Addressing the Challenges of Gender Inequities

IDCE has played a role in shaping a generation of scholar/activists to address the challenges of gender roles around the world. This community of scholars at Clark has recognized that gender is not just a woman’s concern; it is a social construct through which all human beings organize their work, rights, responsibilities and relationships. They understand that hierarchy based on gender is as formidable an obstacle as class, race and ethnicity in the search for justice.

When the ID program began 25 years ago, there was little attention on any front to gender in development processes. Aid agencies like the Danish Danida, Norway’s Norad or Canada’s CIDA, or non-governmental organizations such as Save the Children, CARE or Oxfam America—all with strong portfolios on gender issues in 2000—had just begun to recognize the importance of paying attention to gender differences. From the mid-1970s, however, Clark scholar-activists have been investigating the frontiers of gender relations, whether at a military base outside Manila or on emerging dairy farms in Nepal.

Visiting professors, often Fulbright scholar such as Le Thi Quy from Vietnam, Rama from India and Rose Mwonya from Kenya, have enriched IDCE’s gender program. They helped us explore issues such as female infanticide, post-war poverty and threatened food security. Rachel Polestico from the Philippines kept us focused on empowerment of the poor as we created the SEGA (Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis) Manual. From India, Kenya, Nepal, the Philippines and Tanzania came "gender scholars," mid-career professionals who shared with us their systematic studies of gender distinctions in the home, the community, institutions and policies.

Today IDCE graduates work in such turbulent communities as Macedonia, Azerbaijan, or Liberia; in headquarters of organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam America, or the InterAmerican Bank; in United Nations’ agencies; in universities; and in inner cities. Some work specifically on gender concerns; most bring to their work the understanding of gender relations they honed at Clark. In this issue you will meet some of these colleagues whose work is testimony to the spirit, strength and durability of IDCE’s work on gender.

Much "gender work," remains to be done. Understanding the role of gender and the linkages among declining ecosystems, rapid globalization, degraded resources and increasing poverty is more important than ever. Bringing this understanding and political strength to address policies and institutions that maintain gender, and other, inequities is essential. We salute colleagues—past, present and future—who are on the front lines of this endeavor.

Ecology, Community Organization and Gender (ECOGEN)

Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis (SEGA)

Profiles of IDCE Women Working in the Gender Field

     Bushra Barakat/Yemen

     Jessica Jordan/Ecuador

     Charity Kubutha/Kenya

     Yukiko Oda/Japan

     Rachel Polestico/Philippines

     Anne-Marie Urban/Latin America 

Ecology, Community Organization and Gender

Introduction

The Ecology, Community Organization and Gender (ECOGEN) project was established in mid-1990 at Clark University and the Office of International Development at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for the purpose of conducting research into the gender-division of resource management activities in rural livelihood systems.  

ECOGEN offers collaborative research, training and policy analysis to:  

• improve the management of natural resources through the analysis of gender roles;

• create models to include gender analysis in program and project design, management and evaluation;

• consider gender perspectives in policy formulations;

• incorporate gender issues into participatory research, appraisal and planning methodologies for resource management;

• provide those involved in developing strategies for natural resource management with the rationale and tools for carrying out gender analysis.

ECOGEN brings together researchers from two North American universities with colleagues from Asia, Africa and Latin America.  Research sites and training opportunities are chosen in collaboration with interested government organizations working in natural resource management.

Rationale

Diminishing sources of fuelwood, trees and water and eroding soils, are threatening productivity in the food and related livelihood systems of many nations.  Solutions to these problems are not found in purely ecological and technical approaches.  They require the integration of local institutional, social and economic factors into the process of managing resources.

Efforts to manage resources are critically affected by issues related to gender and community institutions.  Local communities are often discrete ecosystems for which small-scale, selective management of resources is vital to sustainability.  These local ecosystems create the necessity for local institutional capacity to organize access to and control over these resources.

Gender roles constitute a key variable in developing institutional capacity.  Women and men have different gender-based responsibilities for resources and for production and thus experience different opportunities and constraints and modifying development strategies to incorporate gender are fundamental to managing resources effectively and equitably for sustained production and improved livelihood systems.

