Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Oxfam 1993
Published by Oxfam (UK and Ireland), 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK
Designed and typeset by Oxfam Design department 1141 /PK/93
Oxfam is a registerd charity No. 202918
T
HIS FIRST ISSUE of Focus on Gender deteriorates so do the resources available to
looks at environment. Contributions them and the harder they have to work for
come from different parts of the smaller rewards. Land rights and land
world and deal with different experiences reform are environmental issues for women
of 'environment'. Some of the articles tell but they are rarely identified as such by
harrowing stories of the effects of environ- environmental experts, or by politicians.
mental disaster and degradation. Women The fact of the widespread marginalisation
express anger at the treatment of women of women in society, the law and economic
by environment 'experts'. There is little to life, still needs to be addressed by those
be cheerful about in the environment issue who want to 'save' the environment from
itself, but there is hope in reading how the people who depend on it most.
women in the most desperate circum- In this issue Judy Adoko expresses her
stances are looking to the future and organ- fierce indignation at the apparent assump-
ising to take control of their space in the tion by development workers in Uganda
environment. that rural women using wood for fuel are
To begin to understand what gender and showing a careless disregard for the 'envi-
environment means, we should look to the ronment'. Her explanation of the situation
late Joan Davidson's overview of the close shows how women and their work are
and complex relationships of many women reduced to being demonstration projects
in the South with their surroundings. This for visitors while those controlling the com-
is a sound introduction to the wide range of mercialisation of firewood are ignored. It is
issues and situations linking women and clear that here, as elsewhere, a chasm in
the environment. Women are profoundly understanding exists between local women
affected by environmental degradation, but and the environmental and development
to understand how this happens it is neces- experts.
sary to look at underlying factors such as Rural women are not unaware of the con-
debt and structural adjustment, trade, aid, cept of environmental degradation but
war and social structure. their choices are limited and their respons-
The issue of access to land and land es might appear to an outsider to be less
rights comes up in many of the contribu- than ideal. Under closer scrutiny their
tions. Few women own the land they work choice might prove to be a sensible course
on and therefore do not always benefit of action, given the constraints they have to
from environmental improvements. Its work within: they make the most of what
degradation does affect them as the land they have today because that is all they
have. Poor people, often women, use finite Increasing consumption of natural
resources fuelwood, fish, water out of resources is the reason given by many
necessity, not because they seek an easy prominent defenders of the environment
short-term option at the expense of their for identifying 'over-population' as the key
children's future. culprit in environmental degradation. But
this is often a false perception, and the
charge is made without examining their
Removing the causes of women's own society's part in resource consump-
poverty has to be part of the solution tion, and with little regard for the daily
needs of poor women. A strongly worded
for environmental stability. statement from DAWN refutes this analy-
sis and points to changes to be made at a
Rural women want to play a part in sus- world level to promote sustainable devel-
taining the natural environment but they opment and ease the burden on women.
cannot embark on schemes which jeopar- The pressures of the system of interna-
dise their immediate, very precarious tional trade and increasing industrialisa-
livelihood. There has to be some assurance tion have intensified not only hazards to
that they will not lose what they have the natural environment but hazards in the
worked so hard for. Removing the causes workplace. Around the world local
of women's poverty has to be part of the economies are being transformed by the
solution for environmental stability. development policies of government and
Judy Adoko's point that women's time international institutions. People are
and energy is often assumed to be unlimited deserting their rural homes for the towns
is taken up by Irene Guijt in her outlineof and cities. As the cost of living escalates
new training materials for natural resource and as land deteriorates or is closed to
management fieldworkers Women on them, they seek a new ways to survive.
Earth. She states that there is an assumption In sub-Saharan Africa women have been
that 'women's active participation in natural forced by drought and the rapidly declin-
resource management projects will be auto- ing economic situation to join the ranks of
matic, regardless of whether there will be male migrants to urban centres. Here they
any direct benefit for them in doing so'. face new types of environmental problems
Understanding how people work and why inadequate housing and sanitation, dis-
they use the methods they do is an early ease and industrial pollution. In Senegal,
step in developing a way of working togeth- for example, women and their children are
er. Adopting a gender perspective must be struggling to make a living without even
part of this understanding. having a home. Mariam Dem describes
Joanne Harnmeijer and Ann Waters- projects which are trying to enable women
Bayer describe how environmental degra- to earn money while maintaining their
dation affects the health of rural women home base. She knows this is not the only
farmers by creating more work for little solution and calls for more research to find
reward, and yet how women's health can out what women's real needs are and how
also be undermined by projects which they can be adequately met.
increase agricultural production. Children In other parts of the world South-East
then become even more necessary, to help Asia and the Americas economies such
with the heavier burden of work; but giv- as Mexico are being transformed by export-
ing birth to and caring for children led policies of industrialisation. Women are
becomes an additional drain on the moth- leaving rural areas in search of work to
er's time, energy and health. earn money in the new cash economy.
Editorial 3
Agricultural land is being turned over for the needs of women were ignored during
new factories, without the necessary sup- the relief work. She describes the discrimi-
porting sanitation or social services. Towns nation and obstruction she met as a relief
are growing up around industrial sites in worker. Determined that women should
which most of the employees are women, not be treated like this in future, she lists
exploited because of their low social status. changes which need to be made to disaster
Industrial waste is rarely controlled prop- relief programmes.
erly so that many of the processes which
cause occupational health problems in the In an environmental disaster, women
factories can be directly linked to severe ill-
nesses and death in the community. can be more vulnerable than men.
The plantation system is not new, and it
has never been a safe working environment, Other environmental disasters do not
but with the introduction of agri-chemicals come suddenly but are agonisingly slow.
the hazards are even greater. Research by The psychological effects of living in a seri-
PAN and by Tenaganita in Malaysia has ous drought cannot be underestimated.
shown that women plantation workers are The stress caused by the burden of extra
given the most dangerous jobs. Direct con- work, of daily hunger and death, and of
tact with chemical pesticides seriously not knowing when it will end, can be com-
affects their health and that of their unborn pounded by the pain of abandonment.
children. In addition to carrying out more From Zambia, Nawina Hamaundu tells
research in other countries in Asia, PAN are how women, whose husbands deserted
holding a series of training workshops to them to remarry in an area where there
help local organisations combat the use of was still food, continue to find ways of
pesticides. The Serdang Declaration reflects coping. Throughout Southern Africa,
their concern with an entire system of pro- despite the gnawing hunger, women are
duction and consumption. finding new personal strength and are
In an environmental disaster, women can organising for new strategies.
be more vulnerable than men. Disasters Environmental degradation has many
present particular dangers for women hidden victims. When a fishery dies the
which can be related directly to their social first response is to think of the fishermen
position. It is not just the cruel climate who are without work and to mourn their
which devastates lives but the cruelty of loss of a way of life. In most small-scale
social systems which create barriers to sur- fishing communities women are also direct-
vival. In disasters which strike suddenly ly dependent on the resource for their liveli-
and without warning many women are hood and their status. It is women who con-
trapped in the homes which they fear leav- trol the processing and marketing of the
ing; they risk their own lives to save their fish, and whose earnings support the fami-
children; and afterwards they are prevent- ly. The case of Laguna Lake in the
ed from receiving their fair share of relief Philippines is replicated thousands of times
aid. At the same time images of suffering around the world as subsistence fisheries
women are cynically used to raise funds are destroyed by outside intervention and
for relief programmes. industrial pollution. When the resource dies
Rasheda Begum describes with anger the women, as well as the fishermen, must
and bitterness the treatment of women in also find ways of coping with the loss of
Bangladesh following the horrific cyclone their way of life. A loss of autonomy
of 1991. She tells how women's lives were from an independent business women to a
lost because of social conventions, and how laundress can also bring a loss of self-
Focus on Gender
esteem. Fisherwomen, such as those at women and men each mean by environ-
Laguna Lake have not given up and are ment and what the environment means to
organising to regain their lost position. them. Gender is a variable in environmen-
What is environment and why is it tal analysis because men and women occu-
important for women? It is not just rain- py different spaces, carry out different
forests, wild birds, and holes in the ozone work, have different responsibilities and
layer; it is also where people live and work. different needs.
Their relationship with the environment is The concept of environment has
determined by their social position and by appeared in recent history as if it were
the work they do. Definitions of environ- something just invented. For the vast
ment and prescriptions for solutions to majority of the world's population 'envi-
environmental problems are dangerous ronment' is not a new concept but a basic
without understanding the specifics of fact of life. Poor women, in the countryside
each case. As Nanneke Redclift says, global and in the cities, live and work close to
needs are not unitary and self-evident. their environment whether on a small
In programmes for sustainable develop- farm, a plantation, in an urban community,
ment, experience has shown that a high or in an industrial zone. Problems of food,
level of sensitivity is necessary if develop- energy, sanitation and health confront
ment is to be first acceptable and then sus- them directly wherever they live and work.
tainable. It is important to know what This is their environment.
Fanners on Sabu Island, Indonesia. Women in most Southern countries are at the centre of subsistence
food production. JIMMY
Women's
relationship with
the environment
Joan Davidson
Adapted from 'Women and the Environment', paper written for the Third Meeting of
Commonwealth Ministers Responsible for Women's Affairs. Ottawa, Canada, 9-12 October 1990.
I
T is DIFFICULT to define quite where Yet, according to UN statistics, women
'environment' begins and ends for own no more than one per cent of the
women in developing countries. Almost world's land, and even where they have
all development activities in some way access to it for farming, their tenure is often
affect their surroundings especially in costly and uncertain. Without ownership
rural areas. Changes in agriculture, of land or secure access to it, women are
forestry, and water and waste management denied access to credit, training, and other
all have local environmental implications supports to production, and cannot engage
which affect women. Women are also in the long-term conservation practices
directly affected by specifically 'environ- they have traditionally used.
mental' activities those designed to In spite of agrarian reforms in many
rehabilitate degraded areas, reduce pollu- developing countries, most productive land
tion or conserve genetic variety. remains in the hands of relatively few peo-
The way in which women relate to a ple the commercial (mainly male) pro-
number of different natural resources, in ducers. Under formal and informal resettle-
both rural and urban areas, are explored ment programmes, poor women have
briefly below. The analyses show how and either become landless, or been forced onto
why women's interests have been dam- the less productive areas where yields are
aged, and how they have responded to lower and output is of poorer quality.
environmental crises. Attempts to grow subsistence crops in
highly marginal environments on land
which may be unstable, dry or subject to
Women and land waterlogging, pest-ridden and disease-
Cultivable land is the basic resource for prone result in severe soil erosion and
meeting food needs and often for servicing the related destruction of water and forest
livelihoods. Women are at the centre of resources. Thus begins a cycle of accelerat-
subsistence food production accounting ing impoverishment of people and the
for more than 80 per cent in some African environment. Poor farmers may over-
countries. Women also produce cash crops, exploit land and, as fallow periods shorten,
both on their own account, and as hired the potential for soil recovery is reduced.
labour on commercial and family farms. Scarcity of fuelwood results in the burning
of crop and animal wastes, formerly used to greater infestation, while species diversity
maintain soil fertility. Crop yields, the cook- has declined. This has reduced the capacity
ing of food, and diets may all deteriorate. of subsistence farmers to adapt to changing
Green Revolution agriculture a devel- weather patterns by selecting the more
opment 'success' of the 1970s has resilient seeds. This has also meant that the
bypassed the problems of women farmers. rich fund of species knowledge (held by
Intensive food production with hybrid, women) is being progressively lost.
high-yield seed varieties, like intensive Thus, not only have the benefits of inten-
production of other cash crops for export, sive agriculture bypassed women, but they
has been beyond the reach of most women have suffered, directly and indirectly, from
farmers, who have no capital for the inputs its 'success'. Their self-reliance and their
required such as machines for planting and capacity to sustain the environment are
harvesting, irrigation, pesticides, and the undermined.
hybrid seeds themselves. Women and women's groups are in the
Made landless or pushed in to marginal forefront of experiments in sustainable
agriculture such as introducing more flexi-
ble cropping patterns, widening species
Women and women's groups are in diversity, recycling organic nutrients, and
the forefront of experiments in other techniques for long-term resource
conservation. Traditional methods of inter-
sustainable agriculture. planting and crop rotation are blended
with new styles of agroforestry to provide
environments, women have to feed families an alternative approach which combines
from smaller and more impoverished plots; environmental improvements with direct
they may also work (often unpaid) as development gains for women.
labourers in cash-crop farming. The work Clearly, such innovations do not remove
burdens of this 'double' day are exacerbated the injustices of land distribution and other
by the need for women to travel greater dis- inequities that women farmers face. But
tance to collect fuelwood, water, fodder and sustainable agriculture projects can often
food when the environment deteriorates as be the trigger for other improvements initi-
a result of intensive farming. In the Indian ated by the farmers themselves crop
state of Rajasthan, now on the brink of a innovation, for example.
desertification disaster, wells and once-
flowing rivers are dry. In 1975, the World
Bank and its partners supported the intro- Women and water
duction of irrigated cash cropping of sugar In many areas, women are 'invisible' water
cane. In an area with just 60 centimetres of managers, responsible for supplying the
rainfall annually, the cultivation of sugar- water needs of the family, domestic ani-
cane has caused groundwater levels to fall mals and sometimes agriculture. A number
dramatically. The water table is now too low of studies have shown how their role in
to support regular subsistence cropping. searching for potable supplies and carrying
Evidence is abundant that highly-mecha- water over long distances is important for
nised, chemical-fed agriculture, often the health, economy, and social develop-
dependent upon large-scale irrigation ment of local communities. Yet women are
regimes, damages soil fertility, surface frequently excluded from the planning,
water and groundwater resources, and tree implementation, and maintenance of water
cover. Locally, heavy use of pesticides has supplies. At the same time, they suffer the
increased pest immunity and brought consequences, as in Rajasthan, of intensive,
Women's relationship with the environment
In Burkina Faso, 90 per cent of energy needs are met from wood. Increasing deforestation makes the task
of gathering fuehvood more difficult and time-consuming. MARK EDWARDS/OXFAM
erosion, flooding or desertification has fol- projects to address the needs of the poor-
lowed. est, and adverse environmental conse-
In spite of some progressive schemes, the quences, all rebound upon women.
special needs of women are still ignored in Rapid population growth, apart from
many housing projects which are designed increasing environmental stress because of
to improve informal settlements through greater pressure on natural resources, is a
upgrading or site-and-service schemes. further drain upon women's capacity for
House designs and plot sizes take no effective environmental management.
account of women's need to care for chil- Repeated pregnancies coupled with inade-
dren, grow food or earn an income. Nor quate diets and the burdens of caring for
are women yet adequately represented in small children all drain women's physical
low-income housing management. energy.
Locally, the lack of other support mecha-
nisms combine to limit women's effective-
The underlying factors ness as resource managers. Without title to
In all these expressions of women's rela- land, they have no access to credit for farm
tionship with the environment, the prob- improvements, conservation measures,
lems are underpinned by the deteriorating energy-saving technologies or the develop-
economic circumstances of developing ment of viable income-generating enter-
countries. Foremost among these are low prises. Often women are discriminated
rates of growth, high international interest against in the content and style of training
rates and unsustainable debt-service bur- available, including extension advice.
dens, declining terms of trade, and the Foreign technologies and policies advocat-
responses of structural adjustment which ed by external agencies are often inappro-
have led to more export-led cash cropping priate and fail to build on women's tradi-
at the expense of food security, and reduc- tional knowledge and practices of natural
tions in spending on health, education, resources conservation. There are excellent
training, and other services upon which examples of women's groups taking action
women depend. While there is no detailed to provide alternatives. But these initiatives
evidence of the effects of structural adjust- reach relatively few women.
ment on women's environmental interests,
the local consequences of intensive cash
cropping and forest exploitation clearly
Conflict prevents any long-term
penalise them. Higher prices for food and investment in conservation measures.
energy may force women to abandon tradi-
tional conservation practices and degrade Continuing conflicts between and within
fragile ecosystems. Higher prices for states have devastating environmental con-
imported fossil fuels prevent any switch sequences and women are frequently hard
away from wood fuel and increase pres- hit, as they are presently in Ethiopia,
sures upon dwindling forest resources. Mozambique, and elsewhere in Africa.
Adverse terms of trade, especially low and Conflict prevents any long-term invest-
unstable commodity prices, have hit ment in conservation measures. Refugee
women producers as well as men. camps grow and with them their degrad-
Declining flows of official development ed, treeless hinterlands.
assistance to developing countries and the Without action on all the underlying fac-
resulting net resource transfers from them, tors debt and structural adjustment,
the tying of aid to large-scale and industri- trade, aid, population growth, discrimina-
al development projects, the failure of aid tion in local support mechanisms and civil
10 Focus on Gender
conflict women's efforts to resist envi- Commonwealth Expert Group on Women and
ronmentally damaging policies and to Structural Adjustment (1989) Engendering
restore and protect the status of women Adjustment for the 1990s; Commonwealth
will be decisive for the protection of the Secretariat, London.
environment and natural resources. Gubbels, P A and Iddi, A (1986) Women farm-
ers: cultivation and utilization of soybeans among
West African women through family health anima-
References tion efforts; World Neighbours, Oklahoma City.
Cecelski E (1987) Linking Energy with Survival; Shiva, V (1989) Staying Alive Women, Ecology
International Labour Office, Geneva. and Development; Zed Books, London.
Joan Davidson
Joan Davidson, Oxfam's policy advisor on small-scale, community-based solutions
environment and development, died on 21 onto the Rio agenda, and with her col-
October. Her untimely death is a tragic loss league, Tricia Feeney, represented Oxfam
to Oxfam and the wider movement cam- on the official UK delegation at UNCED.
paigning for more sustainable develop- She was a brilliant and creative thinker
ment. She did pioneering work in raising and writer on a variety of subjects, includ-
awareness of the gender dimension of ing greening the inner cities and wider
environment and development issues, planning issues. Joan had a holistic
resulting in the publication, with Irene approach to life and was an admirable
Dankelman, of Environment and Women in teacher and enthusiast. She was a perfec-
the Third World (1988). tionist, driven by her passionate concern
In April 1990 she joined Oxfam's Public for people and her desire to bring about
Affairs Unit, and with her job-share part- change whether in the inner cities in
ner, Dorothy Myers, co-authored No Time Britain or rural villages in the Third World.
to Waste: Poverty and the Global Environment. She leaves a husband and two sons, and
The book was launched to coincide with a wide circle of friends. Those of us who
the United Nations Conference on have had the privilege of working with
Environment and Development. Joan lob- Joan will sorely miss her creative energy
bied to get issues of poverty, gender and and her drive. DIANNA MELROSE
Environmental change
and quality of life
Joanne Harnmeijer and Ann Waters-Bayer
How do farmers see environmental changes affecting their family's well-being? How are they try-
ing to cope with and improve the situation? What can outsiders do to support them in these
efforts? These questions were addressed in the March 1992 issue oflLEIA Newsletter, a journal of
the Information Centre for Low External Input in Sustainable Agriculture. The following is an
edited version of that issue's editorial.
I
N Participatory Technology Devel- the face of constant change, they are trying
opment (PTD), the farmers choose the to create a better life according to their val-
options they would like to explore. In ues. If would-be development agents are
technology assessment, the farmers judge sincere in their desire to participate in peo-
whether the results of the PTD process suit ple's grassroots development projects, then
their circumstances. Their choice of options they must find ways of recognising what
whether with low or high levels of exter- people are trying to do and support
nal inputs, whether for more or less sus- these efforts.
tainable forms of farming, will be based to When the people's views are sought
a large extent on how they see changes in and when their initiatives are recognised
their environment, their constraints, and there is no room for the pessimistic fore-
their opportunities. Their assessment will casts often made by environmentalists.
be based on what they value in life and Oral histories from the Sahel,1 for example,
this is much more than merely increased testify to people's versatility and ability to
yields from crops and animals. adapt in the face of considerable odds. For
Although assessment of sustainability example, a decrease in per capita wood
demands that more levels be taken into consumption does not necessarily indicate
account than just the farm level, we have a woodfuel crisis; instead, it may indicate
chosen to focus first on farmers' views of how women very sensibly respond to
changes in their environment. Have these decreased woodfuel supplies by improving
changes affected their health in the very the way they use firewood.
wide sense of 'well-being' or 'quality of life'?
Relieving women's burdens
Coping, adapting, Besides oral histories, various other tech-
improving niques of participatory rural appraisal
rapid or otherwise can be used effective-
Throughout the world, people are well ly to stimulate local people to express their
aware of environmental change. They are views about the implications of environ-
coping with it. They are adapting to it. In mental change for their quality of life.
