gender equality and women's empowerment - …202005.pdf · gender equality and women's...

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Gender equality andwomen's empowerment:a critical analysis of the third MillenniumDevelopment Goal^Naila Kabeer

This article discusses the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG), on gender equality andwomen's empowerment. It explores the concept of women's empowerment and highlights ways inwhich the indicators associated with this Goal - on education, employment, and political participation- can contribute to it.

Gender equality and women'sempowerment is the third of eightMDGs. It is an intrinsic rather than

an instrumental goal, explicitly valued as anend in itself rather than as an instrument forachieving other goals. Important aseducation is, the translation of this goal intothe target of eliminating gender disparitiesat all levels of education within a given timeperiod is disappointingly narrow. However,the indicators to monitor progress inachieving the goal are somewhat more wide-ranging:

• closing the gender gap in education at alllevels;

• increasing women's share of wageemployment in the non-agriculturalsector;

• and increasing the proportion of seatsheld by women in national parliaments.

In this article, I interpret this as meaning thateach of the three 'resources' implied by theseindicators - education, employment, andpolitical participation - is consideredessential to the achievement of genderequality and women's empowerment. Each

of these resources certainly has the potentialto bring about positive changes in women'slives, but, in each case, it is the socialrelationships that govern access to theresource in question that will determine theextent to which this potential is realised.Thus, in each case, there is both positive andnegative evidence about the impact ofwomen's access to these resources on theirlives. There are lessons to be learned fromboth. The article also considers some of theother 'resources' that have been overlookedby the MDGs, but could be consideredequally important for the goal in question.

Conceptualisingempowerment: agency,resources, and achievement

First, however, it is important to clarify whatis implied by 'empowerment' in this article.One way of thinking about power is in termsof the ability to make choices. To bedisempowered means to be denied choice,while empowerment refers to the processesby which those who have been denied theability to make choices acquire such anability. In other words, empowerment entails

Gender anti Development Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2005

14 Gender and Development

change. People who exercise a great deal ofchoice in their lives may be very powerful,but they are not empowered, in the sense inwhich I use the term, because they werenever disempowered in the first place.

However, for there to be a real choice,certain conditions must be fulfilled:

• There must be alternatives - the ability tohave chosen differently. Poverty anddisempowerment generally go hand inhand, because an inability to meet one'sbasic needs - and the resulting depend-ence on powerful others to do so - rulesout the capacity for meaningful choice.This absence of choice is likely to affectwomen and men differently, becausegender-related inequalities oftenintensify the effects of poverty.

• Alternatives must not only exist, theymust also be seen to exist. Power relationsare most effective when they are notperceived as such. Cender often operatesthrough the unquestioned acceptance ofpower. Thus women who, for example,internalise their lesser claim onhousehold resources, or accept violenceat the hands of their husbands, do sobecause to behave otherwise isconsidered outside the realm ofpossibility. These forms of behaviourcould be said to reflect 'choice', but arereally based on the denial of choice.

Not all choices are equally relevant to thedefinition of power. Some have greatersignificance than others in terms of theirconsequences for people's lives. Strategic lifechoices include where to live, whether andwhom to marry, whether to have children,how many children to have, who hascustody over children, freedom ofmovement and association, and so on. Thesehelp to frame other choices that may beimportant for the quality of one's day-to-daylife, but do not constitute its definingparameters. Finally, the capacity to exercisestrategic choices should not violate thiscapacity on the part of others.

The concept of empowerment can beexplored through three closely interrelateddimensions: agency, resources, andachievements. Agency represents theprocesses by which choices are made and putinto effect. It is hence central to the concept ofempowerment. Resources are the mediumthrough which agency is exercised; andachievements refer to the outcomes of agency.Below, each of these dimensions is consideredin turn, as is their interrelationship in thecontext of empowerment.

AgencyAgency has both positive and negativeconnotations:

• Its positive sense - the 'power to' - refersto people's ability to make and act ontheir own life choices, even in the face ofothers' opposition.

• Its negative sense - the 'power over' -refers to the capacity of some actors tooverride the agency of others through,for example, the exercise of authority orthe use of violence and other forms ofcoercion.

