Do you think that the Women in Development (WID) perspective provide a useful approach?

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nIntroduction

nIn the past decades, women selection and recruitment into the positions of decision-making has featured development conversations in different countries. Although much has been done in terms of several researches and pragmatic feminist actions, little progress has been achieved on gender equality particularly in developing nations. The phrase ‘women in development is mainly applied to mean the operational goals that integrate women into the process of development (Power, 2013). Women are normally the disadvantaged members in the society because men control positions of power such as in political, religious, economic and sociocultural organizations. Women in development (WID) encourage participation of women in projects of development. It plays a crucial role since it enhances incorporation of women into the international economies by promoting their status and helping them in full development (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012). WID provides a useful approach to close the gap between women and men and to explain the durability of gender inequalities in developing nations.

nOne of the factors that contribute to gender inequality especially in developing countries is the issue of subordination of women. Most notably, uneven treatments and the invisibility of women in developmental matters are not confined to the domestic area, but happen in the entire society. Moreover, most communities live under patriarchal system, which emphasize the authority and power of husband and fathers over wife and women in general. Therefore, men normally exercise their supremacy over women. The system of patriarchy attempts to enact itself in capitalist society and in gender affairs. According to Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). (2012), patriarchy is one of the factors contributing to exploitation of women in the society. For instance, the structures in the community try to view them as domestic workers. Consequently, they are forced to stay in the inferior positions. In most societies, women are supposed to deliver workforce by taking care of their children and husbands. Most importantly, the term ‘housewife is an indication of decline in the status of women since individuals view economic development as a separation of work and home, which subsequently establishes gender (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012).

nUnited Nations Women reported that in the recent past, the world has witnessed significant progress in terms of reducing gender inequality. Some of the positive changes that have been noted included the positive changes in health, employment and educational rights. Some countries have also initiated legislations that promote equal ownership of land, and inheritance between men and women (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012). However, despite these positive changes towards gender equality, there are gaps with regard to income status of women especially in the developing world. Furthermore, women have experienced social exclusion based on their sexual orientation, ethnicity, location and caste. In most case, inequalities in participation of women in conventional male careers as well as in policymaking do not certainly grow with economic development that advances other elements of their lives (Power, 2013).

nIn addition, male dominance intends to establish a full hegemonic masculinity, which suggests that the capitalist communities with a high level of male dominance anticipated, is specifically searching for methods acting that are related to power and dominance (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012). Therefore, in most cases, men are encouraged to seek power and dominance as compared to women. The researcher also noted that women experience various forms of sexual and domestic violence. The perpetrators are normally their male counterparts. Most notably, these forms of violence have a long history of existence, which contributes to creation, and strengthening of patriarchy. According to Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.) (2012) power originates from force, it considers the issues that men have utilized a number of actions of demotion such as gender-based violence. The main aim of such structures is to safeguard the domination of men in their homes. Regrettably, the dominance of males occurs in most communities; hence, it has turned out to be a global account of the gender inequalities (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012).

nWomen in Development (WID) perspective is a viewpoint that suggest that the main intricacy of gender inequality is founded on the division of labour among different gender. In the job market, there is a very clear that there is a huge gap between men and women in terms of the positions occupied by men and women. Similarly, gaps exist in level of payment, the expertise they gain and the duration they work. In this case, the contemporary society has been portrayed as they refer them as ‘mens job and ‘feminine job demonstrating that the labour force is capitalist community, which is categorized and accorded based on gender (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012).

nAccording to Van et al (2012) argument, ecofeminism has been created from the principle of women as the managers of environment since individuals relate both conceptual and spiritual sense between nature and women. In this respect, peoples think that conservation of environment should be assigned to women (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.) 2012). Furthermore, in the job places, researches have consistently noted that women experience high rate of gender segregation and discrimination. Unfortunately, gender discrimination in the places of work makes it difficult for women to accomplish equal level of compensation with their men counterparts. In the majority of cases, men hold senior positions with high level of skills in the job places (Power, 2013). For instance, a study conducted in Canada noted that in a workplace, a person have more chance to meet a female secretary and male manager and not the vice versa. Based on this case, although a wide range of legislations have been enacted to promote gender equality, the rate of adjusting the compensation of women and men has been relatively slow (Power, 2013). Consequently, women have not benefited from better and dignified payments.

