Technical Co-operation and Women's Lives: Integrating Gender into Development Policy

The overarching objective of the project has been to enhance the gender sensitivity of development policies, with a particular focus on macro-economic policies. The first phase involved studies of selected policy making organizations, in particular those engaged in sectoral and macro-economic decision-making. The purpose of this exercise was to consider the impact of gender relations on the apparently neutral organizing structures, procedures and ideologies of these institutions, in order to help explain why they prove so resistant to women and their interests. Phases Two and Three of the project have attempted to reduce the conceptual/professional barriers between feminist researchers/practitioners and policy makers by simultaneously encouraging (i) country-level research that facilitates collaborations between gender researchers (often trained as sociologists or anthropologists) and macro-economists; and (ii) dialogue among the project’s national research teams, decision makers within public administration, and civil society groups (unions, feminist groups, NGOs). In 1995 and early 1996, national workshops in each of the participating countries determined the focus of field level research: feminization of the labour force in the context of trade liberalization and labour deregulation (Bangladesh, Jamaica and Morocco) and the gender dimensions of rural livelihood strategies (Uganda and Viet Nam).

Network: Field research teams were based in Bangladesh (Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies; Department of International Relations; University of Dhaka; Economics Department, University of Dhaka; Department of Sociology, Boston University.); Morocco (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Aziz Belal); Uganda (Makerere University; Centre for Basic Research; School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex; School of Social Sciences, University of Sussex); Viet Nam (Centre for Family and Women Studies; Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex).

Funding for this project was provided by UNDP.