However, as noted earlier, power alsooperates in the absence of explicit forms ofagency. Institutional bias can constrainpeople's ability to make strategic life choices.Cultural or ideological norms may denyeither that inequalities of power exist or thatsuch inequalities are unjust. Subordinategroups are likely to accept, and even colludewith, their lot in society, if challenging thiseither does not appear possible or carriesheavy personal and social costs.

Agency in relation to empowerment,therefore, implies not only activelyexercising choice, but also doing this in waysthat challenge power relations. Because ofthe significance of beliefs and values inlegitimating inequality, a process ofempowerment often begins from within. Itencompasses not only 'decision making' andother forms of observable action but also themeaning, motivation, and purpose that

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individuals bring to their actions; that is,their sense of agency. Empowerment isrooted in how people see themselves - theirsense of self-worth. This in turn is criticallybound up with how they are seen by thosearound them and by their society.

ResourcesResources are the medium through whichagency is exercised. They are distributedthrough the various institutions andrelationships in a society. In institutions,certain actors have a privileged position overothers concerning how rules, norms, andconventions are interpreted, as well as howthey are put into effect. Heads of households,chiefs of tribes, directors of firms, managersof organisations, and elites within acommunity all have decision-makingauthority in particular institutions by virtueof their position. The way in which resourcesare distributed thus depends on the ability todefine priorities and enforce claims. Equallyimportantly, it defines the terms on whichresources are made available. If a woman'sprimary form of access to resources is as adependent member of the family, hercapacity to make strategic choices is likely tobe limited.

AchievementsResources and agency make up people'scapabilities: that is, their potential for livingthe lives they want. The term 'achievements'refers to the extent to which this potential isrealised or fails to be realised; that is, to theoutcomes of people's efforts. In relation toempowerment, achievements have beenconsidered in terms of both the agencyexercised and its consequences. Forexample, taking up waged work would beregarded by the MDGs as evidence ofprogress in women's empowerment.However, it would be far more likely toconstitute such evidence if work was takenup in response to a new opportunity or insearch of greater self-reliance, rather than asa 'distress sale' of labour. It is also far morelikely to be empowering if it contributes to

women's sense of independence, rather thansimply meeting survival needs.

The interrelationship between agency,resources, and achievementsThere is a distinction, therefore, between'passive' forms of agency (action taken whenthere is little choice), and 'active' agency(purposeful behaviour). There is also afurther important distinction betweengreater 'effectiveness' of agency, and agencythat is 'transformative'. The former relates towomen's greater efficiency in carrying outtheir given roles and responsibilities, thelatter to their ability to act on the restrictiveaspects of these roles and responsibilities inorder to challenge them. For example, inIndia, the reduction of overall childmortality has been associated with risingfemale literacy. This can be interpreted as theproduct of 'effective' agency on the part ofwomen in their role as mothers. However,the reduction of gender disparities in under-five mortality rates has transformativeimplications, because it shows a form ofagency that is acting against the grain ofpatriarchal values, which define daughtersas having less worth than sons.

The focus in this article is ontransformative forms of agency on the partof women and on those achievements thatsuggest a greater ability on the part of poorwomen to question, analyse, and act on thestructures of patriarchal constraint in theirlives. The three dimensions that make up theconcept of empowerment can be seen asrepresenting the pathways through whichthese processes of empowerment can occur.Changes in any one dimension can leadto changes in others. For instance,'achievements' in one sphere of life can formthe basis on which women seek improve-ments in other spheres in the future. Policychanges that provide women with access tonew 'resources' may be the result of theircollective action to achieve this change. Suchchanges may occur over the life course of anindividual or group or across generations, asmothers seek to give their daughters the


chances that they themselves never had. Thereverse is also true. Inequalities in onesphere are likely to get reproduced in otherspheres of society if they go unchallenged.Today's inequalities are translated into theinequalities of tomorrow as daughtersinherit the same discriminatory structuresthat oppressed their mothers.