As increasing time is spent on collecting This chain of cause and effect should be
or economising on water and fuelwood, obvious, but what is less obvious is that
less time is available for improvements in increased production from farming can also
agricultural production. Yet, as the wife of lead to poorer nutrition and health. This is
a 'model farmer' in Kenya showed, intensi- the case when cash crops or 'modern' foods
fication of farming is making even more are promoted to the extent that they replace
demands on women's time. traditional foods. Then the farming family
This is also an issue which has to be buys or grows foods which are often less
squarely addressed in designing and various and nutritious than the traditionally
assessing innovations in low-external-input grown and gathered foods. Agriculture
and sustainable agriculture (LEISA). Low- with chemicals may give higher yields, but
external-input may mean high-internal- what about residues in and on food or pol-
input of labour often by women. By lution of (drinking) water?
focusing on this problem now, we hope A further important but complex rela-
that future research will pay particular tionship between environmental degrada-
attention to the demands which LEISA tion and health concerns family size. As
technologies make on women. The next Caldwell2 points out, decisions about fami-
obvious step then is to work together with ly size can, to a large extent, be explained
women to develop technologies which by the nature of the household economy.
relieve, rather than increase, their work- When more labour is needed to derive a
load. living from a degraded environment, more
children are needed to supply this labour. implemented which are detrimental to the
The draining effect of numerous pregnan- environment and health of farming com-
cies and child births and the demands on munities. In Thailand, the journalist
women's time, energy and health of caring Sanitsuda Ekachai and the Thai Develop-
for small children are multiplied by the ment Support Committee have publicised a
increasing difficulties of obtaining water policy aimed at protecting health by fight-
and fuelwood. ing narcotics. The deforestation and high
levels of pesticide use associated with
growing cabbages in place of opium pop-
First needs first pies is having devastating effects on vege-
It is therefore not surprising that, when tation and water supply and thus, on the
agricultural development workers attempt well-being of local farmers. What is good
to support farmers' efforts to improve their for some, is bad for others.
situation, the first priority may not be to
improve farming techniques. This was
encountered by World Neighbors in Togo, It is important that development
where rural communities chose to projects address a wide range of
improvewater supply and eradicate the
water-related disease Guinea worm, so that farmers' needs, and respond to local
they would be able to work their fields.
It is important that development projects
people's ideas of how to address them.
address a wide range of farmers' needs, and
not only identify felt needs, but also Conflicts of interests also arise when
respond to local people's ideas of how to measures proclaiming nature conservation
address them. bring benefits only to a privileged segment
Outsiders must also realise that, in the of the population. Cases from South Africa
motivation for and process of farmers' quite forcefully bring out the political
efforts to adjust to changing circumstances, struggle of communities threatened with
aspects of culture and identity can be very measures that uproot their environment
important. Farmers assess new technologies and themselves from land they have used
not only according to economic costs and for centuries.
benefits but also according to the effects of Only when individuals and communi-
innovations on physical and spiritual well- ties join forces can they hope to have some
being. impact on the power game that would oth-
erwise ignore the rights of local residents.
Whose quality of life? 1 Cross N and Barker R (eds) (1991) At the desert's
When talking about environmental man- edge: oral histories from the Sahel, SOS Sahel/Panos,
London
agement by local people trying to ensure 2 Caldwell J (1982) Theory of Fertility Decline,
their livelihood, the wider political dimen- Academic Press, London
sions cannot be ignored. First of all, the
affected communities need to make their Further reference:
plight and their achievements more Cecelski E (1987) 'Energy and rural women's
widely known. This may serve to obtain work: crisis, response and policy alterna-
financial and moral support from influen- tives', International Labour Revieiv 126(l):41-64
tial people.
Publicity may also be a way to exert
public pressure to prevent policies being
Sustainable development:
women as partners
Mariam Dem
This article has been edited from a paper presented by Mariam Dem at the ICVA Forum March
1991, Dakar, translated by Sarah Perman and Tim Beech.
and investment in social programmes has countryside, the fall in the price of cash
been drastically reduced. Businesses and crops means that women have to do extra
factories are shutting down or laying-off work in order to increase production on
most of their staff. Unemployment is rife. their own land. This increased workload
does not in itself mean an increase in
women's income because the women do
Women and the economic not always control this land in most
crisis cases it is controlled by men.
In urban areas, the increase in housing
Women are particularly affected by this cri- costs forces women and their children into
sis, both in the countryside and in the poor housing conditions. Unemployment
towns, each situation posing its own set of has increased the burden on women of
problems. The increase in poverty in coun- making ends meet for the family. They are
tries such as Senegal has also led to the turning to the informal sector a wide
feminisation of the population: men are range of services and small-scale manufac-
leaving Senegal for work and studies else- turing to keep the family going.
where, so that now 3,618,000 of the However, this increased role for women
7,171,000 Senegalese are women. in the struggle for economic survival has
The unemployment created by reduced not changed their position within the com-
public spending puts the burden of bring- munity. They continue to be exposed to all
ing in an income for the whole family more forms of discrimination in everyday life. In
heavily on women than ever before. In the the urban areas, as in the countryside,
Market traders, Senegal. Women are increasingly turning to the informal sector to bring in an income to
keep their families going. DIANE CROCOMBE/OXFAM
Focus on Gender
power remains firmly male: land rights, areas aims to support them in the context of
family law, access to credit, access to tech- sustainable development, by promoting
nology, and access to education. As a con- and strengthening organisations which
sequence of the socio-cultural environment, mobilise women to earn a living, to
the effects of the economic crisis in urban improve their health and education, and to
areas hit mainly women, and limit their learn about and defend their rights.
opportunities to improve the physical envi- Above all, however, our task is to fur-
ronment. ther a process of change through support
To tackle misery and destitution, disad- which answers women's needs by financ-
vantaged populations everywhere put sur- ing income-generating activities to give
vival strategies into action. In Senegal women more economic power; improving
women play the greatest part in these. their livelihood by promoting education,
Nothing is beyond them: they are prepared health and the preservation of the environ-
to undertake any work as long as it brings ment; and supporting grassroots initiatives
in a little income to help feed their family in the rural population in order to slow
and pay for the education of their children. down the drift to the cities.
Many are fortunate in still having their tra-
ditional associations to rely on and to work Some examples of women
within, and where possible they readily working together
align themselves with these organisations
to benefit from development activities. A group of Serere women (the Serere are
Senegal's second ethnic group) have settled
Sustainable development in the capital, Dakar, having left their vil-
lages to follow their husbands. The women
for urban women wanted to maintain solidarity by becoming
Oxfam intends to give more support to the organised. Credit funds have enabled the
urban women who have been badly affect- women to support their small trading activ-
ed by Senegal's economic crisis. It plans to ities without being at the mercy of money-
do this by participating in the movement lenders, nor being forced to abandon their
people are creating to free themselves from family through a lack of money, as is so
poverty. often the case.
Support has been given to women from This support has also consisted of train-
urban areas in their attempts to organise ing which sensitises women to family plan-
themselves and to carry out income-gener- ning. This is in response to the distress of
ating activities. This support has assumed those women who, with nine or ten chil-
different forms the most important of dren, are faced with health problems and
which is to place funds at the women's dis- enormous difficulties in finding food and
posal for carrying out activities which bring lodging.
in an income to enable them to improve Another group are the 'pounders of
their own and their families' lives. Castor', rural women who came to Dakar
Another form of support has been in during the dry season to earn an income for
backing women's organisations so that they their families by pounding millet and then
can act as a counter-balance to women's selling the hulled grain in competition with
exclusion from the spheres of influence large-scale traders. Unfamiliar with the
which affect their lives, and to their mar- city, most had no base in the town and so
ginalisation, which is often linked to their would sleep with their small children in the
lack of information and training. market under very difficult conditions.
In sum, our work with women in urban Oxfam aims to 'root' these women in
Sustainable development 17
their villages by financing their work dur- Insufficient and inaccessible resources
ing the long nine months of the dry season. for women: because women are far
The women work not only in millet trad- from the centres of decision-making,
ing, but also in sheep-fattening and other criteria for the allocation of resources
agricultural activities. ignore women's circumstances.
The absence of information and training:
Working with women for women need to be able to apply their
sustainable development own choices and manage their lives in
the best possible way.
Sustainable development for women means
there are problems to be tackled: The need to strengthen the space for
women's independent reflection and
Access to the ways and means of pro- expression: often bound by their socio-
duction such as land, agricultural equip- cultural and political environments,
ment and inputs: in Senegal, women do women, particularly those from the poor
not generally have any land, despite the sections of society, often accept what is
law which administers land as the suggested to them because they have
national estate, accessible to all. The cus- not been given the opportunity to say
tom of patriarchal control of the land what they want or are able to do.
means that women and their organisa-
tions often are given land which is not
wanted because it is either too far away
or barely fertile.
Mariam Dem (right) talking to an Oxfam-supported women's group. Support for women who are organ-
ising themselves can help create and strengthen women's confidence. JEREMY HARTLEY/OXFAM
18 Focus on Gender
F
ROM MY EXPERIENCE in Oxfam, the type tion or banana plantation where the crops
of 'environmental' project that exists are traditionally owned by men. So, what-
in Uganda is the type started by an ever good the trees do, they do not directly
outsider going to a women's group and benefit the women anyway. A woman has
enlightening the women on the dangers of to wait for her few trees to mature before
environmental degradation caused by cut- she can cut one down to use as firewood.
ting trees. Women are told that there is Considering that these trees are only a few
drought because trees are being cut for fire- in number, how long can she use the fire-
wood. They are also told that if they do not wood for cooking before she has to plant
plant trees, they will have no firewood for again and wait another two years?
cooking. The other benefits put forward for While waiting for the trees to grow, the
women engaged in such tree-planting pro- women continue to water the seedlings, and
jects are income, which they can get from meet visitors brought to them by NGOs.
the sale of seedlings, better nutrition for In some projects I visited there were signs
their children from eating fruits and, of of seedlings gone to waste because of lack
course, shade for their homes. of water; the women had to walk miles to
The more advanced environmental pro- fetch water for their domestic use and just
jects are involved with improved charcoal- could not keep the seedlings watered. Some
burning stoves which consume less char- schemes have introduced a bicycle which
coal, thereby saving both charcoal and can be used for collecting the water for the
money; and with composting for fertilising. seedlings, but this is not available for
domestic use. Why, I wonder, does it need
a concern for 'environmental issues' rather
Inputs for projects than women's daily burden of water-carry-
For women to carry out the tree-planting ing before a bicycle is introduced?
projects they need, amongst other things,
land and water for the seedlings.
Traditionally, in most Ugandan cultures, Benefits accruing to women
land is used by women but owned by men.
There is also a shortage of land; so much so Firewood
that no group could afford to plant trees on The women who plant trees for firewood
their own, on an empty plot. Most women have to wait two to three years before they
plant a few trees on either a coffee planta- can harvest the firewood. Even then the
branches are just twigs which could never they who traditionally 'owned' seedlings.
boil beans. If the trees are planted They would then grow them and sell them.
specifically for firewood, it means that they
have to be cut down eventually. How, Nutrition
then, would this contribute to Partners involved in environmental pro-
environmental protection? (Perhaps the jects argue that planting some trees, espe-
argument is because they have avoided cially fruit trees, will improve the nutrition
cutting down another one.) level in families. This argument does not
hold water with me because most homes I
Environmental Protection know (in Lango) have planted trees such as
Although I do not have the statistics to mango, orange and (in Buganda) Jack fruit,
show who are the greatest destroyers of since long before 'environment' was an
trees, I have lived in Uganda long enough issue. I think that this is just a way of trying
to know that in my village firewood is col- to impress hinders.
lected from dry trees after the burning of
grass in December not from green trees.
After the grass is burnt the women can see
more clearly in the bush and pick the dead
wood, leaving the green pieces. (As far as I
know none of the environmental NGOs in
Uganda have touched on grass burning as
an environmental issue.) Very, very rarely
were green trees cut down for firewood
and even then it was only the old women
who did this because they were too weak
to walk long distances looking for dry
trees.
