WUNRN
Also via Women's Livelihoods -
PWESCR
Despite Rhetoric, Women Still Sidelined in Development Funding
By Charundi Panagoda
WASHINGTON, Feb 6, 2012 (IPS) -
As U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro once put it, "Women hold
the keys to unlocking the barriers to sustainable development."
Women play
essential roles in the global economy, agriculture and development. But while
the rhetoric regarding the importance of women's inclusion in development
projects has peaked in recent years, actual gender-inclusion in investment
projects often fails to walk the talk.
The main
challenges facing sustainable development in the future are gender inequality,
climate change, natural resource degradation and the global recession, said
"No
effort to advance sustainable development will succeed that does not take into
account half of the world's population," she said. "Women have long
been promoting solutions to sustainable development challenges. They’ve been
promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation, protecting biodiversity and
vital ecosystems, securing water access, and combating indoor air
pollution."
According to
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), women are
responsible for half of the world's food production. And they continue to bear
most of the responsibilities at home, from caring for children to providing
meals. Therefore, women's participation is vital to the success of sustainable
development projects.
However,
while acknowledging the importance of gender equality for development, the
World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs) continue to
make gender-insensitive decisions, Elaine Zuckerman, the head of Gender
Action, told IPS.
"A lot
of people propose gender equality, women's rights, women's empowerment, but
then when you look at what is budgetised, where the funds go, there is a huge
disconnect. I think it's critical to translate the rhetoric into investments...
A lot of IFI staff don't still, but those who do often speak in a vacuum,"
Zuckerman told IPS.
IFIs still
view gender as a "soft issue", Elizabeth Arend, programmes
coordinator for Gender Action, told IPS.
In 2011,
while the World Bank's World Development Report (WDR) highlighted
gender issues, the Bank's budget for "social development, gender and
inclusion" investments decreased to 908 million dollars from 952 million
in 2010. The Bank's spending in this thematic category represents less than two
percent of its 2011 budget, Arend noted.
"It is
not enough to have a handful of 'gender experts' in an institution like the
World Bank… nor is it permissible to address gender in a single paragraph
within a 160-page project appraisal document. IFIs must understand that every
component of every project in every sector has gender implications, and that
marginalising gender issues fundamentally undermines the effectiveness and
sustainability of IFI investments," Arend told IPS.
Many IFI
projects fail to address gender inequalities that prevent women and girls from
participating and benefiting from project activities, experts say. And women
tend to disproportionately suffer when gender inequalities are not included in
development project designs, as exemplified by the World Bank-financed West
African and Chad-Cameroon pipelines project.
Research by Gender
Action in partnership with Friends of the Earth found that because gender
dimensions were not taken into account in the project, "IFIs reinforced
(existing) second-class status by sidelining women in consultation processes,
discriminating against women in compensation schemes and employment
opportunities, and undermining women’s critical livelihoods."
Arend
believes there are several reasons for the World Bank's persistent gap between
gender equality rhetoric and actual funding. First is the historic discrepancy
between what the Bank's research team prioritises and what actually gets
funded. Secondly, if the leadership doesn’t see gender as a priority, then
gender simply will not be integrated in the Bank’s investments. Finally, the
Bank is ultimately a business.
"The
World Development Report provides an example. Gender Action’s founder, Elaine
Zuckerman, has followed WDRs since their inception and has (hardly) seen a
correlation between the WDR and actual funding. This holds true for the Gender
Equality and Development WDR as well. While the Bank is busy promoting this
report and its findings, in addition to its 'Think Equal' social media
campaign, it is not investing more in gender at all," Arend said.
However,
this situation might be slowly changing. Arend noted that the Bank has
committed 40 million dollars to re-launch a "strengthening agriculture
public services project" in
The new
project has "developed a financial literacy programme for women
agriculture producers and traders, strengthened the agriculture ministry team's
capacity on gender issues and supported the integration of a Gender Focal Point
into the ministry" as requested by female beneficiaries.
"The (