And if the Shoe Doesn't Fit? (Wear it Anyway): Economic Transformation and Western Paradigms of Women in Development Programs in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe Author(s): Kristen Ghodsee Reviewed work(s): Source: Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 3/4, Women and Development: Rethinking Policy and Reconceptualizing Practice (Fall - Winter, 2003), pp. 19-37 Published by: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40003318 . Accessed: 20/02/2013 14:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . The Feminist Press at the City University of New York is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Women's Studies Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions And If the Shoe Doesn't Fit? (WearIt Anyway) Economic Transformation and Western Paradigms of Women in Development Programs in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe Kristen Ghodsee Introduction1 Fromits inception in 1973, the Womenin Development(WID)paradigm of incorporatinggender into projectsfor economic growthhas dominatedthe developmentestablishment.Althoughthis model has been critiquedand modified over time,WIDscholars,advocates,and practitionerscontinue to dominate the field and to set the agenda in mostmultilateraland bilateralaid agencies,as well as in international nongovernmentalorganizations(NGOs)workingin the developing world.2Since 1989, with the fall of the BerlinWall,aid organizations haveattemptedto implementWIDtheoryand practicewithinthe former communistcountriesof Centraland EasternEurope.Despite the millionsof dollarsof aid dedicatedto gender programsand the hundreds of projectsthroughout the region, these efforts have met with limitedsuccess. Thisarticlewill brieflyexaminejust one of the possiblereasonswhy WID projects have failed to reach women in Central and Eastern Europe:the long-suppressedhistoryof WID-fundedprojects,which beyondliberalnotions of development,havealso servedas coverttools to stem the spread of Marxist ideology in the developing world. Traditionalaccounts of the integrationof women into Americanforeign assistanceprogramshave ignored the ColdWarcontext and the U.S. government'sfears that communistinsurgentswere successfully mobilizingThirdWorldwomenfor revolutionarycauses.In some part, the rootsof the WIDmodel are intricatelylinkedwiththe fight against global communism. Exploringthese roots will provideimportantclues as to why WID and its heir, Gender and Development (GAD), have been largely unsuccessfulin the formerEasternbloc countries.Centraland Eastern Europeansocialism and its legacies have not yet been totallyerased fromthe collectivesocialand culturalmemoryof the region'swomen, 19 This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 20 solutionsto manyof whom maypreferpoliticalratherthan "self-help" their economic plight. This important,yet forgotten historymust be reclaimedand integratedinto the wayscholarsand developmentprofessionalsstudyand theorize the WIDmodel. WID Aid to Eastern Europe The fall of the BerlinWallexponentiallyexpanded opportunitiesfor gender-relateddevelopmentworkin Eurasia.The sudden implosion of communismwasunexpected by scholars,politicians,and activists in both the Eastand the West.Feministsaroundthe worldwereequally surprisedby the momentouseventsthat came to markthe end of the greatestsocialexperimentof the twentiethcentury.Soon after,armies of democracyconsultantsand privatizationadvisersinvaded the former Easternbloc, riding a tidal waveof Westernaid (Wedel 2001). Gender experts and Women in Development advocatesand practitionerswere not far behind In the earlyyearsof the transition,Westernfeministscholars(both liberaland Marxist)began researchingand publishingabout the negativeeffectsthat economic transitionwashavingon women in the former communist countries (Corrin 1992;Einhorn 1993; Moghadam 1993;Funkand Mueller1993;Rueschemeyer1994;Alsanbeiguiet al. 1994). Some scholars also felt it was necessary to "bringthe Third Worldin"so that parallelsbetween the transitioningand developing countries could be drawn (Moghadam1993;Jaquette and Wolchik 1998;Kotzeva1999;Verdery1996). This researchsparkedthe active interestof the WIDdepartmentsof multilateraland bilateralaid agencies. These agencies, in turn, began offering grantstargetedto local women'sgroups as part of "civilsociety"building initiativesthroughout the region. After the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Womenin Beijing, cooperation among internationalwomen's agencies reached a zenith, and WIDexpertsin the nonprofitsector began to "discover"Eastern Europe. International women's nongovernmental organizationsbased in the Westrecognized the plethora of opportunities availablefor gender-relatedwork in the Central and EasternEuropeanregion and began applyingfor grantsto do projects and carryout studies."Feminist" networks,women'salliances,gender