It seems to me that in Uganda the great-
est destroyers of trees are the charcoal
burners who are business men, sometimes
wielding considerable power. If we want a
meaningful environmental project, would
not they be the best target, rather than the
poor village women who already have
their arms full of work?
Income
The seedlings are supposed to be sold by
the women to raise income. The price for In Uganda, the land on which women groiu food
this is usually 50 or 100 shillings per is oivned by men. JENNYMA
seedling (USH 2,050 to 1). Considering the
small amount of money most women have
at their disposal, it is no wonder that one Concluding comments
woman in a group I visited wanted to start
a poultry project for cash. According to her, Consider then the following:
'one cannot eat trees'. In one project we Such environmental tree-planting pro-
found that some seedlings were bought jects add to women's burden of water
from women's groups by men because it is collection.
Environment and women in Uganda 21
T
HE CURRENT MACRO-DEBATE w h i c h the natural environment. The focus on pop-
portrays population growth as the ulation growth as the key factor in degrad-
central variable in environmental ing the environment is thus misplaced.
degradation is not supported by research Because poor women and children are
findings. Extremes of wealth and poverty, the poorest of the poor, and because of the
leading to overconsumption by some and central role that women play in household
the erosion of livelihoods for others, and natural resource management, they are
skewed distribution and use of resources, particularly affected by the erosion of
and patterns of human settlement (includ- livelihoods. It has been repeatedly demon-
ing urbanisation) have a stronger demon- strated that fertility is determined by cul-
strable relationship to environmental tural and socio-economic factors such as
degradation than population size per se. In women's economic autonomy, legal and
addition, macro-global economic strategies political rights, education, health, and
and policy decisions are increasingly affect- access to reproductive health services.
ing both people and the natural environ- Fertility decline is also related to the
ment. These findings are supported in improved survival chances of offspring.
study after study. However, general erosion of livelihoods
People have traditionally adapted to and are increasingly undermining women's
shaped the natural environment through access to health services (including family
the accumulation of local knowledge and planning services) and education.
experience. This relationship has been Policy implications are:
increasingly disrupted as a result of exter-
nal global forces, notably the globalisation 1 Despite current ideologies and policies
of capital, large-scale technology and com- favouring trade liberalisation free of
munications, subordination within world state regulation, market forces cannot be
markets, and rising levels of consumption , relied upon to protect the livelihoods of
particularly in industrialised countries. people or the health of the environment.
These processes have eroded livelihoods, 2 The global community including NGOs
M
ICRO-ELECTRONICS is generally In contrast to the industry's glamorous
considered 'clean technology', and ultra-modern image, these women are
the pollution-free answer to the potentially exposed to a whole array of
dirty manufacturing processes of the past. highly hazardous chemicals and dangerous
The image belies the truth. Micro-electron- production processes, very often without
ics manufacturing is dangerous to the adequate health and safety protection.
health of the workers employed, their fami- The manufacture of electronic products
lies, and the surrounding environment. uses five major processes, requiring work-
This is especially the case in countries ers to clean, bond, solder, etch and plate,
where workplace and environmental con- using a wide range of substances such as
trols are suppressed or non-existent. chlorinated hydrocarbons suspected of
Most micro-electornics production takes causing cancer or corrosive acids like
place in South-East Asia, but manufactur- hydro-fluoric acid that can cause anything
ers are always on the look out for more from minor burns to blindness. It is com-
favourable locations. The intense competi- mon for chemicals to be heated, a process
tion in the industry encourages companies which can make them even more danger-
to move to regions where incentives are ous, and which widens the area they conta-
high, wages are low, and environmental minate.
controls lax. Eager to attract and maintain
investment, local governments in countries
as diverse as Mexico, Scotland, Thailand, Common complaints and
and the US compete with each other to cre- slack standards
ate company-friendly conditions.
Micro-electronics workers are mostly The full and long-term effects of exposure
young women, especially in the demanding to many of the toxic chemicals used in the
work of semi-conductor or 'chip' fabrication industry have yet to be established either
and assembly, and companies rely on exist- by industrial or government-sponsored
ing discrimination in local labour markets to research. The little that is known for
keep costs down through low salaries and example, that epoxy resins can cause skin,
short-term contracts. Rural women, middle- eye and respiratory problems should
aged married women, immigrant and ethnic lead to the enforcement of stringent health
minority women are also recruited, depend- and safety procedures, but monitoring and
ing on local conditions. enforcement are generally weak.
GTE Lenkurt, a company based in ing outside are not? The hazardous effects
Albuquerque, New Mexico, was taken to of electronics production do not stop at the
court by a former employee dying of can- factory gates.
cer. The case uncovered an array of health The industry consumes large quantities
problems in more than 200 employees of clean air, pure water and highly refined
95 per cent women, 70 per cent Hispanic chemical inputs, yet a number of very seri-
including cancers rarely found in New ous toxic chemical leaks, spills and air-
Mexican Hispanics, frequent miscarriages, borne emissions have been reported over
excessive menstrual bleeding necessitating the past 20 years. These reports have been
hysterectomies, and bizarre skin and neu- made because there was someone on the
rological disorders. Their work was assem- look-out; where there are no concerned
bling solid-state devices inside electronic environmental agencies, governmental or
components. Management were 'vehe- non-governmental, the hazards go unde-
mently anti-union, and persistently puni- tected. In the US, vigilant community, envi-
tive to workerswho expressed concerns ronmental and labour organisations have
over working conditions'.1 The company worked together to clean up a specific area.
eventually settled out of court as did the In countries where legal safeguards are nil
chemical manufacturers Dow, Du Pont, or unenforced, high-tech industrial pollu-
and Shell, charged with distributing dan- tion continues unabated.
gerous products with insufficient warn-
ings.
There is a widespread lack of knowledge
of substances, for example:
Air and water pollution is an increasing problem as Southern countries industrialise. This photograph
was taken in India, but smoking chimneys are a health hazard wherever they are. RAJENDRASHAW/OXFAM
Finding a voice
Visanthi Arumugam
This article has been drawn from Victims Without Voice: A Study of Women Pesticide
Workers in Malaysia, published in 1992 by Tenaganita, Selangor; and Pesticide Action Network
Asia and the Pacific, Penang, Malaysia.
I
N THE PAST women's role in agriculture faced with the grim fact that their health
was grossly underestimated. Although can be seriously damaged through the
today the role of women in subsistence unregulated use of pesticides. Pesticide
and small-scale agriculture is more widely toxicity can also reach unborn children, the
recognised, their position in large-scale and damage having been done before the moth-
plantation farming rarely is. As a result, the er realises she is pregnant.
health problems they face in this type of
agricultural work have been a neglected
area of study and action. Joint study on Malaysia
'Development' packages, including high- In early 1991, Tenaganita1 and PAN Asia
yield varieties of seed, fertilisers, pesti- and the Pacific2 collaborated on a study of
cides, irrigation and tractors, have intensi- the impact of pesticides on women workers
fied the already acute problems of land on the plantations in Malaysia. This was
scarcity and tenure, and have transformed the first part of a seven-country study on
agricultural methods in order to accommo- the subject to be undertaken by PAN Asia
date the weeding, spraying and transplant- and the Pacific.
ing needed for high-yield crops. This form In Malaysia about 40 per cent of the eco-
of high-tech, high-input agriculture has nomically-active female population is
been thoroughly criticised by environmen- involved in the agricultural sector. Of the
talists for the damage it causes to the soil 50,000 field and general workers, 80 to 90
and water supplies. per cent are women. In the plantation sec-
On plantations in Malaysia, as elsewhere, tor alone 30,000 women work as pesticide
women's labour is still used for the most sprayers. Complaints of sore eyes, skin
back-breaking and tedious work, all for rashes, burnt fingernails, and disruption of
very little reward the average earnings menstrual periods are disturbingly com-
of the women who do these jobs are less mon.
than men's, and if the seeds are grown on a In 1988 the Malaysian Minister of Health
woman's own family land, the chances are attributed incidents of pesticide poisoning
that the woman will have to do all that to unsafe working practices, such as mix-
extra work without pay herself. In addi- ing pesticides with bare hands, blowing the
tion, women agricultural workers are now nozzle of the sprayer with the mouth to
The realities
We have been confronted with cases of women suffering from pesticide
poisoning including skin damage, nasal bleeding, cracking of fingernails,
and problems with the reproductive organs. Over 30,000 women
sprayers in Malaysia are daily exposed to pesticides and have very little
chance of treatment, cure or even basic first aid. Due to the absence of
medical monitoring and the sad state of the health-care system in the
plantations, the extent of the impact of pesticides on women, especially
on their reproductive health, and the effect on the foetus are unknown.
Being women and thus subordinate in the family and community, they
continue to suffer silently. Unfortunately, the trade union movement has
not effectively taken up their cause, and women workers continue to
work in harsh and hazardous conditions.
It is common for women sprayers to use pesticides without the neces-
sary precautions. Many do not use protective clothing when mixing and
applying pesticides. The high temperatures and humidity in Malaysia
make protective clothing inappropriate and very uncomfortable. The stor-
age and disposal of pesticides is also haphazard. Worse still, the pesticide
industry promotes pesticides giving very little information on their dan-
gers.
Similarly, in the farming sector, information on pesticides is merely
promotional and persuasive rather than for informed choice. And
women farmers share similar problems with their sisters in the planta-
tion sector. Their role as farmers is only recently being recognised and
they rarely make decisions on pesticide use on their farms.
At present, there is no comprehensive piece of legislation to protect
agricultural workers from unsafe and hazardous working conditions.
There are studies to show that the International Code of Conduct on the
Distribution and Use of Pesticides (FAO Code) regulations laid down in
the Pesticides Act (1974) of Malaysia have been violated.
Vital information
We also recognise that farmers, sprayers, consumers and citizens' groups
lack information on and awareness of the hazards of pesticides and their
impact on users, especially women, and the environment mainly
because:
The Serdang declaration 31
Alternatives do work
We are aware that there are viable alternatives to pesticides. There are
many successful case studies showing that pesticides are not necessary in
the amounts that are being used today. Our reliance on pesticides as the
sole method of pest control has led to problems of pest resistance to pesti-
cides and resurgence. These twin problems have caused untold economic
hardship to farmers. Farming methods dependent on high capital inputs
including pesticides and fertilisers can also accelerate soil erosion and fer-
tility loss, threatening the basis of all agricultural productivity and human
sustenance.
As the economic, environmental and social costs of pesticides mount,
we believe that we need to change the prevailing methods of food and
fibre production if we are adequately to address the problems posed by
pesticides. Successful large-scale application of an integrated pest man-
agement system has been implemented in Indonesia. Biological control,
including conservation of natural predators, has also been demonstrated
successfully. We are aware of the growing evidence that sustainable,
agro-ecological farming systems offer genuine solutions to the many
problems associated with chemical pesticide dependence without sacri-
ficing the yields and efficiencies the world requires.
32 Focus on gender
Action agenda
With this concern, vision and philosophy, we make the following recom-
mendations for action:-
1 Recognising that political will and effective control mechanisms are
needed, we recommend:
the immediate implementation of the Pesticides (Highly Toxic
Pesticides) Regulations, 1988;
the review of the Pesticides Act so that it is in line with the FAO Code;
that the Pesticide Board be moved to the Prime Minister's Department
for effective coordination and enforcement;
a ban on the use of all highly hazardous pesticides requiring heavy
protective clothing since the use of protective clothing is impractical
for the hot, humid climate of this country;
that paraquat be banned since this pesticide is implicated in a large
number of pesticide poisonings and most of the deaths due to pesti-
cides.
2 Recognising that workers in the plantations should be protected from
the hazards associated with pesticides andother health problems we
call for the enactment of an Occupational Health and Safety Act to
cover the plantation industry.
3 Aware that there is a lack of concerted monitoring of the health of
those who use and work with pesticides we call upon the Ministry of
Health and institutions of higher learning to:
conduct research and systematically monitor the short- and long-term
impact of pesticide use on the health of workers and citizens;
The Serdang declaration 33
to make public all research findings so that workers, farmers and con-
sumers will be able to understand the hazards of pesticides.
4 Knowing the sad state of the health services in the plantation sector we
urge the Ministry of Health to ensure that better health-care facilities
and basic amenities be provided to workers in the plantation sector.
5 Concerned that consumers are exposed to pesticides through residues
in the food, water, and the environment, we call on the Pesticides
Board to monitor pesticide residues regularly and to make that infor-
mation available to citizens.
6 Acknowledging the important role of trade unions in protecting the
health and safety of workers, we urge trade unions to:
make the pesticide issue into a major labour issue;
provide continuous monitoring and education programmes for all
sprayers on the dangers posed by pesticides.
7 Aware that women workers and women farmers are being daily poi-
soned we urge that:
all women's groups put the issue on their agenda for action;
all citizens' groups begin action and education on pesticide and their
impact on health and the environment.
8 Recognising that safer, viable alternatives to pesticides exist we recom-
mend that research into such alternatives be given priority and
resources to be made available for their implementation. We urge the
Minister of Agriculture to implement a serious Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) policy that would minimise the use of pesticides.
The challenge
Minimising and curbing pesticide use and creating the climate for the
implementation of agro-ecological systems of food and fibre production
on a wide scale will, no doubt, present a great challenge. It is a challenge
we, as individuals and groups, have accepted with our own agenda for
action. We are committed to realising the goals for a sustainable and peo-
ple-centred development through our action to curb pesticide misuse and
overuse. We commit ourselves to working closely with workers in the
plantations, farmers including those involved in the FELDA and FELCRA
schemes, and with consumers.
Our action for change will be developed through a comprehensive and
holistic strategy of research and information gathering, education and
consciousness raising, organising and mobilising, advocating legal
reforms and through legal action, and promoting the development of
alternatives including sustainable agriculture.
In order to realise our goals and vision at the national and global levels,
we hope to consolidate and strengthen our actions through a pesticide
action network in the country. We urge other groups and concerned indi-
viduals to join us.
Women in
environmental disasters:
the 1991 cyclone in
Bangladesh
Rasheda Begum
I
n the late evening of 29 April 1991, a take physical responsibility for the chil-
cyclone hit the eastern coast of the Bay dren. During the cyclone women died risk-
of Bengal. Winds of 225kph and tidal ing their lives to save their children. The
surges up to six metres swept across heavi- second main responsibility is to guard the
ly populated off-shore island and coastal family property, including house and live-
communities. The force of the storm was stock. When asked if she had heard the
concentrated between Chittagong to the cyclone warning in time to reach safety,
north and Cox's Bazar to the south. one survivor said yes, but that she did not
Casualty rates and destruction were cata- leave for fear of being blamed and pun-
strophic. The full extent of human fatality ished if anything should happen to the
and economic loss will never be known, property in her absence.
but over 100,000 lives were lost. Although disaster is a general concern
I finished my cyclone relief work at which affects both women and men, it is
Bashkali on 23 May. During the 23 days I particularly a women's concern when the
spent there I saw the death toll of women Social rules which govern their movements
become the commodity used to attract the limit their access to relief supplies and safe-
sympathy of the relief donors. The real ty; and when their gender is used to obtain
needs of the women in the wake of this dis- relief food and other assistance which
aster, however, were ignored by the is then not fairly distributed. In desperation
Government and by the relief agencies. people can become unruly and aggressive,
I found that women had died in greater and it is women who often lose in the battle.
numbers than men, not just because they As a woman relief worker, I learned spe-
were physically weaker, but because of cific lessons from these experiences. First of
Bangladesh's male-dominated social struc- all, the events surrounding this cyclone
ture, underpinned by religious traditions, have shown that in environmental disas-
which restricts the mobility of women. ters women are made more vulnerable by
Social norms and cultural restrictions con- their social status, both during and after
fine women to the protection of men. the full impact of the event; and secondly,
Women are not considered an equal part- while it is necessary to have more women
ner in marriage, yet they are expected to involved in relief work, discrimination can
fulfil certain essential roles, especially to seriously impede their work.
High tide at Shurjodia village, after the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh. SHAHIDUI ALAM/OXFAM
36 Focus on gender
Chonua. Along the cold, muddy, slippery which I had reserved for women. As they
road I came across thousands of bodies of ran away, others pushed them over,
women, men and children, as well as goats, grabbed the goods and fled. By this time I
cows and chickens. Houses were demol- was tired and felt I had lost the strength
ished and trees uprooted. People showed and mental courage to continue. I took the
us the bodies of women lying flat on their advice of local people, including the
back. They told us this was done by women who had helped in the distribution,
immoral people to get at the women's and left the supplies in the hands of a trust-
ornaments, explaining that women's dead ed person in the village, so that I could
bodies are normally placed face down. return to organise the rest of the distribu-
At Chonua we crossed a canal to reach tion programme. After walking the two
the embankment where people were wait- miles back I stayed the night with the fami-
ing for food. We saw people who, in their ly of an Upazilla judge, as the guest house
misery, could no longer even cry for the was full of higher government officials
loss of their near and dear ones. A few, who had come to monitor the relief work.
with outstretched hands, were crying from
hunger.
Distribution on subsequent
At this stage it seemed nearly impossible
to distribute things systematically. I days
formed a committee of students, local gov- The next day I received another truck load
ernment people and one government relief of pressed rice and molasses from Oxfam. I
worker. In the meantime the people had sought help from the local administration
become more distraught and impatient. I but they said they were too busy with the
guessed that some were planning to snatch government relief programme and with
the food from us. attending to the visiting government offi-
With the help of the military, I took half cials. They asked me to hand over our
the food off the boat. When distribution goods to them as they had a shortage, and
started the people could not be kept organ- as a woman alone I would be unable to
ised. They were all rushing to get food, handle it.
some hitting and biting the volunteers, oth- Instead I formed a team of volunteers
ers taking twice their share. All the distur- made up of students and teachers from an
bance was created by men; women were NGO called UTTARAN, and informed the
pushed down and left behind in the rush. I police and the UN of our decision to go to
ordered the distribution to stop and sought Khankhanabad, where relief had not yet
help from the women. One of the women reached, and said I would inform them if
stood up with a bamboo stick and told any problems arose. They tried to stop me
them not to be so undisciplined or the food leaving, on the grounds that it was not safe
might be taken away. The tactic worked: for women there despite the fact that I
two long lines were made for women, men was with a group of volunteers. The volun-
were not allowed to join them, and half the teers supported and encouraged me but
food was distributed quickly. the UN representative angrily said he
In the meantime, however, a local MP would not accept responsibility for the risk
had intervened and ordered government I was taking. I reminded him that he had
supplies of rice to be given to the women in no authority over me and that he could not
one of the lines. When this started the men insist that I do what he wished.
joined the line and chaos broke out again. Again, when I requested storage space
Taking the opportunity, some of the people for our relief goods he said I had to have
snatched packets of biscuits and molasses permission from the magistrate some-
Women in environmental disasters 37
thing I had not heard before. Eventually I From there we went by boat to East
got space for one night only. I realised that Dongra. Dead bodies were lying scattered
they were creating difficulties in order to and floating everywhere. On seeing me, a
make me hand over the supplies to them. number of women ran through the water
When we got to Mosherp Alis Bazar it to the distribution point to tell me of their
was hard to pass through without respond- experiences. Because I, a woman, was there
ing to the cries and pleas for food, so we others, too, dared to come out. Most had
decided to start our distribution from lost at least some of their children and their
there. I instructed the people to make two husband and many had serious injuries.
lines, one for women and one for men. We They asked for medicines, and clothes to
gave them enough food for one day and keep their children warm. Some were ask-
moved on, but not before being asked for ing for ORS as diarrhoea had started in the
other necessities. One old woman asked me area. I saw one woman who had been hit in
whether we had any cloth to give some the pelvic area and could not sit down. The
young girls who were not in a position to men organising the relief line were telling
come out to take the relief food. Another everyone to sit down and she did not want
wanted to know if a woman doctor was to tell them why she could not.
available. She had had a miscarriage and Everyone was very distressed. I asked
was suffering pain. Another woman told them if they had heard the warning of the
how she had lost her infant and her breast cyclone. Some had, but as they had heard it
had become puffy and she felt feverish. I so many times before, with no cyclone
could do nothing for them. occurring, they did not believe it. One
Women's responsibility for home and children makes them particularly vulnerable at times of environ-
mental disaster. Post-cyclone, Bangladesh, 1991. SHAMDUL ALAM/O.\FAM
38 Focus on gender
woman said she heard it but was afraid asked for the special health issues of
that she would be blamed and punished if women and the needs of women with chil-
anything happened to the family property dren to be fully considered in the relief and
in her absence. Others told of similar fears, rehabilitation programme. The UN officer
of not daring to leave the house without thanked me and said that he had not
their husband's permission. believed that a woman could do so much.
The team returned to Upazilla and dis-
cussed the problem of how to cover a
Lessons learned as a
greater area and how to distribute supplies
separately for women. We met the medical woman relief worker
team, which included two women doctors, In an environmental disaster where people
described the injuries and illnesses we had as a whole are vulnerable, poor people are
seen and explained how women would not more vulnerable; and it is women who bear
show their injuries to a man. They could the burden of managing the survival of the
not leave their post so they asked us to tell household under crisis. If more women
people to come to them, although many of than men died as a result of the cyclone it
the people we had seen were incapable of is not only because of their physical weak-
walking that far. ness, but also because they were unable to
On 6 May, in a conservative area in use their decision-making powers and their
Pakuria Union, we again distributed the physical strength; and they were more
food in two separate lines as women were involved in saving their children's lives.
not coming to the distribution line because Development work should be started
they did not think they could stand side by straight after the relief and rehabilitation
side with men. Although shelters with programme. In the case of Bangladesh,
kitchens had been set up in schools and research has shown that children in this
temples, many people were leaving them coastal belt are now dangerously malnour-
because they feared for the safety of their ished. If this is so, their mothers must also
daughters. be malnourished.