We are, therefore, interested intransformative forms of agency that do notsimply address immediate inequalities butare used to initiate longer-term processes ofchange in the structures of patriarchy. Whilechanges in the consciousness and agency ofindividual women are an important startingpoint for such processes, it will do little on itsown to undermine the systemicreproduction of inequality. Institutionaltransformation requires movement along anumber of fronts: from individual tocollective agency, from private negotiationsto public action, and from the informalsphere to the formal arenas of strugglewhere power is legitimately exercised. Thequestion then is what the three resourcesidentified by MDG 3 contribute to thesemovements.

Access to education

The positive effects of educationThere is considerable evidence for the claimthat access to education can bring aboutchanges in cognitive ability, which is essentialto women's capacity to question, to reflect on,and to act on the conditions of their lives andto gain access to knowledge, information, andnew ideas that will help them to do so (seereview in Jejeebhoy 1995). This is evident ineveryday instances. In Kenya, it was foundthat women with at least four years ofschooling were able to correctly understandinstructions for administering oralrehydration salts; but only those with at leastsecondary education were able to explain theenvironmental causes of diarrhoea. InNigeria, less educated women were as likelyas educated ones to have their children

immunised; educated women were morelikely than uneducated ones to know aboutfamily planning; but only secondary-schooled women revealed an in-depthimderstanding about disease and prevention.

Education increases the likelihood thatwomen will look after their own well-beingalong with that of their family. A study inrural Zimbabwe found that among thefactors that increased the likelihood ofwomen accessing contraception andantenatal care - both of which improvematernal survival and well-being - wereeducation and paid work (Becker). In ruralNigeria, 96 per cent of women withsecondary and higher education, 53 per centof those with primary education, and 47 percent of those with little or no education hadsought post-natal care.

There are also other effects associatedwith education that suggest a change inpower relationships within and outside thehousehold. In rural Bangladesh, educatedwomen in rural areas participate in a widerrange of decisions than uneducated ones.Whereas the latter participated in an averageof 1.1 decisions, the number increased to 1.6,2.0, and 2.3 among women with primary,middle, and secondary educationrespectively. A study from Tamil Nadufound that better-educated women scoredhigher than less educated women on acomposite index measuring their access to,and control over, resources, as well as theirrole in economic decision-making.

Educated women also appear less likelyto suffer from domestic violence. A study bySen in West Bengal noted that educatedwomen were better able to deal with violenthusbands: 'access to secondary stages ofeducation may have an importantcontributory role in enhancing women'scapacity to exercise control in their lives ...through a combination of literacy andnumeracy skills, and enhanced self-esteem'(Sen 1999, 12). Similar findings wererecorded in rural Bangladesh (Schuler et al.1996).

Education appears to increase women'scapacity to deal with the outside world,including government officials and serviceproviders of various kinds. In rural Nigeria,uneducated women preferred not to deliverin hospitals because of the treatment theyreceived at the hands of nurses, a treatmentnot meted out to the more educated and self-confident women who were surveyed (citedin Jejeebhoy 1995). Finally, the exposure tonew ideas can translate into direct collectivechallenges to male prerogatives. The widelydocumented anti-liquor movementmounted by members of Mahila Samakhya,a literacy programme for women in India,was sparked off by images of collectiveaction against alcoholism in their literacyprimer (Niranjana 2002).

Limits to education as a route toempowermentHowever, there are also studies that suggestthat the changes associated with educationare likely to be conditioned by the context inwhich it is provided and the socialrelationships that it embodies and promotes.In societies that are characterised by extremeforms of gender inequality, not only iswomen's access to education curtailed byvarious restrictions on their mobility andtheir limited role in the wider economy, butits effects may also be more limited. Wherewomen's role in society is defined purely inreproductive terms, education is seen interms of equipping girls to be better wivesand mothers, or increasing their chances ofgetting a suitable husband. These arelegitimate aspirations, given the realities ofthe society. However, they do little to equipgirls and women to question the worldaround them, and the subordinate statusassigned to them.