studiesprograms,and local women'sNGOshavemultipliedthroughout the former communistworld, and manymillions of dollars have been spent on consciousness-raisingactivities,conferences, and gender assessments(Greenberg2001). This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 21 For the most part, however,these activitieshave been unsuccessful in creating a broad-basedwomen's movement in any of the former communist countries, even as women's statushas continued to decline (Einhorn 1993; Holmgren 1995; Gal and Kligman 2000a, 2000b). In the few areaswhere EasternEuropeanwomen have seen their status improve in the wake of the privatization of their economies, this has had less to do with Westernaid effortsand more to do with the historicallegacies of women'sposition under the previous regimes (Fodor 1997; Szalai 2000; Ghodsee 2003). Furthermore,women's NGOs and feminism in general have been met with great skepticism not only by the Eastern European societies as a whole, but specificallyby the women in these societies (Kay 2000; Sperling 1999; Gal and Kligman 2000a; Grunberg 2000; Richter 2002;Jalusic and Antic 2000). Citizens in these countries were also warybecause they felt that local NGOswere controlled by foreign donors and therefore had little legitimacy (Snavely and Desai 1994; Ottoway and Carothers 2000; Mendelson and Glenn 2000, 2002). ManyEastern European women feel that feminism is an alien ideology that does not addressthe real needs of women in post-communistcountries. These same frustrationsand misunderstandingsbetween Eastand Westhave been cited by many other feminist scholars and activists throughout the region (Funk 1993;Drakulic1993).This essay,however,will focus on trying to untangle whyWIDand GADparadigms designed to incorporate women into capitalist development have had such a hard time taking root in Central and Eastern Europe. Manymisunderstandingsmight stem from incomplete accounts of the history of WID and GADin the United States and the developing world.Without a nuanced explorationof how the threatof communism in the "ThirdWorld"propelled the incorporation of WID into the development efforts of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an understanding of the underlying tensions that hamper successful cooperation between women born and raised on either side of the capitalist-socialistideological divide will be obscured. Historyof WID Workfor the Revolution is moreimportant than my marriage. Will thefamily disappearas a result?Fidel says, "Onlylove will hold thefamily of thefuture " (House of Representatives 1971) together. This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 22 Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3&4 Manyscholarsof WIDmarkthe beginning of the field with the publiRolein cation in 1970 of Ester Boserup's landmarkbook, Women's Economic Mosse 1993; 1983, 1984, 1990; (Tinker Parpart Development 1995). They also cite the general influence of the United States women's movement on the United Nations and the international developmentcommunity.Then there wasthe growingrecognitionof the failure of traditional development models in the Third World, which created industrial"growth"at the expense of social harmony and increasedpoverty.Takentogether,these factorsled to the inclusion of Section 113 in the 1973 amendment to the 1961 Foreign AssistanceAct; this Percyamendmentofficiallyincorporatedwomen into U.S. aid programsfor the firsttime. Other scholars (Kabeer1994) recognized that the general atmosphere of social unrest and protest, both domestically and internationally,that markedthe late 1960s and early1970smayhave shaped the ideas and opinions of the development community.Radicalcritiques, such as dependency theory coming out of Latin America, forced development practitionersto rethink their goals and priorities, and ultimatelyto considerthe plight of those left out of more traditional development models that were focused exclusively on economic growth. Yetin addition to the factors mentioned above, it is important to rememberthat the field of WID,like the projectof ThirdWorlddevelopmentitself,wascreatedpartiallyin responseto fearsof the spreadof worldcommunism.3In the context of the ColdWar,the United States' recognition of women as an importantconstituencyin development mayhavehad less to do withgenuine concernaboutthe unequalhardships that modernization produced, than with the perceived threat posedby communistswhoweresuccessfullymobilizingdisenfranchised women (and ruralpeasants)for revolutionarycausesthroughoutthe developingworld.This is not to saythat the WIDscholarsand activists themselveswere promotingWIDas a wayto fight Marxistideologies, but thatthe U.S. government'sfearof communismmayhavebeen one importantreasonwhythe PercyAmendmentwasacceptedby the overwhelminglymale congressin 1973. Moreover,funds to supportWID programmingshould be seen as partof a largershiftfrom direct militaryaid to more sociallyorientedtypesof aid thatthe 1973amendment to the 1961 ForeignAssistanceAct accomplished. The historyof howandwhywomenbecameintegratedinto the internationaldevelopmentestablishmentin the contextof the ColdWarhas been largelylost. Reclaimingit will,in some smallway,assistboth scholars and practitionersin understandingwhy so many problems arise This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3& 4 23 when WIDprojectsare transplantedfrom the ThirdWorldto Eastern Europeansoil. After all, if WIDas a developmentparadigmwasproducedin responseto the perceivedsuccessesof socialistand communist countriesin grantingwomen greaterpoliticaland economic rights,it might provedifficultto applythe samemodel to the verywomenwho werebeneficiariesof the socialistsystemthatthe WIDmodelwastrying to displace. The Birthof Developmentand "BasicNeeds" The goalsof foreign aid to the ThirdWorldwerebound up intimately with the Cold Warand the need to suppresscommunistuprisingsin the newlyindependent statesemerging from colonialism acrossthe of the Soviet globe (Leebaert2002). Indeed,the rapidindustrialization Union and other Easternbloc countriesthatemployedthe communist model served as a powerfulexample to new nations hoping to modernizeand catchup withboth the Firstand SecondWorlds.One of the foundationaltexts of developmenteconomicswasWalterW.Rostow's StagesofEconomicGrowth:A Non-Communist Manifesto(1960) . This book outlineda progressive,linearpathto economicdevelopmentthatrelied upon and celebrated individualism,entrepreneurship,and private propertyin contrastto the communal,centrallyplanned,state-owned economiesof socialistand communistmodels. The allureof communistideologiesin the developingworldbecame especiallyrelevantduringthe VietnamWarand the United States'failure to "save" the SouthVietnamesefromsocialism.No one understood the consequencesof communismin the developingworldbetter than one of Rostow'scolleagues in the KennedyandJohnson administrations, Robert S. McNamara.Fresh from his tenure as secretary of defense afterhavingfallen out withPresidentJohnson overAmerican involvementin Vietnam (McNamara1995), McNamaraassumedthe presidencyof the WorldBankin 1968. He had spoken and published widelyon the idea that povertybred communism,and that the only wayto fightsocialismaroundthe worldwasto raisethe livingstandards of the poor and to soften the worstinequalitiescreatedand perpetuated by capitalism(McNamara1968). He writes, Giventhe certainconnectionbetweeneconomic stagnationand the incidence of violence, the yearsthatlie aheadfor the nationsof the southern half of the globe look ominous. This would be true if no threat of Communist subversionexisted, as it clearly does. Both Moscow and Peking, however harsh their internal differences, regardthe modernizationprocessas an ideal environmentfor the This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 24 2003:3 & 4 Women 'sStudiesQuarterly growth of Communism. ... It is clearly understood that certain Communistnations are capable of subverting,manipulatingand finallydirectingfor their own ends the whollylegitimategrievances of a developingsociety.(1968, 147-148) McNamara'sthirteen-yearpresidencyof the WorldBankusheredin an era of lending for projectsbased on a new paradigm- one called "redistribution with growth"by the WorldBankand "basicneeds"by the United Nations.This new paradigmfocused on improvingthe living standardsof the poor. WorldBanklending would increase from $883 million per year in 1968 to $12 billion per year in 1981 when McNamaraleft the bank (Leebaert2002). This new focus on human development saturatedthe development establishmentand fundamentallyaltered developmenttheory and practice.4Insteadof focusing effortson buildingroads,dams,factories,and airports,the World Bankand USAIDbegan funding such things as waterwells, primary schools, and hospitals. Special attention was given to those who had been previouslyleft out of development'smodernizationefforts:poor, ruralpopulations and women. These twogroupswere particularlyimportantbecauseof their vulnerabilityto communistco-optation.On February16, 1962, a classifiedtelegramfrom the Americanembassyin Thailandwarned that the communist National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnamhad begun to infiltratethe south through the formation of "variousaffilists[sic]bodies,"includingthe LiberationFarmer'sFront and the LiberationWomen'sFront (Departmentof State1962).While a September 1966 intelligence memorandum, "TheOrganization, Activities,and Objectivesof the CommunistFrontin SouthVietnam," includeda list of the leadersof Hoi Phu Nu GiaiPhong, the liberation women'sorganization,withdetailedbiographies(CentralIntelligence Agency [CIA] 1966). This list demonstratesthat the CIArecognized women as importantleadersof the communistmovementand marked them as potential enemies.5Another CIAreport spoke of the "usual array of"mass organizations (women's, youth, peasant and labor groups) (1972, 47) that the Vietnamese communistsmobilized for their own ends. The dedication and mobilization of Vietnamese women as soldiersfor the communistcause (Turley1972) must have also concerned the U.S. government. Between 1970 and 1974, the Committeeof InternalSecurityof the House of Representativesof the United StatesCongressheld a series of hearings,the Theory and Practiceof Communism.These hearings were held because the U.S. governmentfelt that This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 25 there existsa world-wideCommunistmovementwhosepurposeit is by espionage, sabotage,and other means to establisha totalitarian dictatorshipin countries throughout the world . . . and that the Communistorganizationin the United States,togetherwith other circumstancesof the internationalCommunistmovement,presents a clear and present dangerto the securityof the United Statesand the existence of Americaninstitutions.(House of Representatives [HR] 1970, 4631) The U.S. government had to acknowledge that women were an integral part of this clear and present danger. Testimony presented at the hearings supports the idea that women's organizations such as the Third World Women's Alliance and the Women's International Democratic Federation were considered "communistfronts," "founded and supported at all times by the international communist movement" (HR 1974, 2693). Moreover, the devotion of women in Cuba to Fidel's communism (Smith and Padula 1996) was yet another example of how leftist parties were successfully able to integrate women into revolutionary causes. A pamphlet prepared by two American women active in the U.S. women's movement and included in exhibits for the hearings demonstrates that communist governments had already included women in development - well before the capitalist world: In everyCubanneighborhoodwomenget togetherto discusstopics ranging from Jose Marti to day care, and from the struggles in Vietnam to problems of picking citrus fruits. Largerunits of the Federation[of CubanWomen]organizewomen'sworkbrigadesto combat on one front or another Cuba's number one problem: underdevelopment.(HR 1971,5569) As the 1970s progressed, there were growing references to the role of women in the developing world. In later testimonies given in support of further incorporating women into USAID's projects and for soliciting funds from Congress to support the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women, advocates argued that women were essential for carrying out a basic needs paradigm of development (HR1978). In fact, the Percy amendment was part of a foreign policy trend away from direct military intervention toward indirect economic interventions in developing countries. This new strategy coincided neatly with McNamara's call for poverty alleviation as a way to fight communism. Thus, if women were essential to basic needs, and meeting basic needs This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 26 Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 &>4 was essential to fighting communism, then women were essential to fighting communism.6 The imperativeto integratewomen into the developmentprocess turns out to be not a productof Americanfeminism,as some have implied, but growsorganicallyout of the situationof poor women and the needs of development.The everydayactivitiesof the world's poor women intersect with a basic human needs approach. (Elsa Chaney,testimony,cited in HR 1978,9) A good illustration of the possibilities of a new women's focus on development (and one rarely mentioned with reference to the birth of the WID paradigm) was the very important role played by Chilean women in opposing Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile between 1970 and 1973. After the Popular Unity's rise to power and its wholesale nationalization of the economy, Allende's three-year stint in power was punctuated by parades of women banging spoons on pots and pans to protest severe food shortages. This ultimately lent support to the U.S.-backed coup that brought Ugarte Pinochet to power (de los Angeles Crummett 1977; Townsend 1993). In the March 7, 1974, testimony of Hermogenes Perez de Acre before the Committee on Internal Security, the Chilean professor is asked directly about women in Chile, "Youmentioned that the women had a demonstration with regard to pots and pans. Did the women play an important role with regard to the downfall of Allende's government?" Perez de Acre then explained in detail how women's "resistance to Marxism was much more than the one from men" (HR 1974, 2556). In an exhibit attached to this testimony, there is a newspaper article entitled "Women and Their Fight for Chile," which states: Undoubtedlythe role playedby Chileanwomenwasone of the most decisivefactorsin the