Gender mainstreaming in poverty eradication and the millennium development goals : a handbook for policy-makers and other stakeholders / Naila Kabeer.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Kabeer, Naila.

Contributor:

Commonwealth Secretariat.

International Development Research Centre (Canada)

Canadian International Development Agency.

Series:

New gender mainstreaming series on development issues

Gender management system series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poverty.

Sustainable development.

Women in development.

Physical Description:

xix, 245 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Commonwealth Secretariat ; Ottawa : International Development Research Centre ; Quebec : Canadian International Development Agency, [2003]

Summary:

In this book, Naila Kabeer brings together a set of arguments, findings and lessons from the development literature which help to explain why gender equality merits specific attention from policy-makers, practitioners, researchers and other stakeholders committed to the pursuit of pro-poor and human-centred development. Neglect of gender inequalities in the distribution of resources, responsibilities and power in the processes of economic accumulation and social reproduction has a high cost, not only for women themselves but also for their children and other dependents and for the development of society as a whole. This book highlights the interconnections between production and reproduction within different societies, and women's critical role in straddling both, and points to the various synergies, trade-offs and externalities which these generate. All over the world, women from poor households play a more critical role in the income-earning and expenditure-saving activities of their households than women from better-off households, and are concentrated in the informal economy. The relationship between household poverty and women's paid activity has, if anything, become stronger over the past decades, partly in response to economic crisis and the 'push' into the labour market and partly in response to new opportunities generated by globalisation. Improving women's access to economic opportunities, and enhancing returns to their efforts, will be central to the goal of poverty eradication and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Contents:

1. Gender, Poverty and Development Policy 1

A Brief History of Poverty Reduction Policies 4

Up to the 1960s: Early strategies for growth 4

1970s and 1980s: Economic crises and structural adjustment 4

1990s: Reports from the World Bank and UNDP 5

2000: World Development Report (WDR) 6

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 7

Putting Gender on the Policy Agenda 11

1970s and 1980s: Making the links between gender and development 11

Gender and the 1990 World Development Report 14

Gender and the Human Development Report (HDR) 15

Gender and the 2000 World Development Report 17

The World Bank's 2001 report 17

Gender and the Millennium Development Goals 19

2. Integrating Gender into Macroeconomic Analysis 23

Gender Bias in Macroeconomic Analysis 23

Early models of economic growth 24

The gender bias in macroeconomic analysis 26

Making models less gender-blind 32

Gender and micro-economic responses 33

Institutions and actors in a gendered economy 35

Empirical Findings 36

The impact of macro-level policy 36

Gender and 'computable general equilibrium' (CGE) models 38

Gender Equality and Economic Growth: Competing Hypotheses 39

a. The 'positive synergy' hypothesis 41

b. The 'trade-off' hypothesis 42

3. The Geography of Gender Inequality 47

Institutions and Gender Inequality 50

Regional Perspectives on Gender Inequality 51

Asia 52

Sub-Saharan Africa 55

Latin America and the Caribbean 57

Updating the Geography of Gender 58

Globalisation and the rise of flexible labour markets 59

Gender and labour force participation in the 1980s and 1990s 62

Gender and hierarchies in the labour market 72

Classifying Gender Constraints 74

4. Approaches to Poverty Analysis and its Gender Dimensions 79

The Poverty Line Approach 79

Separating the poor from the non-poor 79

Female-headed households and the 'feminisation of poverty' 81

The Capabilities Approach 83

Expanding the concepts of 'means' and 'ends' 83

Gender inequality and human development 84

Gender inequality and the GDI indicators 87

Male disadvantage 93

Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) 96

Poverty from the perspective of the poor 96

Participatory assessments and gender 99

Limitations of participatory assessments 101

5. Gender Inequality and Poverty Eradication: Promoting Household Livelihoods 107

Gender Inequality and Household Poverty in South Asia 108

Women's work and household survival 108

The gender distribution of work in rural areas 109

Household poverty and women's paid work 112

Gender and work in urban areas 115

Household poverty and women's work in urban areas 117

Gender Inequality and Household Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa 120

Gender and economic activity in the rural economy 122

Household poverty and women's economic activity 127

Gender and economic activity in the urban economy 132

Links Between Gender Inequality and Income Poverty: The Wider Picture 135

Women's work and household survival 136

Women's work and household responses to crisis 137

Female headship and household poverty 139

Gender inequality and returns to women's work 142

6. Gender Equality and Human Development Outcomes: Enhancing Capabilities 147

Gender Inequality and Human Development: The Equity Rationale 148

Gender inequality and basic well-being 148

Gender inequality and child survival: the evidence from South Asia 149

Gender inequality and the quantity-quality trade-off 152

Gender inequality, work burdens and nutrition 154

Gender inequality and hazardous livelihoods 157

Gender Inequality and Family Well-being: The Instrumental Rationale 160

Gender, resources and children's well-being: the social connections 161

Gender, resources and family welfare: preferences and priorities 162

7. Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment 169

Conceptualising Empowerment: Agency, Resources and Achievement 170

Access to Education and Women's Empowerment 175

Positive effects of education 175

Limits to education as a route to empowerment 177

Access to Paid Work and Women's Empowerment 181

Waged work in the agricultural sector 181

Waged work in the non-agricultural sector 182

Voice, Participation and Women's Empowerment 185

Women in national parliaments 185

Women in local government 188

Agency and Collective Action: Building Citizenship from the Grassroots 190

8. Institutionalising Gender Equity Goals in the Policy Process 197

Gender Equality and Economic Growth: Synergy or Trade-off? 197

Gender equality and pro-poor growth: synergy or trade-off? 200

The effects of economic growth on gender equality 202

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs): A Gender Audit 204

The content and process of PRSPs 204

Gender issues in the PRSPs 205

Gender inequalities in voice, power and influence in the PRSPs 209

Some lessons from the PRSP experience 210

Sectoral strategies for poverty reduction 216

Gender-responsive Budget (GRB) Analysis 220

National experiences of GRBs 223

Policy options highlighted by GRB analysis 224

Mainstreaming Gender in Policy-making Institutions 225

The Gender Management System (GMS) 226

Mobilising around Gender Equity Goals: Building Active Citizenship 229

1.1 The Millennium Development Goals 8

3.1 Estimated Economic Activity Rate of Women and Female Percentage of the Labour Force 63

3.2 Employment by Economic Activity 66

7.1 Women in Public Life 186

2.1. The 'Iceberg' View of the Economy 28

3.1. Social Hierarchy of Livelihoods 61.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-242).

ISBN:

0850927528

OCLC:

51964217