Bangladesh Basic Statistics
Area	143,998 km²
Population	109 million (1989)
Annual Pop. Growth	2.8%
GNP Per Capita	US$170

Shobuj Shona Evaluation

Bangladesh, 1993

Enterprise, Asset Accumulation and Income Generation in Bangladesh:

A New Model for Women in Development

Rebecca Torres

The University of California, Davis

FORWARD

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

COUNTRY BACKGROUND
MAJOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT THEMES IN BANGLADESH - A BRIEF REVIEW
WOMEN IN BANGLADESH - A BRIEF REVIEW
CURRENT FORCES FOR CHANGE IN BANGLADESH

GLOBAL WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPAL WID THEMES
GENDER AND THE RURAL HOUSEHOLD
GENDER AND RURAL REPRODUCTION
GENDER AND RURAL PRODUCTION
GENDER AND SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE
POLICY, PLANNING AND WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
CONCLUSIONS

SHOBUJ SHONA VILLAGE ENTERPRISE PROJECT - An Alternative Model

SSVE CONTRASTED TO CONVENTIONAL WID MODELS

Challenging women's traditional roles
Formally involving the Extended Family
Addressing strategic needs
Challenging local social and economic status quo
Introducing corporate structure into rural Bangladeshi society
Introducing Lemnaceae technology
Mixed-sex project
High degree of beneficiary participation
High degree of interdependence between the villager and external institutional resources
Grameen Bank Model
Shobuj Shona Village Enterprise Model

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
EVALUATION PARAMETERS
EVALUATION DESCRIPTION
TIME LINE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANNEX A.
ANNEX B
- Deed of License
ANNEX C
- General Power of Attorney
ANNEX D
- Shareholder's Agreement
ANNEX E
- DUCKWEED IMAGES
ANNEX F
- SHOBUJ SHONA VILLAGE ENTERPRISE IMAGES
ANNEX G.
ANNEX H
- Glossary
FORWARD

Rebecca Torres, doctoral candidate in Geography at the University of California, Davis (UCD), prepared this monograph as a thesis proposal while she was a Masters student in the International Agricultural Development program at UCD. She also prepared a complete set of survey questionnaires for the proposed evaluation project. The monograph and accompanying survey instruments are available for downloading as zipped WordPerfect files.

A serious episode of pulmonary thrombis prevented Ms. Torres from completing the evalutation she had so carefully crafted. She has asked that it be made available through the Duckweed Clearinghouse in the hopes that it may prove to be of use to other projects conducting similar evaluations.

This document's most important contribution is an excellent comparative review of the Shobuj Shona rural development paradigm which provides a cost-effective and viable alternative to the more common development systems modelled after the successful BRAC and Grameen Bank programs. Included as appendices are all necessary legal documents required to replicate such a Shobuj Shona system in most countries around world - certainly in those nations that have borrowed from the British legal code.

Ms Torres' proposed evaluation was to have focused on the role of women in the Bangladesh Shobuj Shona project. She has, therefore, provided a useful review of global WID and gender issues, in addition to an excellent general introduction to contemporary development issues in Bangladesh.

Finally, the monograph presents a good introdution to "duckweed aquaculture," a new cropping system developed by the PRISM group, which is remarkable for its ability to profitably treat wastewater and generate vast quantities of high protein food (via fish, poultry and livestock) for protein deficient populations.

Following her recovery, Ms Torres completed a Masters Thesis based on her original research on coastal farming communities in Northern Peru. She subsequently conducted an important study of farmers markets in Cuba, and is now engaged in field research examining the linkages between tourism and agriculture in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The latter research will contribute to her doctoral dissertation in Geography at the UCD.

Ms Torres may be contacted by e-mail at rmtorres@ucdavis.edu

ABSTRACT

The Shobuj Shona Village Enterprise (SSVE) project utilizes an innovative Lemnaceae (Duckweed) technology in a franchise-like network of village enterprises to improve village-level protein production, create employment activities and capitalize poor rural populations. The project targets women, among other landed and landless sectors of the population, in an attempt to empower women and poor people through enterprise, income generation and asset accumulation. This paper proposes a thesis which will describe and evaluate the SSVE model, focusing primarily on women's role in the project. It will concentrates on examining the effects participation has had on female members with respect to their economic condition, social status, and family/household relations. The study will utilize interview surveys, technical knowledge assessment checklists, time use studies and case studies. Surveys will cover all 5 existing SSVE villages, including 15 female participants, 60 male participants, 6 project coordinators, 15 spouses of female participants, 15 children of female participants, 15 females of neighboring para households (non-SSVE), and 10 females of neighboring non-SSVE village households. There will be 136 in total, utilizing 7 distinct survey instruments. Technical knowledge assessments will be employed to observe the technical duckweed production capabilities of 20 (10 male and 10 female) randomly selected SSVE participants, 4 from each of the 5 existing SSVE village corporations. Time use studies to observe female activities will be conducted on 8 randomly selected women, 4 SSVE project participants and 4 non-participants. Case studies of women's lives will be developed based on selected time and motion studies and supplemental interviews.

INTRODUCTION

The PRISM group was founded six years ago as an international non-profit organization focused on generating local and family enterprise within rural communities in developing countries. As put forth in the PRISM mission statement:

"PRISM researches powerful ideas and develops them into innovative opportunities to increase productivity. We want to offer rural families a realistic alternative to either urban flight or further destruction of their environment. We are, therefore, dedicated to creating sustainable, rural enterprises that provide the opportunity to work and prosper."

(PRISM Annual Report, 1990)

PRISM Bangladesh was created as an affiliate of the PRISM Group in 1990. PRISM Bangladesh is autonomous and exercises full control over local decision making, yet shares with other member organizations of the PRISM Group a common enterprise-driven approach to rural development. The PRISM Group provides international support and exercises control over decision making at an international level. Both entities share several of the same board members and most projects are collaborative efforts between the two. For the purpose of this paper "PRISM" will refer to the collaborative effort between PRISM Bangladesh and The PRISM Group.

Many of PRISM's core technologies are derived from a 10-year research and development effort concentrated on Lemnaceae ("duckweed"), a family of aquatic macrophytes that contain up to 50% protein and attain production levels exceeding one tonne per hectare per day under favorable conditions. These plants are an excellent protein source for balanced livestock and fish feeds. They can also be eaten directly by humans, either alone, in a salad or as a garnish.

Lemnaceae's rapid growth characteristics, combined with its unique ability to filter solids from water, while simultaneously preventing growth of algae species provides the basis for an efficient water and wastewater treatment system. Lemnaceae wastewater treatment systems developed by PRISM have demonstrated, for the first time, the feasibility of providing comprehensive treatment of a community's wastewater at no cost (to the community). Systems now functioning in Bangladesh and Peru have demonstrated the capability of consistently generating net profits while also treating wastewater to standards higher than the strictest now mandated in the US. Lemnaceae plants also demonstrate halophyte characteristics, allowing cultivation in marginally brackish water and desalination of agricultural runoff..

The Shobuj Shona Village (SSV) Enterprise project in Bangladesh exemplifies PRISM's mission, both to foster rural enterprise and promote increasing application of Lemnaceae technologies. The SSVE project, a collaborative effort between PRISM Bangladesh (local) and The PRISM Group (international), seeks to create opportunities for employment in rural Bangladesh through an integrated aquaculture system based on the semi-intensive, continuous culture of Lemnaceae, and Lemnaceae-fed tilapia and carp species. Support for, and replication of, SSVE project enterprises closely resembles franchise operations now so familiar in western countries. These franchised village units or corporations closely resemble one another, in both form and function, as modern profit-making industries - while still retaining characteristics unique to rural Bangladesh.

A principal objective of the SSVE project is to develop a new model for empowering rural Bangladeshi women through enterprise formation, income generation and asset accumulation. Women become shareholding partners in village level corporations by contributing either labor or land. SSVE corporation profits are distributed quarterly to shareholders as dividends. In addition, women (and other shareholders) typically work as employees for their corporations, serving as either duckweed or fish aquaculture workers. In return, they are paid a basic wage and a performance bonus based on the productivity of their respective mixed gender production teams.

Various aspects of this unconventional approach challenge the current social, economic and cultural status quo of the rural Bangladeshi village. Despite this, current levels of beneficiary participation; duckweed production achievements; and high local demand for project expansion are strong indicators that the project is financially successful and enjoys strong local community acceptance.

In its first year of operation the project has achieved distributed fish production averaging 10 tonnes per hectare - more than twice the productivity of achieved by the hitherto best village fisheries project in the history of Bangladesh (Danish-assisted Mymensingh Fisheries Project in north-central Bangladesh) The SSVE project has been met with such enthusiasm that numerous local groups have approached, and continue to approach, PRISM asking to form their own corporations. This, despite having to surrender title to their personal land in the name of the corporation. The prospects for future expansion of the model appear to be excellent.

In addition to the 5 existing corporations, the UNCDF has approved $1.9 million for developing 40 new village corporations. The Dutch government is also funding 20 additional SSVE corporations under the first phase of a $13 million World Bank sponsored duckweed research project to be located at PRISM's current Mirzapur research facility. The new research facility, with a core staff of 4 international scientists supported by 20 Bangladeshi scientists, will perform basic research on Lemnaceae species, their use in wastewater treatment systems and their application as feed for fish and livestock.

The current success enjoyed by the SSVE project, combined with its good apparent prospects for expansion and replication, suggest that the SSVE model itself merits close examination. Its innovative approach to women in development (WID) should be documented and evaluated in a time when women's crucial role in development is widely recognized, yet so few successful models exist. It is the purpose of this thesis to describe and evaluate the SSVE model, and to evaluate its first major application in villages near Mirzapur and Shibaloy, Bangladesh. The evaluation will focus on the role of women in the project. It will examine the effects participation has had on female members with respect to their economic condition, their social status, and their relationships with their families, households and communities. The evaluation will also look at the role of women in the SSVE project and the effect women's participation has had on project productivity and internal corporate relations.
It is important to note that the evaluation described here will only enable an interim assessment of the project as implementation is not yet sufficiently extensive or mature to draw final conclusions.

All field research activities will be conducted as a project evaluation. Collated data and interpreted results will be presented to all project participants as formal feedback. It is intended that results of the evaluation enable project planners, managers and field level participants to improve project design and execution.

This thesis proposal is structured as three major sections:
- The first section provides an introduction and background material which includes: a) a Bangladesh country background, b) a review and discussion of global WID themes, c) review of the current circumstances of women in Bangladesh, and d) a discussion of contemporary forces for change in Bangladesh.
- The second section describes the SSVE model and compares it with other conventional development.
- The third section proposes a scope of work for field research activities which includes: a) a summary description of the evaluation, b) detailed evaluation parameters, c) developing evaluation tools, d) the evaluation design, e) data collection and other logistics, and f) data processing and analysis.
- Remaining sections will include personnel, a time line, a bibliography and a budget and some pictures.
BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

COUNTRY BACKGROUND

A brief summary background on Bangladesh is useful in providing a context for the SSVE project and the work proposed in this thesis.

Bangladesh Basic Statistics
Area 143,998 km²

Population 109 million (1989)

Annual Pop. Growth 2.8%

GNP Per Capita US$170

(PRISM, 1991)

Bangladesh has few natural resources and is still experiencing relatively high population growth rates. Although Bangladesh is only the size of the state of Wisconsin, its 109 million inhabitants live in only 20% its land area. The remaining 80% of the land mass is covered by water during the yearly 5 month monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Bangladesh's population is still primarily rural, with only 10% living in towns and cities.

Bangladesh's social and economic development is hampered by a literacy rate of 25% (Quddus, 1985; PRISM, 1991), poor health and nutrition, and an inefficient bureaucracy. Per capita GDP is among the lowest in the world. Approximately 44% of the GNP is generated by the agricultural sector which accounts for 40% of bulk exports and employs 75% of the work force (PRISM, 1991).

Given Bangladesh's agrarian economy, the ability to earn a living for most Bangladeshi's is a function of their access to agricultural land and fresh water resources. The landless in Bangladesh are, therefore, trapped in poverty. The incidence of landlessness is extremely high due to immense population pressure on limited land resources. In the 1983/4 agricultural census about 46% of rural households owned less then 0.5 acres, and were considered to be functionally landless - owning insufficient land to provide an inadequate source of household income. The census found that the average family farm size had declined from 3.53 acres in 1969 to 2.25 acres in 1984 (Bangladesh, Bureau of Statistics, 1986; Hossain, 1988).

Women, for the most part, qualify as landless since the amount of land or property they may acquire is limited through the Muslim Law of Inheritance and local social norms (Quddus, 1985). The situation is aggravated by the fact that many plots of land and bodies of water are derelict or, at best, under-utilized because of land disputes among multiple owners and a chronic shortage of capital and technology (Skillicorn, 1993).

Rice is the principal crop in Bangladesh. With annual production of 27.6 million tonnes (Economist, 1993), Bangladesh ranks fourth in the world. With rapidly increasing production of wheat, Bangladesh is now considered self-sufficient in production of food grains. Much of this increased production has come, however, at the expense of protein production. The average Bangladeshi consumes less protein today than he did at the time of (Pakistan's) independence from Great Britain. Production of pulses has not experienced a "green revolution" and growth has therefore not kept up with the massive population growth of the last half century. A major absolute decline has also occurred in the production of fish, which is the preferred form of dietary protein for most Bangladeshis. A combination of poor management of Bangladesh's massive natural freshwater resources, and a significant decline in Ganges river water releases have seen a 50% real decline in the fish catch during the last decade alone.

Freshwater capture fisheries contributes significantly to Bangladesh's fisheries sector which accounts for 5% of the GNP while also employing a disproportionate percentage of the nation's poor. Prospects for improving productivity of the resource are limited in the short run. The damage to the natural ecology has been significant and will require decades to remedy. Freshwater aquaculture has potential for rapid expansion in Bangladesh, where large areas experience either seasonal or continual inundation. Despite the fact that intensified aquaculture production technologies are well established, most poor farmers have no access to the technology and could not afford to apply it if they did. This is due, in part, to poor agricultural extension services, but poor access to credit shares equal blame. Small and landless farmers and fishermen cannot provide the collateral (or other inducements) required by the banks. (PRISM, 1991)

Despite these serious development problems Bangladesh has significant immediate potential for improvement. The nation's abundant water resources are an invaluable asset when they are managed and used efficiently. Although land is relatively scarce, most plots are producing well below their productive capacity due to either capital, technology or other input (extension, quality seeds, pesticides, fertilizers) constraints. In addition to under-utilized land and water resources, Bangladesh possesses an enormous, largely untapped, human potential. Not only is there a large labor force available, but the country has thousands of young university trained professionals who cannot find employment appropriate to the level and focus of their education. All of these resources, with proper investment and management, could enormously benefit the poorest strata of Bangladeshi society - and through them, the nation as a whole.

MAJOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT THEMES IN BANGLADESH - A BRIEF REVIEW

Contemporary rural development in Bangladesh is dominated by four primary forces: 1) The bureaucracy, which proudly traces its lineage down through the Civil Service of Pakistan, the (British) Indian Civil Service and finally to the Moghuls; 2) the bilateral and multilateral aid agencies; 3) international private voluntary agencies (PVOs); and more recently, 4) the Bangladeshi non-governmental organizations - the NGOs. Each has, at some time, held sway over the process.

In the immediate aftermath of the War of Independence (from Pakistan), through the early 1970s, the international PVOs were all-powerful, with OXFAM, CARE, CRS, ADRA, Lutheran World Relief, World Vision, Save The Children, Ford and Rockefeller leading a host of lesser institutions to develop a national social safety net and prescribe the shape of rural development. Gradually, the bureaucracy, led by a core cadre of officers trained under the Civil Service of Pakistan found both its muscle and its confidence. This had the effect of increasingly constraining the almost cavalier freedom which had characterized the early PVO programs. CRS pulled out, embarrassed by a "blanket scandal." OXFAM found more compelling crises elsewhere. Ford Foundation pundits, the self-appointed intellectual primus inter pares among development experts, stung by charges of arrogance and excess in Ford's third world operations began focussing increasing attention on problems back in the US. Rockefeller found Latin America and a focus on the CGIAR institutions more to its liking. CARE settled down to extensive, but bland, food-for-work and feeding programs - with real control increasingly exercised by US bureaucrats within the USAID mission (employing PL-480 leverage) at Motijheel in Dhaka.

Gradually, rural development in Bangladesh came to resemble a "negotiated settlement" between the senior Bangladeshi civil service officers and the USAID mission. Vast sums of money (and "value") were poured in the country from the US, largely through the PL-480 program. This effort saw the development of critical agricultural support infrastructure, including research institutions, fertilizer factories, and power plants. On the other hand, it also created a pervasive "relief" ethic, as the country was blanketed with the mindless "food-for-work" programs designed primarily to achieve distribution of US and European surplus food stocks.

As the willingness of bilateral aid agencies to pump money into Bangladesh has diminished in recent rears, the power vacuum has increasingly been occupied by the multilateral agencies -led by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and UNICEF. This has also placed increasing emphasis on "projects" versus the less structured "programs" of the past. Form and elegance - the "process" - came to be better appreciated. "Trips" and "visits" have been replaced by "appraisal missions." Expensive consultants with Ph.D.s fielded by profit-making consulting companies like Checci, Harza and Euroconsult increasingly outnumber the ex-Peace Corps types traditionally favored by the likes of CARE and World Vision.

A small revolving door began to open up as more Bangladeshi economists (among them several civil servants) got Economics Ph.D.s and moved from the Planning Commission or ERD (External Resources Department of the Ministry of Finance) to the World Bank and back again. Everybody has started "doing business" the same way. The Dutch, the Danes, the Swiss, the Norwegians - even the Americans. They also began to increasingly defer to the World Bank and its special relationship with key ministers and bureaucrats. Bangladesh became literally saturated with teams of well-heeled consultants doing "scientific studies" and "appraisal missions" - all of them well practiced at fitting the results of their investigations into the ubiquitous "Logical Framework."

Now, a new, and arguably more powerful factor has emerged - the mega-NGO, exemplified by the Grameen Bank (see footnote 2), BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), PROSHIKA, GK (Gonoshastra Kendra) and CARITAS. By combining common sense, better management, and programs that are more directly responsive to the perceived development needs of villagers themselves, these NGOs now legitimately claim to be doing "what the government, with the help of the AID agencies, is incapable of doing" - achieving significantly improved welfare among specifically targeted population groups throughout Bangladesh. Suddenly it is they, not the government, that holds the answers. Unlike the other development agencies that the government has hitherto learned to successfully parry - these groups are home-grown and politically inclined. They wield genuine power. They can go directly to the World Bank and the UNDP and be listened to - in preference to their government counterparts. More importantly, however, they increasingly hold the ear of the "average villager." They have earned his trust and his confidence, and they are rewarded accordingly.

[Footnote 2: The Grameen Bank, classified as a government bank, is not technically an NGO, but because it is functionally independent of Government, and generally looks and behaves like an NGO, we apply the "duck test" and call it an NGO.]

The sheer size and visibility of the BRAC, PROSHIKA and Grameen Bank networks is compelling. BRAC, in particular, has learned the trick of building its shiny new rural office buildings next to some large, poorly performing government institution - usually a school or some special development authority - then simply offering to "take it over and run it better." The NGOs have become a government within a government. As yet, neither BRAC nor the Grameen Bank have chosen to directly exercise any political muscle - but the simple threat that they may do so is rendering the government increasingly compliant to their wishes.

