Development and subordination of women in the Third World.

 

Development and the Stage Theory

Development covers a variety of different processes and activities. William Rostow (1960) has explicitly tried to explain how all these processes and activities began in the global context. In The Stages of Economic Growth he stated that all countries would go through a number of definable stages at their own pace similar to those experienced by the already developed countries. Rostow argued, the sequence of modernisation is uniform. In economic dimension it is possible to break down the story of each national economy into five staged growth theory. He identified societies in their economic dimension into five categories in its development process. These are:

1. Traditional Society
2. Pre-conditioning Stage
3. Economic Take-off Stage
4. Drive to Maturity
5. Economic Maturity

The structure of traditional society is developed within limited production function. The other main features of these societies are-

1. Economy is based on agriculture.
2. Majority of the population is employed in low productivity farming.
3. Social order is highly feudalistic.
4. Change is unusual and technology is static.
5. Village is the basic spatial organisation with central political rule and is working as self-contained economic unit.
6. Landowners controlled the political power.
7. Family and kinship played a large role in social organisation.
8. Individual spatial position was limited.

The second stage of growth is the process of transition. This is Pre-conditioning stage. Its main characteristics are:

1. Strong central government emerged.
2. The government was able to establish law and order.
3. Safety of merchants to trade is guaranteed.
4. A group in the society emerges which is able to recognise and exploit new opportunities for more efficient production.
5. Natural resources are available.
6. Banks appear and investment increases in transportation, communication and raw material export.
7. New method using modern manufacturing enterprise appears.

The main characteristics of the third stage the Take-off are as follows:

1. Economic progress making force dominates society.
2. Growth becomes normal condition of the society.
3. Technological development occurs in industry and agriculture.
4. New industries expand rapidly and profits are reinvested in new plants.
5. New class of entrepreneurs expands which directs the enlarging flows of investment in the private sector.
6. Industry emerges as the lead sector with strong backward and forward linkages.

The following features the Drive to maturity:

1. Application of modern technology is all sectors of economy.
2. Majority of the working force shifts from low productivity to high productivity.
3. Redistribution of population from rural to urban areas
4. Technique improves and new industries accelerate.
5. Economy extends to more complex technological process.
6. Economy attains the technological and entrepreneurial skills to produce any good it chooses.

Economic maturity is the final stage. In this stage of growth per-capita income continues to rise and most of the people are able to meet their basic needs. Technological innovation raises productivity. Proportion of the population working in offices and/or in skilled factory jobs increases.

Rostow argues that countries can expect to go through these five stages of economic growth. His approach is very much simplistic. Furthermore, his proposition is a right-wing bias and narrowly based on the experience of a few nineteenth century industrializing countries. He describes the political changes but gives little insight into the mechanism by which economic growth occurs. In reality the stages are often blurred and difficult to identify. Moreover, the assumption that all countries can and will pursue staged growth is challenged. The stage theory states economic growth, not development as a whole.

Development process in the Third World

In the 1940s it was the common belief of economists and policy makers that development in Third World countries was very much possible by the simple adoption of Western political and economic system. ‘The idea was that the LDCs (Less Developed Countries) would first shift from producing agriculture and primary products for export to manufacturing mass consumer goods for the domestic market (and later the international market) using largely unskilled labour. With the knowledge acquired from this stage they would be able to move to production of more sophisticated intermediate and luxury consumption goods, and then, in a third stage, to producing capital goods themselves. By this time new entrants to the labour force would be better educated and skilled. Planners worked with a very simplified two sector model of the economy: industrial and urban sector pooling the economy into the twentieth century, and a traditional, agricultural sector providing the labour and the consumption needs of those in modern sector’ (Young, 1993, p.2). But by the mid 1960s it was in the realisation of some economists that development is not taking place in Third World countries as easily as they had expected though a few countries were able to build up a large production capacity. In Asia many countries were even failing to produce sufficient food for the growing urban masses (Myrdal, 1968, cited in Young 1993). Continuing poverty was there in the developing countries. It was also evident that Inequality between men and women in society increased. In fact, women were excluded from the development process and planners and policy makers ignored women’s important role in economic activities. This caused due to the concentration of the planner on women’s mothering role. We find women issues were not discussed during the First UN Development Decade and women and development were linked during the Second Development Decade (1970-80) for the first time giving importance on the more integration of women in development process. Boserup first best illustrated these in 1970. Women’s Role in Economic Development the landmark study of Ester Boserup reported that many development projects failed to improve the lives of Third World women. They were deprived of economic opportunities and status. Boserup detailed the development process and the way women were subordinated in the Third World countries. Following her many writers looked into women issues and development. Liberal feminism and Women in Development (WID) approach emerged.

