Gender equity is now more or less a fixture on the development agenda. So why does implementing gender equity programmes remain such a challenge? The problem may be that institutions are not "right" for either women staff or women clients. More women may be in development organisations than before. But many of these institutions, set up by (and often for) men, are still male-centred in their work patterns and culture, and are not able fully to represent women's interests. Eradicating hidden gender agendas will mean investigating each institution's credentials, including when, why and by whom it was set up originally, as well as how it is run at present.

A new collection of research by gender specialists from around the world shows that failures to implement gender equitable policy are often rooted in the organisations themselves. Getting institutions "right" for women is central to implementing development programmes for gender equity. Some women have "broken into" development institutions, but they are often prevented from speaking out for women's interests once they are there. The ways in which organisations are structured and located, their work patterns and culture, and the gender ideologies that prevail within them are arranged around and by men. Government organisations are often thought to be most hierarchical and least concerned with gender equity, but non-governmental organisations may be as much at fault as officialdom. Even organisations trying to improve gender relations may unwittingly reproduce gender inequality in their own institutional culture and programming.

Insensitivity to gender difference can be hidden behind certain assumptions, viz:

• an assumption that public institutions are neutral about gender, when in fact the "rules of the game" are set up for male staff, who are better placed to "win" the game. They do not, for instance, acknowledge that women generally have more domestic responsibilities than men.
• assumptions about development clients (for example, that men are producers, women rely on families), and gender biases which fieldworkers may bring to the implementation of policy.

Getting institutions right for women is central to promoting gender-equitable development policy. To identify where and why an organisation fails the gender-sensitivity test involves digging up certain features of the organisation's past and present record, namely:

• the organisation's background - who set it up, who was excluded, who made the "rules"?
• ideas behind it: are women seen as producers in their own right or as necessary exceptions (for example as go-betweens for fertility control programmes)?
• who dominates important decision-making processes?
• how is work organised? Are staff required to live away from home and expected to work unsocial hours in order to get ahead?
• are issues of sexuality dealt with adequately by the organisation?
• are systems of incentives geared towards rewarding qualitative work (such as building capacity of women's groups), or quantitative results such as reaching numerical work targets?

Source(s):
Getting Institutions Right for Women in Development. A.M.Goetz, in Breaking in, Speaking Out: Getting Institutions Right For Women in Development, London, Zed Press, Ed. A.M.Goetz (forthcoming, 1998).

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 1997-Dec-04

Further Information:
A.M. Goetz
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9RE
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1273 606261
Fax: +44 (0)1273 621202
Contact the contributor: a.m.goetz@sussex.ac.uk

Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK