Figure 2 - uploaded by Cathy Mcilwaine
Content may be subject to copyright.
Causal ̄ow diagram of teenage pregnancy drawn by a group of 4 young women and one young man (aged between 16 and 17) at a state senior secondary school.
Source publication
Feminists have been crucial in challenging the gender-blindness of development discourse and practice. In the process, they have shaped the move from the feminisation to the engendering of development over the last three decades. This article explores this broad shift, focusing on the recent transformations within gender and development discourse a...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... sex, multiple partners and sex at an early age also underlie discussions of teenage pregnancies (see Fig. 2). These were linked with a further range of themes that contributed to people engaging in potentially dangerous sexual activity that could lead to both HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancies. In a somewhat contradictory way in light of the obvious absorption of public health messages, the most commonly cited cause of HIV/AIDS and teenage ...
Context 2
... lack of information about sex and contraception (see Fig. 2). This was often related to cultural factors in terms of the taboo surrounding sex, as one 15- year=old young woman, Parline, noted: `In African society, there is no discussion about sex', with a second young woman, Bakang, going on to say that: `It's rude to talk to adults or parents about sex'. In a similar vein, a 16-year-old young ...
Context 3
... to the role of prostitution in the spread of HIV, discussions of transactional sex mainly revolved around how some young women had sexual relations with older and usually rich men in exchange for gifts and money as part of thèsugar daddy' phenomenon. Although this was linked with the notion ofèconomic hardship' and the need for survival (see Fig. 2), all the groups that identi®ed this practice noted that these relationships also gave girls access to non-essential consumer items such as mobile phones and Nike shoes, which many felt necessary to cement their identity as young people who were part of a global culture (see also Kambou et al., 1999;Baylies, 2002) 21 . One young man, ...
Context 4
... with intergenerational and transactional sex, substance abuse refer- ring to both drugs and alcohol, and sexual abuse were also seen to contribute to the practice of unsafe sex and promiscuity (Figs 1 and 2). Identi®ed as one of the key problems facing youth in the National Youth Policy (Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, 1996a), many young people felt that drugsÐwhich they classi®ed as cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana (often referred to as dagga) and glueÐwere all on the increase, especially in the previous 10 years (see also Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, 1996a). ...
Context 5
... turn, young people reported that both genders were less likely to control themselves sexually, or to use contraception, when under the in¯uence of drugs or alcohol. Even more frequently discussed was how substance abuse was linked with sexual abuse and rape (Figs 1 and 2). As one young 20-year- old woman, Sinah, from an out-of-school group, noted: `Alcohol abuse leads to sexual abuse which leads to teenage pregnanciesÐthey are all linked'. ...
Context 6
... societal. For individuals the most commonly identi®ed consequence was young women having to drop out of school, which was related to dif®culties in ®nding jobs due to lack of educational quali®cations (see above). Teenage pregnancy was also strongly associated with HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases because of the lack of condom use (see Fig. 2). As with HIV/AIDS, many groups identi®ed a high degree of stigma, which some argued could lead to the girl's family rejecting her, or even to girls committing suicide (see Fig. 2). While many of the consequences were linked with the birth of babies, abortion and abandonment of babies was also mentioned frequently. Abortion was ...
Context 7
... quali®cations (see above). Teenage pregnancy was also strongly associated with HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases because of the lack of condom use (see Fig. 2). As with HIV/AIDS, many groups identi®ed a high degree of stigma, which some argued could lead to the girl's family rejecting her, or even to girls committing suicide (see Fig. 2). While many of the consequences were linked with the birth of babies, abortion and abandonment of babies was also mentioned frequently. Abortion was perceived as a key issue. One young woman, Marga, argued that: `If they knew about the dangers of abortion, they would not fall pregnant'. Others were still more dramatic with one young ...
Citations
... Hereby, the focus of donors was on the transfer of technology, from the West to the developing world, and in turn, from experts to users (Guthman, 1997). And parallel, and often integral, to technology adoption narratives, development agendas were inspired by Western-conceived women/gender empowerment narratives (Rathgeber, 1990;Mcilwaine and Datta, 2003). ...