The application of gender analysis to existing and future programs and projects related to natural resource development will help enable researchers, planners and practitioners to become aware of the variety of socioeconomic constraints that must be overcome if the natural resource needs of all farm families are to be met.

Project Activities

Research

• Observe and analyze the gender-based division of labor, indigenous knowledge, resource use and access and participation in community institutions with respect to natural resource management.

• Design methodological and analytical techniques which identify and integrate technical, environmental, social and institutional factors, including gender variables, into natural resource management projects at specific sites.

• Prepare case studies which compare the key elements of effective village-based resource approaches to natural resource management with particular reference to gender issues.  Analysis focuses on participatory methodologies and ways in which gender variables affect the use of natural resource management approaches.

• Produce training materials based on the findings of case studies which provide host country officials, donor agencies and non-governmental organizations with the awareness of knowledge about, and skills for including gender in natural resource  research and development activities.  Materials outline research techniques to carry out gender analysis, as well as appraisal and planning methodologies which incorporate gender.

Training

• In-country workshops in alternative appraisal and planning methodologies.  ECOGEN pays particular attention to Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), an approach for bringing a village focus to rural development and enabling rural communities to participate in preparing and implementing Village Resource Management Plans.  ECOGEN focuses attention on ecology, community organizations and gender within the context of these methodologies.

• U.S.-based short courses and degree programs specializing in rural resource management, social science research methodologies and issues of gender and public policy.  

Policy Analysis

• Policy Formulation Workshops  on rural resources management, community institution and gender analysis for host country officials, donor agencies and non-governmental organizations.  Workshops explore ways in which attention to gender-defined roles increases the equity and effectiveness of natural resource management programming.

• Policy Dialogue Guidelines to determine the applicability of the research findings for natural resource management programs and policies for sustainable rural development, community resource management, and increased food production.

Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis (SEGA)

Profiles of IDCE Women Working in the Gender Field

Rachel Polestico     

SEGA from ID:  A Life-Altering Experience by Rachel Polestico

Rachel V. Polestico is currently the Director of the Appropriate Technology Center and the Assistant Director of the Southeast Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN) at Xavier University, Philippines. She has been associated with Clark for seven years, first as a Gender Scholar, then as a research fellow on the ECOGEN project and co-author of the Socio-Economic Gender Analysis (SEGA) Manual, and today as a valued colleague.  Polestico has devoted her 20-year career in development to improving the livelihood of women through education and participation in community development. She has earned an international reputation for her enlightened research on gender issues and is sought as a gender consultant on projects across the globe.  Polestico has served as an expert consultant on such themes as gender and development, appropriate technology and participatory research. Her work for national governments and international agencies includes mainstreaming of gender perspective in agrarian reform programs and local governance, as well as designing, implementing, and evaluating projects in a participatory manner and with gender equity as an objective.  Polestico brings to her development work not only a broad range of international experience but also her unique training as a physicist. In this article she writes of her on-going use of the gender training she received at Clark, particularly in Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis.

I attended the certificate course at ID on "Gender, Development, and Resource Management" in 1993 and returned for a five-month fellowship in 1994 to work with Barbara Thomas-Slayter, Andrea Esser, Octavia Taylor  and Elvina Mutua in formulating the Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis (SEGA) Manual. These two events and the friends I made during these times shaped my subsequent involvement in development work.

My decade's worth of experience in appropriate technology, gender issues and participatory action research blended very well with the courses at I.D.

I attended the certificate course at ID on "Gender, Development, and Resource Management" in 1993 and returned for a five-month fellowship in 1994 to work with Barbara Thomas-Slayter, Andrea Esser, Octavia Taylor  and Elvina Mutua in formulating the Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis (SEGA) Manual. These two events and the friends I made during these times shaped my subsequent involvement in development work.

My decade's worth of experience in appropriate technology, gender issues and participatory action research blended very well with the courses at I.D.

These influences, along with the close collaboration with the above-mentioned scholars, enabled the team to construct the SEGA model.

The SEGA approach is based on the premise that building the capacities of the most disadvantaged groups within society is central to increasing productivity and equity as well as sustainable development. The SEGA approach conceptualizes community change in new ways. It makes socio-economic and gender analysis central to the processes of securing
effective development.