fightagainstMarxistoppression.. . . There can be no doubt that the women of Chile, of all ages and conditions, were the first to realize the crisiswhich afflictedour country. (HR 1974, 2639) The political actions of El Poder Feminino in Chile proved definitively that women, if incorporated into a capitalist development paradigm, could be very valuable allies in the fight against socialism. Therefore, although the women's movement in the United States and Boserup's book were certainly influential voices, these brief examples demonstrate that the Cold War context must be considered when This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 27 unravelingthe creationmythssurroundingWID.I will, however,reiterate here that the women who were advocatingfor WIDhad no visible interestin using women as a tool againstcommunism.The focus needs to be shifted to the U.S. government. Wasthe government's receptivityto WIDinspiredby altruisticconcernsregardingthe moral imperativesfor grantingwomen equal rightsand resources,or wasit motivatedby the perceived threat of communistinfiltration?WID's underlyingallianceto capitalismand its incorporationinto mainstream developmentwouldeventuallyopen it up to sometimesharshcriticism. Women and Development, Gender and Development Two other models of incorporatingwomen into economic development, both of which censured WIDfor its liberal feminist and First Worldbiases,subsequentlycritiquedthe WIDparadigm.The firstcritiquewasa neo-MarxistperspectivethatattackedWIDbasedon its ideological adherence to capitalism. The Women and Development (WAD)school believed that only with radical,systemicreform could women benefit from development.7 WAD theorists (Rubin 1975; Maguire1984) would frequentlypoint to the advancesof women in communistcountrieswhere the statehad abolishedprivateproperty. In termsof the traditionaldevelopmentestablishment,however,WAD wasfar too radicalof a critiqueto be taken seriouslyin development practice. It fundamentallyattackedthe capitalistsuperstructureof developingsocieties,the verycapitalismsthatdevelopmentwastrying to preserve. Proponentsof the GADparadigmleveleda second line of criticism. Muchas women of color mountedan attackagainstthe white,middle classfeminists of the "SecondWave"8in the United States,so Third Worldwomen claimed that the WIDparadigmexported FirstWorld feministvaluesthatwerenot applicableto theirlivesand experiences.9 ThirdWorldwomen in conversationwith FirstWorldwomen created the GADparadigmin order to modifyand makeWIDmore relevant to their lives (Mosse 1993;Visvanathanet al. 1997). GADprojectsare supposedto be more participatoryand sustainablethanWIDprojects, often working to mobilize women at the proverbial grass roots. Furthermore,GADrecognizesthatwomenin differentcountries,even in different regions within countries, mayhave very different goals. GADstrategiesfor development,therefore,are more variedand flexible. Despite these modifications, GADtheory and practice is compatible with WID in that it neither fundamentally challenges the capitalist model nor seriously considers a class-based analysis of women'soppression. This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 28 Women's StudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 into developmentprojects Today,gender has been "mainstreamed" at most multilateraland bilateralaid agencies,and grant-fundingfor gender-relatedprojects has increased exponentially.10What is relevant to our discussion is that although WIDhas been critiqued and modified over time, one of its centralgoals has essentiallyremained unchanged: the incorporation of women into capitalist models of development. Indeed, the WIDmodel mayhave been accepted precisely to contain the spread of communist ideologies. Because of this, the design of WIDprojectsin former socialistcountries cannot understand,in fundamentalways,the needs and concerns of women there. They fail to provide useful strategiesfor women's "development" because they are unable to identify underlying social and political tensions. WID/GAD Projects in Central and Eastern Europe aid projects Althoughthere are manyexamplesof less-than-successful in Centraland EasternEurope (Wedel2001), in the interestof brevity and space,I willonlyfocuson twospecifictypesof WIDprograms.One exampleinvolvesthe ubiquitousWID/GADpromotionof microcredit schemesfor women and/or their supportof women's entrepreneurship. Microcreditbanksextend smallamountsof capitalto groups of poor women. These women either use the money to meet immediate basicneeds or to investin some small,income-generatingprojectthat willallowthem, afterhavingmade a profit,to repaythe money.Profits are then used to payfor basicneeds or savedand then put to use productivelyin some furtherincome-generatingscheme.A typicalexample of a WID-typemicrocreditscheme is the SocialEntrepreneurship Centerin Plovdiv,Bulgaria,funded by the