To challenge the masculinity of the professional water sector, I take in this paper one of the core questions of feminist technology studies as the starting point: why are there so few expert women in technology? By means of a critical feminist reading of policy and research documents, from the 1950s onwards, focusing on Nepal's history of rural development and technology transfer, I trace the origins of expert women's limited participation in politically relevant processes of water decision making. The analysis reveals that both technology-and-development—and women/gender-and-development policy narratives have validated, and continue to validate, women expert's subordinate position in the Nepali water sector. This is partially so, because donors and national governments insufficiently recognize the racial and sexist assumptions that are historically rooted into these policy narratives.
... Nevertheless, theoretical and methodological premises, as promoted by GAD, managed to achieve widespread acceptance of the significance of gender relations in research and development practice. According to McIlwaine and Datta, re-theorisations of GAD concepts therefore need to be envisaged in the frame of a more sophisticated theorisation of diversity among women, a shift from a needs-based approach to a rights-based approach, and finally, in what would really be keeping the promise of gender, the explicit integration of men and masculinities into GAD (Laurie 2005, McIlwaine & Datta 2003. Taking up the claim to differentiate among women and challenge existing assumptions which misrepresent them as a homogeneous group, Anglo-American feminist scholars, in recent debates, have focused on the concept of intersectionality. ...
... Even though development agencies had widely begun to integrate gender into their programmes, it was the larger impact of the downfall of Communist systems after 1989 that was primarily responsible for the radical resetting of their agendas. On the global level, critiques of the structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank and the IMF led to a concentration on human development goals and a shift of orientation from basic needs to basic rights (McIlwaine & Datta 2003, Mohan & Holland 2001, Rodenberg 2004, Sengupta 2000. In the context of neoliberal resignification of the state and reduction of the range of official politics, women's organisations and NGOs 10 always find themselves between the desired aim of political partici-pation and the need to fulfil tasks left to them by the withdrawal of the state. ...
... En s'appuyant sur leurs propres expériences à l'étranger, elles dénoncent la marginalisation des femmes dans les projets d'aide internationale en soulignant que leur situation socio-économique ne s'est pas améliorée à travers les années 2 (Razavi et Miller 1995a). Ainsi, plusieurs paradigmes théoriques et pratiques telles que « women in development » (WID 3 ), « women and development » (WAD 4 ) et, plus récemment, « gender and development » (GAD 5 ) émergent successivement pour aborder la marginalisation des femmes dans les initiatives de développement (McIlwaine et Datta 2003). ...
En 2014, la Suède adopte la première politique étrangère ouvertement féministe. Depuis, plusieurs autres pays ont suivi l’initiative suédoise et adopté explicitement l’étiquette féministe pour orienter leur politique étrangère. Or, on remarque que, parmi les pays qui ont des engagements significatifs envers l’égalité des genres depuis plusieurs années, certains sont réticents à adopter l’étiquette féministe, et ce, malgré leurs actions « féministes » sur la scène internationale. C’est notamment le cas de la Nouvelle-Zélande, un pays actuellement dirigé par Jacinda Ardern qui s’identifie elle-même comme étant ouvertement féministe. En mobilisant la théorie des rôles, je cherche à comprendre comment les attentes et valeurs liées aux rôles performés par la Nouvelle-Zélande peuvent entrer en conflit avec l’adoption d’une étiquette féministe. En identifiant les principaux rôles mis de l’avant par la Nouvelle-Zélande depuis 1972, je trouve qu’il n’y a pas de conflit explicite entre l’adoption de l’étiquette féministe et les rôles de bon citoyen international et de leader dans le Pacifique. Je relève cependant un potentiel conflit en lien avec les intérêts économiques du pays, ces derniers étant souvent priorisés par les différents gouvernements en présence d’un conflit de rôle.
... I draw on gender and development (GAD) theory and intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1989) to examine the situation of Deaf gay men workers in the private sector. First, this research recognizes the role of the patriarchal system in reinforcing and reproducing the existing social status quo that favors male dominance over women, which the GAD framework attempts to address through collective action and participatory processes (McIlwaine & Datta, 2003). This social status quo is reinforced and reproduced in the private sector and is extended to other marginalized groups who do not conform to society's definition of what is normal and desirable, such as Deaf gay men workers. ...
