Discussing Women's Empowerment - Sida

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GENDER AND POWER IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES • SAADALLAH
Another vital point of departure is the recognition that – as Oxaal and
Baden state “adopting women’s empowerment (or gender equality) 20 as a
policy goal in development organizations (and projects) implies a commitment
to encouraging a process of more equitable distribution of power
on personal, economic, and political levels” (1997, p. 24). Strategies that
aim at dismantling some long-standing traditional manifestations in Muslim
societies, and the institutional frameworks that reinforce them thus
need to be focused on alleviating gender inequality and power imbalances
within a holistic, offensive yet accommodative framework. They may include
a gender component in all development projects to ensure the tackling
of traditional constructs and non-class forces that reinforce gender inequality.
The concept of ‘Community Involvement’, is necessarily complemented
by a new concept, namely that of ‘Women Involvement’ in development
practices. Women and Development (WAD) and Women in Development
(WID) are to be complemented by Women Development (WD)
per se. This would highlight the necessity to focus on women’s development,
in particular in relation to ceding opportunities for the rational use
of resources (equally between the sexes) to reach gender equality. Male involvement
is a requirement in this process, as promoters of women’s development
and participants in attitudinal change that would enhance gender
equality in the particular context of Muslim societies. Furthermore, a
deeper involvement of civic society is needed especially women NGO
groups advocating a woman-friendly change (this is accentuated due to
the existence of several forces in civic society that advocate the unequal
treatment of women as a means of alleviating oppression, e.g. Islamist
feminists/non-class actors).
The recognition of the role of non-class forces – especially religion and
religion-related constructs – is vital within the framework of development
strategy and policy. As instruments for analysis and action, country-specific
profiles for development projects, specifically dealing with a gender
approach in Muslim societies, need to be elaborated. (This translates as a
total disassociation with the ‘prescription’ model, with modernization theory
overtones, applied by International Financing Organizations, such as
the IMF and the World Bank in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s in dealing
with structural and economic adjustment. It is worth repeating what
many others have already said, that the prescription for development has
to be context-specific, and culturally sensitive – to ensure a minimum level
of success.)
20.I choose to add gender equality here, as similarities are implicit and exist between it and
women’s empowerment on the level of aggregate effects on social development, and the society
as a whole.