Analysis from the data-gathering and project-organizing components of SEGA feeds into the policy process, linking the more general elements of policy with the concrete realities of local experience. Moreover, the SEGA approach demonstrates the critical linkages among community members, development practitioners and policy makers. It establishes a framework that links socio-economic and gender analysis with participatory methodologies as
a means for achieving equitable and sustainable developments for all members of society.

This SEGA approach suggests that the most effective strategies for sustainable and equitable development of disadvantaged groups involve local empowerment in mobilizing human, natural, and economic resources and
participation of different sectors in decision-making processes. Local groups take part in the formulation of policies, programs, projects and funding allocation to create a gender-fair, environment-friendly, socially just and people-centered development paradigm. In this way disadvantaged groups are able to transform the social institutions that otherwise affect them negatively.

There have been many ways in which the SEGA model has helped me in my development work.

SEGA as a Tool for Analysis and Synthesis

I go to several conferences and fora concerning development issues, and normally in these discussions, ideas and suggestions are shared at random and on different levels. The SEGA model framework is a very good tool for synthesizing complex issues, especially when I am invited to discuss development issues at conferences. For example, during the Social Development Summit in Copenhagen in 1995, I used the SEGA approach to analyze the impact of structural adjustment on women in the Philippines for a panel discussion with Vandana Shiva and Robert Chambers.

SEGA as a Planning Tool

The SEGA approach and many of its tools are also useful to me for planning courses and programs. When done with the participation of the various stakeholders, the plan never fails to identify the most strategic interventions. For instance, I have used the SEGA method to redesign the courses offered by the Southeast Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN), to formulate the Social Development Framework of the industrialization blueprint of the Philippines region called the Cagayan-Iligan-Corridor, and to plan a project to eradicate the trafficking of women and children in Cambodia, commissioned by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

SEGA as a Conceptual Framework to Respond to Challenges

As someone who has worked in development for about 20 years, I am asked to participate in many projects and programs. I use the SEGA approach to give structure to the issues we are addressing. For example, SEGA has proved
instrumental in my work with such groups as:

1) The Technical Working Group, which is monitoring the implementation of  recommendations of the World Food Summit (WFS) by conducting a food security survey in 200 villages in ten countries in Asia.

2) The Steering Committee of the Participatory Learning Experience in Asia, a project to sensitize the country program managers of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to adapt participatory approaches
in their country programming,

3) The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) as a researcher to assess the economic development of women in Northern Mindanao using the SEGA model, and

4) The Participatory Development Forum and Conference in August 1999 in Ottawa, where I presented  the paper "The Use of PRA in the Design, Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation of Projects".

SEGA has served as a road map that has guided me in my journey towards the development of farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous people, women, and other marginalized groups with whom I work. It is a framework that relates factors and
events enabling me to predict how an intervention impacts on the people. It is a structure that expresses the logic and the rhythm to meaningful development work.

Thank you very much, I.D., for SEGA.

Bushra Barakat

Bushra Barakat Brings Women into the Light

The women of Yemen are figures in shadow; their role in society is underestimated, often unacknowledged. Bushra Ahmad Barakat MA’00, a Fulbright scholar from Yemen in the AmidEast program, has worked to increase women’s visibility in her country. Barakat’s studies at Clark are focused on women in development, and her internship last summer at the World Bank centered on gender issues. As project officer for Social Fund for Development in Yemen in 1997, Barakat worked to balance local customs with initiatives to improve basic education and health care services to rural women. Barakat was responsible for 14 projects that ranged from building schools and establishing literacy programs to promoting micro-credit and micro-enterprise projects.  For example, Barakat worked with the Al-Arqub Women’s Cooperative Association to supply about 200 members with beeskeeping equipment and training.

"It is a tradition for women to work together in Yemen, but they usually do not receive funding for these efforts. In this project, the revenue from the honey is theirs to keep, whether it comes from hives at home or at the beekeeping center. We also encouraged the Al-Arqub Women’s Cooperative Association to register as a nongovernmental organization, and it has become the first large women’s cooperative in Yemen," notes Barakat.

Requests to the Social Fund confirm that many women in Yemen are very marginalized and lack the most basic services in health and education, says Barakat. The literacy rate for women is only about 28 percent. To improve these conditions, Barakat worked on an education project benefiting almost 140 women in a remote area. With the Social Fund she helped to build huts for literacy classes, to equip the school and to supply teachers.

Barakat learned of the conditions of women in several countries when she joined her diplomat father on assignment in Germany, Egypt and Japan. She traveled to the United States to pursue her interest in computer science at Louisiana State University, where she received a BS in 1992. Barakat returned to Yemen to work as a financial analyst with Proctor and Gamble and then joined the Social Fund for Development.

As a 1999 summer research intern at the World Bank, Barakat assessed how effectively gender was incorporated in proposals from 1990-1999 for Health, Education and Social Protection (training) sectors in the Middle East/North Africa Region. She checked if 50 projects considered women’s issues and followed the World Bank gender guidelines. In health projects, for example, she looked for the inclusion of mother and child health care, family planning and training of midwives.  Barakat filed a final report that assessed the projects for best practices and the inclusion of women's issues.

At Clark, Barakat says, "It is interesting to meet and exchange views with other people who are working in the same field, but with different countries. The classes expose me to a different perspective and to the terminology and literature of women in development. This will help me become more effective, especially when dealing with donor organizations."

"I believe women should be progressively involved in development of their country," adds Barakat, "but it is important to begin by acknowledging their traditional roles and how they are changing. In Yemen, there is a need for women who can adapt new ideas to existing traditions without creating negative consequences."

 Equitable Development in Ecuador--

A Conversation with Jessica J. Jordan    

A: The 1999 Peace Agreement ended a 50-year war between Ecuador and Peru and ushered in the political will and economic feasibility to promote development in once disputed lands. UNICEF works with indigenous communities to promote human rights of men and women. The new peace has opened the door to work with new indigenous groups. One of our main strategies has been to work through residents of disputed lands, within the government's decentralization framework.  With technical help from SEGA, we trained local municipal staff in gender analysis for program identification and development. The project phases included:  identifying interested municipalities and communities, validating and adapting existing gender analysis tools, adapting gender analysis materials for use in the Amazon, and training technical teams in its application.

A: Our main objective was to assist these teams in creating more equitable programs and projects by incorporating gender analysis and participatory methodologies in their existing processes—from the diagnostic to the evaluation phase. In some instances, municipalities have NGO or indigenous federation counterparts, and we have trained them as well.

A: This was the first time these specific municipalities received training incorporating gender in the life cycle of a program. Coupled with the momentum of available municipal funds, our efforts in gender training have been an important first step. For the participating Shuar communities, this project has been a chance to see themselves in a new way, as people of different perspectives and ages shared their points of view and their visions. In fact, they have named the process, "Ver lo que nuestros ojos no estan acostumbrados a ver": "To see what our eyes are not used to seeing."  The training also enabled the Shuar participants to present their communities to the outside funding world with the visualization of women at the core.

A. As a result of this endeavor, we have a health project including child/maternal health and women’s reproductive health being promoted in the Province of Morona Santiago. This project, involving 35 Shuar communities, is led by men and women community leaders with the Province’s Direction of Health.  In addition, the original teams we trained are using the gender materials they received to promote projects in their areas. They are also training other municipal and NGO personnel in the Amazon with the gender materials introduced during our project. UNICEF is now beginning to train teams in local participatory planning in Andean and Coastal areas.

In all, learning from, and building upon, other successful experiences and methodologies has been a very important first step in introducing gender as a legitimate technical strategy for the promotion of more equitable programs and projects. On a personal level, working on this concept with the Shuar, the original "headshrinkers" of the Amazon, has been an inspiring challenge.