        Boserup categorised women into two broad groups. The first type is found in the sub-Saharan Africa and in many parts of South East Asia where women perform the majority of agricultural work. She terms it female farming system. In this system women are hard working and based on their role in production ‘they often enjoy considerable freedom of movement and some economic independence from the sale of their own crops’. The second type is male farming system where women do less agricultural work than that of men. This system prevails in South and West Asia. Here the status of women depends primarily on the fulfilment of their reproductive roles.

        She argued that the colonial and post-colonial administrators were biased and they favoured man. They considered men superior to women in farming and for the development of agriculture they promoted male farming to replace female farming. The administrators neglected the female agricultural labour force. Men were taught all modern methods of cultivation and it promoted the productivity of male labour. The modern methods of cultivation along with improved agricultural equipment widened the productivity gap between male and female. Women continued to perform manual tasks in agriculture while men use more efficient types of equipment. They started applying modern scientific methods in agriculture. These increased the labour productivity of men while women remained almost static in their labour productivity. This relative decline of women in productivity resulted in the decline in their relative status in agriculture. Women were also discouraged to participate in agriculture. Boserup quoted the empirical study in Uganda and detailed the way men were introduced to cash crop cultivation by modern methods. While women continued subsistence crop cultivation for the family using traditional methods. Cash crop cultivation brought money for men. So it was only possible for men to buy land when selling of land was introduced. The introduction of primary education created another gap between men and women. Boys were sent to school while girls learnt the traditional beliefs. Thus women were deprived of access to training, property rights, education and technology.

Boserup illustrated that in developing countries many towns grew up through the development process where export to and import from Europe were handled. These were, as she termed, was ‘male towns’ where only men were recruited for employment and ‘access to the towns was often legally barred for women’ (p. 85). This was the case in South Africa and former Rhodesia while in the Copper Belt in Zambia the employers provided land where miners wives could grow food for the family. Thus leaving behind women in traditional activities continued. In the market economies of the Third World employers preferred men and created a sex-stereotyped hierarchy while women’s prejudice and lack of proper qualification inhibited them from seeking employment in the modern sector. Since ‘Employment in modern sector requires not only formal training, but also a certain attitude to work which may best be described as the capacity to work regularly and attentively ... Those who work within the confines of the family are not likely to acquire this attitude’ (p. 214). Boserup elaborated the basic element of modernisation and attacked it as it failed to deliver the goods to women in the Third World. She pointed out that parents teach that boys are superior to girls. This is also reflected in the policy process. A boy is provided with vocational training while girls are trained to make them subsistence producers and better wives. She concluded that in some developing countries women are trained in craft and home industries and this is the first step to bring them into labour market.

        Inspired by Boserup a large number of studies looked at the impact of development process on women in the Third World countries. Tinker (1976) argued that development widened the gap between incomes of men and women as ‘planner generally men – whether in donor country agencies or in recipient countries – have been unable to deal with the fact that women must perform two roles in society’ (p. 22). In subsistence societies women carry out reproductive work and economic activity as well. But the Western industrial society glorifies the motherhood and downgrades the economic activity associated with child care and household work and this is disseminated throughout the world. Acceptance of this stereotype role defines women’s place in the home and classifies them economically dependent forever. Moreover, it makes the productive role of women invisible. Tinker suggested, planners must recognise women’s dual role and rethink the ‘mythical stereotypes’ which led the definition of labour force in terms of work performed for money and work located in the modern sector. They must consider subsistence labour, household works, childcare and other activities in the tertiary or informal sectors in defining work.