nWomen in development (WID) approach offer a wide range of solutions to reduce the gap in terms of workplace discrimination, payment and management between women and men. The perspective suggests that incorporation of women in the process of development should be encouraged but they need to have adequate training and education (Power, 2013). The first comprehensive resolution of the WID perspective is to ensure that they participate in economic and political development both as beneficiaries and as agents. The idea behind this argument is that women must be allowed to engage in certain responsibilities and roles, which empower them to utilize their capacity to work in economic transformation of the people. Nonetheless, the critics argue that this kind of perspective is limited because it does not resolve the concern of subordination of women (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012). Moreover, WID approach acknowledges that development should include both men and women aiming to improve the effectiveness. Similarly, in the community, people should be encouraged to incorporate women in the process of economic development by establishing adequate jobs both part time or full time.

nHowever, critics challenges the idea provided by women in development (WID) approach. They suggested that WID is not practical since the issue is not that women are not included in the process of development. However, the scholars argued that women are incorporated into a skewed division of labour that affects them because it keeps them in a juniors position. In this respect, it does not matter the part that women are engaged with, since it does not alter the fact that they are always deprived as compared to men (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012). Fundamentally, the approach does not change the inconsistency since it constrains the selection of jobs allocated to women. On the other hand, the idea of promoting part time jobs for women is not an effective practice. Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.) (2012) suggested that this kind of employment does not provide any chance of any transformative change in the future with regard to economic power and social status of women.

nAnother factor that WID approach should consider is to encourage women to acquire technical education and training. In fact, in third world nations, the status of ensuring that women acquire specialized and progressive training and education may play a crucial role in strengthening the chances of women to be part of development (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.) 2012). The main idea is to reduce the levels of illiteracy among women by encouraging women to acquire basic education, which will help them to advance their skills. Reports indicate that illiteracy is one of the leading obstacles that inhibit women empowerment. The findings of these reports noted that most women could not engage in viable economic sustainability because of lack of adequate education. In third world countries, lack of adequate education and knowledge has played a role in lack of exclusion of women in development (Power, 2013).

nIn most cases, women experience obstacles to education based on cultural, economic and religious consideration. For example, in regards to economics, relatively few women have adequate resources, which are required to cater for their education payments. Furthermore, the program should ensure that the needs of women are met such as accessibility concerning its location, the period of education program and the specific time during the day. Women face many challenges in their education and training because such programs are not connected to the job opportunities that would allow them to apply what they have acquired in learning (Van Staveren, Elson, Grown & Cagatay, (Eds.). 2012). Additionally, for this reason, it is certainly enlightening to explore the areas of the program since if the learning is for instance addressing on liberal design, then it would be misusing resources since it might not fundamentally associated to a work opportunity (Power, 2013).

nConclusion

nIn developing nations, one of the ideas that explain gender inequalities is the perception related to division of labour based on gender and subordination of women. Therefore, in order to succeed in closing the economic gap between men and women, any interventions must address these factors (Power, 2013). Women can be included in the process of development of any country but many factors limit them. Fortunately, women in development (WID) approach delivers a beneficial strategy that provide solid ideas on how to deal with gender inequalities in the society, workplaces and homes. For instance, encouraging women to advance their levels of education will ensure that they play a part in positions of decision making in the corporate world (Power, 2013). Although gender gap has been minimized in certain areas such as health and school enrolment across all gender, more need to be done to reduce inequalities.

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nReferences

nPower, M. (2013). A social provisioning approach to gender and economic life. Handbook of Research on Gender and Economic Life, 7.

nVan Staveren, I., Elson, D., Grown, C., & Cagatay, N. (Eds.). (2012). The feminist economics of trade. Routledge.