Wid Wad Gad Approaches To Women Empowerment 6g6i2y

This paper intends to analyse the assertion that WID,WAD and GAD fail to articulate the experience of gender development in Africa.In the view of various differences that exist within these approaches this paper intends to explain, illustrate and assess the similarities and differences within WID, WAD and GAD. Gender is defined by FAO as ‗the relations between men and women, both perceptual and material. Gender is not determined biologically, as a result of sexual characteristics of either women or men, but is constructed socially. It is a central organizing principle of societies, and often governs the processes of production and reproduction, consumption and distribution’. Development is a specified state of growth or advancement. Women In Development (WID) evolved in the in the early 1970s from a liberal feminist framework. Its main purpose was to integrate women prior viewed as ive beneficiaries of any advancement into the development process. The approach therefore called for greater attention to women in development policy and practice. Between men and women it emphasizes the need to challenge existing gender roles and relations. The WID perspective marked an important corrective action highlighting the fact that women need to be actively involved in development as active agents if effective and efficient development is to be achieved. Under WID, women‘s subordination was seen in of their exclusion from the market sphere and consequent limited control over resources. African countries viewed women as second class in both economic and political circles, thus policies that sidelined women were crafted. Since WID assumed women as the same the world over, it gave women the opportunity of getting actively involved in development. Hence therefore WID enhanced to people‘s understanding of women‘s development needs, particularly the need to improve statistical measures of women‘s work and also provide them with more educational and employment opportunities. Furthermore ,WID addressed women‘s practical needs by creating income generating opportunities like access to credit facilities from financial institutions and setting up sound and recognized self sustaining projects like cross border trading, weaving and crafting to mention a few. WID however views lack of women‘s participation in development as a problem though it however seeks to advance a number of strategies aimed at addressing the problem under focus.

Through women in development projects such as technology transfer, credit facilities and other interventions that have a welfare orientation especially of on projects of hygiene literacy and or child care are implemented. Also WID focuses on advocacy strategies that are for more and equal participation of women in education, employment and other spheres of society politics in particular. The other strategy is to increase women‘s ability to manage the household by practicing sound and proper family planning methods. Hence WID was more concerned with what women could offer to the success of development as opposed to what development could. Overholt 1984 says the approach has enhanced people‘s understanding of development needs, particularly the need to improve statistical measures of women‘s work and to provide with more opportunities for educational and employment, therefore providing a platform to uplift their status in the society. When most countries attained their freedom in the 1950s and 1960s, women who took part in the struggle for independence felt that they should also participate in nation building activities together with men and this saw the birth of women and development (WAD). It is however important to note that the concept arose in the latter part of the 1970s and it criticized WID. Its origins are in the argument that that there should be a development approach to women that recognizes the dangers of intergrating women into a patriarchal world. The central point of WAD is that women should be empowered economically ,they should be emancipated from poverty as this will allow them to contribute and benefit from developments efforts. Furthermore it stresses the power of women in society in of their knowledge, work, goals and their responsibilities and that the society should acknowledge the role that has always been played by women in the society.it considers the modern day women who are involved in activities at workplaces and at home in trying to improve the society. Agriculture is a key activity that boost the economy of many African countries and of long women are the ones who had been taking part in ensuring that high yields or production are reached every year. Connelly et al (1999)is of the assertion that, WAD points out that although women are involved in such activities of development; the contributions of women have been overlooked and marginalized in national and donor development plans.

It therefore follows that the WAD approach is centered on women only seeking the need to create projects which are women centric, constructed to protect women‘s interests from patriarchal domination.it is important to note that marginalization and smallness of scale have limited the transformative potential of women –only organisations. The approach also sees women as a class, downplaying differences among women, particularly along racial and ethnic lines. Moyoyetta (2004) is of the view that WAD sees both women and men as not benefitting from the global economic structures because of disadvantages due to class and the way wealth is distributed. The approach states that women‘s status will only improve when international structures become more equitable, it fails to see the existence of a patriachal society that exist within the international parameters which undermines women as far as development is concerned. In a nutshell it ignores the question of social relations between men and women and their impact in development. From the weaknesses of WID and WAD saw the birth of GAD in the 1980s.it also emerged from the grassroots organizational experiences and writings of Third World feminists. It grew mainly because there was lack of progress with WID as a policy in changing women‘s lives and influencing the broader development agenda. GAD is concerned with addressing the root, inequalities (of both gender and class) that create many of the practical problems women experience in their daily lives as opposed to the WID approach that views the absence of women in development plans and policies as the problem. Unlike the WID, it addresses strategic interests such that it takes women as agents or enables women to become agents, it can improve the position of women in society and can empower women and transform gender relations and attitudes. Strategic interests for women arise from their position in society (disadvantaged) relative to that of men. Strategic interests are long-term, related to improving women's position. For example, empowering women to have more opportunities, greater access to resources, and more equal participation with men in decision-making would be in the long-term strategic interest of the majority of the world's men and women alike.

