gender , development and poverty reduction in … endeley.pdfgender , development and poverty...

Gender , Development and Poverty Reduction in

Africa: Lessons Learnt from Three Decades of Action

11/9/2016

Professor Joyce B.M.Endeley, 12th

ASSAF, 6-8/11/16, South Africa 1

I am glad to see that gender features prominently, though

not mainstreamed in all thematic sessions, in the

conference ;

Mainstreaming of gender in all thematic sessions, obliges

all academies to interrogate the intersection of gender in

their topic to show how the construction of gender

influence food security, social determinants of health,

agricultural innovation and sustainable agriculture, and

water and energy and in turn poverty in Africa.

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Nonetheless, this time around, I applaud the organizers

for upholding and implementing the truism that gender

matters in development and social and scientific fields

(including technology), and by implication demonstrate

that the field of science and technology is not gender

neutral; a misleadingly but widely held supposition.

Gender, development and Poverty - is loaded and

brings to bear the many cross-cutting issues of diversity

and difference in how we assimilate the construction of

women, men and gender relations in our societies;

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Lesson learnt from 3 decades of “Action”:

Requires mapping - extremely important but atall order; hopefully, ASSAF can set the pace;

Gender, development and poverty :a) are nebulous, complex and hard to capture;

b) have a history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial to date );

c) are discourses that continue to shapedevelopment in Africa;

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d) the definition & measurement of all 3 conceptsremains problematic and challenging;

e) need to use triangulation techniques to understand thedynamics and capture the effect/outcomes in a holisticmanner;

According to Robert Chambers – “Whose realitycounts”? A question valid in the late 80s and today andfuture.

Fundamental questions include:

a) how has development action embrace gender, especiallyactions against poverty or extreme poverty?

b) Are there lessons?

c) What are the lessons11/9/2016



a) Because the structure of the household is gendered,

poverty is often gendered;

a) Household structure & intra-household dynamics (

the size, structure, resources, rural/urban; & intra-

household dynamics in terms of gender by decision-

making in terms of control/distribution of assets,

consumption & expenditures, access to paid

employment & income, etc ) affect how women and

men are affected and situated in poverty

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There is feminization of poverty - women more

than men face increase risk of poverty because

changes in the household structures, employment

opportunities, social safety nets, climate change, etc ;

calls for the understanding of gender, changes in the

household structures/dynamics and poverty risk

dynamics

Development actions, especially prior to 1975 have

had negative effects on women than men not due to

exclusion but how women were constructed in

development;

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Unlevelled playing field ,

Females, especially women are more vulnerable to poverty andextreme poverty than male gender.

Feminisation of poverty is a fact - women face the brunt of unpaidwork combined with the fact that they have fewer assets andproductive resources than men and are exposed to gender-basedviolence (GBV) and tend to be forced into early marriages.

Different categories of female gender suffer more from income,material, consumption and time poverty than their male counterparts.

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These situations of inequalities affect women’s effectiveparticipation in all spheres of development; and ability toexploit available opportunities and benefits for their personalwelfare, and that of families and communities.

Research fact: Missing out on women is not just costly todevelopment but we cannot claim to be developing/developed;also women’s constitutional right as stakeholders in theircountries development;

Post 1975/structural adjustment witnessed deconstruction andreconstruction of development to embrace WID, & GADdevelopment approaches

Demand that development – policy, programme, projects andactions are monitor using a gender/women’s lens, equality inthe participation of women and men, inclusiveness activeparticipation of women, call for gender-sensitivity, gender-responsive and gender mainstreaming

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1. Some Development Approaches in the last 3 decades:

Improve Economic growth rate & Productivity;

Pro-poor development strategy - welfare, efficiency,empowerment, anti-poverty, equity policy approaches;

WID & GAD approach to development

Post- SAP effort: National Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers(PRSPs);

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Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),

Legal Instruments CEDAW/other international conventions;

Domestication of international/regional instruments legalinstruments/conventions;

Some Strategies

Gender Mainstreaming strategy to development – (include gender-aware policy, programmes projects, activities; gender budgeting, affirmative actions, gender quota ; etc)

Gender and Economic Policy Management Initiative –Africa (GEPMI) by IDEP - UNDP/UN Women

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Current Approaches:

Sustainable Development Goals – Agenda 2030;

African Union Agenda 2063 have as a vision and

goal

- all aim to eradicate extreme poverty and reduction of

poverty in general

Agendas SDGs 2030 and AU 2063 - have explicit goals

and aspirations to enable nations address extreme

poverty and the interrelation with gender inequality

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Agenda 2030:

“Goal 1 – End Poverty in all its forms everywhere”

“Goal 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all

women and girls”

AU Agenda 2063

Aspiration1: A prosperous Africa based on inclusive

growth and sustainable development (where nations

are determined to eradicate poverty in one

generation and build shared prosperity through social

and economic transformation of the continent);

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Aspiration 6: An Africa where development is people-

driven, unleashing the potential of its women and youth

(aimed at the eradication of poverty, and promotion

of gender equality and women’s empowerment in all

spheres of life in all countries in Africa) respectively

(AU, 2014).