        She continued, women played a very important role in subsistence economy. They were also ‘engaged in a variety of other economic activities – spinning fibres, weaving cloth, drawing water, tending market gardens and processing and preserving foods gathered from communal property’ (p. 25). Under tribal custom they had rights to land as users’ but the introduction of cash crop and of the concept of private property favoured men. She concluded ‘the process of development has tended to restrict the economic independence of women as their traditional jobs have been challenged by new methods and technologies. Because Western stereotypes of appropriate roles and occupations for women tend to be exported with aid, modernisation continually increases the gap between women’s and men’s ability to cope with the modern world’ (p. 33)

Rogers (1980) examined the attitude of international agencies towards women. She termed colonial administration ‘a men’s club’. She argued, the formulation of 1919 Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in Britain officially barred women from overseas Civil Service though they were entering into professions including government jobs. She continued, ‘The pattern today is very much similar; of all the professional employment opportunities available to women, perhaps the greatest difficulties and the most severe forms of discrimination are to be found in the international sphere, including development planning for the Third World’ (p. 48). She cited her conversation with a senior official of the United Nations who describes discrimination against women as a ‘very dangerous’ issue. She identified the area of sex discrimination in the field of recruitment, promotion, job assignment, imposition of additional task beyond job description and sexual harassment.

Rogers argued, women are absent from the planning and development process in the Third World and this is due to the failure of the development planning organisations to realise the role of women in the process as a whole on the one hand. Policymakers, on the other hand, base on the domestic model familiar to them, ‘a woman’s place is in the home’. She continued, one way to justify the absence of women in the development process by the development planners is to blame the local government or tradition and ‘It is flatly stated that the government concerned would not approve the involvement of women and therefore none should be nominated; and it is not generally thought necessary to attempt to verify such statements’ (p. 50). She quoted an employment advertisement for a job in East Africa by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which asked only men to apply and the it was argued that the governments of the East African countries would not be able to work with a lady. She continued, there was no such evidence in support of this assertion rather a number of professional women were working in these countries at that time for bilateral and international development agencies. Thus, she argued, women are highly discriminated in UN family and virtually there are no women working as experts for the Technical Assistance Recruitment Service (TARS) run by the United Nations.

        Rogers made an in depth study of the development planning process of the international organisations and offered a fresh insight into the ‘pattern and practice’ of sex discrimination within the major international development agencies. She looked into the biases of these organisations in their data collection procedures. She provided examples of sex segregation in development planning and argued that male planners do not recognise the participation of women in development.

GID in the Policy Domain

Modernisation theory asserts that development requires the emergence of rational and industrial man who acknowledges different opinions and is receptive to new ideas. While in its view women is close to nature Women are tradition-bound, conservative and therefore obstacles to modernisation (Scott, 1996). This approach towards women of the modernisation theory had marginilized women and their contribution in the Third World (Boserup, 1970). Mainstream development processes, therefore, largely benefited men and displaced women from their traditional productive roles. (Moser, 1991). Women’s marginalization in development and a growing demand from the feminist groups for their integration into the development process drew attention of the policy makers. Growth of feminism and the search for practical solutions to the failure of development resulted in the emergence of Women in Development (WID) as a transitional movement (Newland, 1991). The WID group had its impact on the development industry. They were seeking greater equity between women and men. Their efforts and advocacy led the policymakers to review women’s role in the development process. Pressure on the United Nations resulted in the decision to hold a world conference on women and development in 1975. One of the main themes of this conference was equality between men and women. The meeting adopted World Plan for Action. It listed its objectives relating to improved educational opportunities for women, better employment prospects, equality in political and social participation, and increased welfare services (Young, 1993). The United Nations General Assembly declared 1976-85 the UN Decade for Women. ‘The declaration of the International Decade for Women, with the official themes of Equality, Peace and Development signified the new visibility of Women in Development (WID) in international forums’ (Kabeer, 1994, p. 4). The World Bank established a Woman in Development Division declaring WID an area of ‘special operational emphasis’. This initiative of the World Bank had its impact on different governments. Establishment of women affairs ministries or at least bureaux was their response in different countries. The WID group was also able to influence the United States Government to do something for women in the developing countries. In 1973 US Senate adopted the policy to ‘encourage and promote the integration of women’ into all aspects of development planning and policy making bodies.