A Positive Force for African Women

For a clear analysis of contemporary women’s issues in East Africa, there is no more engaged and informed person to turn to than Charity Kabutha. Kabutha has worked in development since the late 1970s, and since 1989 she has focused on programs related to Kenya’s women. In addition, she has been a steadfast colleague of Clark’s IDCE Program for 15 years, collaborating on research and training projects and co-authoring the Participatory Rural Appraisal Handbook, plus various articles and case studies related to gender issues and participatory development

Since 1994 Kabutha has worked in the East Africa office of  the nongovernmental organization, Winrock International. Winrock’s mission is to help people improve their lives by harnessing the best of science and technology to increase long-term productivity, equity and responsible resource management in 40 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. Kabutha is primarily involved with Winrock’s African Women Leaders in Agriculture and Environment (AWLAE) Program. AWLAE’s two concerns are the under-representation of women at decision-making levels in agriculture and the environment, and the problem of inadequate support for rural women.

To begin to address these concerns, AWLAE has a three-pronged strategy: 1) to prepare women professionals for leadership positions, 2) to create enabling institutional environments for women professionals, and 3) to develop sustaining mechanisms for programs launched by AWLAE.

AWLAE results include leadership and training for women who then launch projects with other women at the grassroots level, as well as scholarships for advanced training for women from diploma to doctoral levels. The program has helped to establish legally constituted professional organizations of women trained by AWLAE in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. These organizations carry out projects, build networks and address policy reform on behalf of women in agriculture and the environment. For example, the Kenyan organization (KEPAWLAE) emphasizes girls’ education and offers scholarships to outstanding girls--currently 58-- from remote areas who have been admitted by national examination to excellent national schools but who are unable to afford the tuition and fees.

Kabutha also works with local institutions to help develop their gender-sensitive programs and conducts high level gender training for trainers. She has presented gender awareness seminars for policy makers in the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the Ministry of Environmental Conservation, the Ministry of Research and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute. AWLAE works closely with Kenyatta University, Egerton University (Kenya), Makenere University (Uganda) and Sokoine University (Tanzania) to do research on gender issues and advocacy.

Recently Kabutha has been involved in two Winrock activities that concern women’s access to education and to land and agricultural technologies. The first is a mentoring program in Kenya designed to increase the pool of young women studying science and entering higher education. In this program, university students work with secondary school girls and boys on human rights issues and encourage girls to develop their capabilities in the sciences.  The second is a research project carried out by Kabutha on women’s access to and control over land and agricultural technologies in Kenya. This project is part of a research agenda for the African Center for Women at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and was presented at a regional conference on women in Addis Ababa in November 1999.

When asked about the key constraints for women in Kenya, Kabutha says, "Access to land is the number one issue. This must be sorted out to allow women to inherit land. There is no comprehensive national law on inheritance. There are four ‘laws’ that operate: Hindu, Muslim, Christian and the customary law. How do we harmonize rights in this situation? For example, what should be the entitlements for married women? Although joint ownership by a husband and wife is legally possible, no law enforces it.  It is by choice."

Kabutha also reminds us that laws discriminate against women in a variety of ways. The confusion over different laws, as well as the subordinate status of women, is compounded by customary laws that even if women have legal and constitutional right to property may prevent their actual access. These issues must be sorted out at a national policy level.

"Inadequate education," Kabutha adds, "is a third constraint for women. Women who are educated and economically independent can support themselves, buy their own land and make other investment decisions."

Kabutha is familiar with some of these problems from personal experience. Kabutha, whose father died when she was three years old, was brought up by her mother. Upon her father’s death, one of his brothers took the land and shops, as permitted by customary Kenyan law. Kabutha’s mother was left with no land and no resources to care for five children. Although her mother protested vigorously and tried to persuade the clan to reconsider its support for the uncle’s action, the clan leaders would not allow her to keep the land. Finally she gave up. The uncle who claimed the land and shops did not help the family. "We never got even a coin," says Kabutha.

Although she had been trained as a teacher, Kabutha’s mother had difficulty getting back into teaching, so she supported her family through casual labor. All the children attended school, but during holidays they worked and helped to support the family. Everyone pitched in—both brothers and sisters did all tasks, with no difference in their assignments. From observing their mother, they learned that women can manage, make decisions and can survive difficulties. In addition, all the children did well in school and were awarded scholarships.  According to Kabutha, because of their experience, she became open-minded about gender issues, and all five children developed a sense of their own strengths and capabilities. Although their mother, whom all the children held in high regard, passed away in December 1999 at age 87, she remains a role model in their lives.