A second set of qualifications concerns therelationships embodied in the delivery ofeducation. Social inequalities are oftenreproduced through interactions within theschool system. In India, for example, not onlydo the children of poor and scheduled-castehouseholds attend different, and differently


resourced, schools, but, even within the sameschool, different groups of children aretreated differently. Dalit children aresometimes made to sit separately from others,are verbally abused, are used for runningmenial errands, and are physically punishedmore often than higher-caste children. Thereis also evidence of widespread gender bias,with teachers showing more attention to boysand having a lower opinion of girls' abilities.The absence, or minority presence, of femaleteachers is a problem in many areas.Reinforcing the male dominance of publicservices, it can act as a barrier to girls' access toand completion of schooling.

Teachers in Africa also have differentattitudes towards male and female students,on the basis that boys need careers and girlsneed husbands. They tend to be dismissiveand discouraging towards girls and to givemore classroom time to boys, who areusually more demanding. Even when girlsare encouraged to pursue a career, they areexpected to opt for the 'caring' professions,in other words teaching and nursing. The'hidden curriculum' of school practicereinforces messages about girls' inferiorstatus on a daily basis and provides themwith a negative learning experience, thuscreating a culture of low self-esteem and lowaspirations.

The less hidden content of theeducational curriculum also mirrors andlegitimates wider social inequalities,denigrating physical labour (largely thepreserve of poor people) and domesticactivities (largely the preserve of women).Cender stereotyping in the curriculumportrays girls as passive, modest, and shy,while boys are seen as assertive, brave, andambitious. This reinforces traditional genderroles in society, and acts to limit the kinds offutures that girls are able to imagine forthemselves. The design of educationalcurricula has not yet taken account of the factthat many more women are entering thelabour market around the world, makingcritical contributions to household income


and frequently heading their ownhouseholds. Policy makers often continue tosee the benefits of educating girls andwomen in terms of improving family healthand welfare, rather than preparing womenfor a more equal place in the economy and insociety. Women's lack of skills partlyexplains why they continue to be confined tothe poorer paid and more casualised formsof paid work.

These limitations to education as a routeto empowerment do not negate the earlierpositive findings, but they suggest the needfor caution in assuming that the effects ofeducation can be taken for granted or thatthey will be uniform across all contexts. Theypoint to the various aspects of educationalprovision that militate against not only itsempowerment potential but even its abilityto attract and retain girls in school,particularly those from poor backgrounds.

Access to paid workThere is also a solid body of evidence toshow that access to paid work can increasewomen's agency in strategic ways.

Positive implications of self-employmentEven paid work carried out in the home hasthe potential to shift the balance of powerwithin the family. A detailed study of womenengaged in industrial homework in MexicoCity noted that in households wherewomen's economic contribution was criticalto household survival, women had been ableto negotiate a greater degree of respect(Beneria and Roldan 1987). Studies of theimpact of microcredit in societies wherewomen have traditionally been excludedfrom the cash economy have found thatwomen's access to credit led to a number ofpositive changes in women's ownperceptions of themselves, and their role inhousehold decision making (Kabeer 2001;Kabeer forthcoming). It also led to a long-term reduction in domestic violence, as wellas an increase in women's assets. Such effectswere stronger when these loans were used to

initiate or expand women's own income-generating activities, despite the fact thatthese continued to be largely home-based(Hashemi et al 1996; Schuler et al. 1996). Arecent survey of the impact of variousmicrofinance organisations (MFOs) in Indiaand Bangladesh noted that longer-termmembership of such groups also led tovarious categories of wider impact, includinghigher levels of political participation,improved access to governmentprogrammes, and practical skills, as well asknowledge of the wider society, self-confidence in dealing with public officials,and the likelihood of participating in protestsand campaigns (Kabeer, forthcoming).However, the study notes that these impactsdepend not only on the provision of financialservices of various kinds, but also on thekinds of group that MFOs promote.

