious leaders. It was



assumed that after this depth of discussion the change agents would feel able to facilitate

similar kinds of conversations in their communities. This assumption seems to have been born

out. The important point is that they were not obliged to 'run' formal training sessions. They

could have conversations anywhere and in whatever way would engage the people they were

talking to. Some started with 'real-life' problems - a husband beating a wife; others started with

reflecting on stories that had been written about in a newspaper, a sister complaining she was

unhappy with her husband and so on.

Changes

At the end of the program, the ADMAS change team reflected on the following changes they

identified. Changes are organized in the four quadrants of the Integral Framework. Ideas in one

quadrant are entangled in other quadrant; what's important is the conversation that gets

generated by exploring the holistic nature of the change.

Individual – Experience and Behaviour Quadrants

At the individual level, change team members shifted in their awareness of themselves and

their own capacity to achieve a desired goal. In particular, they shifted their goal from an

expansive plan using external resources, books, women lawyers, and expert facilitators, to

using their own skills and resources. In the process they cultivated a much greater sense of

independence and confidence, including the capacity to develop their own policies based

on their lessons and experiences. The 140 \ change agents experienced changes at an

individual level: externally – in gaining access to new facilitation and leadership roles;

internally, in their newfound confidence, competence and ability to take initiative. Finally,

change team members reported the role of Capacitar practices was striking. From the first

meeting, ADMAS members were enthusiastic about what they called the “sports.” Some of

their members have integrated into their daily lives regular use of various Capacitar

practices. They maintain that these practices have helped them keep alive high levels of

hope and well being, as well as an ability to let go of difficult and traumatic emotional

experiences.

Systems Quadrants – In the Organization

The change team’s shift from focusing on the Association lobbying external paralegal

services (courts, law, justice) to developing a critical mass of change agents signifies a

broadening in collective consciousness about what actions are possible, and their collective

confidence in their ability to take successful action. Other organizational changes have

included increased capacity to work with diversity and dialogic facilitation; building

relationships in the broader community; and organizational leadership of ADMAS itself.

Although ADMAS always worked with difference and diversity (e.g. Christian and Muslim,

Ethiopian, and Somali members.), they reported they were now working very consciously

with gender differences and diversity. For example, they use group norms to ensure that

their change teams contain both women and men (teams started off with a majority of

women, and now have more or less equal numbers of women and men). Both women and

men are present when discussing gender difficulties, or misconceptions. Because different

change agents work in the monthly action-learning spaces, they are building relationships

and learning across different parts of the city and breaking down fragmentation and

isolation between members from different CBOs. As one individual said:



We learned to be true to ourselves – when challenges appear

we are able to open them up to dialogue and not always say

‘we know’ and ‘must do it this way.’ There is openness to

listen to different opinions – if our [political] leaders were like

this we would live in a different country. Both men and

women are taking responsibility in leadership.

Most importantly, the nature of power and the relationship between the ADMAS board

and its members in the various CBOs has been changed by the role of the change agents in

the process. Previously the network struggled to sustain an active membership; now the

change agents have become much more committed, responsible and active network

members. ADMAS is currently working on a gender policy, which will include guidance for

their work with members, as well as a workplace policy that would outline women's and

men's rights, organizational values and a vision with respect to gender equality. It is worth

noting here that the confidence gained from the process (upper left quadrant) strongly

influenced ADMAS’ desire and capacity to develop their own gender policy without

requiring external help or needing to copy other organizations’ policy examples.

Cultural Quadrant– In the Community

ADMAS is now recognized as a valuable player in the development sector; they are

engaging more as an 'actor' rather than 'receiver' or 'beneficiary' of other actors, such as

the Government Women’s Bureau. For example, this Bureau invited ADMAS to facilitate

educational sessions for young people and citizens in the city. There’s a sense that organic

growth has been unleashed and is unlikely to stop. The ADMAS team shared examples of

norms being challenged and new norms created amongst the larger community

membership. For example, entrenched practices were giving way – husbands are sharing

domestic responsibilities, men are being less violent with their wives, women starting to

acquire property and other rights when divorcing, and more parents sending their

daughters to school. Members are challenging and holding each other to account when

they use derogatory terms and proverbs. They are encouraging each other to use more

positive expressions and to engage with religious scripture more critically. There is

collective support for women members when men are abusive. We heard about a

community boycott of a man who took his wife’s money that she had received from the

credit program. Finally, women are increasingly being recognized and valued as leaders –

both as facilitators of dialogic conversations as well as network leaders in their own right.



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