EuropeanUnion's PHARE AccessProgram:"Thegoal of the projectis providingopportunityto unemployedwomen to integratein new economicconditionsthrough trainingon startingtheir own businessas an activestrategyfor living standardincrease [sic]"(NGOResourceCenter2002). Supportfor women'sentrepreneurshippicksup where microcredit schemesleave off. Once women haveenough capitalto move beyond meeting basic needs, they need to be given the trainingand encouragement to start their own businesses. The hope is that these businesses will be sustainable and will realize a continuous stream of profits,which- in turn- will allow these women to meet their basic needs, reinvestin their businesses,and eventuallybe able to consume nonessential goods and luxuryitems. In other words,these kinds of projectshelp women become good entrepreneurs(i.e., capitalists),so This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 &>4 29 that they can support themselves, and ultimately "getahead" (i.e., become consumers). A studyfor the MicrocreditSummitCampaign(Chestonand Kuhn 2002) found that women in EasternEurope "lagfar behind"women in otherpartsof the worldin microcreditparticipation.RecentUSAID Gender Assessmentshave also found that women are far less likely than men are to takeadvantageof microcreditin Bulgaria(Nailsand Arnold 2001) and Romania (Rosenberg and Arnold 2002). In Romania,the authorsfound thatalthoughwomen ownedor managed approximately44 percentof all businesses,women accountedfor only 2.7 percentof the totalamountof moneyloaned (loanvalue) in 1999. The studysuggeststhatlow levelsof lending to women might indicate "areluctanceof women to borrowmoney,"and recommendsfurther researchon the issue. In Bulgaria,there are at least twelvedifferent sourcesfor microlending and here too, women consistentlyborrow less than men.11Even when programs are specifically targeted to women, many women are reluctant to participate, even if loan amountsare relativelysmall.Although there has been an increasein businessesin recent years,there is little women-owned-and-managed evidence to demonstratethat this activityhas been a result of microcredit schemes. Overall,microcreditin the region has met with very limited success. The firstpart of the problem is the very definition of basic needs. In the prototypicaldevelopingcountry(the firstMicrocreditBankwas in Bangladesh), the women needed the moneyto meet the most basic needs of food, water,and shelter.These were thingsthat the statehad never provided,and the shift towarda more market-driveneconomy had further reduced in supply (Boserup 1970; Goulet and Hudson 1971;Mende 1972). These women neverhadjobs in the formaleconomy,few of them had educations, and manywere illiterate. Despite this,developmentpractitionersfound thatwomenwereveryresourceful withsmallloans, and thattheymostoften used the profitstheyrealized to increase the welfare of their families. As access to money increased,women used the profitsto accessthe fruits of modernization: medicines, fertilizers,seed varieties,electricity,education, and more. Thesewere "needs"newlycreatedby developmentthroughthe importationof Westerntechnologies and Westernideas about universaleducationand "modern"living.Microentrepreneurship allowed women to have access to the benefits of a modernizing economy. In these circumstances, microcredit was a revolutionary strategy for empoweringwomen and incorporatingthem into the formal, developing economy. This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 30 Women's StudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 The problemwiththismodel in Centraland EasternEuropeis multifaceted.Whereasin the ThirdWorld,"needs"wereimportedby "successful"developmentprojectsand microcreditand entrepreneurship helped women to meet those needs, in the socialist context these "needs"alreadyexisted (at least rhetorically)as the basic rightsand entitlements of the citizen. In other words,the introduction of "modern"technologies and institutionsin most communistcountries (i.e., universaleducation,Westernmedicine and health care, modernized agriculture,heating,electricity,etc.) wasintimatelybound up with the idea that it was the state'sresponsibilityto providethem without cost to society.The communist or socialiststate legitimatedits existence through the provision of these goods and services to all citizens (Verdery1993). Indeed, one of the greatestachievementsof the communistcountrieswasthe high level of human developmentthat they achieved.This was one of the core Marxistcriticismsleveled at capitalism:that although communist and socialistcitizens may not have been "free,"theywerecertainlynot hungry,uneducated,or unhealthy. In the post-socialist period,theserightsand entitlementshaveall but The disappeared. collapseof the communiststateshas relegatedthese to the status of "needs"for the firsttime in the historyof many "rights" of these countries.This, for