For the immediate future, the shape of rural development in Bangladesh will be dictated by the evolving dynamic of the relationship between the government and the large NGOs. All other factors pale by comparison. The government has created a Bureau of NGO Affairs - ostensibly to serve as a clearinghouse for "permission" and "approvals," and thereby facilitating NGO activities. The effect, predictably, has been the opposite. Now, approval must be obtained from line Ministries and the NGO Bureaus.

The very existence of the NGO Bureau has made it significantly more difficult for small NGOs to survive in what has increasingly become a highly competitive environment for "donor funding." It is very difficult for a small NGO to compete for funds against the slick submissions of BRAC, GK, PROSHIKA, CARITAS and the Grameen Bank. They must either fund a truly unoccupied niche, collaborate with the larger NGOs or expire. The "NGO Sector" is, in fact, becoming institutionalized and bureaucratized. Competition and innovation is being stifled. The larger NGOs, operating as an oligopoly - a development club - are carefully delineating their physical domains. Village "Groups" are carefully labeled as "BRAC" groups or "PROSHIKA" groups - meaning hands off to any other institution. Gradually, whole villages and even Unions are receiving similar labels (see footnote 3) as the major NGOs stake out their claims and gradually subdivide the entire country.

[Footnote 3: This trend, where large, mature not-for-profit institutions seek to ensure long-term survival without having to always "compete" or "innovate" has an analog in the US, with the "PVO Club" and USAID. The large institutions like CARE, CRS and World Vision lobbied Congress to pass legislation that guaranteed their future existence in an environment free from competition. By law, 16% of all USAID funding must go to PVOs. Using a "bureaucratic efficiency" argument, these same institutions were able to create, post facto, highly restrictive entry criteria to the "PVO Club." Any US not-for-profit agency now seeking to become a PVO, and thereby qualify for the "easy PVO money." must conduct a special audit, then meet 6 financial ratio conditions. The most difficult of these being a "liquidity ratio" of 1.1/1 (i.e., liquidity must equal 1.1 times total liabilities.) Then, to maintain PVO status an institution must continue to raise 33% of its revenues from "other than USAID" sources. The latter criterion strongly favors large institutions with niche (i.e., CRS with catholic churches) or major public fundraising operations - such as CARE and World Vision.

This has predictably had a deleterious effect on the quality of project and program submissions by the PVOs. Proposals submitted by the PVOs are markedly inferior to those generated under the competitive RFP process. In fact, may grant categories are not fully subscribed for lack of qualifying proposals.]

Other factors making significant contribution to the form and substance of rural development in Bangladesh today do not differ greatly from those affecting other poor developing countries: Rural-to-urban migration, "Green Revolution" agricultural technologies, family planning programs, religious conflict and creeping fundamentalism, female wage jobs, land reform, land fragmentation and subdivision, rural credit, television & video tape, the modern information revolution, and rural electrification - among others.

If Bangladesh is to claim any unique factor in its development (not directly related to weather or geography) it would perhaps be "religious conflict." While Bangladesh is minimally affected by the creeping fundamentalism now seriously engaging nearby predominantly Islamic states such as Pakistan and Malaysia, religious identity has, nevertheless, played an important role in determining the current state of the nation.

Since the region gained its independence from the British in the 1947, the area that now comprises Bangladesh has witnessed what is arguably the largest wholesale movement of people in the history of the World. Where East Pakistan was only marginally "muslim" at independence (approximately 46% hindu and 54% muslim) it is now overwhelmingly muslim (88%). As many as 25 million hindus have simply packed up and moved to India (see footnote 4). In many instances they either abandoned their lands and other fixed assets or were forced to sell them for a pittance. In either case, the redistribution of hindu assets has played a major role in contemporary rural development in Bangladesh.

[Footnote 4: While precise statistics are not available in India - and the topic is strictly taboo in Bangladesh - current demographic statistics suggest that between 20 and 25 million people have migrated from Bangladesh to India between the mid-fifties and 1993.]

Agricultural Development

Agriculture accounts for 78% of the Bangladeshi labor force, with underemployment estimated at 24% for males and 32% for females respectively (E.B. Wennergren et al, 1984). Agriculture's contribution to GDP is just over 50%.

Land Reform

No discussion of rural development is complete without touching on the topic of land reform. In Bangladesh, control over land has moved, since 1950, from the old Zamindari (literally "land controller") system devised by the Moghuls and refined by the British, to the present circumstance where 65% of rural households are "functionally landless." (i.e., own less than 0.5 hectares) The average land holding is now
less than 1 hectare (2.2 acres).

The land ceiling act of 1984 limited family ownership of property to 10 hectares in flood controlled areas and 14 hectares elsewhere (see footnote 5) and provided significant rights (5 year minimum lease with a 5 year option to renew) for sharecroppers. It specified precise distribution of crops from sharecropped land (one third each to the landowner, the laborer and the input provider) and dictated that the sharecropper must have first rights of refusal if land was to be sold.

[Footnote 5: Absentee land owners are formally restricted to 4 hectares in flood control areas and 7 hectares elsewhere.]

Land reform aside, land in Bangladesh is both more finely distributed and more fractured (with a farmer's one or more acres typically distributed in tiny packages, sometimes a mile or more apart) than in any country on earth. Few absentee landlords now maintain active sharecropped farms (see footnote 6). Land holdings are so small that locally, a "landlord" is now someone who owns more than 5 hectares of land. Ironically, most critics of land reform prescribe even further redistribution, citing the inequality between these "landlords" and the landless (M.A. Zaman, 1974; N. Ahmed, 1988). In Bangladesh, which is still over 80% rural, there are simply too many people (115 million people and 16 million rural households) and too little arable land (22 million acres) (E.B. Wennergren et al, 1984).

[Footnote 6: The monied elite of Bangladesh have long since abandoned agriculture as a viable profession.]

Power abuse at the village level lies not so much with distribution of land, but with access to government services and subsidies. Leases to "khash," (government owned) land are auctioned off for next to nothing. People securing use of these lands are typically the local power elite. The Union chairman, or the largest local landlords - or even absentee landlords. Access to agricultural credit and other subsidies is similarly skewed.

Common Prescriptions for Improving Agriculture in Bangladesh

Most agricultural development prescriptions for Bangladesh recommend identical solutions. They usually state the goal of "increased intensity and efficiency of agriculture." This, in turn, requires investments in infrastructure: better availability at the farm level of electricity, seeds, fertilizers, water, equipment, credit, and extension services. Most experts on Bangladeshi agriculture also recommend increasing investments in "human capital:" more scientists, better trained farmers, and more efficient marketing. Finally, most still recommend further "equitable" distribution of land by bringing down the land ceiling to 5 acres. There is, however, a growing minority of experts now willing to prescribe a land ownership "floor." with a minimum recommended farm size of 2 acres.

Various institutional arrangements are recommended to provide the advantages of scale economies to cooperating farmers. The Comilla Cooperative model pioneered by BARD appears to be most heavily favored in the literature. But "savings groups" and "farmer associations" are also commonly recommended. None, however, have had the temerity to recommend stock corporations and permanent partnerships with outside institutions as a solution to the problems of rural development (E.B. Wennergren et al, 1984; N. Ahmed, 1988; S.A. Khan, 1989).

Having made their prescriptions, whether making arguments from a "left" or "right" perspective, all the experts portray a "future" for Bangladeshi agriculture which is surprising for both its uniformity - and its pessimism. The leftists lament the fact that collective solutions appear unlikely, while rightists fear the same fate for "private" solutions. Both groups are in agreement that the likely solution will be a hybrid system of government controlled and selectively subsidized cooperative, NGOs, private suppliers and markets.

WOMEN IN BANGLADESH - A BRIEF REVIEW

Bangladesh is an overwhelmingly muslim country, and as with any such country, religious and social norms prescribe cloistering and veiling (purdah) of women in the homestead (bari). Purdah, in Bangladesh, has never had the hard edge associated with comparable practice in Pakistan and muslim states further to the west. This can, perhaps, be partly attributed to the moderating influence of the more liberal hindu attitudes concerning visibility of women. It is also attributable to necessity. Most families can no longer afford to practice purdah. Recent studies suggest that strict purdah is now practiced by no more than 20% of Bangladeshi muslim families, and these are typically at the wealthy end of the spectrum (F. McCarthy and S. Feldman, 1983, N. Kabeer, 1991).

There is significant disagreement among Bangladeshi rural development experts concerning female employment and willingness to seek employment. Official statistics (1974 national census) cite rural employment at 3.87% of the available female labor force, with an additional 0.12% said to be seeking employment. At the other extreme, as many as 25% of women are said to accept regular part-time and seasonal work, and more than 35% will work for food-for-work projects during times of severe local distress (F. McCarthy and S. Feldman, 1983). Regardless of the exact figures, there is a clear trend towards more families being willing to break with the restrictions imposed by purdah, thereby allowing more women to accept wage employment outside the bari.

Historically, the major earning activity for rural women was milling rice. The traditional method, involving use of a simple wooden "dhenki" in the home was consistent with the requirements of purdah. Increasingly, however, milling of rice is now performed in mechanized mills. This, more than any other single factor, has driven women out of the bari in search of work. Women now provide the primary labor inputs to such growing rural industries as brick-making and rural construction (primarily roads, bridges and embankments). Besides wage jobs in agriculture, however, household cash cropping of vegetables and production of handicrafts remain the most important sources of income for rural female workers.

Increasingly, women are also migrating elsewhere in search of work - usually to Dhaka, Chittagong or one of the larger district capitals like Khulna or Rajshahi - but also occasionally to India. This is having a profound impact on gender relations. Women are increasingly being called upon to handle cash and manage bank accounts in settings outside the predictable confines of the household. Up to a million unmarried women are now working in the burgeoning garment industry - usually supervised by men, and often called upon to return home after midnight. While once rejected as somehow "sexually tainted," these girls are now increasingly attractive to male suitors, both for their earning power and for access to whatever wealth they may have accumulated.

