Gender and development : evolutions and debates around a concept now become indicator of international development (1/3)

Temps de lecture : 7 minutes

Gender and development : evolutions and debates around a concept now become indicator of international development (1/3)

29.06.2020

Written by Jeanne Prin
Translated by Biance Wiles 

 

There is little doubt as to gender’s dynamic and evolving nature. As this notion intertwined with that of development, it gave rise to an abundance of debates reflecting the wealth of the concept. Gender owes this diversity to its militant history which was deeply impacted by the evolution of contemporary feminist movements. In this three-part paper we will study how gender, in relation to the field of development, has gone beyond the sphere of academia to become a political object in and of itself. This first article will seek to concisely retrace the origins of the notion of gender and the mechanisms that presented it to the international development agenda.

From militant discourse to academic concept: the spread of gender within social sciences

The concept of gender finds its source in psychology. In 1930, American anthropologist Margaret Mead demonstrated the conditioned origins of what psychologists referred to as “temper”. For the first time, a distinction was made between biological sex and feminine or masculine personality traits^[1]Bereni (Laure), Chauvin (Sébastien), Jaunait (Alexandre) et Revillard (Anne), Introduction aux études sur le genre. Paris, 2e édition Revue et Augmentée. ed. Louvain-la-Neuve, De Boeck, 2012, … Continue reading. The process  of  “denaturalising” gender was adopted by feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s thanks to the creation of feminist studies. In 1972, British sociologist Ann Oakley made a distinction between “sex” and “gender”, the former characterising scientific facts, and the latter referring to the result of a social construct^[2]Oakley (Ann), Sex, Gender and Society, Temple Smith, 1972, 220 p.. This theoretical line of thought helps in highlighting social inequalities which inherently lie in the feminine/masculine dichotomy and became central to the materialist feminism of the 1970s embodied by the main theorists of the Women’s Liberation Movement such as Colette Guillaumin^[3]Guillaumin (Colette), Sexe, Race et Pratique du pouvoir, Paris, Côté-femmes, 1992, 241 p. and Christine Delphy^[4]Delphy (Christine), L’ennemi principal 1. Économie politique du patriarcat, Paris, Syllepse, Collection « Nouvelles Questions Féministes », 1998, 262 p.. This Marxist-inspired movement seeks to condemn a system of male economic oppression over women. The acknowledgement of this mechanism of subordination meant the acknowledgement of the “patriarchy”, as well as the recognition of the gendered division of labour and domestic work.

Joan Scott, an American historian specialised in gender studies, published her article “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis^[5]Scott (Joan) et Varikas (Éléni), « Genre : Une catégorie utile d’analyse historique », 1988, Les Cahiers du GRIF, n°37-38, Le genre de l’histoire, pp. 125-153. Disponible sur : … Continue reading»in 1986. Scott established the notion of “relations” as a fundamental element in the future of gender studies. Gender should not legitimise its existence on the juxtaposition of feminine and masculine as materialist feminism supports, but rather on the social relations that exist between genders. These interactions substantiate the raison d’être of this concept, differentiating “gender studies” from “women’s studies”. Translated into French two years later, this article lays out the premises of the progressive institutionalisation of feminist studies from the 1980s onwards, and the “structural divorce^[6]Lagrave (Rose-Marie), « Recherches féministes ou recherches sur les femmes ? », 1990, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales., vol. 83, Masculin/féminin-1, p.39. Available at : … Continue reading » between the militant approach and the academic approach to gender-focussed theories.

The spread of this concept within academic debates lead to the introduction of a gendered perspective in the field of development. Danish economist Ester Boserup’s essay, analysing the negative impact of agricultural modernisation on women of the global south^[7]Boserup (Ester), La femme face au développement économique, Paris, PUF, Collection « Sociologie d’aujourd’hui », 1983, 315p. Cited in : Lacombe (Delphine), Marteu (Elisabeth), … Continue reading, initie la création du mouvement Women in Development (WID) sparked the creation of the Women in Development (WID) movement which defends an inclusive vision of feminist issues in development projects. This initiative aligns itself with the idea that women’s inclusion in the development process is of “vital importance^[8]Ibid.» for the success of international cooperation programs, echoing voices of feminist movements from the Global South. Alongside such growing views, new priorities arise. Accordingly, female empowerment through inclusion and through paid labour in various activities became part of such priorities. The WID movement then transitioned towards that of Gender in Development (GAD), including the term gender and consequently allowing us to shift the focus on domination mechanisms between men and women. This latter movement came as a reaction to the stereotyped aspects and “male bias^[9]Vershuur (Christine), « Quel genre ? Résistances et mésententes autour du mot « genre » dans le développement », 2009, Revue du Tiers Monde, vol. 200, no. 4, pp.785-803. Available at: … Continue reading» which influenced development programs that focused essentially on women’s reproductive role.

The internationalisation of gender in development

These new gendered programs carried out by development institutions are responsible for a change in the scale of political issues on gender-relations. At the end of the 1990s, the creation of second-generation reforms by Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, sought to handle the social and economic failure of the structural adjustment plans set up ten years earlier. International financial strategies therefore came to focus on three new pillars: inclusion, participation and empowerment. This change in direction meant that emerging projects would focus on understanding the dynamics of growth rather than seeking to promote it. This is an issue that attracted economists’ attention, amongst them was Amartya Sen who integrates women to his “capabilities” approach, in which economic growth not only represents an end goal but also a mean to develop^[10]Prévost (Benoit), « Le genre dans les nouvelles stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté : de Sen à la Banque mondiale », 2011, Isabelle Guérin éd., Femmes, économie et développement. De … Continue reading. Following this line of though, women deprived from certain opportunities as a result of male domination are faced with various challenges limiting their participation in social life. Because of this diminished position, women would have a harder time accessing education and training that would better their economic capacity. Women are no longer considered as victims of under-development. As “agents” in their own right of the improvement of their households’ living standard, women with wages have the power to participate, through their choices, in the increase of economic development. This instrumentalist conception of development paved the way for gender politics centred around women’s access to paid labour, property and mic
rocredits.