While her interest in women’s position within the community has deep roots, Kabutha dates her professional involvement in these issues to her work at the National Environment Secretariat (NES) and her association with Clark. She worked on the Mbusyani and Katheka case studies, which Clark and NES undertook from 1986 to 1988. This was the first time Kabutha worked with women and women’s groups at the grassroots level and had opportunities to see the disadvantaged position of women across a wide range of communities. This field work gave her both a broad exposure and an in-depth knowledge of women’s concerns.

"On the whole," concludes Kabutha, "things are improving for women, but progress is slow. There are many pressures on government; men and women are increasingly aware of discriminatory laws, of violence, and unfair policies. While movement is slow, we are progressing."

People like Kabutha are driving the forward momentum in economic, social, political and legal status for women in Africa. Those of us at Clark who have worked with her during the past 15 years are proud of our association with Charity Kabutha.

Yukiko Oda

The importance of a Clark ID master's degree

The ID program at Clark gave me a clear understanding about the relationship between gender and sustainable development. My work is still based on the knowledge gained during my study at Clark. The discussions in the classes broadened my views. In addition, the skills that Barbara Thomas-Slayter and other professors at Clark used to encourage students in discussions are helpful when I facilitate discussions in JICA training courses.

 Recent research projects

· Women migrant workers in the garment industry in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

The focus of this project was to find out who migrant workers are, their working conditions and their perceptions about their future. I discovered that migrant workers are not very poor, despite a general perception that "poor and innocent" girls migrated from rural to urban areas after the country introduced market economy.  Among migrant women, the more educated tend to be more ambitious, and they work to be independent from their families.

The working conditions vary by enterprises, not the type of ownership: state, private or joint venture. The working conditions at state enterprises, however, are sometimes inferior to those at private enterprises. The next step is expanded research; with more samples, the data can be used directly for gender mainstreaming.

· Support for women entrepreneurs in Kitakyushu, Japan

This project was to develop a program to support women entrepreneurs, especially in Kitakyushu City. I found that the existing support programs for entrepreneurs are not women-friendly nor gender-sensitive. Some programs focus on lectures and do not respond to the women’s individual needs. My research led to a proposal for a support program for women entrepreneurs containing multiple topics, such as credit and counseling. I also recommended gender awareness training for instructors and counselors. A major constraint for this proposal is a lack of trainers for the trainers.

· Economic Development of Women in Northern Mindanao, Philippines: Assessment of the Use of the Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis (SEGA) Model 

This project assesses how SEGA is used most effectively to empower women. Whenever I introduce the SEGA manual, people wonder how it works for the empowerment of people and if projects can be sustained as a result of SEGA tools. I would like to discover under which conditions the use of the SEGA model brings about the most positive results. This research is being conducted by Rachel Polestico, who is a co-author of SEGA Manual. [Ed. Note: Yukiko Oda translated the SEGA Manual into Japanese.]

I edit The Journal of Asian Women's Studies, in Japanese and in English, published once a year respectively. The theme of the journal varies, but articles are related to women, gender, development and Asia. I call for papers throughout the world, though mainly in Japan. Since the number of English journals with articles on Japanese women’s views and work are limited, I think this journal is important. The targeted audience is the general public, and the articles are written for the semi-professional. [Ed note: A recent Journal of Asian Women’s Studies contained articles on India’s women micro-entrepreneurs, the political empowerment of Japanese women, female-headed households of squatter settlements in Kathmandu, and the participation of women in rural Java in poverty alleviation programs.]

For a Women Entrepreneurs Study Tour in January 2000, I planned and coordinated a one-week tour for women entrepreneurs and those interested in supporting them to learn from the experience of other women entrepreneurs and institutions in San Francisco. I plan to propose another tour to study the development through visits to NGOs in other Asian countries.  

At the Forum I also help to implement training courses sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The majority of the trainees are junior government officers who work in the women’s affairs section in their respective national or local governments.

