I am thankful Dr. Whitson prefaced last week about how development view gender: man and woman. this knowledge made it much easier for me to read through and understand the readings for this week. As a novice scholar who studies transgender and queer bodies and spaces, I find it difficult to revert back to the binary. However, for the purposes of development in Third Worlds, it is understood. My experience comes solely from the United States and after Title IX.* Given my awareness, I understand that the United States is far past other countries in terms of gender equality. Granted, the United States is not necessarily close to full equality, and maybe it never will be, but other countries have progress to make in order to meet the United States where they are.
Thankfully, we have development to thank for aiding in the achievement of gender (or sex) equality. I found Moser's (1993) overview of the five approaches most helpful in understanding how far development has come. It seems as though the progression through the approaches is evidence of the discovery that gender inequality is a much larger issue than first expected. For instance, by offering employment and a place in development (Efficiency Approach), it is expected that equity will follow. However, it is not just these two gains that interest women. As the Empowerment Approach points out,
“Changes
in law, civil codes, systems of property rights, control over women’s bodies,
labor codes, and the social and legal institutions that underwrite male control
and privilege are essential if women are to attain justice in society” (Moser, 1993, p. 76). I find this approach to make the most sense, but I wonder: why is the Empowerment Approach not actively recognized as a feasible approach to development in the Third World?
There seems to be a looming idea of the "second shift" and how it impacts women and their work. Beneria and Sen (1997) refer to this same concept as a "double day" (p. 49). In the past thirty years, U.S. films have taken a genderist approach to switching the "second shift" from women to men. For instance, Mr. Mom (1983) depicts a father taking care of his three children while his wife, the mother, goes after a huge opportunity in her career. The film shows the father taking on the "typical female roles" as he stays at home with the kids. His failure to keep the kids and the house clean only perpetuate the gender binary. So, according to this film, allowing the father to handle the domestic and childcare responsibilities is not a wise idea as they are not as capable as women.
I leave you with this interesting article (5 pages) from 1989 that is a study of American family homes and how the work/life balance is handled between the men and the women. The author describes women as "the 'villians' in a process which they are also the primary victims" when describing the "extra month a year." I found it to be an interesting supplement, despite being in the United States. How, if at all, has this view of the work/life balance changed since this article was published?
*Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded
education program or activity. Title IX was passed in 1972 (www.justice.gov).
The ideas of modernization are heavily intertwined with a neo-liberal approach to development theory. In the Kabeer reading, the concepts of individual effort and division of labor have been mentioned as techniques to ensure progress in development. The terms have been adopted from western thought to be applied (without research on context) to developing regions, being imposed on diverse populations. What has been categorized as “women’s roles” in the planning process has been limited to household work that is often devalued and simultaneously, reproductive work that is praised. This inconsistency is furthered as women were pegged as “economically dependent” (Kabeer, 21). A division of labor between men and women on the basis of sex is problematic. It not only reinforces the ideas that men and women are separate in terms of contribution to the economy but also differ in the type of work that can be done by each sex efficiently. The Mr. Mom film you discussed demonstrates this separation and sheds more light on the ‘naturalized’ expectations of women to take care of households and provide child care. Typically, the “double work day” emphasizes the dual roles/workload a woman performs as she aims to balance her responsibilities in the public (economic and modern) and private (household) spheres. Activity that generates income or economic means is associated with the term work, whereas activities that are done within the household aren’t considered acts of labor that have value economically. In relation to the inconsistency I mentioned earlier, this is problematic as the expectation is for women to contribute to the economy and maintain the household yet familial responsibilities aren’t uniformly accommodated (maternal leave, increased job flexibility, fair wages, etc).
ReplyDeleteKaty;
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I like your thoughtful insights about development and how it has impacted on gender equality. I would like to add that gender inequality is threatening, especially in the developing countries. One thing that I am tempted to question here is that " is development enough" ? it is true that inequality declines as economic development occurs and incomes rise. Is there a reason to design policies,specifically, targeted to improving the conditions of women or is it sufficient for improving women's conditions. let's face it. Development is not enough. Even in United States that appear to be on top of finding all the answers per se to rest of the world's biggest problem, gender gaps in wages and roles in both, private and public spheres persists to widen as you have highlighted in the Mr. Mom's film. Further, the idea of empowerment that you brought forward is very captivating but the question is "do the third world countries understand what it means? how can it be possible when leaders of these countries pay little attention or barely none to the knowledge and mechanisms of gender empowerment and how it affects women?