women and the third world development
TRANSCRIPT
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WOMEN AND THE THIRD
WORLD DEVELOPMENT
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A BACKGROUND
Women comprise more than half theworld's population, constitute 70% of the
world's poor, 2/3 are not taught to read
and write. Less likely to receive medical services,
clean water, sanitation, and other benefits
LDCs with female-headed householdsare among the poorest in the population
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Women have less access to education,
formal-sector employment, social security,
and government employment programs Educational gender gap greatest in the
poorest countries and regionally in the
Middle East and North Africa Often barred from higher-paying
occupations; frequently restricted to low-
productivity jobs; experience higherdependency burdens
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In many regions, there is a strong biasagainst females in various areas
Perseverance of low levels of living
among women & children yield to a loweconomic status of women
Womens control over household income
and resources is limited
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Government programs designed toalleviate poverty frequently work
almost exclusively with men
Typically ineligible for institutionallyprovided resources such as credit and
training
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WOMEN WITH DEVELOPMENT
Up until the 1960s, women were merelyseen as quiet recipients and passivebeneficiaries of development.
The emphasis was on assisting women tobecome better mothers and this was
met by providing food aid, measures
against malnutrition and family planning(Moser, 1993:62).
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Soon enough, female participation
rates in education and training programs,formal-sector employment, and agricultural
extension programs increased
Empirical evidence shows that educationaldiscrimination against women hinders
economic development in addition to
reinforcing social inequality
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Closing the educational gender gap by expanding
educational opportunities for women is economically
desirable because of the following:
1. Rate of return on womens education is higher than that
on mens in most developing countries
2. Increase in productivity on the farm and in the factory3. Greater labor force participation
4. Later marriage and lower fertility
5. Great improvement in child health and nutrition
6. Breaks the cycle of poverty and inadequate schoolingthrough improvements in role and status via education
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Studies from around the developing
world consistently show that expansionof basic education of girls earns amongthe very highest rates of return in any
investment Education of girls has also been shown
to be one of the most cost-effective
means of improving local healthstandards
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WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
These conflicting views on developmenthave added to the problem ratherthan the solution.
The viewpoints of the different un-official actors in development,
particularly poor women, have been
left out from the mainstream develop-ment policy.
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Instead, economics as a discipline hasplayed an influential role in shaping
development thought. However,
economists have generally ignored
feminist concerns by simply assuming
that gender biases do not exist.
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Orthodox economics identifies lack ofeconomic advancement as the root
cause of underdevelopment without
considering other factors like class, andregional and cultural differences. This
illustrates the gender-blindness of
orthodox development.
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Another school of thought that has driven develop-
ment in the recent decades is the political economy
school.
The orthodox school does not see deprivation as the
result of unequal power between classes, regions and
nations, but as resulting from deficiencies in economicfunctioning. [O]ne key concept and strategy of this
school emphasizes economic growth as a way to
eradicate poverty, which in turn can be subcategorized
into two general developmental streams: growth firsttrickle down later, and growth with equity (Sittirak,
1999:8).
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Political economists are more concerned with the
nature of the process by which growth is achieved.
The key characteristics of this school can be readily
identified by applying Paulo Freires question
regarding the educational process to the developmentprocess: Are people (or classes) and nations objects
of development under someone elses control or are
they subjects of development, in control of their own
destiny? (Sittirak, 1998:8)
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In both schools, development has been
about men, by men and for menpolicy-makers did not see women (Kabeer, 1999: xi).
Womens work was invisible to economists
who equate productivity with a cash
economy and, as a result, womens domestic
work and subsistence food production are
viewed as unproductive.