This interpretative phenomenological study aims to document and examine the experience of discrimination against Deaf gay men workers at the intersection of their disability and gender, particularly in recruitment and selection, provisions of reasonable accommodation at work, and workplace participation. The results of the in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven Deaf gay men workers and key informant interviews with three experts reveal the role of patriarchy in the centrality of the able-bodied, heterosexual image in the workplace and these Deaf gay men’s experience of distinct forms of discrimination on the basis of their disability and gender. Key themes that emerged include the convergence of gender and disability stereotypes, the ableist and heteronormative workplace practices, and the unequal power relations between Deaf gay men workers and their hearing heterosexual colleagues. The study recommends various workplace strategies such as (1) development and implementation of inclusive policies, (2) conduct of awareness-raising activities among employees and human resource professionals, and (3) adherence to the implementation of the law on reasonable accommodation. The study also seeks to advance the need to develop a feminist development approach that is markedly intersectional to capture the lived realities of marginalized people and communities holistically.
... Although there is still a long way to go before geography as a mainstream discipline fully adopts intersectional thinking (Eaves and Falconer Al-Hindi 2020;Hopkins 2019), intersectionality as a concept and approach is becoming more widely used in sub-disciplines such as feminist geography and gender scholarship Faria 2018, Vaiou 2018), but also development and migration studies (Bastia 2014;McIlwaine and Datta 2003;Stasiulis et al. 2020). Intersectional approaches have also transitioned to shape the discourses of global policy communities such as the United Nations and development cooperation agencies, as well as the advocacy of migrants' rights organisations. ...
The term ‘intersectionality’ is usually attributed to Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar, who coined the term in 1989. In this paper, we reflect on how the concept has travelled through both space and time. We trace the longer history and more complex geography of intersectional approaches rooted in grassroots women’s movements in the Global South, where radical claims were made against the dominance of white, middle-class women’s analysis of the situation of women in the world. These, together with the Black women’s movement in the US, paved the way for the emergence and coining of the term intersectionality. We then reflect on how the concept travelled in three domains of migration-related knowledge: academic research, international policy and advocacy politics. We find that, while some academic research is true to the original politics of intersectionality, there is also some research that has strayed much further away from the original aims of intersectionality, to the extent that we would question whether it can be called intersectional at all. In international policy, we find that the original radicalism of the term has been watered down in the translation of the term into policy targets and measurements. Finally, in advocacy politics we find the greatest continuity with the original aims of the term.
... Within GAD, feminist voices have been influenced by post-colonialism and post-development (Mohanty, 1988;McEwan, 2001). The result is that feminism no longer relates to a western set of hegemonic ideas, but instead can take a series of forms operating at a variety of scales (McIlwaine and Datta, 2003). This opens up the recognition of the intersectionality of gender and other factors, such as race, in explaining marginalization (Crenshaw, 1989(Crenshaw, , 1991. ...
This scoping paper presents the results of a review of the landscape of research on gender and agricultural and pastoral livelihoods in select countries in west and east Africa (Burkina Faso, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, and Uganda) published over 5 years (January 2016–March 2021). A keyword search of the Scopus database gave rise to an ultimate dataset of 169 papers which were coded for geographical location, approaches to gender, and theme based on inductive identification of clusters of research. There has been an increase in the number of published papers but there is an uneven geographical distribution of research. Studies vary in the way they treat gender: with an almost even split between modeling-based studies, where gender is one of many variables to be correlated with, or to determine, an outcome (e.g., poverty—for example, as a dummy variable in regressions); and studies where the expressed aim is to look at gender differences, whether through the gender of an individual or the gender of a household head. Clusters of papers look at gender differences in assets, health, perceptions of environmental degradation, agricultural perceptions and outcomes, and climate change perceptions, vulnerability, and adaptation. There is also a number of papers exploring women's empowerment, including intra-household decision making. Intersectional approaches have been employed both through modeling studies and through more in-depth qualitative studies that are able to trace changes in identity over time, and the implications therein. The household and household headship have remained common entry points and units of analysis, despite known critiques. The results highlight a need to address geographical gaps in gender research, expand the evidence base of intersectional approaches, explore other aspects of social inequality, and expand more innovative methodological studies.
... The work presented here is based on qualitative data collected in Cajamarca over seven months in 2016-2017. I used a feminist methodology with the aim of forewarding historically marginalised voices (Sangster 1994;Parpart 1993), valuing individual women's stories in their own right, rather than comparing them to men (see for example Jenkins [2014a]; Singh [2007]), as well as being mindful of power relations in the research, as explored below, acknowledging my positionality as a white, global North researcher (McIlwaine and Datta 2003;Sultana 2007). ...
