CHAPTER THREE: LITERATURE REVIEWffHEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter reviews the change in development literature's views of women over the past four decades from passive, unproductive and vulnerable housekeepers~_.
to active participants in decision-making, planning and implementation of development programmes.
1995; Parpart, 1995: 257). Furthermore, they are portrayed as victims of modernization, of an undifferentiated patriarchy and of male domination.
In the 1950s and 1960s, women were seen as passive beneficiaries_DfsQc@l~n~
health services as their tasks were neither seen as contributing to the welfare of the community nor the economic development of the society. Development plans were therefore designed on the assumption that men were entirely responsible for productive work, and women were only involved in domestic activities and production of future labourers. It was also envisaged that women would adapt to modernization process once the third world men were taught to organize their
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societies along modern lines (Afshar, 1991 cited in Parpart, 1995). Women were therefore included in programmes for the vulnerable groups and were made part of relief aid. The donor agencies directed their funds towards maternal and child healthcare, family planning programmes and home economics projects (Townsend, 1993). In addition, most international and national development projects in agricultural productivity were targeted at men and the benefits of the development went to them (Charles, 1993). Even where women were engaged in development projects, men designed such projects and women did not necessarily enjoy the benefits. Although for a long time it was assumed that any benefit to a society would automaticaUy trickle down to all members of the society, development planning was male biased and reference was made to 'he' or 'they' (Charles, 1993). Little attention was paid to the sexual division of labour and distribution of income in the society.
However, in the late 1960s, it became obvious that the envisaged development by the planners was not achieved and this raised concerns about the continuing underdevelopment of third world women. The early 19705 witnessed a new era in development studies as women and gender increasingly became a topical issue (Small and Kompe, 1992; Charles, 1993). Much of the studies on women and gender were stimulated by the publication of Ester Boserup's work on "Women's role in economic development" in 1970. The work directed attention to different
aspects of women in the third world and their economic contributions. It further revealed that development schemes often deprived third world women of economic opportunities and status, and that women's work is confined to undervalued and grossly underpaid sectors of production. Boserup laments that modernization has displaced women from their traditional productive functions, especially in agriculture and appeals to development planners and policy makers to take cognizance of women's roles in development. Many studies of women in scientific papers, research, fieldwork and conference reports of the 1970s, attempt to expose the reality of women's contribution to regional and national development and the effects of development projects on women (Charlton, 1984;
Kandiyoti, 1990; Tshatsinde, 1993). This idea of women's input dominated debates in academic forum and in consequence of this, 1975 Y."as declared the International Women's Year (IWY). The United Nations followed this up in Mexico where the United Nations Decade for the Advancement of Women (1976-1985) was inaugurated with the theme "Development, Peace and Equality". It was then argued that development policies by governments, donor agencies and Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) had ignored the needs of poor women in third world countries. Hence, the integration of women into development process and the setting up of a women's department to enhance the integration of women by third world governments were encouraged (Brydon and Chant, 1989 cited in Charles, 1993).
During the years 1976-1985, research resulted in a number of publications and attempts by governments to 'include' women in development projects (Wallace and March, 1991 cited in Charles, 1993). In addition, the United Nations Secretariat collected statistical information on women's liVing conditions. One of the reports stated that:
As a group, women have access to much fewer resources than men.
They put in two thirds of the total number of working hours;
they are registered as constituting one third of the total labour force
and receive one tenth of the total remuneration. They own only one percent of the world's material goods and their right to ownership is often far less than those of men.
(Tickner, 1994 cited in Hudson, 1998: 40)
In view of the discrimination, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 'Convention on
trye
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women' (CEDAW) in 1979. The decade for Women helped in the development of strategies for the advancement of women especially the so called Forward-Looking Strategies (FLS). The FLS stresses that economic growth does not automatically trickle down to benefit women and their needs cannot be met by welfare services.Consequently, the application of FLS emphasizes the need to link women's empowerment with economic participation, self-reliance and equal employment opportunities. The second world conference on women held in Copenhagen in 1980 was a follow-up of the earlier conference in which a programme of action for the second half of the decade was adopted. This was followed by a third conference, which was held in Nairobi in 1985 t\ review the progress of the Women Decade. The conference provided a springboard for north-south linkages among women and the creation of Development Alternatives with Women for a New era (DAWN). This emphasized the importance of listening to and learning from women's diverse experiences and knowledge and a commitment to breaking down the structures of inequity between genders, classes and nations.
To this end, FLS for women's advancement was adopted. The fourth conference took place in Beijing, China, for an evaluation of the implementation of the FLS as well as the programme of action of women's advancement.
Post-apartheid South Africa has reached a point in its history where the need to create jobs for the disadvantaged groups (the majority-efwhom are women) has become crucial in the development process. In light of this, the Government of National Unity (GNU) on coming into power in May 1994 promised a better life for the people of South Africa. The Reconstruction and Development Programme
(RDP) was launched as a Government Policy aimed at improving the quality of life of all its citizens, especially the poorest and most marginalized sections of the communities.
Although the RDP was replaced by GEAR, the programme under study was designed under the RDP. It is therefore important to understand how the RDP outlined its objectives, programmes and project strategies for the empowerment of women.
The RDP Base Document on which the RDP White Paper is based states that:
The central objective of our RDP is to improve the quality of life of all South Africans, and in particular the poorest and most marginalized sections of our community.... This objective should be realized
through a process of empowerment which gives the poor control over their own lives and increase their ability to mobilize sufficient resources, including from the democratic government where necessary.
(RDP Base document 1994: 15).
The five key programmes envisaged in the RDP Base document are: meeting the basic needs of the people, developing human resources) bUilding the economy, democratizing the state and society and implementing the RDP (RDP White Paper: 8)
.The implementation. of the RDP focuses on people and their involvement in sustainable development through a process that is empowering and builds capacity (Sections 1.3.3,1.4.3, 1.4.4,1.4.-5,1.4.6,1.4.7 of RDP White Paper). In addition, there are aspects of the strategy, which recognize the marginalized groups in South Africa; these are women, children and the disabled (Th~ RDP
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Programme: 14; RDP White Paper: 1.3.4). Women constitute the majority Of this
group (The RDP Programme: 14). Consequently at the inception of the Working for Water Project a declaration was made to employ and train people from the disadvantaged communities with a workforce of at least 60% women in order to enhance their social upliftment and empowerment.
The effect of empowerment in individual people or community is depicted as gaining control over the social, political and economic factors, which influence peoples' daily lives. This process should involve the analysis of poverty traps. In recognition of this poverty and the commitment to address it, the African National Congress (ANC) states that:
It is not merely the lack of income, which determines poverty. An enormous proportion of basic needs is presently unmet. 'In attacking poverty, the RDP aims to set South Africa firmly on the road to eliminating hunger, providing land and housing to all people, providing access to safe water and sanitation for all, ensuring availability of affordable and sustainable energy source, eliminating illiteracy, raising the quality of education and training all ...
(ANC, 1994:126).
One of the projects planned for addressing unemployment was the Working for Water Project, which is the focus of the current study. It is aimed at assessing the .involvement of women in the Project and the extent of empowerment and
development of rural women through job creation in the study area.