Positive implications of wage labour inagricultureHowever, the most striking feature of recentdecades has been the large-scale entry ofwomen into the labour market across theworld: the 'feminisation' of the labour force.The rise of non-traditional agriculturalexport (NTAE) production in a number ofAfrican and Latin American countries hasled to a rise in wage employment for womenin medium- and large-scale productionunits. Studies suggest that this income hasbrought about a number of economicimprovements for women themselves andfor their families, and show that theyexercise a considerable say in how theirmoney is spent (see, for instance, the reviewin Dolan and Sorby 2003). A study inEcuador found that more than 80 per cent ofwomen in the flower industry managed theirown wages. Among female employees in theKenyan vegetable industry, single womenmanaged and controlled their own wages,while married women usually managedtheir incomes jointly with husbands.

There is also significant evidence fromthe vegetable industries of Guatemala andthe Dominican Republic, and the flower


industry of Mexico, that women'sparticipation in wage employment has led togreater independence in household decisionmaking. In some cases, as among womenworking in the fresh vegetable industry inthe Dominican Republic, it has allowed themto escape abusive marriages. Womenworking in the flower industry in Colombiareported widening their social networks inways that would otherwise have proveddifficult in rural areas. Workers in the freshvegetable industry in Kenya not onlyreported greater economic independence,but also new opportunities for meeting withwomen from other parts of the country.

Positive implications of non-agriculturalwage labourEvidence of changes in women's life chancesas a result of entry into waged work appearsto be more marked when it occurs in the non-agricultural sector (see the review ofliterature in Kabeer, forthcoming). This ispartly because such employment isgenerally associated with migration bywomen out of rural areas and away from thepatriarchal controls of kinship andcommunity. In a country where women hadpreviously been denied public forms ofemployment, women workers in the exportgarment industry in Bangladesh expressedtheir satisfaction at having a 'proper' job andregular wages, compared with the casual,poorly paid forms of employment that hadpreviously been their only options. Manyhad used their new-found earning power torenegotiate their relations within marriage,others to leave abusive marriages. Womenwho had previously not been able to help outtheir ageing parents once they got marriednow insisted on their right to do so. Yetothers used their earnings to postpone earlymarriage and to challenge the practice ofdowry. In addition, they valued the newsocial networks that they were able to buildwith their co-workers, and the greater senseof independence they now enjoyed.

Similarly positive evaluations arereported in a number of other studies. As in

Bangladesh, women in Turkey hadpreviously been permitted to work outsidethe home only if it was necessary for familysurvival. In a study of the clothing industry,however, many of those interviewed nolonger saw their work as subordinate to theirfamilial roles, to be abandoned when theygot married or had children. Rather, theysaw it as a more permanent way of life. Theoverwhelming majority had made their owndecision to enter factory work, giving astheir reasons their desire to make use of theirskills and to be outside the home. Forty percent of the workers, who were mainly youngsingle women, indicated their preference towork a considerable distance from home inorder to escape the control exercised by theirfamily and neighbours. They wanted towork somewhere where they could moveabout freely during their lunch breaks andtake the opportunity to meet their friends,including boyfriends.

A study of women workers in exportmanufacturing jobs in the Philippines foundthat most of them earned at least as much as -and many earned more than - the legalminimum wage, and they also enjoyed morebenefits than in alternative forms ofemployment. They had the opportunity todelay marriage and childbirth, and the scopefor personal independence and self-determination that comes with relatively highwages and relatively stable employment(compared with work in the informaleconomy). While factory employment maynot provide much satisfaction in itself, it wassuggested that it could gradually lead topositive changes in women's personal andhousehold circumstances.

In China, young, single women migratefrom the countryside to live and work in theexport-processing zones in the south. Suchjobs are fiercely competed for in the country-side, because they are more remunerativethan agricultural work. Moreover, manywomen previously worked on family farmswhere they never received an independentwage. Young women wanted to earn money.


not only to help their families but also to buythings for themselves without having toaccount to someone for whatever they spent.Others used their earnings to meet thedemand for repayment of bride price orchild support by husbands whom theywished to divorce.

In Honduras, women working inmaquiladoras (assembling manufacturedgoods for export) earned higher wages thanworkers elsewhere, and they reportedimprovements in household relationshipsand help in domestic work from malemembers. They were more likely to havevoted in elections and more likely to feel thatthey carried some weight with thegovernment. These trends became strongerover time. This may explain why, while mostworkers wanted to see improvements,especially in their wages, 96 per centreported that they were very (49 per cent) orsomewhat (47 per cent) satisfied with theirjobs. Similarly, married women workers inexport-oriented manufacturing factories in anumber of Caribbean countries reportedimprovements in household relations as aresult of their greater economiccontributions, with greater sharing ofdecision making with male partners.