Organizing seminars on women’s issues

The topics of symposia we organize vary from political empowerment to women workers in a global economy. For example, we have sponsored seminars on violence against women in India, on the internationalization of Japanese society, and recently, the 10th Kitakyushu Conference on Asian Women with well-known woman leaders from Tokyo, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. In December 1999 we hosted women workers from Thailand and Korea to learn about their struggle during the economic crisis in Asia.

A major part of my work is information collection and dissemination, especially about the upcoming Women 2000 Conference in New York in June. I have participated in several UN meetings such as CSW and ESCAP as an observer to  prepare for Women 2000. It is exciting to observe the whole process of international women’s movements.

Applying the gender perspective

I think the gender perspective should be applied to all sectors. If those who are interested in working on gender specialize in an area such as agriculture, education or health, they will be in a better position to get jobs. If they work as gender specialists, however, they will have to be able to apply gender to different areas. I have found that working with people of different cultures is fun and tough. Most important is to develop yourself and build good human relationships- these are the keys to achieve your task.               

Anne-Marie Urban

A $600-million rural water and sanitation project in Mexico, the adolescent reproductive health education program in the Bahamas, and the Inter-American Development Bank’s gender analysis training program stand out to Anne-Marie Urban (M.A.’98) as some of her most rewarding endeavors as a development professional. In the many major development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean she has tackled, Urban has worked to ensure that social equity, gender issues and participatory processes are at the forefront.

Urban credits her experience working with the Ecology, Community Organization and Gender (ECOGEN) Project in ID for honing her abilities as a gender specialist. "My approach to gender and development was shaped at Clark," she says. "My experience coordinating and conducting the field research in Honduras for the ECOGEN project strongly influenced how I look at participatory development and gender issues. I gained the theoretical background as well as a very practical operational focus. I learned how applied research can affect what people do on the ground, and how it can be a tool for local empowerment."

After leaving Worcester, Urban worked as a Latin American/Caribbean technical advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development Women In Development Office from 1993 to 1996. In this role, she helped to incorporate a gender perspective into many USAID programs and policies in the Latin America/Caribbean region.

"I worked to integrate gender at multiple levels, primarily in agriculture, natural resources management, local governance and education programs," she says. "I was also able to play an integral role in developing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for measuring men’s and women’s participation and access in USAID-funded initiatives in the region."  Urban is also proud of her part during this time in drafting the concept paper for the U.S. delegation to the 1995 UN Conference on Women in Beijing and in the design of USAID’s Women’s Legal Rights Initiative.

For the last four years, Urban has worked for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as a social development and gender specialist, concentrating primarily on rural development/agriculture, social investment programs, municipal development and local capacity building. In the projects funded by the IDB in these sectors, Urban promotes gender awareness and community participation at all stages, from strategy development and training to project design and evaluation.

In 1999, she was involved in the IDB’s initiative to increase the focus on gender in natural disaster prevention and response programs, specifically in the post-Hurricane Mitch reconstruction efforts in Central America. In 1998, she included a focus on gender, community participation and indigenous peoples in the design of an IDB/Government of Mexico project to improve the access of marginalized rural communities to potable water and basic sanitation. She has played a similar role mainstreaming gender into other IDB investment projects, including the Emergency Social Investment Fund and the Low- Income Housing and Community Improvement Projects in Ecuador. She also helped to create one of the first IDB-funded adolescent reproductive health programs in the Bahamas to reduce teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS through curriculum development and teacher training, peer counseling and other community-based youth programs.

Urban has co-coordinated the design and implementation of the gender training, benefiting nearly 600 professionals from the IDB and its governmental and non-governmental partner organizations in 14 countries.  Based on her experiences, Urban has found that incorporating gender into large-scale development projects and policy requires collaboration and compromise.

"Your legitimacy is largely based on your ability to translate the arguments for gender equity and local participation into the language of the institution and to make the case that it will contribute to their broader goals of efficiency and sustainability," she says. "There is a fine line, however, between being strategic and compromising too much. If you look at the gains in gender understanding and inclusion from the outside, it often doesn’t seem like we’ve made much progress. Considering the starting point, however, there is no question that there have been noteworthy improvements. Ultimately, you are challenged to modify your ideal indicators and definitions of success and to acknowledge the value of small victories."