Traditionally Bangladeshi muslim women did not accumulate any wealth. The small inheritance allowed under islamic law was invariably claimed by (some would prefer use of the words "deferred to") a brother, cousin or other relative - in exchange for (dubious) assumption of responsibility by the claimant for the woman's welfare should she become widowed or be abandoned (N. Kabeer, 1991). Now, attitudes concerning asset accumulation are gradually changing. While the stimulus provided by the massive recent growth of the garment industry (growing from nothing to a $1.5 billion industry in a decade) has been a major contributor to this change, it is also continuously reinforced by the programs of the Grameen Bank, BRAC and virtually all medium to large NGOs.

The eventual impact this massive injection of female labor into the rural economy will have on the nuclear family, the extended family, the practice of Islam, and rural development in general - is uncertain. Judging from the short-term effects, however, the results should, in each case, be significant.

CURRENT FORCES FOR CHANGE IN BANGLADESH

The following discussion provides a brief description of the current principal development efforts in Bangladesh which include women as a special target group. The Grameen Bank and BRAC are generally recognized as the principal agents for rural change working in Bangladesh. Government development efforts and those of other NGOs will be briefly noted where appropriate.

Grameen Bank

The Grameen Bank (GB) is arguably the most powerful - certainly the most influential - change-agent for rural development in Bangladesh today. The Grameen Bank is based on the concept of providing poor people with collateral-free working capital loans to create a mechanism where landless people may generate productive self-employment. Initiating in 1976 as a Chittagong University research project, the Grameen Bank was later chartered by the Bangladeshi government as a formal lending institution (rural bank) to improve the lives of the rural poor. Since its inception, The Grameen Bank has continued to expanded at a rapid rate. By 1987 it had 298 branches servicing 250,000 households in 6% of Bangladesh's villages. Ownership of the bank is divided between borrower shareholders who hold 75% of the banks "shares" and the government with 25% (Hossain, 1988).

With few exception, the GB targets people who own less than .5 acres of cultivable land. Women, among the most disadvantaged group in Bangladeshi society, have been prominent among GB beneficiaries. At the end of 1986, 74% of all GB members were women and during that year 98% of new members were women (Rahman, 1986; Hossain, 1988). Collateral requirements effectively exclude women from all conventional credit sources. The Bank's policy of working in target villages has also eliminated the spatial constraint to women's involvement in credit programs. Also, by working directly with women through female loan officers they may now receive loans without any mediation by their spouses or male guardians.

The GB mode of operation is to bring banking services to the village doorstep through a network of rural branches and bank workers who work closely with small groups of borrowers. Potential borrowers form groups of five like-minded people who share mutual trust and confidence. Groups are made up of non-relatives of the same sex. Each group selects a chairperson and secretary from within the group to serve for one year. Chairpersons from the same village form male and female centers which elect center chiefs.

Members and groups must satisfy a number of conditions before loans are granted. First, after the group is formed it is closely observed for a month before any loans are disbursed in order to allow determination that members are conforming to GB protocols. Prospective borrowers must participate in a 7 day training period that promotes the understanding of banking procedures and responsibilities, health, children's education and other social development issues. Once all members demonstrate an understanding of all rules and procedures, two members of the group receive small one-year loans of no more then 5000 Taka (at a 25% interest rate) to be used for non-crop activities such as livestock and poultry raising, processing crops and small item manufacturing. Following two months of consistent weekly repayment (5% of their loans) by the first two, two additional members of the group may receive their loans. The group chairman is the last person to receive a loan. In addition to a weekly loan payment, the GB requires that each member save one taka each week in a collective fund managed directly by the group. This fund may be used by the group to provide loans to members for illness and social obligations. Only after all members have successfully paid back their loans under the strictly specified GB terms are any members eligible for repeat loans.

Despite the fact that the loans are transacted on an individual basis, the entire group is held accountable for all loans. This means if an individual defaults on the loan, all members of the group must repay the balance. These group guarantees exert significant peer pressure on individual borrowers to repay their loans. An outstanding default by any group member renders the entire group ineligible for future loans.

In addition to providing landless people with working capital to generate self-employment the GB in 1984 initiated a social development program entitled "sixteen decisions." The goal of this program is to encourage members to be disciplined, work hard and improve their living standards. The sixteen decisions promoted better housing and sanitation, the education of children, the abolishment of dowry marriages, and other codes of conduct members should follow in their daily lives. Although these 16 decisions are not officially mandatory, their observance has become a de facto requirement for receiving a loan (Hossain, 1988).

A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dhaka, in 1988 demonstrated that the GB achieved 98% loan repayment while succeeding in significantly alleviating poverty in its area of operation. This compares favorably with other government rural credit programs - primarily agricultural loans - which average between 20% and 30% loan recovery rates. (See footnote 7) An important additional finding of the BIDS study was that repayment by women, with respect to timeliness, was superior to that of men. At the time of the survey 81% of the women members had no overdue installments compared to male members with 74%.

The BIDS study found that GB members had 43% higher income than a comparable target group in a control village and 28% higher then a comparable group of nonparticipants in the project villages (Hossain, 1988). An earlier study in 1986 found that the GB loans increased the income of 91% of the borrowers (Rahman, 1986).

The impact of the GB on the circumstance of poor rural women was also studied by BIDS in 1986. The study found that female GB participants contributed more than one third of their family incomes, improved their standards of consumption and gained greater control in the family decision-making process. The study concluded that membership in the Bank, access to credit, access to fixed assets, and greater participation in productive activities gave women participants special status in the family (Rahman, 1986).

The GB success has been attributed to a variety of factors:

Intensive on site loan supervision by loan officers working closely with borrowers.
Group loan guarantees reinforced by strong peer pressure for timely repayment.
Group substitution on repayment to avoid default.
Rigorous field - oriented training for bank workers providing hands-on experience and personal insights into village life. This mechanism serves not only to prepare bank staff but it also weeds out workers who will not be able to meet the rigorous demands of their new postings.
Repetitive, regular and highly ritualized protocols - for both loan officers and borrowers.
Massive subsidies from international donor organizations - specifically IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) - which allows high levels of localized supervision without pushing interest rates beyond the "reasonable" or "feasible" range. (Although some would claim that 25% interest rates transcend "reasonable."
The question of long term feasibility and replicability of the GB model is an open one. First, there is the question if whether the Bank can provide groups loans for collective enterprises. It has had only limited success in the few such efforts undertaken to date. The inherent difficulty of managing large groups, combined with a loan officer corps generally unfamiliar with the underlying enterprise operations typically proves debilitating.

Given the requirement for close and intensive supervision of borrowers and the close participation of bank workers with borrowers, the GB's high operating costs, its ability to maintain its intensive services without subsidies from outside sources is questionable. Despite enormous subsidies, the GB has had to raise interest rates from 16% to 25% to meet escalating costs. Its huge cadre of once young and idealistic workers is, like any work force, beginning to age. Workers are getting married, having children - and looking for more security. They all want their wages to continue increasing. They want better benefits. They want to send their children back to Dhaka where they can get a reasonable education. They want better working hours and better working conditions. The dependency on subsidized loans and the earning of profits through their short term deposits with other banks does not provide a secure mechanism for future expansion.

Another possible constraint to GB expansion is the dependency on the personal leadership of the founding manager-director, Professor Muhammad Yunus. The GB program exhibits all the classic characteristics of the "charismatic leader" syndrome. While the GB has implemented modern management practices, including introduction of decentralized decision-making this may not adequately compensate for the early "spark" and "dedication" that was so characteristic of Grameen Bank transactions. Can the Grameen Bank gradually become simply a "well managed rural development bank with a good idea and still succeed as it once did? The answer is not obvious.

The GB's primary focus on non-farm goods and services may also prove to be a constraint for future growth. Agriculture employs 75% of the Bangladeshi labor force and generates 44% off GDP. The Grameen Bank simply cannot continue to avoid agricultural lending if it wishes to grow - and to increase the administrative efficiency of its lending program. In so doing it will inevitably come to more closely resemble may other lending institutions. The question is not whether it will have problems with its agricultural loans. It will. The real question is whether it will successfully mask its operations as those of an NGO - which the Grameen Bank has hitherto taken great pains to simulate - or whether it will be perceived by more experienced farmers as just another public sector agricultural lender - albeit in another guise. If the latter perception becomes pervasive, then the Grameen Bank will probably encounter the same problems as do its sick sister institutions.

The GB clearly cannot count on massive IFAD-type subsidies in the long run. Nor can it continue increasing interest rates as it has done in the recent past. Twenty-five percent is already considered by many experts to exceed "reasonable levels." Unless it fundamentally alters the basic lending mechanism for which it has become so famous, it has only one possible course of action: to increase the efficiency of its lending. This means using fewer bank assets (loan officer hours) to process more loan money. It means using larger and larger groups and spending less and less time with those groups. It means branching out into agricultural credit. It means dealing increasingly with male borrowers.

Recent evidence suggests that the Grameen Bank is no more successful than other institutions when it comes to providing agricultural loans to large groups of male borrowers. A major UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) project channeled through the Grameen Bank and targeted at rehabilitation deep tubewells has been a disappointing failure to date (personal communication - PRISM)

Despite these questions on the future viability of the Grameen Bank, the fact remains that it has had a profound impact on WID in Bangladesh. The GB has conclusively demonstrated that:

Participation as GB borrowers has provided poor rural women with enhanced access to assets and involvement in productive activities. This has, in turn, resulted in increased incomes and a higher standard of living for participating women and their families.

Participation as GB borrowers has elevated women's status, both within their immediate family and in the community as a whole. This has led to significant improvements in decision-making power at all levels.