The limits to empowerment through paidworkOn the other hand, most of these studies alsohighlight the exploitative conditions of workin which women are generally found. Thegreatest attention has been paid to womenwho work in the agro and manufacturingindustries, which seek to competeinternationally through the promotion offlexible labour practices. Export-orientedmanufacturing is associated with extremelylong hours of work during busy seasons,often combined with lay-offs in the slackseason, and poor conditions. In China, mostwomen from the localities in which theseindustries are based shunned such work ifthey could find employment with higherstatus or that was less tedious. There are alsohealth hazards. Maquila workers in

Honduras, for example, were more likely toreport a health problem in the previousmonth than those who had been workingelsewhere, and they had less leisure. Studiesfrom Vietnam and Bangladesh both foundlong hours of work in the same position to bethe major source of complaint amongwomen workers in the export sector,together with various ailments associatedwith this.

Moreover, not all studies report positivefindings concerning women's capacity tohave greater control over their lives. Manywomen who leave rural areas to take up jobsin towns, in order to make new friends andbuild a life for themselves, do not have timeto take up such opportunities. The divisionof labour in domestic chores and child care israrely renegotiated between the sexes.Despite their increased labour input intopaid work, women (particularly marriedwomen) either continue to bear the mainburden of domestic work, or share it withother female members of the household -often their daughters. By and large, genderinequalities in work burdens appear to beintensified. Despite the collective nature oftheir work, women workers in these sectorsare either forbidden to unionise or find itdifficult to do so.

Moreover, despite the visibility ofexport-oriented waged employment inagriculture and industry, the vast majority ofwomen in low-income countries continue towork in the informal economy in variousforms of economic activities that may or maynot be affected by global markets, but arecharacterised by far worse conditions.Within this informal economy, poorerwomen are concentrated in the mostcasualised forms of waged labour, and low-value own-account enterprises. It is difficultto see how earnings generated by sex work,domestic service, or daily labour onconstruction sites - which is where thepoorest women are likely to be found - willdo much to improve women's subordinatestatus at home or at work.


Political representation

The last of the indicators for monitoringprogress on gender equality and women'sempowerment relates to the number of seatsheld by women in national parliaments. Itmoves the focus of empowerment into thearena of politics, and the struggle forparticipation and representation in decision-making structures.

Positive effects of nationalrepresentationAs half of the population, women are clearlyentitled to at least half the seats inparliament. Such an achievement could,with certain qualifications, represent themost ambitious of the three forms of changesingled out to measure progress on women'sempowerment and could have the greatestpotential for transformation. Furthermore,again with certain qualifications, it couldpotentially address many of the constraintsthat limit the life chances of poor women.

However, because these qualificationsrelate to the same constraints that haveprevented women from all social classes andgroups from having a 'strategic presence' innational parliaments, it is also the form ofsocial change least likely to be achieved inthe near future. A review of the relevantstatistics suggests that, regardless of politicalsystems, the proportion of women innational parliaments around the world isextremely low, averaging 13.8 per cent in2000 (Goetz 2003). This is an extraordinaryunder-representation of women in thehighest structures of governance in theircountries. Various forms of bias in theinstitutions of civil society and the politicalsphere - more so than consciousdiscrimination - operate to exclude women,including women from privileged elites.

The structure of the political spheremakes a difference to how many women arefielded as candidates and how many win.This includes the extent to which politicalparties have taken institutional root insociety; have clear rules about candidate

selection; and identify relevant policyconcerns. Most important is the politicalculture in which parties operate and theextent to which it is conducive to thepromotion of women's involvement inpolitics: the strength or weakness ofpatriarchal ideology, the existence ofpluralist forms of organisation, the degree ofreligious opposition to gender reforms.

