Discussing Women's Empowerment - Sida

Foreword
This volume offers a selection of papers presented at the conference
‘Power, Resources and Culture in a Gender Perspective: Towards a Dialogue
Between Gender Research and Development Practice’, arranged by
the Council for Development and Assistance Studies, Uppsala University,
Sweden in cooperation with Sida, October 2000.
The objective of the conference was to create a forum for dialogue,
where development practitioners and researchers could meet to focus on
gender and power. Recent research in the field was presented in order to
introduce new theoretical points of departure, relevant to the reassessment
of development cooperation. Most development cooperation today has
gender equality as one of its objectives. To achieve this, a new relationship
is needed between researchers – with their theoretical tools for understanding
and their empirical knowledge of local contexts – and development
practitioners – with their tacit knowledge of the nature of how
policies are generated, formed and implemented in developing countries.
Probably, there is no linear, one-way relationship between research and
implementation in policy formation. Rather, a close, ongoing dialogue
between researchers and practitioners is required.
It was hoped that the conference would put in place the parameters
for a vital, constructive dialogue of this type. Whether this will be so remains
to be seen. There is some hesitation on both sides. However, as the
debates of the conference proved, for those who cross the line and participate
in the dialogue there is little doubt as to the value and need of
this kind of encounter.
The papers, intended to encourage and inspire both practitioners and
researchers, are a small selection from the conference, chosen for their
policy and methodological implications and their variety of perspectives.
Some papers represent research in progress, while others are written by
theorists already well established in the international discussions on
women and development. They are strongly related, in their various ways,
to the issue of women’s empowerment.
Birgitta Sevefjord
Gender Equality Adviser, Sida
Berit Olsson
Director, Department for
Research Cooperation, Sarec, Sida