Moser (1993) classified WID projects initiated by the World Bank into three approaches largely: the welfare approach, the anti-poverty approach and the efficiency approach.

The welfare approach focused on women solely in terms of their reproductive role. It identified women as mothers and considered child rearing as the most effective role of women in all aspects of economic development. Direct provision of food, nutrition project for children, pregnant and nursing mothers, population control through family planning are the examples of welfare approach. The welfare programmes for women have widened the scope of women considerably though the underlying assumption remains that motherhood is the most important role for women in Third World development, which means the concern is to meet the practical gender needs relating to women’s reproductive role (Moser, 1991). This approach was the reflection of stereotypical images about the Third World women. It never challenged the dominant discourse on market of the World Bank. As a result by the 1970s dissatisfaction with the welfare approach was widespread. According to Moser, it was criticised for at least two reasons. First, there was increasing evidence that the women were being negatively affected by the Third World development projects. Second, policymakers were concerned with the failure of modernisation theory in the Third World. Despite these criticism the WID Division of the World Bank justified the continuation of this approach by arguing that ‘not all operations in all sectors are equally important for actions related to women. Operations in the area of human resources – education and population, health and nutrition are of prime importance’ (World Bank, 1990, cited in Chowdhury, 1995).

        The anti – poverty approach emerged in the mid-1970s and it was a response to the criticism of the welfare approach of the Bank. It aimed at reducing poverty meeting basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and fuel as well as social needs such as education, human rights and participation in social life through employment and political involvement. It classified women as the poorest of the poor and they became their targets. This approach identified, women are sexually discriminated in the labour market. Moreover, they don’t have access to private ownership of land and capital. These result in their poverty and inequality with men. So the anti – poverty approach emphasised upon increasing employment and income-generating options for the Third World women through better access to productive resources (Moser, 1991). Chowdhury (1991) argued that the anti – poverty approach portrayed women as traditional and voiceless. As a result it treated women objects who need help, not subjects who could be active participants in the development process.  

        Rogers (1980) stressed the adverse impact of women’s exclusion on development. ‘In view of the growing economic crisis in the Third World in the mid-1970s, she suggested that continued neglect of women’s productivity was a costly mistake that planners could no longer afford to make. The issue was not so much that women needed development but that development needed women’ (cited in Kabeer, 1994). In the early 1980s the efficiency approach emerged emphasising on an ‘integrated approach’. The purpose of this approach was to ensure that development was more efficient and effective through women’s contribution. In it the emphasis has shifted away from women to development.

        The world was facing economic recession from the mid-1970s. International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank suggested economic stabilisation and adjustment policies to overcome this situation. Efficiency approach was actually a response to the hardship caused by the global economic recession. Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) are examples of efficiency approach. SAPs recognised women as an under-utilised ‘resource’ for development. Women constitute more than fifty percent of the world’s human resources. Indeed, their effective and proper inclusion in the development process would lead to more efficient growth. This realisation of the policy planners was reflected and efficiency approach urged development efforts to recognise the contributions of women to economy and to integrate them into the development process (Chowdhury, 1995).