GEPMI- Module 6: Gender and Poverty (deals

concept of poverty, its measurement, relationship

between gender dimensions, poverty dynamics and

household structures, and policy implications

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Integrating Gender Into Poverty Reduction Strategies: From The Declaration Of

Intent To Development Policy In Practice? (2002:1) . The study examines the

extent to which National PRSPs ---integrate gender perspective.

Findings:

“Worldwide, 1.3 billion people are living in extreme poverty. Most

of them are women.”

“ ...In rural areas the percentage of women living in absolute

poverty has risen to over 50%”.

“...political, economic, and cultural discrimination against women

constitutes a central obstacle to social development”.

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“…that poverty reduction programmes can succeed

only if they take into consideration the existing

social inequality between men and women”.

“…for most part no systematic inclusion of women’s

positions.”

“…obstacles to development of long-term strategies to

reduce women’s poverty is a lack of data broken

down and analysed in gender-specific terms”.

Poverty profile indicators are generally limited to the

access rate of girls and women to basic education”

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“Thus far no success has been met with integrating a gender-specific

perspective into the poverty strategy’s macroeconomic framework.

PRSP process takes no consideration of the social impacts on women

of conventional stabilization and privatization measures.”

“ Measured aimed at improving the economic situation of women are

largely limited to the provision of microcredit.”

“…bilateral donors sought to devote more effort to integrating cross-

sectional issues like promotion of gender equity”…rather than link

gender issues with macroeconomics, promotion of democracy

(participation), and the coherence of sectoral policies”

As conclusion, the 2 major highlighted concerns include: “…to

ensure that women have access to resources and rights and to

initiate measures aimed at overcoming structural discrimination”

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“Since 1990, over 900 million people have seen their consumption riseabove $1.25 per day. If this trend continues, extreme poverty could beeradicated within the next two decades. --- this projection depends onensuring inclusive economic growth that reaches typically excludedpopulations, and women in particular” (USAID, 2015:1).

1. Study examined some factors that makes women venerable toextreme poverty and illustrate how through the use of gender-sensitive programming in agriculture, education and reproductivehealth one can negate extreme poverty

greater burdens of unpaid work -

fewer assets and productive resources than men,

exposure to GBV,

forced & early marriages

(These gender indicators affect women’s participation in the economyand benefits as well as their predisposition to extreme poverty);

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Some important findings (USAID, 2015: 10-11).1. Integrated innovative approaches are needed to address the

social and economic barriers that prevent women fromachieving equality and empowerment needed to stallextreme poverty reduction;

2. There is dire need in understanding what works best – forwomen and girls – in bringing them out of poverty;

3. There is need to design poverty programme that considerthe gender –specific link to poverty;

4. Carry out rigorous/robust data collection and evaluation;

5. Ensure data collection is relevant to the gendered aspect ofpoverty, using gender indicators;

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Reveal differences between men and women beneficiaries in terms of their

perception of poverty, what constitute poverty reduction project, benefits from PRP,

and effect?

Concerns and Issues In Using Gender Sensitive Programming

Several gender analysis frameworks exist to guide gender and poverty research

and actions;

General lack of will power, mindset and capacity to do gender related research

and analysis

Lack of robust study associating gender awareness strategies to poverty

reduction;

Bureaucratic resistance & lukewarm/shelving attitude in embracing gender

analysis needed for mainstreaming gender in poverty reduction programmes,

Etc, 11/9/2016



Attempts so far (little to moderate/haphazard ):

development policy, programmes & projects interventions

and institutions, particularly those that have been mandated

to end poverty are gender-aware and gender-responsive;

Generate and use gender disaggregated data ;

Build the capacity of all stakeholders - policy makers,

technocrats, development practitioners, researchers,

drawing up of the budget, community at large to be gender-

aware, gender-sensitive and responsive to address gender

issues in poverty;

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Gains from the use of MDGS, CEDAW, National

women’s machinery, affirmative actions, quota, etc

Gender awareness and sensitivity have generated

several gains for women e.g. increase political

participation, consumption of education, etc

11/9/2016



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