Experience of an earlier cyclone saved In addition to the problems I have men-
many lives. When this cyclone started tioned above, there are others I faced and
many people climbed coconut trees which from which I can draw recommendations
had been planted on an embankment fol- for future relief work.
lowing a previous cyclone. After the
cyclone, when all the water was polluted, Volunteers
people survived for three days on the juice
and flesh of the coconuts. There should be more female volunteers. In
Working with other agencies we contin- the case of a major disaster, male volun-
ued to distribute food in the area using a teers can not adequately meet women's
card system. Although I had distributed needs. In a disaster people generally find
the cards in women's names, many were women more approachable than men, yet
brought by men. I can only assume that most relief workers are men.
child care, illness, or conservativism kept Women relief workers face higher securi-
women away from the relief posts. ty risks and obstructiveness from local
Finally on 23 May UTTARAN arranged a male leaders and government officials
concluding meeting. I thanked all who had when trying to carry out their work. More
assisted and gave a report of our work over women volunteers should be available to
the past 20 days and my assessment of the form a strong group, able to overcome
current situation facing the survivors. I these problems collectively.
Women in environmental disasters 39
S
OUTHERN AFRICA ENJOYS only one rainy tomed to droughts. Others, such as the
season, from October or November to Eastern Province of Zambia, are not. Here,
March or April. Almost no rain falls people with limited or no drought experi-
outside that period. Consequently if the ence will find it difficult to cope.
rains are bad and they are notoriously The effects of the drought are compound-
fickle and unreliable consequences can be ed by the fact that the countries which nor-
very serious. Hence agriculture, both 'mod- mally produce a surplus for export to the
ern' and 'traditional', is and always has been rest of the region in years of shortage,
an extremely hazardous occupation in notably Zimbabwe and South Africa, will
Southern Africa. Droughts are regular phe- this year have no surplus and will them-
nomena, but they tend to be localised and selves be importing. Conse-quently, yellow
limited in scope. This year is different. maize and other cereals will have to be
The current drought in the Southern imported on a huge scale (approximately 11
African region as a whole is the worst for 50 million tons), principally from the USA and
years in terms of its extent and scale. After a South America. This will inevitably place
promising start at the beginning of the rainy huge strains on the ports, railways and main
season, which saw many crops growing road routes in the region. There are also like-
well, in January and February (when it ly to be major problems of distribution at the
should rain almost every day) virtually no district level, especially in countries like
rain fell in many parts of the region. This Zambia, where the infrastructure has crum-
was coupled with extremely high tempera- bled in recent years.
tures, so that growing crops simply with- It is important to stress that Southern
ered. (In some parts, however, there had Africa is not like the Horn of Africa. Though
been no rain at all earlier in the season, so drought has always posed a threat to its
people were unable to plant anything.) people, it is not a region characterised by a
Many Southern Africans live in urban dependency syndrome, nor is it one where
areas but the bulk of the population still people have left the land in vast numbers
remains dependent on rainfed agriculture. and flocked into urban areas or feeding cen-
Because of a long history of labour migra- tres, as has happened in recent years in the
tion, in some countries most rural people are Horn. (The partial exceptions are Angola
women and children. Some areas are accus- and Mozambique, but movements there
have been caused by war rather than by sexual division of labour also changed. For
drought.) the first time crops became a source of indi-
The reason for this is because Southern vidual gain, rather than nourishment for
Africans have developed all kinds of 'cop- the whole family. Women's productivity
ing strategies'. In precolonial times these decreased, but their workloads increased.
included complex grain-storage systems, In recent years, as opportunities for wage
hunting, trading, mining, livestock use, for- labour have diminished, this escape route
aging and barter. A wide variety of crops in times of drought has narrowed.
were grown to spread risks and as insur- From 20 April to 20 May 1992, Oxfam
ance against drought. Under colonial rule, staff made an intensive tour of the drought-
these were supplemented but sometimes stricken areas of the Eastern Province, hold-
replaced or undermined by alternatives ing community-based workshops. The
linked to the cash economy by wage Province is one of Zambia's traditional
labour, piece work, or relying on help from bread baskets, normally exporting maize
employed urban relatives. Traditional stor- and other crops.
age systems fell into decay as people grew These workshops were intended to assess
accustomed to trading surpluses for cash. A the situation; to identify the most pressing
narrower range of crops was grown, with problems and activities communities could
an overwhelming tendency to concentrate undertake to help themselves; to work out
on maize, for both consumption and sale, operational strategies and community work
because maize was the staple food of programmes; and to support local sustain-
migrant workers. Land alienation and pop- ing capacities. Multi-sectoral meetings were
ulation growth reduced per capita grain held with top district officials to pass on
production. Food distribution became less knowledge from the workshops. The fol-
egalitarian, and rich and poor no longer lowing accounts of women's responses to
fasted or feasted together. Food was regu- the drought are based on Nawina
larly available to those who could afford it, Hamaundu's detailed reports on the
and scarce for those who could not. The drought in the Eastern Province.
H
UNDREDS OF WOMEN attended our almost all family needs. They walk for two
four workshops in the worst hit to three hours in search of water. In villages
areas of Petauke and Nyimba: with open wells, they sometimes do not
Luembe, Nyalugwe, Kalindawalo and have the tins and ropes to get the water out
Mwape. The women who came were able of the wells, which means a further walk of
to participate fully in all discussions and about an hour to borrow a rope and tin,
finally got a place in their village leader- draw water then return the rope.
ship, thanks to their great determination. In the worst-hit drought areas of Petauke
Women in all the areas we visited hold and Nyimba, women give up their share of
their families together by providing for food to members of their families. In one
42 Focus on gender
village 87 women have lost their husbands Although village women have been
because of the drought. These men have widely neglected it is amazing how, with a
not died, they have gone off to marry in little encouragement, they were able to
stand up and be fully involved in all deci-
other villages where food is available. Some
have left behind several children. sions in their communities. Our stay and
our workshops in Petauke and Nyimba
Women have, in reality and without an were of immense learning and sharing
experience which we found highly stim-
recognition, been the main providers ulating and gratifying, especially so
because by the end of all our workshops we
for their households got the commitment of the men, notably
the Chiefs, fully to support the women.
Women are overworked and their prob- We were given some fascinating
lems have been increased by the drought. glimpses into the lives of really strong
Women have to walk very long distances in women. Women like Tendani Bandawa
search of water on average 3-4 hours a who, with six children and a husband who
day. In addition, women fetch firewood. had just run away, could stand up in a
But they need less wood, as they have crowd of over one thousand people and
almost nothing to cook, except wild roots, announce that she would like to be fully
depending largely on wild fruits eaten involved in her village's development.
raw. Food is scarce and people, especially Tandani stood up, her head held up with
old women, are starving. They are very pride and no self-pity. Our rural sisters are
thin and suffer badly from diseases such as amazing; I wonder how we, their town sis-
dysentery, diarrhoea and scabies, skipping ters, would have reacted under such cir-
meals in order to feed their children. cumstances. Somehow, I think we would
Women identified pregnant and lactating have been heart-broken and depressed.
mothers as the most vulnerable. Nutrition Both at village and district level, I am
status is poor especially in young children confident that women will help everyone
and old women, who are very thin, very break through the drought tragedies. The
fragile. Of the 32 reported dead 18 were drought will give women the chance to
women. improve themselves and their communi-
Women have no high-value assets, such ties. It is so severe that there has been a
as cows and land; but some have chickens breakdown in the traditional male-domi-
and goats, although there are few of these nated social structures and now women
left. Their cash income, mainly from subsis- have to take over. Women have, in reality
tence farming and beer brewing, has come and without recognition, been the main
to an end with the almost nil harvest. providers for their households and commu-
Except for the very few who belong to a nities. Our workshops have succeeded in
women's club, women had no access to affirming women's vital roles and helping
credit facilities last season. Women sing a society recognise their immeasurable
lot of love and sex-related songs, maybe inputs.
because there are so few men. The source of In spite of hunger and psychological
income is mainly subsistence farming. pressure, women continue to be loving and
Land is owned by their husbands or broth- cheerful. They were able to sing and dance
ers and uncles. One out of a hundred in appreciation of our visits. We were very
women owned their own lima (1 acre plot). touched and we will endeavour to give
Decisions are generally made by men, these new leaders our full support.
although women are consulted.
Enduring the drought 43
The quiet death of Laguna tended by women also looking after small
Lake children. The dwelling units are separated
from each other in an orderly geometric
The Laguna de Bay area covers 90,000 pattern by narrow paths. Flowers and
hectares around Laguna Lake in Southern plants brighten up what would otherwise
Tagalog, south-east of Manila in the be a drab arrangement of small and medi-
Philippines. The decline of fish production um-sized unpainted buildings made of
began in the mid-1960s, first as a result of bamboo and cement. At the back of some
industrial pollution, and then from the houses are patches of vegetable gardens,
commercial practice of mechanical snail also tended by women. A few metres
gathering. Mechanically scraping snails beyond the gardens, is a large, quiet, almost
from the lake bottom has two damaging dead, lake. No boats or fisherfolk can be
effects on the adult fish population: 'fin- seen on or off the shore. Compared to the
gerlings' (young fish) are taken as an unin- hustle and bustle of the roadside, the lake-
tentional by-catch of the snail gathering, side is a picture of barrenness and decay.
and fish breeding grounds are destroyed. It is generally assumed that fishermen
In the late 1970s the situation deteriorat- are the first, or the only, ones to suffer
ed further following the construction of the when they have to stop fishing. This is
first commercial fishpens. The high finan- rarely the case; women in fishing commu-
cial returns generated by this form of aqua- nities are as economically tied to the
culture led to uncontrolled expansion of resource as are their men. They are also
fishpens along the shallow coastline of the vulnerable to the psychological effects of
lake, destroying completely the traditional loss of income and social status, having
small-scale fisheries. Now the area is part once been independent business women
of a massive government- and foreign- selling and processing fish, and providing
financed regional development plan. investment finance for fishing gear.
Sinalhan is a community a long nar- I visited Sinalhan in 1990 with represen-
row strip, part urban, part rural, along the ratives of the NGO task force and learned
lake in the Laguna de Bay area. Along of the slow but steady death of Laguna
the road running through Sinalhan are Lake and the drastic changes this has
shops, and small stalls selling cooked food, brought to the lives of the villagers
deprived of their traditional livelihoods. What caused the lake to die and why was
The following account of this visit shows nothing done about it? The fisherwomen
how environmental degradation, caused by and their husbands identify two major fac-
outside intervention, affects the whole com- tors: firstly, the pollution caused by waste
munity and how women find ways to cope emptied into the lake from the factories that
with reduced status and income. have mushroomed in the last two decades
as the government launched its ill-con-
ceived and unregulated industrialisation
From prosperity to poverty programme for Southern Tagalog; and sec-
Women look back to the 1970s as a prosper- ondly, the unscrupulous construction and
ous period for their village. Then the lake expansion of private fishpens, most of
yielded an abundant supply of good-quali- which are owned by military men and
ty fish, enabling many to have a relatively politicians close to the centres of power.
comfortable life in which needs were ade- Large areas of the shoreline, now covered
quately met and part of the family income with commercially valuable fishpens, came
was saved. Many also remember their full- under armed guard. In effect, these aqua-
time work in fish marketing and processing culture developments 'privatised' access to
and compare it with the harder and less inshore waters the traditional fishing
rewarding work they do now. grounds of the fishing communities. The
Between the late 1970s and the early fishermen were pushed farther and farther
1980s, the deterioration of the lake occurred into the lake until their non-motorised ban-
steadily and rapidly. The amount and qual- cas (small boats/rafts) could go no further.
ity of fish steadily dwindled and within ten By the time the Government began to
years the lake has reached a stage of decay look at the problems of Laguna Lake, it was
and death. The incomes of the small fisher- already preoccupied with its plan to tap
folk have been diminished and new sources and develop cheap water sources for Metro
of income had to be found. Manila; and to speed up implementation of
Laguna Lake, which used to provide fishing communities with a good living, is almost dead. Raising
ducks can provide an alternative source of income. NANCY DURRELL MCKENNA/OXFAM
After the fisheries 47
fishing activities, high in the women's con- The twin factors of insufficient income
sciousness is their continued identification and inadequate health services are forcing
as fisherfolk. There remains much hope that women to disregard their own reproduc-
their households will someday return to tive health care. One woman, already seven
fish catching and marketing. They regard months into her fifth pregnancy, has never
laundering as a necessary yet temporary had any prenatal examination, except once
measure. Everyone spoke of how back- during her first pregnancy. She says that
breaking the work is, particularly when lack of money prevents her from consult-
compared to fish-vending work. It appears, ing a doctor. She is hoping that the mid-
too, that laundering has a negative impact wife will visit the community health centre
on their self-esteem. The team sensed a feel- soon, so that she can have a free check-up.
ing of sadness, embarrassment and also Another woman complained of a long-
resentment in many of those who admitted standing skin allergy and suspects that she
that they are now laundry women. is anaemic but is helpless to do anything
The rural community in Sinalhan has about these problems, again because of
been able to maintain clean and well-kept lack of money.
surroundings, in spite of the absence of According to the women met by the
adequate public facilities and social ser- team, their life would have been more diffi-
vices. However, water is a community- cult without the help of relatives.
wide problem. Women need to fetch water Assistance through this extended family
from several pumps, a task that is both network ranges across material, social and
labour-intensive and time-consuming. In moral dimensions. Women who do laun-
order to optimise their efforts they have dry rely on women relatives to look after
resorted to bathing their small children and their small children, and better-off relatives
washing clothes near the pump. This group provide them with regular, laundry work.
activity gives the women an opportunity to A kinship system linking families with one
chat with one another, thereby turning an another may be a critical factor in cushion-
ordinary task into a more enjoyable event. ing the impact of the people's current dislo-
They also discuss more worrying matters, cation, and women play a dynamic role in
one of which is the serious threat of conta- activating and sustaining such exchanges
mination from the water. The pumps draw of support.
ground water polluted by a mixture of
dumped waste material, one of the causes
Organising for the future
of the decline in the fishery.
Public-sector health services are inade- SHIELD is an NGO formed in 1989 to assist
quate throughout the Philippines. dislocated fisherfolk families in the
Although there is a community health cen- Southern Tagalog region. One of its first
tre in Sinalhan, there are rarely qualified projects was to set up an all-male organisa-
staff in attendance. Women tend to deal tion to deal with the concerns of fishermen.
with family illnesses by self-medication, In early 1990, in response to the rising con-
often with herbal medicine. This, however, sciousness of SHIELD women staff of the
applies only to simple ailments, such as need to promote the rights and welfare of
coughs, cold or fever. In interviews women women in development work, SHIELD set
expressed their preference for their chil- up a separate organisation, NKLS,
dren to be taken care of by a private doctor Naglalaisang Lakas ng Kababaihan (United
which, most often, they are unable to Women Power).
afford. Private health care is resorted to By then several women in the communi-
only in cases of very serious illnesses. ty were already aware of the potency of
After the fisheries 49
unified community action and were active- their family gains out of the work of the
ly supporting their husband's organising organisation is their personal gain as well.
work. The women tell how they would In this area, rural women's identification of
prepare food for the meetings and listen to 'self is as part of the social unit, the family,
the discussions, without being able to par- rather than as a personal entity.
ticipate. Not all women are able to participate in
SHIELD'S organising activities are cur- NKLS. They cite their traditional house-
rently focused on addressing the communi- hold functions and their recently intensi-
ty's immediate survival needs, combined fied economic activities as the main barri-
with an education programme to explain ers. One woman spoke of how her husband
the structural roots of the community's refused to let go to the meetings because
problems. Throughout, it promotes the 'no one would be left to take care of the
ideals of gender equality and people-pow- small children'. Another says that there is
ered progress. simply not enough time or energy left after
In explaining why they joined, the mem- washing clothes all day.
bers of NKLS say it is a way of responding Women speak of the physical strain and
to their family's poverty. In particular, they mental stress they have experienced since
express much enthusiasm for the prospect the closure of the fishery. For some, com-
of forming a women's credit co-operative munity activism is just one more job that
that would provide members with soft needs doing. It remains with those women
loans for economic livelihood projects, who do have enough time and energy to be
such as livestock raising, sari-sari stores, or active, to build up the organisation for the
home-based sewing. For them, whatever future benefit of their sisters.
Determined to enable their families to survive, women in Sinalhan have taken up laundry-work to earn a
little money. NANCY DURRELL MCKENNA/OXFAM
Looking for a
regenerative approach
to sustainability
Nanneke Redclift
This is an edited version of a paper written following a seminar in November 1991, held as part of
the ODA/NAWO Review.
D
ESPITE ITS CURRENCY and usefulness, the mutual interaction of gender ideologies
the concept of 'sustainable devel- and ecological processes if it is to be of any
opment' lacks precision, is defined value in enhancing human survival and
in a variety of ways, and is founded on a livelihood.
paradox. Looked at from the standpoint of A perspective on sustainable develop-
women's subsistence needs, it seems to suf- ment that could include this would there-
fer from the familiar problem of misplaced fore involve an examination of gender sim-
universalism; in other words, the assump- ilarities and differences in relation to four
tion of speaking on behalf of 'human fea- key areas:
tures', and global needs as if these were
unitary and self-evident. As with the rights over the environment;
generic use of the term 'mankind', which energy systems;
generalises a dominant position, the idea of reproductive control;
sustainability runs the risk of subsuming epistemologies.
contradictory interests, based on unequal
power, within a value-free and scientifical-
ly neutral notion of environmental care. Women's need for access to and rights to
The conflicting perspectives of North use of environmental resources
and South in relation to environmental In different cultural contexts women and
action are already clear, and can be men have different relationships to forest,
expressed within the terms given by inter- bush, and water resources and different
national political discourse. However, the rights over their use. Thus, along with con-
sometimes divergent priorities of men and tinued attention to the issue of women's
women with respect to the environment, land rights must be added a much greater
arising from their different position in the concern with women's declining access to
social relations of production, although common property resources for food, fuel
increasingly the subject of research, are still and fodder, which in some areas account for
given insufficient attention within the up to 20 per cent of income, and their use of
political and policy domain. The concept of minor forest products, both domestically
sustainable development must include an and in handicraft production, as an impor-
understanding of social reproduction as tant component of household survival.
Powerful
connections:
South-South linking
For the past year and a half Oxfam has funded a South-South linking project for environment and
development NGOs. Josefina Stubbs, the project leader based in Oxford, sees a special and integral
role for gender in discussion of environment and development. She spoke to GADU about the
potential for networks to give women a platform to speak from and to exert influence on decision-
making bodies.
We need development which does not bered that in rural communities women
look just at women but at everyone, with and children are usually left behind when
a gender perspective. Why should men migrate to urban centres. This gives
women clean up the mess? them a greater potential for local leader-
Josefina Stubbs ship. In urban areas women are the majori-
ty within popular movements among
Why should gender, environment and the urban poor in Manila and Mexico City,
development be considered together? for example yet in most cases they are
Gender is an important dimension in envi- not involved in decision making at a level
ronment and development and this must be at which conditions are changed. It is now
reflected at various levels of South-South time to recognise this and to take their
exchanges. It is important to ensure partici- views into account.
pation by women's organisations because of Women of the South generally have a dif-
the work women do. Rural women in the ferent perspective on the environment than
South often have closer contact with the that of local men, or of development
natural environment than do men, and are experts and visiting environmentalists. Due
affected more by the often linked problems to the responsibility of defining survival
of poverty and environmental degradation. strategies for the household assigned to
Urban women deal directly with the effects women as a consequence of the social divi-
of poor sanitation, inadequate housing, and sion of labour their daily activities relate
bad transport systems. to meeting the daily needs of the house-
An environmental focus for South-South hold: foraging for firewood, fetching
links challenges development models and water, tilling the land, growing and gather-
addresses North-South conflicts. It also ing food. A consideration of women's per-
makes way for those who want to propose spectives, and their objective socio-econom-
alternative views of 'environment'. ic position, will change the focus of the
In terms of looking for development environment-and-development discussion
solutions to poverty, it must be remem- so that it becomes centred on the immedi-
ate survival needs, as well as the potential,tives of organisations which have a com-
of the South. mon interest or perspective but which are
broad enough to ensure that all legitimate
Is there anything special about women and voices are heard. For example the South-
linking? South Linking Project will include:
Linking is an inheritance from women's
grassroots communities that are in
movements which have centred on net-
direct contact with and are directly
works. But networking does not give the
answer on how to integrate gender with affected by environmental problems;
more generalised discussions on develop- women's organisations that deal with
ment and environment. It all depends on issues related to women and the envi-
how women articulate their needs and pri- ronment;
orities within the discussionsto write a new
agenda for environment and development. NGOs whose work is centred on local
If we do not use networking well we will communities and women's groups; and
be ghettoised. NGO networking does not government agencies that interact
address empowerment or power specifical- directly with local communities and
ly, although by what it is doing it is chal- whose activities are centred on the envi-
lenging the authority of the dominant net- ronment.
works' agenda for environment and devel-
opment. Through their participation in these net-
works women can meet to define the terms
How can linking networks help NGOs' of development so that it benefits the envi-
work with environment? ronment, as they see it. Within the linking
Linking is only an appropriate device if it project, regional meetings have been iden-
provides access, insights and empower- tified as a space where the discussions and
ment. A network, in itself, does not conclusions drawn at the country level are
strengthen anything, except perhaps the to be re-approached from a regional per-
power of the people who run it. It needs to spective. We expect the regional exchanges
be used by the participants who have iden- to offer the opportunity for women as well
tified the platforms they want access to and as men to decide the actions to be taken.
the organisations they want to link with. These actions might involve organisations
South-South linking can create new from outside the network.
opportunities by giving access to informa- The presumption has been that organisa-
tion, ideas and examples to people and tions in the South are not linked. But they
organisations. This does not mean that already know each other a database of
there is a formula. There must be respect 250 NGOs was built up very quickly. The
for regional and other differences. We can- problem with some NGO networks is that
not use the same strategies everywhere: they often assume that this relationship is
contrary to the dominant development the only one their member organisations
model of the past, replication does not have. Networks are much wider and more
always work. complex than that, so we need to see link-
The term 'environment', as it is used in ing as a process, not a discrete project.
the North, has no meaning for most people
in the South. Women in particular need to Should linking be confined to the South?
make their own definition. The implicit North-South links are also of value.
function of South-South networks is to Environmental degradation is the expres-
encourage meetings between representa- sion of the wronged relationship between
54
North and South, and East and West. Much ed from Northern women to denounce
of the decision making is in the North and repression and to show how the real prob-
the South needs access and solidarity to lems are with the North, and that develop-
influence these distant decision makers. ment is not only a Southern problem.
The environment concerns everyone, so
alliances and frank exchanges of informa- What is being learned front the project?
tion and ideas can not only improve the In the first year of the project questions
environmental situation but can contribute have arisen about the nature and focus of
to changes in political relationships. This is the linking project itself: Which South are
especially the case for women who have we referring to? What are the levels and
had to suffer the effects of male-dominated entities represented by this project? Who is
development models. As women we are speaking on behalf of whom? Who is will-
not equal, and we have strong differences; ing to engage in discussions to seek alter-
but with a relationship based on recogni- native views on environment? All of these
tion of these differences, we can work questions relate back to basic questions
within our similarities to find a genuine about representation, decision-making and
common ground. accountability. The main thing that has
Northern women can give support in been learned is that questions still need to
getting access to the decision makers. For be raised, and that more people need to be
example, Southern organisations need to drawn into the discussion so that their
know how to use the Northern press effec- views can be heard.
tively for their campaigns. Support is need-
Josephina Stubbs (standing) in discussion with some of the facilitators of the Environment Linking project
JAMES HAWKINS/OXFAM
jects is widespread, until recently these
TRAINING PACK
methods had been little used to provide a
gender perspective. Now there is growing
Women on earth: appreciation for the way in which they can
help in understanding the links between
gender issues in natural gender issues and natural resource man-
resource management agement, but there is very little training
Irene Guijt material, and most of it is only available in
English.
Women, environment, and development Women on Earth will help fill the existing
links have been the subject of much discus- gap in appropriate training materials by
sion, and many environmental activities- providing a multilingual, audiovisual
are being undertaken by women, with and training package which will merge recent
without outside support. Much work has developments in PRA with existing con-
also been done in developing clear frame- ceptual frameworks to provide a practical
works for understanding gender dimen- and thorough approach to gender analysis
sions of agriculture and forestry in particu- in natural resource management. The focus
lar. But these are generally academic of the material will be to present practical
approaches and based on formal survey tools, based on PRA principles, that enable
methods, remaining the speciality of acade- fieldworkers to understand gender issues
mics and policy makers. in their work.
Alongside these developments, however, The package will comprise a four-part
1
participatory rural appraisal (PRA) meth- educational video, an optional slide set,
ods have seen a dramatic spread and con- and a trainer's guide. The trainer's guide
tinuous innovation. PRA is an intensive will include a range of training strategies
and iterative field-based learning process and modules, making it easily adaptable to
that uses diagramming by local people as many training situations at both field and
the basis for a semi-structured interview- policy levels. The materials will be pro-
ing approach. The analysis that takes place duced in English, French, and Spanish, and
around these diagrams leads to new other language versions are being dis-
insights, by local people and outsiders, cussed.
about the range of local constraints, poten- The first part of the video will look at
tials and priorities for action. how women, environment, and develop-
Although the use of PRA in natural ment (WED) issues have been addressed to
resource management research and pro- date, including common misconceptions.
female researchers. It gives in-depth infor- How long will the sanctions continue? We
mation and data on the economic, social, are tired. We are innocent.' This report is
and psychological impact of the war and unique and important; it contributes to the
sanctions on the lives of these women. limited supply of information on the expe-
According to the report 80 per cent of rience of women in situations of war and
women feel that their responsibilities have conflict. Highly recommended reading.
increased drastically, and 58 per cent claim
Selma Chalabi
that their health has deteriorated. These
figures are not surprising considering
women are facing such adversities as a The emancipation of
severe lack of food, fuel and medical sup- women: An African
plies due to the sanctions, contaminated
water supplies, and damaged sewage sys-
perspective
tems. It is women who have to search for Florence Abena Dolphyne
food and fuel, who have to watch their Ghana Universities Press, Accra, 1991
children die from water-borne diseaes such 1975 ushered in the UN Decade for
as typhoid, and who have to take on the Women, which aimed at bringing peace
added responsibilities of the men they have and equality to women the world over.
lost. The report also provides statistics on Women from both industrialised and
the income of the families at the time of developing nations came together in an
interview, but oddly enough does not com- effort to articulate their problems and work
pare these to pre-war incomes. together in finding solutions. It was during
The scientific material is presented along- these discussions that Florence Dolphyne
side six selected case studies which give became aware that, although women from
personal and touching testimonies of the all societies had a common goal, namely
struggles these women have faced in the freedom from discrimination within the
post-war period. They talk of how they family structure, employment, and educa-
themselves have had to go hungry in order tion, there was a clear polarisation of posi-
to feed their families, of stress-induced mis- tions held by women from the Western
carriages and illnesses, of sewage flooding world and women from Africa on how to
into their homes; and of lost sons and hus- go about achieving these objectives.
bands. One of the women relates her story In this slim and readable volume the
whilst a baby sits in her lap waiting to be author clearly lays out an African perspec-
suckled. She is so malnourished herself that tive on the complexities surrounding the
her breasts no longer have any milk. emancipation of African women. She out-
Another talks of how most of her family lines various deep-rooted traditional cus-
were lost during the war leaving only her- toms, such as polygamy and female cir-
self and her daughter. All the women reiter- cumcision, that stand in the way of emanci-
ate the point that they felt nothing during pation. Whereas many women from the
the ten-year war with Iran, but that after Western world believe that such practices
two months of fighting against the Allies can and should be eradicated by law, the
they are 'suffering like never before'. author explains that legislation alone will
The words of these women combine simply push these practices underground.
with the statistical data to give a shocking What is needed is a deeper understanding
account of the experiences of many poor of why such traditions are maintained and
Iraqi women during and after the Gulf why they have such a strong hold. In the
War. In the words of one of them: 'All our case of female circumcision, for instance,
sufferings are due to the sanctions, sister. the tradition is so deep-rooted that many
58 Focus on gender
experience in their region with a wider tion of refugees. It is a human rights issue,
group, and to develop methodologies for and a development issue. It impedes per-
integrating gender into development and sonal development and severely limits the
emergency work. Above all, it provides a contribution women can make to the lives
focus for the cross-regional experience of of those around them. The meeting dis-
gender issues. Conflict, gender and devel- cussed the definitions of violence in the
opment is the subject of this February's paper. Getting gender-related violence, so
workshop in Thailand for the South-East often dismissed as a purely domestic mat-
Asian offices, and offices from South Asia ter, accepted as an issue in public fora is a
will be discussing gender issues and challenge taken up in the paper's recom-
women's employment at their meeting in mendations: action on international legal
Nepal in May. instruments; bilateral agreements; inclu-
sion of gender-related violence as a criteri-
3 Eurostep meeting on gender-planning on in project monitoring and evaluation;
methodologies and support to women's groups and
GADU will be hosting this meeting, to be research centres working on the issue.
held in Oxford from 26 to 28 May 1993. The
objective will be to exchange experiences 5 Linking projects
amongst several international NGOs in As part of Oxfam's fiftieth anniversary,
research, evaluation, tools, and strategies; GADU is sponsoring a three-year project
to develop new methodologies emerging for women in development to exchange
from their practice; and document their ideas on development practice, to network
experience. In the longer term, work is con- in the UK and Ireland, to communicate
tinuing towards ensuring that policy Oxfam's work on gender, and to strategise
papers issued by the Eurostep network on gender issues. Several themes have been
have a gender perspective, and enabling identified as being of primary concern to
Eurostep to lobby the Development women: violence, health and reproductive
Commission of the European Parliament rights, poverty and sustainable develop-
on gender issues. ment, and culture.
The project began with a visit to the UK
4 Tackling violence against women and Ireland of women development work-
The National Alliance of Women's ers from the South. The women, hosted in
Organisations is an umbrella group of UK different areas of the UK and Ireland, met
women's organisations. Its WID (Women with local leaders, trade unionists, and
in Development) working group, com- women's groups. They exchanged ideas,
posed mainly of development experts and shared experiences, and began to develop a
development-oriented NGOs, meets three methodology for achieving the project's
times a year to lobby the ODA (UK overall objectives.
Overseas Development Administration) on Preparations are now under way for an
gender. international conference on gender and
'Gender-related violence: its scope and development, and for the South-South
relevance' is the title of a paper by Eugenia exchanges. The aim is to provide fora for
Piza-Lopez (GADU) and Judy el Bushra Oxfam field staff and Southern women to
(ACORD) recently presented to the ODA. share practical experiences of working with
Women experience violence at three levels gender and to develop recommendations,
the personal, the household, and the based on the experience of women in the
public. Gender violence takes many forms South, for revising and strengthening the
rape and sexual harassment, domestic policy and practice of development NGOs.
violence and child abuse, war and exploita-
Notes on contributors Visanthi Arumagam is a lawyer who has
worked for the International Organisation
of Consumers' Unions as well as for PAN
This first issue of Focus on Gender has been Asia and Pacific where she analysed
edited by Geraldine Reardon. She is a interviews with pesticide workers and
researcher, writer, and editor with a wrote Victims without a Voice.
specific interest in the links between
gender, work, and the environment. She is Rasheda Begum has worked for Oxfam as
a member of Women Working Worldwide Programme Officer in Bangladesh for the
and a contributor to their publications. At past three years. Her special interest is in
present she is researching European promoting the expansion of women's work
industrial relations in multinational beyond their purely domestic role.
companies.
Robin Palmer works for Oxfam as the
Joan Davidson, whose obituary appears Regional Manager for Southern Africa. He
on p.10, was Oxfam's advisor on is the co-author of Zimbabwe: A Land
environment and development at the time Divided, recently published by Oxfam in its
of her death. Country Profile series.