Despite the existing socio-cultural barriers imposed on rural Bangladeshi women, as GB borrowers they have successfully and actively participated in and benefitted from their involvement in the GB program.

Despite reproductive responsibilities, women borrowers are nevertheless able to participate in and benefit from the GB program and its resulting productive activities.

Female activities financed by the GB loan typically yield a lower return then male activities (Hossain, 1985; Rahman, 1986). This may be attributed in part to the fact that a larger percentage of female loans are directly consumed rather than invested - due, no doubt, to the more intimate involvement by women with the exigencies of family. Nevertheless, despite the fact that repayment then places a relatively higher burden on women - i.e., part of the loan principal was never invested in a productive measure and therefore does not directly contribute to earnings - they have consistently demonstrated lower default rates than men (Rahman, 1986; Hossain, 1988).

Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee - BRAC

The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) is the world's largest non-governmental development service delivery organization in terms of number of employees. The Dhaka based organization was founded in 1972 but it was not until the early 1980s when BRAC implemented a nation-wide oral rehydration therapy (ORT) education project that it really "took off." The ORT project, seeking to lower Bangladesh's high infant mortality rate caused by diarrheal diseases, targeted women who are the principal family care givers by teaching them how to prepare and apply an oral rehydration formula. Remarkably, the project reached over 90% of its national target group - mothers with young children and potential mothers (Skillicorn, 1993).

BRAC has since greatly expanded both in size and in the scope of its primarily project-based activities. These now encompass the entire spectrum of the rural development agenda: health, education, rural credit, agriculture, fisheries, rural industry, handicrafts and other income generating activities. While women remain a primary target for BRAC, other disadvantaged sectors of Bangladeshi society have also become foci of BRAC activities. BRAC's main strategy to reach the poor concentrates on continuous motivation, functional education and economic support (Quddus, 1985). BRAC emphasizes a high degree of beneficiary participation in both its projects and its research efforts (Chambers, 1983).

BRAC's current mode of operation relies heavily on developing, within each "BRAC village" single-sex groupings from a common socio-cultural stratum. Employing mechanisms not dissimilar to those of the GB, BRAC uses these groups to channel credit and technical assistance to the rural poor. BRAC's income earning activities differ from those of the GB in that a) they emphasize group enterprise as opposed to individual activities; and b) they are planned around a single technical activity and typically involve heavy inputs of technical assistance.

BRAC groups are larger then GB teams, averaging between 15 and 25 members. Each group selects a chairman, a secretary, an assistant secretary, and a cashier. Following group formation , key members are chosen to receive 10 days of training on the basic methods of functional education and then asked to impart the information to the rest of the group. As with the GB, the groups meet on a weekly basis and members are required to deposit a minimum savings into the group's joint account (Quddus, 1985). The success of these groups relies on heavy supervision, education and the stimulation of income earning activities.

BRAC is now moving in the direction of developing for-profit subsidiaries also targeted at providing employment or commercial infrastructure for poor workers and farmers. For example, BRAC developed a potato cold storage industry which it directly operates as a for-profit institution, supply services to surrounding small farmers. This has enabled participating farmers to more than double their individual receipts from potato crops by allowing them to benefit from high off-season prices.

BRAC has become the largest supplier and distributer of high quality handicrafts in Bangladesh. The primary impetus for this comes from BRAC's chain of classy retail outlets where high quality handicrafts are sold primarily to middle and upper-middle class Bangladeshis. BRAC developed its own printing operations and is now one of the largest publishers in Dhaka. More recently BRAC has invested heavily in procuring failing garment industries, renovating them and turning them into profitable businesses. As a result, BRAC has now become one of the largest garment exporters in Bangladesh. In the same vein BRAC is also acquiring sick pharmaceutical industries and converting them to production of low-priced basic medicines. All of these activities heavily involve women, particularly the garment and handicraft industries which traditionally rely upon female labour. These for-profit activities provide income earning activities for the poor, while the profits provide BRAC with capital to reinvest in their development efforts (Skillicorn, 1993).

Recently, BRAC was also provided a government charter to convert its existing rural credit operations into the "BRAC Bank." While not yet as extensive, the BRAC Bank now provides a genuine alternative to the Grameen Bank.

Other NGOs

The GB and BRAC are emphasized in this discussion since they represent the most powerful and innovative forces for WID in Bangladesh today. However it is important to note the existence of numerous other nation-wide NGO'S in Bangladesh which also work extensively with women. These include the local branch of Catholic Relief Services (CARITAS), PROSHIKA, CARE, Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), The Kumudini Welfare Trust, Gonoshastra Kendra (GK) and the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) among others. Many of these NGO's promote women's cooperatives for income raising activities, training programs on productive skills, credit programs, health and family planning education programs, food for work programs, literacy programs, and kitchen gardens (Quddus, 1985; Skillicorn, 1993).

Government Development Efforts

The Government of Bangladesh has recognized the need to promote WID in its rural development programs. This is reflected in the objectives and strategies laid out in the government's Second and Third Five Year Plans (1980-84 & 1984-89).

Five Year Plan (FYP) objectives have concentrated on stimulating the participation of women in socio-economic activities through education and training, forming women's associations promoting activities that improve women's social and economic situation, and sponsoring activities aimed at improving children's lives.

FYP strategies have included: a) focusing on the home as the basic unit of production for developing cottage industries; b) providing credit through rural banking structures; c) establishing linkages between women's groups and private business organizations; and d) setting up a National Council of Women for policy formulation.

GOB programs targeted at WID issues laid out in the SFYP included the following specific programs: a) Skills Development Training and Production Centers for Women, b) Industry for Women Program, c) Children's Program, d) Women's Attitudinal Change Program, e) Women's Stipend/Scholarship program, and f) Women's Research Program. The Ministry of Women's Affairs undertook these programs through its affiliated organizations such as Shishu Academy (Children's Academy) and Jatiya Mohila Sangstha (National Women's Organization). Recently, the Women's Affairs Ministry was absorbed within the Ministry of Social Welfare. This was accompanied by dissolution of the Jatiya Mohila Sangstha, closure and lowered funding for other WID programs and a general decline in GOB emphasis on WID (Quddus, 1985).

GLOBAL WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

INTRODUCTION

Women comprise half the world's population. They account for 67% of all hours worked yet are officially counted as only 33% of the labor force. Despite their disproportionate contribution, women receive only 10% of the world's income and own less then 1% of the world's real property. Females constitute over 60% of the world's illiterates (World Bank, 1980; UN, 1979; Maguire, 1984; Momsen 1991). These global statistics, however, conceal the fact that circumstances facing women vary greatly from country to country, and by race, class, culture, and economic order within nations (Maguire, 1984). These statistics do, however, pose crucial questions: Why are women in this position? Why have most development efforts failed to improve this situation? The discussion which follows examines current themes in the Women in Development (WID) literature and develops a framework for analyzing those questions.

In order to understand the emergence of a focus on women in development it is important to examine it within the larger historical context of contemporary trends in international development. The first United Nations Development Decade (1960) concluded with an acute awareness of the need for a new approach to development. Early, pre-1970's, development models concentrated almost exclusively on increasing capital accumulation and GNP in third world nations. Conventional wisdom at that time held that the poor would inevitably benefit from the "trickle down" effects of this economic development. These early models, with their heavy emphasis on the cash economy, tended to ignore the value of women's economic contribution to national welfare (Brydon and Chant, 1989; Maguire 1984) while also failing to recognize any differential economic impact of development programs on men and women.

Brydon and Chant point out that, until the 1970's, programs oriented at improving rural productivity and living conditions had two principal design faults: (1) They did not take into consideration local knowledge of the environment or local business and agricultural methodology; and (2) they focussed primarily on heads of households, on the naive assumption that all households were headed by men and that women would necessarily benefit through the participation of their husbands, fathers or brothers. This had the effect of virtually excluding women from development programs thereby preventing them from realizing significant real benefits from the programs.

In the 1970's it became apparent that economic growth did not readily "trickle down" to improve the lives of the poor (Momsen, 1991; Maguire, 1984; Sen and Grown, 1987). This realization prompted a shift during the Second Development Decade to human resources development and a" basic needs" approach. This new approach concentrated on (1) increasing distribution of the benefits of development programs to the world's poorest people, while also (2) increasing their direct participation in development efforts (Maguire, 1984; Sen and Grown, 1987). Improvements in health, nutrition, water, sanitation, housing and education became the top priority (Sen and Grown, 1987). With this shift in emphasis development planners began to recognize that the participation of women was essential to the development process.

These early attempts to "integrate" women into development have been criticized as being gender-blind (Pepe Roberts, 1979 [Brydon] ) and based on a mistaken belief that women could be brought into existing development models without restructuring (Momsen, 1991). This approach has also been criticized for its assumption that women were not yet making full productive contributions to their societies (Blumberg, 1976; Maguire, 1984).

With the gradual realization that little was known about the true economic and social role of third world women - the extent of their normal day-to-day activities; their formal responsibilities to family, employers and society (Buvinic, 1982; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989) - development planners came to better appreciate the difficulty, and the importance, of designing projects incorporating women.

As priorities shifted during the second development decade the focus on women's issues at a global level became more pronounced. 1975 was designated "United Nations International Women's Year (IWY), culminating in the IWY World Conference held in Mexico City. The conference themes - equality, development and peace - were expressions of this new, global sensitivity to the role of women in development.

Patricia Maguire has summarized the outcomes of the IWY and other supporting WID events with the following observations:

United Nations actions:

Agreement on the Mexico City World Action Plan for Women;
Nominated the Decade for Women;
Set attainable Minimum Objectives for the first half of the Decade for Women;
Planned the mid-Decade Conference;
Developed the IWY Voluntary Fund; and
Proposed establishment of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.