Electoral systems are also important. Theones more likely to bring women intopolitical oftice are those where more than oneperson can represent a constituency; thosethat have multiple parties competing forvotes; and those that practise proportionalrepresentation (PR) in party lists.

Those less likely to do so are majoritariansystems which create the incentive to field asingle candidate per constituency and appealto the majority, rather than accommodatingdiversity. A review of 53 legislatures in 1999found that national assemblies in PR systemshad nearly 24 per cent of women, comparedwith 11 per cent in majoritarian systems. Inalmost every case where women exceed 15per cent of elected representative bodies, thishas been the result of special measures thataccord positive advantage to femalecandidates: Mozambique has 30 per centfemale parliamentarians, while South Africahas 29 per cent. Bangladesh, Burkina Faso,India, Tanzania, and Uganda all havereserved seats for women in national or localgovernment.

The way that quotas are applied makes adifference to whether the presence of womenis 'token' or a legitimate form ofrepresentation. Where, as in Bangladesh,women's seats were filled by the party inpower, they simply became an additional votebank for the ruling regime. In South Africa, onthe other hand, there have been attempts bythe women's movement to encouragemembers from within their ranks to enterpolitics. A woman MP there was active ininitiating the process of examining nationalbudgets from a gender perspective; and theWomen's Budget Initiative, established in


1995, brought together parliamentarians andNCOs to scrutinise the allocation of publicresources (Budlender, Hicks, and Vetten2002).

At the same time, it should be noted that,at present, the women who enter nationalparliaments are not generally drawn fromthe ranks of poor people, nor is there anyguarantee that they will be more responsiveto the needs and priorities of poor womenthan many men in parliament.

Positive effects of local governmentThere is some debate about whether greaterparticipation and influence in localgovernment structures are more relevantgoals for poor women than increasingwomen's seats in national parliaments. Theformer, after all, make the decisions thatmost directly affect the lives of poor people.In recognition of this, a number of states inIndia, where there is now 33 per centreservation of seats for women in localgovernment, have added further induce-ments to local communities to encouragewomen's participation. Madhya Pradeshand Kerala, for example, require that one-third of participants in the regular openvillage meetings are female before there isconsidered to be a quorum. Kerala alsoallocates 10 per cent of development fundsreceived by local councils from the state to beused for 'women's development' and to bemanaged by representatives of femalegroups of the village assembly.

Clearly, all these measures, including thereservation policy itself, are open to abuse.There has been much discussion in Indiaabout the possibility that women are merelyproxies for husbands or powerful menwithin their family or caste. Objections areraised on the grounds that only supportersof parties in power attend village meetings;or that women are being harassed to spendfunds in ways that do not benefit poorerwomen. While these are valid concerns, theymay also alter over time, as women becomemore experienced in the political arena.Studies from India, for example, showed

that many of the elected women weregaining self-confidence. They questioned thepriorities of panchayat (local government)development programmes, emphasisedissues affecting women such as fuel andwater, and had begun to build broadalliances among themselves. One studyshowed that women representatives werelikely to allocate resources differently frommen, suggesting that their presence alloweda different set of priorities to be expressed.

Building citizenship fromthe grassroots

It is clear that each of the resources inquestion had the potential to bring about thekinds of change that could lead torenegotiations of the boundaries betweenpublic and private life, to collective forms ofstruggle, and to women's greater represent-ation in the structures of decision making.Together, they could also provide the basison which women could organise to addressthe other aspects of the patriarchal structureson which the MDCs are silent: reproductiverights, violence against women, unjust laws,and so on. However, it is also clear that thereare likely to be powerful forces, some withinthe policy domain itself, that will militateagainst this happening. It is only through themobilisation of women, particularly poorwomen, who are primary stakeholders in allof the MDCs, but particularly the MDC onwomen's empowerment, that policy makerscan be held accountable to ensure that theMDCs are followed through in the spirit ofthe international movements and meetingsthat gave rise to them. Yet it is precisely thisthat is missing from the letter and spirit of theMDCs. The vision and values of women'sgroups and organisations across the worldhave been translated into a series of technicalgoals, to be implemented mainly by the veryactors and institutions that have blockedtheir realisation in the past.

If the vision and values that gave rise tothe demand for gender equality and


women's empowerment in the first place areto be restored to MDG 3, then those withmost at stake in its implementation inaccordance with this spirit must be in aposition to participate in the processes bywhich it is translated into objectives,activities, and outcomes. This is most likelyto happen if the women in question, togetherwith their allies in government and civilsociety, are mobilised to participate in theseprocesses. Sometimes such mobilisationshave begun to occur because of the nature ofcertain activities. We have noted the way inwhich microfinance can provide the basis forbuilding women's capacity for collectiveaction. We have also noted how such actioncan spill over into the political sphere, notsimply in the form of voting, but also ininteractions with locally representedofficials and participation in protests. We arealso seeing evidence of greater willingnesson the part of women workers to challengetheir employers and the state throughorganisations such as SEWA (Self-EmployedWomen's Association) and MahilaSamakhya in India, and Kormojibi Nari andNijera Kori in Bangladesh. We have seen theinnovation of Women's Budget Initiatives ina number of countries, not simply as atechnical exercise but as a way of learningmore about how governance structuresfunction and how resources are raised andallocated. It is through the mobilisation ofwomen as women but also as workers,mothers, and citizens that the internationalcommunity can ensure that the MDGs speakto the needs and interests of half of theworld's population. Building this collectivecapacity of women in all spheres of life toparticipate and to hold authoritiesaccountable is thus the only basis on whichthe world's policy makers can keep thepromises that they have made on the issue ofgender equality.

ConclusionGender relations, like all social relations, aremulti-stranded: they embody ideas, values,and identities; they allocate labour betweendifferent tasks, activities, and domains; theydetermine the distribution of resources; andthey assign authority, agency, and decision-making power. This means that genderinequalities are multi-dimensional andcannot be reduced to some single anduniversally agreed set of priorities. Anyattempt to do so will run the danger of beingeither too narrow (as the MDGs have beenaccused of being) or a wish list that is toolong and complex to act on. However,gender relationships are not internallycohesive. They contain contradictions andimbalances, particularly when there havebeen changes in the wider socio-economicenvironment. Consequently, a shift in oneaspect of social relations can initiate a seriesof changes in other aspects, withunpredictable consequences. To that extent,it could be argued that each of the threeindicators embodied in MDG 3 has thepotential to make a difference. Each canbring about immediate changes with longer-term consequences. Indeed, the same couldbe said of any set of policies that seeks toimprove women's access to resources. Somemay be more strategic than others, but allhave transformatory potential as long as thechange in question is a genuine expansion ofwomen's choices, rather than a token gestureof paternalist benevolence.

However, this article has also argued thatunless provision is made to ensure thatpolicy changes are implemented in waysthat allow women themselves to participate,to monitor, and to hold policy makers,corporations, and other relevant actorsaccountable for their actions, this potential isunlikely to be realised. Women's access toeducation may improve their chances of agood marriage or their capacity to sign theirnames on a document, but unless it alsoprovides them with the analytical capacityand courage to question unjust practices, its


potential for change will be limited.Women's access to paid work may give thema greater sense of self-reliance and greaterpurchasing power, but if it is undertaken inconditions that erode their health and exploittheir labour, its costs may outweigh itsbenefits. Women's presence in thegovernance structures of society clearlycarries the potential to change unjustpractices, but if the women in question aredrawn from a narrow elite, if they have beeninvited rather than elected, and if they haveno grassroots constituency to represent andanswer to, their presence will be only a tokenone.

The question, therefore, is to what extentthe international community is prepared toprovide support to women at the grassroots- support which will ensure that they havethe collective capabilities necessary to playthis role.

Naila Kabeer is Professorial Fellow at theInstitute of Development Studies, University ofSussex. She can he contacted [email protected]

Note

1 This article is an edited version of a chapter inGender Mainstreaming in Poverty Eradication and theMillennium Development Goals: A Handbook forPolicy-makers and Other Stakeholders, by NailaKabeer, published by the CommonwealthSecretariat, London, in 2003.

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