Chapter 6: ANALYSIS
6.4 Socio-cultural scenario for women 74
Adherence to patriarchal practices persistent in the society impacted negatively on women’s economic position as shown by the findings. In response to this, Mason (2005) argues that collective action can be employed to empower poor women. For the reason that empowerment is powerfully influenced by traditions, improving the capabilities and opportunities of every woman may be suitable, but may be unsuccessful in empowering them, provided the immediate culture is left uncontested (ibid.). This resonates with the findings of the study in regard to the practice of women exclusively, of being in mourning attire when bereaved. The practice is
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accompanied by stringent orders for portrayal of respect for the deceased spouse or child; for instance, one cannot arrive home after sunset. This was seen to be perpetuating subordination of women and viewed to possess a diminishing effect on the returns from any economic activity women engage in (see 5.6.5).
Despite the fact that a project might present opportunities for women to participate in, structural constriction may hinder their involvement as their empowerment is also determined by social, cultural, political and economic set up of spaces for women (Maneja, 2002). Moreover, participating in IGP does not necessarily imply economic autonomy of women for decision- making at household level. It was realised that women in Female Headed Households (FHH) were the ones who had full control of their financial resources as opposed to those in Male Headed Households (MHH). The findings declared that the efforts of the project to empower women were halted by the burden emanating from the social perspective, as the women had additional responsibilities to shoulder in their households (see 5.6.5).
6.4.2 Paid work and unpaid work for women
The research reflected a persistence of patriarchal control in Lesotho, which has been socially construed to instill household relationships and practices that are gendered to the detriment of women and girl children. This conforms to research findings affirming that universally unpaid work performed by women. Women did agricultural work, collected wood and water and performed household chores for no pay (Antonopoulos, 2009; Banerjee et al., 2006; Heintz, 2009; Jacobsen, 2007). This has added a burden for women in paid work as those participating in the craft projects declared that they were bound to wake up early in the morning everyday to perform these chores before going to the projects. It was further discovered that in the evening women rush home to do some chores and gardening activities that they could not accomplish in the morning. This augmented on their existent burdens as Moser (1989) in Arku and Arku (2011) affirms.
The study discovered that there was no economic value attached to these chores. However Himmelweit (2002) states that unpaid work and paid work complement each other, but policy- formulation should avoid bias in their address. It would be unaffordable for those participating in craft projects to have paid household labour substituting them. Migration of men in search of
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paid work has also led to making provision of unrewarded labour the responsibility of women exclusively (Elson, 2000). The findings also showed that women in Lesotho were not allowed by their spouses to be in paid work while the husbands were in South African mines and often they were only allowed to look after the children at home. Women became de facto household heads dependent on remittances and agricultural produce. It was only upon the death of the spouse that the respondent had to fend for the household’s livelihood (see 5.1.2).
Internationally modeled projections illustrate that if the care economy was allotted an economic value it would amount to something between 10 and 39 percent of GDP (UNRISD, 2010).
However, the contentious part of this whole idea is that men would still maintain their power over decision-making pertaining to agricultural production especially in many African countries like Zimbabwe as Elson (2000) exemplify. This typifies the case of women in Lesotho (Rosenberg, 2004; Gay, 1980), which is closely related to what the study found out in terms of who cared for and made decisions on land and livestock (see 5.6.5.1). Property was owned jointly but in practice men were in control as they made decisions on the proceeds from land and livestock. It is therefore evident that men benefit economically from unpaid work performed by women.
6.4.3 Resources allocation, livelihoods and WEE
Women in craft projects in Lesotho, like others elsewhere in the continent, have persistently suffered denial of access and control of land and related resources (Ravinder & Narayana, 2007;
APF, 2007; Maneja, 2002; UNDP Lesotho, 2006). Proceeding from this point, an individual raised a concern of whether women in Lesotho are really being empowered or not and thus lamented: “…..It is my hope that one day we will be able to build a society that clearly distinguishes between women empowerment and women abuse. That will be a society in which women will be given opportunities to grow, learn and manage without having to offer anything in return” (Lesotho Times, 2011). The implication is that women should be given access to productive resources for them to proceed beyond mere provision of household livelihoods sustainability to proceeds accumulation and economic progression. However, the project cases reveal that even a project like Elelloang Basali, where empowerment of women is core to what is done; it does not necessarily meet the criteria of being an effective WEE project. This might be because such projects were often designed to help sustain livelihoods and such looked to secure
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some income and skills for women to mitigate risks against possible shocks. SLA has been criticised for not effectively tackling relationships of power on society which WEE would seek to try and impact on7.
6.4.4 Access and control of land and livestock
Research shows that the state has not exerted convincing force for advancement of women’s state of affairs as in practice there is rigid adherence to Basotho customs and laws that marginalise women (Mapetla, 1999; UNDP Lesotho, 2006). This is based on the insights of the study which showed that acquisition and control of land still remained a hassle, and these resources were in control of men especially in the MHH. Documents for these resources were in the names of husbands and seldom in the wives’ names upon the death of their spouses (See 5.6.5.1).
It was revealed that for women who were not married, access to land allocated by traditional leaders was nearly impossible. It was better for such women to have a male household member negotiating for land on their behalf. The same applies for inheritance of these resources and property. Male children, especially the elderly son, inherited property following the patrimonial practices. In response to this the government instigated among others, the lower income housing schemes in the urban areas (Mapetla, 1999) and the enactment of the 2006 Land Law. However, it was discovered that the scheme was unaffordable for women in craft projects as their incomes could not meet its expenses. On the other hand, the benefits of the Land Law are far-fetched for women at grassroots level in the country, with special reference to, among others, its stipulation of derivative right to occupy land.
The unique feature discovered in this study was the ability of Elelloang Basali project to sustain livelihoods of working women, livelihoods of the children of the deceased members and future generations (see 5.7). This fits well into the sustainable livelihoods framework as Chambers and Conway (1992), de Satge (2002), Scoones (2009) and Twigg, (2001) postulate. This framework, according to Haidar (2009), is utilised for assessing development projects that are geared towards empowerment of poor women. It is in this regard that the DFID livelihoods framework stands
7 See Krantz (2001) and Haidar (2009).
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out to be the most appropriate as it evaluates ongoing projects in an attempt to examine its opportunities and constraints at micro and macro level (Krantz, 2001). The objectives of these projects are well suited to those of GAD as it purports to eliminate economic, political and social differences between men and women, so to attain people-centered development (de Satge, 2002;
UNDP Lesotho, 2006).