        SAPs define economics only in terms of marketed goods and services and subsistence cash economy. The productive roles of women are considered and works of women as homemakers are ignored. This approach was simply a shifting of costs from the paid to the unpaid economy at the expense of women’s unpaid workload within the household (Moser, 1991). As a result the structural adjustment programmes impacted negatively on women. These increased their workloads and the cost of production. While social services were decreased and the burden of this reduction were largely thrown on women’s unpaid labour (Commonwealth Expert Group 1989, cited in Chowdhury, 1995).

WID: Its limitations and opposotional views

        Boserup’s documentation of the negative impact of development on women initiated the liberal feminist’s advocacy for integration of women into development process as workers. Liberal theory is a theory of rational individual and liberal feminism asserted that, despite differences of culture and class, human beings are universally and fundamentally equal across societies. They claimed for equality to women as they are also rational being but they have been denied the opportunity to exercise their rationality fully. The WID advocacy further extended the liberal world-view. WID thinkers emphasised upon the productive roles of women and argued better opportunities for them in the development process. This advocacy was certainly a step in the right direction (Kabeer, 1994) and their efforts have contributed to the shifts in policy. Women’s question became visible in development theory and practice.

        WID approach was linked with the traditional modernisation theory. It accepted the existing social structures and did not question the sources of women’s subordination and oppression. It did not question why women had not benefited from development strategies. So, WID thinkers demanded women’s inclusion into the development process only and did not advocate structural change in the system in which women are to be included (Visvanathan, 1997).

        Women perform productive, reproductive and other biologically derived activities. This is a near-universal feature of the social division of labour that women are responsible for most of the labour necessary to reproduce healthy and active human life. But the WID focused exclusively on the productive aspects of women’s work ignoring or minimising their unique responsibility for reproductive work (Baneria and Sen, 1981, cited in Kabeer, 1994).

In their examination of Boserup’s work, Baneria and Sen (1997) challenged her ‘basically benevolent view of modernisation’. They critically assessed her as she neglected the interconnections between social process of capital accumulation, class formation and the declining status of women. In the process of generation and intensification of inequalities, they described the idea of better education and training for women to emancipate them from their declining status as ‘treating cancer with bandaid’. The liberalism believed that women’s poverty and subordination are ‘simply aberrations within an otherwise just and equitable social system’ and this is the result of traditional values and male ignorance rather than the structural feature of the social system (Bandarage, 1984). She argued that the solutions needed were political rather than merely technical.

        A final limitation of the WID world-view was its failure to consider the question of ‘male power’ as a property of gender relations. The development policy makers and implementers were primarily men from the elite groups of the western societies who do not live in intimate power relationship with the poor or with those whose environments are threatened (Kabeer, 1994).

Conclusion

         In the process of economic modernisation women were marginilized in the productive sector. Hence, the WID advocacy argued, women needed better integration into the development process. There was a reluctant view to this strategy of integrating women in development and to consider their problems within a general context of social relations. As a result integration meant small and separate projects for women, compartmentalised within the development programmes. They remained absent from priority development projects and also from the higher levels of planning (Goetz, 1991).

        The penetration of labour-intensive multinational companies in the Third World countries created employment opportunities for women. Since women are in the inferior or secondary position in the labour market, for similar work and output there was a differential in wages paid to male and female workers. This is an expression of patriarchal exploitation (Lim, 1997). Indeed, the availability of jobs allows women to leave the confines of the home, delay marriage and child bearing and expand individual choice. Thus they gain a relative independence from patriarchal family control (Bandarage, 1984). But their dismissal from the job due to ill health caused by the poor working condition leaves them nowhere to go (Arrigo, 1980, cited in Bandarage, 1984). Bandarage argued, when families refuse to accept them and men refuse to marry them because of their independence, some women are forced to prostitution. She mentioned another type of exploitation to women of the Third World countries through the population control programmes. She illustrated, hormonal contraceptives having harmful effects on women’s health have been banned in the United States. But these are exported to the Third World countries like Bangladesh with the justification of population control at the cost of women’s health.

        Thus it is evident that the modernisation and development process failed to emancipate women from patriarchal power rather it intensified the subordination and exploitation of women in patriarchal power relations.

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References:

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