Development Agency actions:

Established a common framework for WID goals and strategies;
Agreed on "integration" and "improved status" as WID goals;
Identified key obstacles to women's participation in development; and
Initiated internal WID machinery and developed internal emphasis on research and data collection efforts related to WID

Action and awareness elsewhere:

International attention on women's issues heightened;
Shift from equity to poverty approach and differentiation of the needs of Third World women from those of women in general;
Attempted declaration of feminism as irrelevant to WID;
Dialogue, primarily outside of development industry, leading to a) recognition of diversity of circumstances confronting women and b) acknowledgment of linkages between oppression of women and structural, racial and class issues; and
Strengthening and diversification of the informal international WID network.
(Maguire, 1984)

Other important events modifying the shifting focus on women's issues included:

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1967);

The inauguration of the UN Program of Concerted Action for the Advancement of Women (1970); and

The Percy Amendment to the US Foreign Assistance Act (1973) which recognized women's roles in production and development in Third World countries and placed an emphasis on the importance of funding programs which would "integrate women into national economies (Fraser, 1987; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

The United Nations Decade for Women (1975-1985) marked the international recognition of women's critical role in third world development (Brydon and Chant, 1989) and the need to include women in planning for development (Momsen, 1991). It gave impetus to NGO, PVO, UN special agency and national government efforts to design projects and programs oriented towards improving the socio-economic position of women. New ideologies and strategies for WID were devised and there was a significant increase and improvement in the collection and analysis of data concerning women (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Despite the new awareness and focus on WID brought about through the UN Decade for Women, there has been little apparent effect on the quality of life of poor women throughout the world. As the United Nations Decade for Women concluded with the 1985 Nairobi conference, it became apparent that for women, poverty, disease, illiteracy and unemployment had continued to increase throughout the third world (Momsen, 1992). Evaluation by development agencies of their WID efforts indicated that they too had not realized their stated goals of improving women's status. In fact it was acknowledged that, in some cases, women's lives had actually worsened as a result of those interventions. (World Bank, 1980, ISIS, 1983; Maguire 1984).

PRINCIPAL WID THEMES

The WID literature is characterized by several fundamental recurrent themes:

Recognition that the concept of "household" is critical to the analysis of gender roles in production - specifically the sexual division of labor. While all societies establish a division of labor by sex, the apparent lack of any "natural" basis for that division has resulted in significant cross-cultural differences (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989). These differences are most pronounced at the level of the household which is the point at which reproductive and productive relations intersect. The household is both the origin and primary destination of the deployment of labor and other resources by household members (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Comprehension of gender roles, the sexual division of labor, and the subordination of women requires recognition and understanding of the multiple roles women play in reproductive, productive and subsistence agricultural work. An understanding of manner in which women blend these disparate responsibilities, both within and outside the home, is vital to planning women's role in development (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

It is necessary to distinguish between women's "practical" and "strategic" needs. Most development projects fail to address strategic needs as this usually requires challenging the local political, cultural and social status quo. True empowerment of women and the achievement of fundamental change will require that development efforts address women's strategic needs in addition to their practical needs (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

There should exist a clear conceptual understanding of the role women play in economic life. Women are major contributors to the real productivity of their communities, but the nature of that contribution is often poorly understood and their labor contribution usually under-reported. Women's economic contribution worldwide is, with rare exception, inaccurately reflected in official national statistics. This directly translates into inaccuracies and distortions in the planning and implementation of development projects (Beneria, 1983; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989; Dixon, 1985; Boserup, 1986).

Economic development has had a differential impact on men and women. In many cases development projects are actually detrimental to the interests of women, aggravating the inequalities between the sexes and widening the gap between men and women's earning power (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989; Maguire, 1984; Boserup 1986; Sen and Grown, 1987).

Enhancing the status of women through improvements in women's education, training, and access to higher wage jobs is not only in the interest of women, but also in the interest in society as a whole - because the economic contribution of women is essential to the process of development (Boserup, 1986; Maguire, 1984).

GENDER AND THE RURAL HOUSEHOLD

A household is usually defined as a residential unit where members share domestic functions and activities. Households are focused primarily around managing the resources of the household head and (his/her) spouse (when there is one) and the maintenance of children. The distribution of inputs, benefits and activities may vary greatly among household members according to sex, age and ability (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

The concept of "household" is critical in the analysis of gender roles and relations. As stated earlier, it is the point of origin and destination for labor and resources where reproductive and productive relations meet. The household is the primary locus of the sexual division of labor and it therefore has the greatest effect in determining both the status and role of women in any society. Likewise, this suggests that the household should the first target for efforts aimed at (re)structuring gender roles (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Brydon and Chant argue for the use of "household" as an analytical construct in any examination of gender roles and relations - including the sexual division of labor and the status of women. There are, however, two principal limitations with the use of household as analytical construct.

First, the concept of "work" in the context of a rural household defies clear definition. (Brydon and Chant, 1989) Several authors draw a distinction between "productive" and "reproductive" when analyzing women's labor contributions in and outside the household. Reproductive labor is considered to have "use-value" and contributes to family subsistence while productive labor generates "exchange-value" - usually in the form of cash income. This creates some ambiguity as it is often difficult, at the margin, to draw a distinct boundary between the two (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant 1989). For example, Abdullah and Zeidenstein describe the case of some Bangladeshi women who do not work cultivating rice in the fields for later sale in the market, but they bear primary responsibility for preparing, storing and germinating seeds (Abdullah and Zeidenstein, 1982). Although this work may not be directly remunerated it does make an essential contribution to a crop which has exchange-value for the household.

The second difficulty with respect to use of household as an analytical construct concerns the wide regional variation inherent in such a definition. It is impossible to ascribe a precise definition to household that has valid application across all cultures. These differences are not only attributable to cultural variation. They draw significant variability from factors such as colonialism, new economic systems, and migration (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Despite these problems, household - as an analytical construct - remains arguably the most important tool in the analysis of gender roles and relations. Unless the "reproductive" and "productive" labor women contribute inside and outside the home is considered, it is impossible to gain a clear and valid picture of women's role in economic development. Further, without this information women cannot effectively be brought into the mainstream of economic development. And, without the active participation of women it is unlikely that any development effort can, in the long run, succeed.

GENDER AND RURAL REPRODUCTION

The concept of "reproduction" is largely ignored in national labor accounting despite the fact that it serves a vital economic function - formation, training and maintenance of human capital. Women's responsibility for reproductive work, which is carried out primarily in the household, is a major factor in the sexual division of labor; women's position in the labor market; and women's subordination to men. It is, therefore, crucial to look at women's reproductive work contributions when assessing the role of women in economic development and when planning their participation in the development process (Momsen, 1991).

The term "reproduction" has a wide range of connotations and definitions. Biological reproduction refers to childbirth and lactation while physical reproduction includes daily activities such as cooking, cleaning, and health care which contribute to maintenance of the labor force. Finally, social reproduction includes activities that contribute to social welfare - personal obligations to the community, maintenance of kinship relationships, collective education of children and development and maintenance of neighborhood networks (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989). Social reproduction also nurtures social mores, upholds the prevailing ideology and generally works to preserve and maintain the social and economic status quo. (Barret, 1986). In summary, reproduction is described as the transformation of goods and services for household use and welfare. (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Much of the contemporary thinking on women's status draws its inspiration from the early Marxist tenet that reproductive responsibilities are the primary cause of women's traditional subordination to men. Fredrick Engels, a close associate of Karl Marx, wrote The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, a work in which he asserted his belief that women's subordination, particularly in capitalist societies, can be attributed to their isolation from production - which he defined as remunerated labor (Momsen, 1992; Brydon and Chant, 1991; Maguire). Engels postulated that with the emergence of private property men accumulated wealth and, in an effort to secure identifiable heirs, took control of women's sexuality - relegating them to reproductive work to insure the survival of those heirs. With the advent of this monogamous family, women were excluded from remunerative public production and confined to what has always been considered the inferior position of the reproductive sphere. The resulting wealth differential within the family led to inequality between spouses - as it did between classes (Maguire, 1984).

Engels believed that increasing women's involvement in the productive sphere (wage labor) would result in an end to their oppression. Contemporary history shows this premise to be incorrect. Increased participation in the paid labor force has not resulted in significant relaxation of women's subordination (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989; Maguire, 1984) Instead, women's lower status has spread from the household to the productive sphere, where women are invariably given the poorest paid, least desirable jobs. Women have been required to maintain their reproductive responsibilities in addition to their growing productive or wage labor obligations, creating a "double burden."

While Engels believed that capitalist repression relegated women to the reproductive sphere, others attribute this to biological factors. They argue that women's subordinate status is reinforced by women's confinement to the domestic sphere due to gestation, lactation and child-care responsibilities (Lei-Strauss, 1969, 1972; Ortner, 1974). This argument is based on the notion that women's reproductive capacity condemns them to subordination (Brydon and Chant, 1989). Critics point out that these theories, reflecting as they do a culturally biased view of women's bodies, childbearing and child rearing as "constraining," are ethnocentric in the extreme (Roger, 1978; Brydon and Chant, 1989 pp.62).

Scholars offer differing rationale for the origin of women's subordination, but most accept that "reproductive" work is always accorded less value then "productive" work, leading inevitably to lower status and subordination for women who work primarily in that sphere.

