an Eldis Resource
Making a difference?: gender and participatory development
Notions of gender and power need to be reconsidered
Authors:
A. Cornwall
Publisher:
Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK, 2001
This paper emphasises that there is a need to rethink 'gender' and associated issues of power and powerlessness that are central to both Gender and Development (GAD) and participatory development.
This article indicates that:
- as the development mainstream takes on some of the practices of participatory development, feminist concerns about representation, agency and voice become ever more pressing
- the very projects and processes that appear so inclusive and transformative may turn out to be supportive of a status quo that is highly inequitable for women
- questions need to be asked about who participates, in what and on what basis, who benefits and who loses out
This paper:
- highlights some of the tensions that run through ‘gender-aware’ participatory development
- draws on empirical material from Africa and Asia to explore the gender dimensions of participation in projects, planning and policy processes
- reflects on strategies and tactics that have been used in efforts to make participatory development more gender sensitive
- alerts the reader to the importance of how 'gender' is interpreted and deployed in development settings
- warns that rethinking ‘gender’ and addressing more directly the issues of power and powerlessness that lie at the heart of both Gender and Development (GAD) and participatory development