The importance of mining temporalities and gendered impacts of mining activity are receiving increasing academic attention. This article contributes to these debates by addressing the impacts of large-scale mining activity on women’s sense of place-attachment and landscape, focusing on Cajamarca, Peru, home to the Yanacocha mine since 1993. Using women’s hand-drawn maps representing ‘sites of change’, the article critically examines the various ways in which women communicate mining as deeply affecting their everyday lives in gendered ways. This mapping method tapped into emotional connections to place and local landscapes, and by incorporating stories and maps of both women opposing and supporting further mining expansion in the region, the article goes on to show that both groups share an understanding of the Yanacocha mine as a disruption of time and place.
... Scholars and practitioners working in the field of gender and development have long voiced similar critiques about issues of gendered essentialism, as well as the emphasis on, and instrumentalisation of, individual capacities and self-determinism over efforts to address the structural injustices and relations of power that underpin inequalities [4][5][6]. Many have also pointed out the masculinist and colonial roots of development work, and the need to redefine the way that we think about and approach development itself if feminist efforts to engender the sector are ever to be achieved [7][8][9][10]. Indeed, the field of DRRM is plagued by a similar ontology rooted in Greco-Roman Christian constructions of 'hazards as disorder -as interruptions or violations of order' [11]: [12][13], and depictions of 'large parts of the world as dangerous places for us and ours… [which] serves as justification for Western interference and intervention … for our and their sakes' [12] (italics in original). ...
This article argues for greater consideration of ‘the everyday’ within evaluations of ‘the exceptional’ and presents this as a practical means of engendering disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) and resilience-building. Building on scholarship from feminist geography, gender and development and feminist political ecology, it charts a new way of theorising disaster risk and resilience from a gendered perspective through the analytic of the everyday, and substantiates this with findings from ethnographic research conducted between 2016 and 2017 in disaster-prone informal settlements in the Philippines. As this case reveals, a focus on the everyday helps to uncover the multiple subjective embodiments of risk and insecurity and the structural systems that underpin related inequalities and exclusions. Crucially, the lens of ‘the everyday’ also exposes the social reproductive labours and power hierarchies embedded in community-based DRRM and resilience-building programmes; insights which are vital to advancing more inclusive, sustainable and socially just approaches to disaster risk governance and climate change adaptation.
... The decade of 1980s is marked by labour deregularization and a renewed surge of feminization of labour activity with growth of employment opportunities for women with growing numbers of low wage women workers (Standing, 1999). Feminization of labour force is treated as one of the implications of Neo-liberal policy that has arrived into the locus of discussion among academicians and development practitioners since early 21st century (Seth, 2001;McClean, 2000;McILwaine and Datta, 2003). ...
... In further writing about the 'feminisation of poverty', Chant (2008) identifies that there is a lack of attention to differences amongst women such as age, ethnicity and class. Similarly, in discussing development, McIlwaine and Datta (2003) highlights the need to 'decentre' gender as the primary variable of differencewith class and age, for example, being other important social localities in framing individuals lives. McDowell (2008), amongst others, resonates this argument by highlighting the importance of attending to the concept of intersectionality in understanding the experiences and lives of women in varying geographical, spatial and social contexts. ...
In recent years there has been increased academic and policy attention to the important contributions of women in fishing families, communities and industries. Whilst it is important to make visible these contributions, there has been little attention to how women’s different and changing roles and practices are associated with (un)changed gender relations shaping, and being shaped by, women’s (fishing) identities in different ways. To attend to this gap, the paper reviews and critically re-interprets literature on women’s changing practices in fishing. The review is conceptually framed by drawing on – and going beyond – the feminisation approach developed in research on agriculture – incorporating key criticisms of the feminisation concept from other research fields. By reviewing and re-interpreting the literature on women in fishing through this critical feminisation approach, the intention is to examine how women’s productive practices are associated with particular and changing gender relations and identities. In doing so, the paper identifies gaps in research and suggests avenues for future empirical, theoretical and methodological research on women in fishing. In terms of future directions for empirical research, the paper suggests there is a need for more research on women’s practices going under the labels of ‘progressive’ and ‘reconstitutive’ feminisation. Further, and more importantly, the paper proposes new directions for future research focusing on women’s subjectivities and identities as well as their working conditions. The paper also argues there is a need for relational approaches as well as more in-depth and emplaced empirical research on women’s messy everyday lives to gain understandings of women’s lives ‘in their own right’ in varying socio-spatial contexts.