Its strength is on the ability to focus not just on women but also on the social relations between women and men, be it in the workplace or in any other settings it therefore seeks to address issues of access. According to Regan 2007:67 all the theoretical and policy models outlined have one main weaknesses as they all assume that women are a homogenous group or category as they come in with the development process. Hence they assume that all women in developing countries (in this context Africa) have similar experiences, needs, problems, interest, goals and aims. But the needs of middle class women are not the same as the urban or rural poor and so development policies will affect both groups in the same way equally. As asserted by Marxist theories, the frameworks liberate, empower and promote partnership and equitable distribution of resources and benefits. although women are not fully involved in issues of development, they are some who have managed to take part in financial budgeting and management for instance in the creation of the Women's World Banking (WWB), a nonprofit financial institution created in 1979 to give poor female entrepreneurs access to financing, market information, and training. It grew out of the 1975 United Nations World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City, to address the need for global structures to fund women in microenterprises. WWB currently operates in more than 50 countries and has provided assistance to more than 1 million clients internationally. WWB's goal is to help poor women create wealth. It is also important to note that since the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women there has been a surge in gender-responsive budgeting. All The frameworks have made women to be recognised and also taken into consideration when making decisions and when enacting laws. This is seen through the work of the United Nations. The United Nations, through its various agencies, has also exhibited obvious shifts in its focus and its development thinking as it continues to address women's issues. Pietila and Vickers (1990) documented these shifts and contributing factors:1950s to 1960s — Women's issues were seen mainly within the context of human rights.1970s — The key role of women was better recognized, particularly in relation to efforts to relieve or solve problems in the fields of population and food. In the United Nations' earlier decades, women had been seen as objects: the organization made recommendations and enacted conventions for their protection and rights. In

the 1970s, the formula was to "integrate women into development." Women were characteristically seen as resources, and their contributions were sought to enhance the development process and make it more efficient. For this purpose, the United Nations sought to improve the status, nutrition, health, and education of women. It was often claimed that a failure to fully integrate women into development efforts would be a "waste of human resources." Women's dignity and rights were not yet seen as a cause in themselves. The perennial nature of women's

contribution

to

the

well-being

of

their

country's

population

was

still

unrecognized.1980s — The United Nations' Third Development Decade gave rise to a "trend towards seeing women as equals, as agents and beneficiaries in all sectors and at all levels of the development process. ... and the year 1985 became a turning point in the history of women's issues in the UN system" (Pietila and Vickers 1990, p. viii). On the other hand all the frameworks reflect the precautions and assumptions of western feminist and some of the aspects do not apply to the Third World Countries. Culture is a major barrier in these countries as far as the theory of development is put into practice. The women‘s agency(2000:56)argues that to a certain extent the women‘s subordination is a consequence of colonial and pre-colonial exploitation rather than the cultural construction of gender in their own societies. As much as the issue of empowerment is preached to women, the results are not forth coming because most women especially those who live in the remote areas, they are unaware of their rights and to those who have the information they are afraid of taking a step ahead because they will be labeled and segregated from the rest of the society. More so, most women in African countries are still economically dependent and this limits their efforts to pursue anything else that is outside the basic needs of their families. According to Moser (1993) WID, WAD and GAD gradually moved from an emphasis upon culture and national character, as variables explaining underdevelopment, top a focus on structural factors resulting from particular from relationships among industrialised and poor countries over time. Violence against women is an increasingly serious problem in African countries. As far as these frameworks have played a role in development it is also important to note that domestic violence is still a major component if not in a limelight just as sexual

jealousies and suspicions caused by women leaving the home to work are a factor. So, too, is the management of domestic finances. Men expect women to be able to stretch the household's income to cover all necessities and leave some over for entertainment. Women are also routinely harassed by strangers on the street especially when ing where commuter omnibus operators park their vehicles and women are also harassed by their ―super-visors‖ at their places of work. The frameworks also fail to recognise that young women in most African countries‘ are the most oppressed and exploited, for example daughter-in-law versus mother in law and daughter in law versus her husband‘s sisters. Elderly women and aunts use patriarchal values to oppress other women. More so, women cannot speak with one voice even in post-modernism because of race and class and culture. Women who live in the urban areas have access to technology and somehow it has contributed in them coming in touch with the whole world, however the women who live in rural areas are alienated from technology and knowledge and hence , women can never speak with one voice. Level of education also counts amongst women, those who are well educated are respected in society and these may manipulate and exploit labor from the uneducated ones like housemaids, who mostly are treated more like animals.One can therefore note that some women connive with patriarchy to exploit , subordinate and oppress young women and the uneducated women in the Third World. In the light of the above discussion it can be noted that WID, WAD and GAD as development approaches fall short in their numerous efforts to articulate the experiences of gender and development in Africa.

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Training.London:Routledge Moyoyetta,L.(2004) Women ,Gender and Development ,Lusaka:Women for change. Pietilä, H.; Vickers, J. 1990. Making women matter: the role of the United Nations. Zed Books, London, UK. www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5608e/y5608e01.accesssed 06-05-12