example,means that countriesthatwere electrifiedunder communismnever had electricitythat was not provided by the state as a public good. In other words,electricitydid not exist in many places before it was introduced by the communists as proof of successfulmodernizationby the "dictatorshipof the proletariat."12 In the Firstor ThirdWorldcontext,wherefor the most part these thingswere alwaysconstructedas needs (althougheven capitalist stateshave grantedmanysocial entitlementsat differenthistorical periods), programs and projects to support women's "self-help"in regardsto meeting these needs are more likelyto be successful.In the Central and Eastern European context, however,microcredit and women's entrepreneurshipprojectswill be less easilyimplemented. Manywomen have not fundamentallyacceptedthat it is their responsibilityto meet these needs in the firstplace. Womenin Centraland EasternEurope might have incentivesto workfor consumeritems or to savemoney to travelabroad,but manymight resistthe idea of taking loans to start businesses to earn money to pay for the very same thingstheyonce hadwithoutcost,especiallyif theyare expected to pay interest on the money they borrow (which can be as high as 26 percent). Studieshave confirmedthatwomen are less likelyto starttheir ownbusiness(UnitedNationsDevelopmentReport2000), and the fact thatwomen in Centraland EasternEuropeare stillmore likelyto vote This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 & 4 31 for left-leaningor outrightcommunistpartiesdemonstratesan intransigentresistanceto capitalism(JalusicandAntic2000). WID/GADprojects aimed at alleviatingwomen's povertybased on microcredit or entrepreneurshipprogramsfail to realize that Centraland Eastern Europeanwomen maypreferto put their energiesinto finding political solutionsto their rapidlydeclining standardsof livingratherthan participatein a systemwithwhich theyfundamentallydisagree. Furthermore,WID/GADprojectsoftenfail to recognizethatCentral and EasternEuropeanwomenare highlyeducated,withmanyyearsof participationin the formaleconomy.Indeed, the formercommunist countriescould once boastof the highestlabor-forceparticipationrates forwomenin the world.A furtherassumptionor misconceptionis that Centraland EasternEuropeanwomenare not concernedwithpolitics. On the contrary,Centraland EasternEuropeanwomen are politically savvyand incrediblydiscerningabout the politicalprocess.Manyprojects based on increasingwomen'sactivitiesin politics,therefore,are also meet with resistanceor simplygo unnoticed. For instance, throughout the region, there are severalgrantsfor local NGOs to organize high-profile media campaigns to increase women'spoliticalparticipation.13 These grants,usuallyoriginatingin the United States and Western Europe, are given to local NGOs (whosedirectorsdisturbinglyoften do have the "right"politicalaffiliations) to advocatefor "democracypromotion."Howeverlegitimate the need to encourage women to take part in the political process, many Central and EasternEuropean women believe that advocacy campaignsto "getwomen to the polls"are partisanefforts and that foreigngovernmentsuse localNGOsto promotepoliticalpartiesfavorable to the funders' interests. Furthermore, Central and Eastern Europeanwomen mayview notengaging in politics as a political act. A more useful project might explore why women are not involving themselves in the polity, rather than simply assuming that getting women to vote and stand for election (in a politicalsystemthat they do not yet believe in) is somehowintrinsicallyin their own interests. In the twobrief examplesgiven above,it should be clearthat some WID/GADprojectseffectivelypromotewomen'sintegrationinto the capitalistsystem,and activelydiscouragethe creationof a more socialistic, welfare state closer to the Scandinavianmodel. Neither of the paradigmsis sensitiveto the politicalsophisticationor ideologicalhistoryof Centraland EasternEuropeanwomen, manyof whom are still tryingto negotiate their roles in societyafter 1989.A more appropriate paradigmfor womenin Centraland EasternEuropewouldbe one whichdoes not assume,a priori,thatfree-marketcapitalismis the only This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 32 Women*sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3 &f4 possible model for successful economic growth- not necessarily because this is not true, but because Centraland EasternEuropean women mayhaveyet to believe it. Furthermore,WIDscholars,practitioners,and advocates(Tinker1990) need to recognizethatessentially free education,health care, child care, electricity,centralheat, water, public transportation,etc., were and may remain basic rightsin the popularimagination.ManyCentraland EasternEuropeanwomenfeel that these entitlementswere takenawayfrom them withoutadequate compensation- "freedom"hasyet to paythe bills.Projectsto address the needs of womenmayneed to