A useful framework of analysis within which to discuss the lower status of reproductive activities is provided by the "exchange-value" versus "use-value" dichotomy. Productive labor normally generates cash income which is considered to have exchange-value while reproductive labor provides family subsistence needs and is considered to have use-value. Men normally dominate the former and women the latter. Typically use-value labor is considered to hold greater real value than exchange-value labor. While this analytical construct is useful it suffers from the same shortcomings as the "reproductive" and "productive" division of labor discussed earlier. At the margin, the distinction between "use-value" and "exchange-value" is often ambiguous. For example, subsistence farming is normally production for direct consumption. Surplus production may, however, be sold for cash which has exchange-value. (Brydon and Chant, 1989)

Despite the fact that reproductive labor is crucial to the health, welfare and survival of the world's populations, it continues to be undervalued and largely ignored at the project level. Development efforts in recent years have attempted to increase the participation of women. However, a lack of clear conceptual understanding of the role women already play in economic life and a failure to recognize the value of women's reproductive responsibilities has limited their successful participation in the development process. In order for women to actively participate in, and benefit from, development efforts - particularly those aimed at increasing women's income earning opportunities - programs and projects must recognize women's "double burden" and support them in reducing their reproductive labor loads. (Beneria, 1983; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989; Dixon, 1985; Boserup, 1986).

GENDER AND RURAL PRODUCTION

Third world women are limited in their choice of employment opportunities facing severe constraints in the productive sphere, in particular. As already noted, productive labor is often difficult to distinguish from reproductive labor. Subsistence agriculture, in which women provide a significant portion of the labor requirements, poses a particular challenge to this definition. While subsistence production is intended for direct consumption by the family, any surplus can be sold for cash. In a rural context subsistence production should more appropriately be considered income which has exchange value (Brydon and Chant, 1989). [This issue is dealt with in more depth in the following pages.]

A brief overview of factors which have been used to explain women's subordinate position and their difficulties in participating in the productive labor force are presented below:

Reproductive responsibilities Throughout the world women's participation in the wage labor force has been significantly lower then that of men, because women bear the primary responsibility for reproductive work - mainly involving child-care and domestic work.

Double burden Women often bear a double burden where they engage in both reproductive and productive work. (Brydon and Chant, 1989; Momsen, 1991). The double burden requires that they work significantly longer hours than do the men in their communities. Women, as a consequence, enjoy significantly less leisure time than men (Momsen, 1991).

Sexual stereotypes and discrimination Women are limited to a narrow range of low paying, less secure and low status jobs because of gender stereotyping and employment discrimination based on gender.

Skills and education Women have less access to training and education, in part due to the sexual division of labor. When determining choice of education for children, it is often felt that females will not need formal training or education as they will be wives and mothers performing primarily reproductive work. The resulting lack of education and formal skills inhibits women's access to better jobs in the formal job sector. It is important, however, to note that equality in access to education does not ensure equality in pay. In most cases women with equal education have difficulty competing against men for available jobs. And, having won a job they invariably receive lower wages than men performing comparable work (Brydon an Chant 1989, Momsen, 1991).

Higher cost of female labor In the modern industrial sector legislation typically requires employers to provide female employees with liberal maternity benefits. This has the effect of raising the cost of female labor, and is a factor now inhibiting hiring of women (Momsen, 1991).

Spatial separation between home and work place Women are constrained to accept outside employment where there is a large spatial separation between their work place and their home - where they usually still bear primary responsibility for reproductive activities. This issue is particularly relevant to women who live in cities. (Momsen, 1991)

Secondary earners The assumption that women are secondary earners, supplementing their family's income, limits their employment opportunities. This assumption ignores the ever-growing trend of female headed households - which now account for over 30% of all households worldwide (Maguire, 1984).

Patriarchy Men still control the power structures in the third world, thus ensuring the continued dominance of the male perspective - while also continuing to limit employment opportunities for women.

Traditional social and cultural values Traditional social and cultural values often dictate the types of employment women may hold while also imposing severe spatial restrictions on women. These two factors often make it impossible for women to pursue productive work outside the home. Traditional values, including local perceptions of honor (and/or dishonor) often provide the primary basis for resistance by husbands and fathers to women working outside of the home.

In addition to the factors described above, several, more comprehensive theories have been advanced to explain the persistence of women's subordinate position in the labor force. These can generally be grouped under the following headings (Momsen, 1989):

Neo-classical economic theories These theories attribute male-female earning differentials to women's lower level of education, family responsibilities, lower productivity, less experience, less physical strength and fewer working hours. Criticisms of these theories include the assumption that education can eliminate the wage differential. Neo-classical theories also assumes that men and women have equal access to jobs and compete on equal ground for jobs. Finally, neo-classical theories assume that gestation, lactation and child-rearing biologically restrict all women.

Labor market segmentation These theories assume that the neo-classical principles apply but within narrow labor market segments such as primary jobs and secondary sector jobs. Women tend to occupy the lower paid, lower security secondary jobs due to their higher absenteeism and turnover. This is attributed to female characteristics rather then the poor nature of the jobs. These theories further assume that gender roles are static, explaining in part, women's continued disadvantaged position in the labor market.

Feminist theories These theories focus on cultural and social factors which place women at a disadvantage in the labor market. Women's reproductive and productive roles are viewed as key variables as opposed to being a fixed conditions.

Female marginalization These theories hold that women's role in production becomes increasingly less important with capitalist industrialization in developing countries. They rely primarily on four key arguments to explain subordination of women in the work place:

Women are excluded from employment on the basis of their gender or characteristics assigned to their gender.

Women are confined to the margins of the labor market - receiving the lowest paid, most insecure jobs. They are virtually excluded from certain types of jobs - such as heavy manufacturing, for example.

Some jobs become feminized due to a high concentration of females in those jobs (receptionists, for example). A direct consequence of feminization is that affected jobs take on a lower status. Garment industry jobs are typical of this category.

The principle of economic inequality, which refers to occupational differentiation such as low wages, poor working conditions, lack of job security, and a lack of benefits, is implicitly accepted by most employers for jobs considered to be "women's work." (Brydon and Chant 1989; Momsen, 1991)

As with their efforts in the reproductive sphere, the work women do for wages (productive work) is largely undervalued. The primary rationale for underpaying women for their productive work is that their income is considered to be "supplementary" to that of their husband or father - the primary household bread winner. Despite the fact that productive labor normally is accorded greater value in most societies, women's participation in productive labor has not necessarily meant improved status or freedom from subordination for women. Development efforts oriented at improving women's status and standard of living through participation in remunerated "productive" labor must address the limitations women face in "productive" work in order to achieve success.

GENDER AND SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

Women play a vital role in agricultural production throughout the world, making a significant contribution to the basic productivity of their communities. This contribution is largely under-reported, however, and is seldom considered in the planning and implementation of development projects (Maguire, 1984; Boserup, 1986; Brydon and Chant 1989; Momsen, 1991). This failure of development projects to recognize women's crucial role in agricultural production has had a detrimental effect on the status of women, has had significant opportunity costs with respect to production increases, and has often resulted in the failure of projects (Brydon and Chant, 1989). Recognition of the key role women play in agricultural production is imperative for successful implementation of both non-agricultural and agricultural development projects.

In addition to their household reproductive activities, women in rural communities bear considerable responsibility for household agricultural production and processing. These activities, which include all aspects of crop production and processing, animal husbandry, seed preparation and storage and local cash crop marketing, arguably constitute a greater responsibility for agricultural production than that exercised by their male counterparts. For the purposes of this discussion subsistence agriculture will be considered as a third category of work distinct from reproductive and productive work. Subsistence agriculture is, in reality, an intermediate category of activity because while subsistence farming is normally for household consumption, the activity itself does not differ in practical terms from income-earning agricultural activity and in times of surplus produce may be sold for real exchange-value (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Earlier, the "double burden" of women was discussed in reference to their reproductive and productive labor responsibilities. Throughout many parts of the world, women bear the primary responsibility for subsistence agricultural production in addition to their household reproductive labor and other outside productive activities. In reality, we can refer to a "triple burden" when we add subsistence agricultural work to the reproductive and productive labor women carry out.

The degree to which women participate in agriculture varies throughout the world. There are a variety of theories and rationale to explain this variability. Ester Boserup in Women's role in Economic Development has proposed that the nature of the agricultural production paradigm of a region affects the level of women's participation which in turn determines women's status. Specifically, Boserup argues that in areas where shifting cultivation is predominant women perform most of the agricultural work and have a higher relative status. In areas where the plough is predominant, men perform relative more agricultural work and women have lower status. In irrigated areas, where farming is intensive and both men and women are highly involved in agricultural production, women's status, again, tends to be relatively higher.

Boserup postulates that modern agricultural methods introduced through development projects have had a detrimental effect on women by lowering their participation in agriculture and thereby lowering their status (Boserup, 1986). While Boserup's central thesis has been widely criticized, her work is considered a landmark in that it exposed women's vital contribution in agricultural production - something previously ignored by mainstream economists and development planners (Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Another factor affecting women's participation in agricultural production is the division of labor based on gender. Most farming systems have developed a gender-specific assignment of farming tasks. For example, men may tend to perform those agricultural tasks that require physical strength, are distant from the homestead and/or require operation of machinery. Women, on the other hand are more likely to perform time consuming tasks that require close attention, dexterity and repetition - such as weeding, for instance. Introduction of new technology or tools will typically alter the existing division of labor, with men generally assuming those tasks perceived as "complex" or involving operation of machinery.

Farm size also appears to be an important factor in determining the variability in women's participation in agriculture throughout the third world. In areas where small farms are predominant, women have a higher degree of participation than in areas where large land holdings are predominant (Momsen, 1989). This may be because smaller farms are geared more at subsistence production where larger farms are more likely to produce cash crops.

Cultural and class factors also affect women's participation in agriculture. In some cultures women's participation in fieldwork is looked down upon and associated with loss of status. In those cultures only poor, divorced, abandoned or otherwise outcast women - all of whom are typically considered to hold low status -work directly in the fields (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Another factor affecting women's participation in agriculture is male migration to the city. Inevitably, women who remain behind are required to pick up the slack - often finding themselves with insufficient time to perform the increased work load. In some cases this has led to under-utilization of land and/or underemployment of labor - and a drop in production resulting in increased poverty and malnutrition (Momsen, 1989).

Additionally, due largely to simple naivete, development projects have had a passive impact on women's participation in agriculture by exclusively targeting men. This is done on the assumption that, as in many western societies, men are the main agricultural decision makers (Momsen, 1989). In so doing projects exclude women from agrarian reform and training efforts - often widening the gap between men and women's earning power and lowering the relative status of women within the community.

POLICY, PLANNING AND WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT

Development planners have consistently failed to give adequate consideration to women's needs and have shown a marked predilection to ignore ideas put forward by women - despite the fact that women are central to the development process. This gender-blind attitude at the policy and planning levels has led to the exclusion of women from many projects or in some cases introduced negative effects on women. The following discussion examines the reasons underlying this failing at the policy level.

The most important reason for policy level bias against women is probably simple ignorance - an inability by development planners and bureaucrats to accurately conceptualize the role women play in their rural communities. There is, in particular, a pronounced tendency to underestimate the importance of reproductive activities carried out by women, it's value to family survival and its overall importance to the national economy. Many development planners have compounded this error of ignorance by restricting women's participation in projects to activities involving the household, childbearing and child rearing (Maguire, 1984) - thus serving to reinforce all the standard stereotyped biases against women.

Development analysts have suggested that the reason for the anti-women bias in development planning is that planners, often educated in US and British universities, typically superimpose projects with western values, ideologies and methodologies (Maguire, 198?; Brydon and Chant, 1989). This is not unexpected, because much of the conventional wisdom with respect to WID issues draws its inspiration from studies of women and gender in the first world. Implicit assumptions concerning rural woman also tend to reflect western values. For example, on the assumption - as in the developed western nations - that men are the primary agricultural producers and decision-makers, women have often been excluded from agricultural development projects. This, despite the fact that they may be the principal producers of the crop(s) being promoted. Another case of development planners superimposing western values, is when women have been excluded from projects on the assumption that all households are male headed. In fact, female-headed household are becoming increasingly common throughout the world (Maguire, 1984).

In order to overcome this problem, third world women must play a greater role in defining their own needs and planning and implementing development interventions. This requires the participation of third world women as researchers, policy planners, project staff and active participants in project implementation (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Another criticism of development planning is that it rarely addresses or even acknowledges the constraints of prejudice, traditions, gender inequities, stereotypes and sexism. These factors are believed by many analysts to represent the vary core of societies oppression of women, yet they are rarely openly considered in the planning or implementation of rural development projects (Maguire, 1984).

Many development planners have also failed to recognize factors such as race and class, which in addition to gender, are also at the root of oppression - of both men and women (Maguire, 1984).

Another factor development planners often to fail to take into account in their planning for national development is the effect on women of the wide-ranging economic restructuring efforts now being mandated by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These efforts typically include increasing production for export, raising local prices of basic goods, and services and reducing "inefficient" social welfare programs. The poorest sectors of the population, which is disproportionately female, tend to bear the heaviest, immediate burden of these restructuring adjustments (Momsen, 1991).

In conclusion, Patricia Maguire offers the following general constraints to efficient and effective WID programming and implementation in development projects Maguire, 1983):

Inadequate quantitative information about women A limited data base and lack of accurate statistics on women and WID issues limits the efficient implementation and evaluation of development projects.

Inadequate qualitative information and understanding of women's daily lives Stereotypes and misconceptions about women's lives, activities and economic contribution to their families and communities are common at the highest policy and planning levels. For example, as a result of the common perception of women as exclusively wives and mothers, they have been limited to participation in health, nutrition, family planning and education projects. In turn they are often excluded from projects which concentrate on developing areas such as agricultural, marketing, and management skills.

Lack of female staff and inadequate mechanisms for ensuring women's input into project development Staffing by women at the high decision-making positions is low. Also, participation by local women in projects is often limited due to cultural constraints, stereotypes and misinformation on the part of the project planners, the women themselves and the community.

Inadequate internal staffing by persons who understand and are commitment to WID programming Project staff sometimes have strong attitudinal barriers and have resisted including and targeting women in development projects.

Inadequate models and insufficient experience with WID programming to meet women's economic needs Despite the fact that women have most frequently identified their major need to be income, cash and wage employment (Maguire, 1983, pp. 44), the development industry has been slow to successfully address those needs. Many projects focused at income generating activities provide so few returns or pay such low wages that accepting the work the jobs provide is often not worth the additional burden they add to women's lives.

Inadequate commitment of financial resources to WID programming Despite increasing recognition of the need for WID projects and programs, the development industry has invested only a small percentage of its available resources for WID programming.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS:

The "Development Project" is a recent innovation, succeeding the "program" mechanism of the past. Reinforced by the major multilateral and bilateral development agencies and their economic aid funds, all developing countries now subscribe to some variation of project based development. The intention of the discrete development project format is to provide a consistent structure for planning, implementing and evaluating desired action. Terms such as "goals," "objectives," "logical framework," "objectively verifiable indicators," evaluation," "rate-of-return," and "net present value" have all become part of the common lexicon of the development community.

The United Nations Decade for the Advancement of Women served to motivate most large multilateral and bilateral development organizations, national governments and private NGO's to develop projects aimed at improving the economic and social position of women. The assumption was that by increasing women's participation in the development projects, women would improve their lives through enhanced access to resources, income, employment, and education. It has become clear, however, that participation in development projects has a differential impact on women, with the negative effects on women's social and economic condition often outweighing the positive wage gains - thus actually widening the inequality between men and women. The discussion which follows will examine: a) the relative advantages and disadvantages for women of various types of development projects, b) the general problem of women's participation in development projects, and c) problems concerning project evaluation.

General problems for women in development projects

Women are often excluded from participation in projects due to entry conditions that limit access by women. For example, conditions which require a regular income or include only household heads often restrict or disqualify women from participating in a given project.

As we have already mentioned, development projects typically fail to recognize the "triple" burden brought on women through their participation in a project. We have also noted that participation in projects often lowers the status of those women associating with it. In some islamic countries, for example, women who work outside of the home are often ascribed low-status. (Abdullah and Zeidenstein, 1982, Brydon, 1985 pp.112).

When analyzing WID projects it is necessary to establish whether projects address women's "practical" or "strategic" needs. Practical needs refer to immediate basic material needs such as food and shelter. Projects addressing practical needs of women often reinforce women's traditional roles and the existing sexual division of labor. Strategic needs are concerned with issues such as improving women's status, bringing about an equal sharing of resources between women and men, achieving gender equality at home and in the work place, and challenging the existing sexual division of labor.

Most development projects avoid addressing strategic needs because: a) doing so often involves the sensitive issue of challenging the political, cultural and social status quo; b) it requires a long-term commitment; and c) it competes with the more visceral "practical needs" of poor women who are concerned first with basic survival. Nevertheless, in order to truly empower women and bring about fundamental change, development efforts must address women's strategic needs in addition to their practical needs (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

"Top-down vs. "Bottom-up" projects

"Bottom-up" projects have been commended for their marked success, relative to "top-down" projects, in stimulating women's direct participation in the development process. Bottom-up approaches are often development efforts that have been initiated from within communities, by women themselves. Top-down development projects, on the other hand, are introduced by external authorities. Generally "bottom-up" approaches are thought to have a higher degree of beneficiary input and participation.

Top-down approaches have been criticized for failing to take into account women's views, attitudes, capabilities and constraints (Ahmad and Loufti, 1985 pp. 96). Bottom-up approaches, on the other hand, are considered by many to have a higher likelihood for achieving success as they are often based on women's own initiatives and include a high degree of local participation in their design as well as implementation ( Ahmad and Loufti, 1985; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Participation by women in the planning and implementation of projects is an important element in designing projects that truly benefit and address the needs of women. However, it is not a sufficient condition to ensure success. Bottom-down projects are usually disadvantaged by poor linkages to, and communications with, external groups. For example, an exclusively internal local initiative will typically encounter greater difficulty a) obtaining funding, and b) gaining access to technical and managerial expertise than an will an external initiative. Additionally, a bottom-up initiative is more likely to depend on volunteer time to accomplish goals. This is a problem for women who normally have little free time to volunteer.

It is an interesting question whether an externally introduced project can effectively practice bottom-up participatory techniques which directly involve beneficiaries in project planning and implementation. Such efforts may provide the advantages of external links to funding sources and technical expertise while simultaneously addressing the real needs of project beneficiaries.

Women-Only Projects

Another approach to including women in development projects is to create women-only projects. The advantage of this approach is that it can avoid conflict, resistance from men and cultural constraints on men and women working together. This type of project can provide women with a non-competitive, non-controversial environment where they can acquire skills and/or earn an income. It is also more likely that the needs and interests of women may better converge than in mixed gender projects. In general, women-only projects have a stronger commitment to women and are better able to reach women - thus promoting a high degree of participation by women, as both staff and beneficiaries.

Women-only projects also have serious disadvantages. First, many efforts directed at only women tend to be small, peripheral projects focussed primarily on practical family-needs. This has the effect, usually unintended, of rei

Shobuj Shona Evaluation

Enterprise, Asset Accumulation and Income Generation in Bangladesh:

A New Model for Women in Development

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

MAJOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT THEMES IN BANGLADESH - A BRIEF REVIEW

Common Prescriptions for Improving Agriculture in Bangladesh

WOMEN IN BANGLADESH - A BRIEF REVIEW

CURRENT FORCES FOR CHANGE IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee - BRAC

Government Development Efforts

GLOBAL WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

INTRODUCTION

United Nations actions:

Development Agency actions:

Action and awareness elsewhere:

PRINCIPAL WID THEMES

GENDER AND THE RURAL HOUSEHOLD

GENDER AND RURAL REPRODUCTION

GENDER AND RURAL PRODUCTION

GENDER AND SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

POLICY, PLANNING AND WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS:

General problems for women in development projects

"Top-down vs. "Bottom-up" projects