In conjunction with these theoretical evolutions, larger organisation for international cooperation introduced gender-specific indicators to their analysis grids. In 1995, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) unveiled a global report entirely dedicated to women^[11]PNUD, « Rapport mondial sur le développement humain », 1995. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_1995_fr_complet_nostats.pdf. This report preceded the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This was the first convention of this scope devoted to gender inequalities on an international scale. Adopted on December 18^th 1979 and entering into force on September 3^rd 1981, article 14 of the convention emphasised “the particular problems faced by rural women” and urged member States to take all necessary measures in order to enable these women to “participate in and benefit from rural development^[12]Convention sur l’élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination à l’égard des femmes, 18 décembre 1979, entrée en vigueur le 3 septembre 1981, art.14 (1).». Aligned with democratic ideals of “equal opportunities” and “equity”, the increased attention given to rural women comes to support the international community’s interest in the inclusion of a new category of population in the “elaboration and implementation of development planning at all levels^[13]Ibid, art.14 (2 ; a).». This convention, also the first to recognise women’s reproductive rights, places itself in the wide context of the United Nations’ Decade for Women (1976-1985) which started during the First World Conference for Women organised in 1975, in Mexico. Several World conferences followed the latter, each one bringing significant progress to the sphere of gender in development, be it terminologically or theoretically.

The 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) followed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 solidly anchor gender as a major assessment category in determining development levels in the global south. The third MDG, adopted by 189 States, calls for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It focused its attention on eliminating inequalities in access to education, notably promoting girls’ access to primary education. Adopted during the UN General Assembly meeting in 2015, the fifth goal of the SDGs further encourages states to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” by the year 2030.

The relationships of dominance between men and women exposed by gender theorists have brought to light female-endured inequalities. Analysing the evolution of the concept of gender within the field of development has shown the importance of the context in which gender has been interpreted and perverted, to its paradoxical detriment. As it appropriates the concept, the sphere of development will come to create its own vocabulary, one accused of betraying and technicalising the militant origins of gender. 

BIBLIOGRAPHIE 

Ouvrages

Beauvalet-Boutouyrie (Scarlett) et Berthiaud (Emmanuelle), Le rose et le bleu. La fabrique du féminin et du masculin. Cinq siècles d’histoire, Paris, Belin, 2016, 379 p.

Bereni (Laure), Chauvin (Sébastien), Jaunait (Alexandre) et Revillard (Anne), Introduction aux études sur le genre, Paris, 2e édition, Louvain-la-Neuve, De Boeck, 2012, 357 p.

Delphy (Christine), L’ennemi principal 1. Économie politique du patriarcat, Paris, Syllepse, 1998, 262 p.

Guillaumin (Colette), Sexe Race et Pratique du pouvoir, Paris, Côté-femmes, 1992, 241p.

Oakley (Ann), Sex, Gender and Society, Temple Smith, 1972, 220 p.

Verschuur (Christine), Guérin (Isabelle) et Guétat-Bernard (Hélène) (dir.), Sous le développement, le genre, Marseille, IRD éditions, 2015, 302 p.

Articles scientifiques

Lacombe (Delphine), Marteu (Elisabeth), Jarry-Omarova (Anna) et Frotiée (Brigitte), « Le Genre globalisé : cadres d’actions et mobilisations en débats », Cultures & Conflits, vol. 83, no. 3, 2011, pp. 7-13. Available at: https://journals.openedition.org/conflits/18164

Lagrave (Rose-Marie), « Recherches féministes ou recherches sur les femmes ? », Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales., vol. 83, 1990, Masculin/féminin-1, pp. 27-39. Available at: https://www.persee.fr/doc/arss_0335-5322_1990_num_83_1_2934

Prévost (Benoit), « Le genre dans les nouvelles stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté : de Sen à la Banque mondiale », dans Isabelle Guérin éd., Femmes, économie et développement. De la résistance à la justice sociale, ERES, 2011, pp. 29-61. Available at: https://www.cairn.info/femmes-economie-et-developpement–9782749212982-page-29.htm

Scott (Joan) et Varikas (Éléni), « Genre : Une catégorie utile d’analyse historique », Les Cahiers du GRIF, n°37-38, 1988, Le genre de l’histoire, pp. 125-153. Available at: https://www.persee.fr/doc/grif_0770-6081_1988_num_37_1_1759

Vershuur (Christine), « Quel genre ? Résistances et mésententes autour du mot « genre » dans le développement », Revue du Tiers Monde, vol. 200, no. 4, 2009, pp.785-803. Available at : https://www.cairn.info/revue-tiers-monde-2009-4-page-785.htm

Rapports et études 

PNUD, « Rapport mondial sur le développement humain », 1995. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_1995_fr_complet_nostats.pdf

Prin (Jeanne), « L’intégration de la notion de genre au sein des projets de développement », Mémoire de Master, Montpellier : Université Montpellier 3, 2019.

To cite this article: Jeanne Prin, “Gender and development : evolutions and debates around a concept now become indicator of international development”, 29.06.2020, Gender in Geopolitics Institute