includepolitically"dangerous" strategies to help women decide for which "needs"they will work and for which "rights"they will fight. Only then will internationalefforts to raisethe livingstandardsof women in Centraland EasternEuropebe both sensitiveto the social and politicalhistoryof the region and relevant to the daily struggles of women living through a most tumultuous (and often uninvited)period of economic transformation. NOTES 1. The author would like to thank Irene Tinker for her comments and encouragementand Ed Leijewskiat the WIDdepartmentof USAIDfor takingthe time to considerand commentupon my ideas. and 2. The terminologyused to referto differentregionsof the "developed" "developing"worldshas changedover time and displaysparticularaffiliations with specificdevelopmentparadigms.In this paper,while recognizing the politicalimplicationsof differentterminologies,I will use the termsFirst,Secondand ThirdWorlds,core and periphery,less-developed countries (LDCs), and the globalsouth interchangeably. 3. ArturoEscobar(1995) has done an excellentjob of discussingthe Cold Warcontext of developmentas a whole. 4. McNamara 1973; Chenery et al. 1974; World Bank 1975; and InternationalLaborOrganization1976were all influentialpublicationswhich legitimizedthe idea thatpovertyalleviationwasan essentialgoal of development. 5. Similarlistsof womenin left-leaningwomen'sorganizationsaffiliatedwith the PartaiKomunis Indonesia(PKI)wereincludingin the liststhatthe CIA handed overto GeneralSuhartoof Indonesiain 1964.Suhartoused these veryliststo carryout one of the most brutalmassacresof the ColdWarmurderingan estimated250,000men, women and childrenin order to purge his countryof communism(Leebaert2002). 6. It should also be recognizedthat the developmentestablishmentwould begin to recognize the importanceof women in the ThirdWorldexactly as calls for women's liberation at home also began to point to the successes of the socialist model abroad (House of Representative1971; Jennessl972). This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Women'sStudiesQuarterly2003: 3& 4 33 7. Informedas it wasby dependencytheory,WADthinkersarguedthatthe FirstWorldhad underdevelopedthe ThirdWorldin its own quest for development.The linearityof Rostowianstagesof economicgrowthwas challenged,withglobal capitalismseen as the systemthatwouldalways and inevitablyperpetuateinequalityand exploitation.Just as proletarian classeswere exploited by bourgeoisclasseswithinnations,so countries in the "periphery" were exploited by those in the "core."For the largepartthe ideologicaldividebetweenthe WIDandWADmodelsfell along the samelines that traditionallydividedliberaland socialistfeministsfor over a century;whereasthe formerbelievedthatwomenwere oppressedby patriarchythe latterlaid the blame at the feet of private property.WADtheoristsbelievedthatpoor men sharedthe samestructuraldisadvantagesas poor women and that men and women needed to worktogetherfor development. 8. Second waverefersto the U.S. women'smovementin the 1970swhen women advocatedfor legal and economic equalityas well as reproductiverights. 9. Both women of color in the United States (for example hooks 1981; Lorde 1985;Anzalduaand Moraga(1983) and "ThirdWorld"women (forexampleMohantyet al.1991;Narayan1997and Bulbeck1998) have criticizedthe white, middle classbias of culturalfeminismin the U.S. women'smovementand the WIDparadigm. 10. Forinstance,the WorldBanknowrequires"Genderimpactassessments" for all of its developmentprojects. 11. For instance, The NACHALACooperative, The Resource Center The PhareProgram,CatholicRelief Foundation,Caresback-Bulgaria, Services,The Bulgarian-American EnterpriseFund,NationalNetwork for Micro-Funding,etc. 12. Of course, the provisionof these servicesin practiceby the communist government was less than perfect. Power and water outages were endemicin both ruraland urbanareas,and the qualityof these services wasrarelyconsistent. 13. 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Kristen Ghodsee is assistant professorin the womenstudiesprogramat Bowdoin College.Her publications include "StateSupportin the Market: Women and Tourism Employment in Post-Socialist Bulgaria" in the InternationalJournal of Politics,Culturaland Society,Vol.16, No. 3 (Spring2003), 465-82, and i(Feminism-by-Design: EmergingCapitalisms, CulturalFeminism,and Women'sNongovernmentalOrganizationsin PostSocialistEasternEurope"forthcomingin Signs, Spring2004, vol. 29, no. 3. She is currentlyrevising her bookmanuscript,Sun, Sand and Socialism: Gender, Class, and Tourism in Postsocialist Bulgaria. KristenGhodsee has received both Fulbright and IKEXfellowships, and was a researchfellow with the Eastern European Studies Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Centerfor Scholars in 2002. Copyright © 2003 by Kristen Ghodsee This content downloaded on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions