Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future
© UNESCO 2010
MODULE 12: WOMEN & SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION
Development affects people in different parts of the world in different ways. It also
affects people differently, depending whether they are male or female. Being aware
of this, and taking it into account in development planning and action is known today
as practicing a ‘gender perspective’.
Generally speaking, there have been a number of improvements to women’s lives in
the past twenty years. For example, female life expectancy is increasing; more girls
are going to school; more women are in the paid workforce; and, many countries
have introduced laws to protect women’s rights. However, the gender divide remains.
There has been “no breakthrough in women’s participation in decision-making
processes and little progress in legislation in favour of women’s rights to own land
and other property”, according to Mr. Kofi Annan, in his role as Secretary General of
the United Nations.
This module explores women’s experiences of development in different parts of the
world. It also explores ways in which women from a number of countries are working
to promote sustainable development in their communities and how these ideas can
be integrated into a teaching programme.
OBJECTIVES





To evaluate the way development impacts on women in varying situations;
To identify with women’s concerns about development;
To understand the importance of accelerating the pace of change in women’s
development;
To appreciate the way women are working for a sustainable future in their
own communities; and
To identify opportunities for incorporating issues and activities from the
module into a teaching programme.
ACTIVITIES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Holding up half the sky
Women’s experiences of development
The International Platform for Action
Working for a sustainable future
Reflection
REFERENCES
Davis, C. (2007) Ask EarthTrends: Why is gender equality important for sustainable
development?
De Pauli, L. (ed) (2000) Women’s Empowerment and Economic Justice: Reflecting
on Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, UNIFEM, New York.
Elson, D. (ed) (2000) Progress of the World’s Women, UNIFEM, New York.
Heward, C. and Nunwaree, S. (eds) (1999) Gender, Education and Development:
Beyond Access to Empowerment, Zed Books, London.
International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development (IJISD) (2009)
Special Issue on Gender and Sustainable Development, 4(2/3).
Mies, M. and Shiva, V. (1993) Ecofeminism, Spinifex, Melbourne.
Seager, J. (2009) The Atlas of Women in the World, Earthscan, London.
Shiva, V. (1989) Staying Alive, Zed Press, London.
Third Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2004) Enhancing the
Role of Indigenous Women in Sustainable Development, IFAD Experience
with Indigenous Women in Latin America and Asia, International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Tisdale, C. (2001) Sustainable development, gender inequality and human resource
capital, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and
Ecology, 2(Jan), pp. 178-192.
United Nations (2005) The World’s Women: Trends and Statistics, United Nations
Statistics Division, New York.
UNDP (2004) Gender and Energy for Sustainable Development. A Toolkit and
Resource Guide.
UNFPA and WEDO (2009) Climate Change Connections. A Resource Kit on
Climate, Population and Gender.
UNFPA (2009) State of World Population 2009. Facing a Changing World: Women,
Population and Climate.
Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (1999) Risks, Rights and
Reforms: A 50-Country Survey Assessing Government Actions Five Years
After the International Conference on Population and Development, WEDO,
New York.
Visvanathan, N., Duggan, L., Nisonoff, L. and Wiegersma, N. (eds) (1996) The
Women, Gender and Development Reader, Zed Books.
INTERNET SITES
Many Internet sites provide resources on gender and sustainabilty. These sites
contain much statistical information, case studies of current trends and links to
related sites.

International Development Research Centre: Gender and Sustainable
Development Unit




UNESCO – Society for International Development: Environmental Justice and
Gender Programme
UNIFEM – The United Nations Development Fund for Women
Women’s Environment and Development Organisation
WomenWatch: The United Nations Internet Gateway on the Advancement
and Empowerment of Women
CREDITS
This module was written for UNESCO by Margaret Calder and John Fien from
material written by Jane Williamson-Fien in Teaching for a Sustainable World
(UNESCO – UNEP International Environmental Education Programmes) and from
the World Resources Institute teaching unit, Women and Sustainable Development.
ACTIVITY 1: HOLDING UP HALF THE SKY
Women constitute one half of the world’s population,
they do two-thirds of the world’s work,
they earn one tenth of the world’s income and
they own one hundredth of the world’s property including land.
Source: United Nations (1979) State of the World’s Women, Voulntary Fund for the
UN Decade for Women, New York.
Women have always been – and remain – the deciding influence on the quality of life
and well-being of their families and communities. They are the primary care-givers
and the managers of natural resources, including food, shelter and consumption of
goods, in most cultures. In addition, many women also have jobs and have careers in
the formal economy.
Women’s responsibilities place them in a unique position to improve human and
economic well-being, and to conserve and maintain the natural environment. Yet,
their needs, their work and their voices are often not considered a priority. As a
result, women in many countries do not have equal access to education, health care,
employment, land, credit, technology or political power.
The general failure to provide equal opportunities for women to pursue education and
economic self-sufficiency has meant that a disproportionate number of women are
poor. Without adequate education, many are stuck in low-paying, low-status jobs – if
they are able to work outside the home at all. These social barriers – exclusion, low
status and poverty – are also barriers to a sustainable future.
CASE STUDIES OF EDUCATION AND HEALTH FOR WOMEN
This activity illustrates these ideas through case studies of women’s education and
women’s health around the world.
You may choose to explore one or both of these case studies.
GLOBAL PATTERNS OF EDUCATION FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS
Secondary Education
This graph shows the percentage of females enrolled in secondary school in different
parts of the world, and how the numbers increased between 1975 and 1997.
[Note the marked differences in enrolment rates between countries in the North and
the South.]
Q1:
Identify the areas of the world where less than 60% of girls went to secondary
school in 1997.
Q2:
List two possible reasons why girls typically receive much less schooling than
boys?
See sample answers.
Use the tools on Gapminder to learn how girls’ education has fared since 1997.
Adult Literacy
This graph compares female and male adult literacy rates in six areas of the world in
2000.
Q3:
How do literacy rates for women compare with those for men in the regions
shown in the graph?
Q4:
Which areas have the highest and lowest literacy rates for both women and
men?
Q5:
In which areas are there the biggest and smallest differences between the
literacy rates of women and men?
Q6:
Identify three consequences of not being able to read and write.
Q7:
List three reasons why you believe it is important for women to become
literate.
See sample answers.
Use the tools on Gapminder to learn how adult literacy rates have changed since
1997.
Female Literacy and Population Growth
This graph shows the relationship between female literacy rates and projected
population growth rates for 10 countries in different parts of the world.
Q8:
Which five countries have the highest female literacy rates?
Q9:
Which five countries have the lowest projected population growth rate?
Q10:
What conclusions about educating girls and women can you draw from this
pattern?
See sample answers.
See regularly updated statistics on women’s education.
GLOBAL PATTERNS OF WOMEN’S HEALTH
Maternal Mortality Rates
This graph shows maternal mortality rates in ten different countries.
[The maternal mortality rate is the number of deaths from pregnancy or childbirth
related causes per 100,000 live births.]
Q11:
Which countries have the lowest and highest maternal mortality rates?
Q12:
Why are maternal mortality rates a significant social indicator of development?
Q13:
What factors might cause maternal death rates to decrease?
See sample answers.
Use the tools on Gapminder to learn about changes in mortality rates in your region
or country.
Sex Differences in Infant Mortality
This graph shows infant mortality rates for boys and girls in ten countries around the
world.
[Infant mortality rate is the probability of dying before a child’s first birthday, multiplied
by 1000.]
Q14:
Which three countries have the highest infant mortality rates?
Q15:
Which four countries have the lowest infant mortality rates?
Q16:
In which countries are the infant mortality rates higher for girls than boys?
Q17:
Which country has the largest gap between female and male infant mortality
rates?
Q18:
Identify some factors that could explain these differences.
Q19:
Identify some factors that could contribute to high infant mortality.
See sample answers.
See regularly updated statistics on women’s health.
Use the tools on Gapminder to learn about the progress on women’s heath indicators
around the world.
WOMEN’S HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Women tend to be very conscious of any changes in the environment because the
health of their families is closely linked to the health of the land, the quality of water
and air, and the conservation of forests, fisheries and other natural resources.
Unsustainable patterns of development cause serious health risks for women,
especially in reproductive health. These risks increase as women become more
active in work outside the home. For example:







Water pollution in Uzbekistan has led to an increase in birth defects and
complications in pregnancy.
Pesticide exposures in Central Sudan are linked to 22% of hospital stillbirths.
Air pollution in the Ukraine has been linked to 21% of illnesses affecting
women and children.
One in three women in the USA will be diagnosed with cancer at some time
during their lives.
Nuclear contamination in Chelyabinsk, Russia, has led to a 21% increase in
cancer and a 25% increase in birth defects. Half of the population of childbearing age is sterile.
In Guatemala, pesticide residues in breast milk are reported to be 250 times
the amounts allowed in cow’s milk.
Many children in China take in DDT from breast milk at levels 10 times higher
than internationally accepted levels.
Source: Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (1999) Risks, Rights
and Reforms, WEDO, New York.
Education is a solution to health problems such as these. Indeed, there is a high
correlation between improved education for girls and improvements in health and in
social and economic development.
Educated parents tend to have healthier children. Women are the primary health
care providers in society. An estimated 75% of all health care takes place in the
home. Therefore, attempts to improve the health of a country’s population must
include and empower women. A woman who can read the label on a package of
medicine is a more effective health care provider than one who cannot. In fact,
surveys in 25 countries in the South show that, all other factors being equal, 1 to 3
years of schooling for a mother can reduce child mortality rates by 15%, as opposed
to only 6%, when fathers have the same level of education.
Educated women also tend to have increased decision-making authority within the
household.
Education also increases women’s chances of earning an income outside the home
– income that can be used to pay for food, clothing, education and health care for
their families.
Source: Paden, M. (ed) (1996) Women, World Resources Institute, Washington DC.
ACTIVITY 2: WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF
DEVELOPMENT
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
The patterns on women’s health and education studied in Activity 1 are evidence that
the experience of development varies in different parts of the world. They also show
that the results of development are quite different for women and men.
This activity introduces you to a range of women through stories of their experiences
of development.




Sithembiso is a Zimbabwean woman active in sustainable agriculture.
Jane is a farmer in Australia.
Cathy is a migrant worker from the Philippines who works in Singapore.
Angela is an architect in Stockholm who is concerned about issues of gender
and urban design.
Q20:
Identify key aspects of the experience of development of these women.
Q21:
Using the stories of these women – and other women you know – analyse the
range of impacts of development on women around the world.



How has development changed the nature of women’s lives and work?
How similar or different are women’s experiences and concerns as
farmers, factory workers and service providers? Why? Use the case
studies and the experiences and concerns of women in your country.
What sort of development would improve the position of the women in
the case studies and women in your country?
ACTIVITY 3: THE INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM FOR
ACTION
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
AN INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The United Nations has convened a number of international conferences to discuss
women’s experiences of development. The Fourth World Conference on Women was
held in Beijing in 1995.
This conference developed a Platform for Action as “an agenda for women’s
empowerment”.
The Beijing Platform for Action identified twelve issues as ‘critical areas of concern’
for women, and on which strategic action was needed by governments, nongovernment organisations and businesses around the world:












Q22:
The persistent and increasing burden of poverty
Inequalities and inadequacies in, and unequal access to, education and
training
Inequalities and inadequacies in, and unequal access to, health care and
related services
Violence against women
The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those
living under foreign occupation
Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive
activities and in access to resources
Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decisionmaking at all levels
Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women
Lack of respect for, and inadequate promotion and protection of, the human
rights of women
Stereotyping of women and inequality promotion and protection of the human
rights of women
Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the
safeguarding of the environment
Persistent discrimination against, and violation of, the rights of the girl child.
Which of these 12 concerns are relevant to the experiences of:
i. the women in the case studies in Activity 2, and
ii. women in your country?
UNIFEM
UNIFEM is the section of the United Nations primarily responsible for women and
development and encourages the mainstreaming of gender issues in all United
Nations’ activities.
UNIFEM believes that the biggest concern facing women is the ‘feminisation of
poverty’. It identifies seven main causes of this problem. These are:







Globalisation
Low wages
Traditional approaches to economic development
Trade liberalisation
Society’s attitudes towards women
Cannot travel as freely as men.
Access to markets
Explain how these factors contribute to the ‘feminisation of poverty’.
The Beijing Platform for Action argued that achieving equality between women and
men was needed to address these concerns:
The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between
women and men are a matter of human rights. This is a basic condition for
social justice, and should not be seen in isolation as just a women’s issue.
Indeed, this is the only way to build a sustainable, just and developed society.
Empowerment of women and equality between women and men are
prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and
environmental security among all peoples.
PROGRESS SINCE THE BEIJING CONFERENCE
The Beijing conference may be remembered as the point in history when women
took over the international process, injected it with their own ideas and experiences,
and then converted it back into local and national actions. Since 1995, women have
used the ideas and energy of Beijing to push for progress on many fronts, often
through new activist networks that span nations and regions.
They have convinced an increasing number of countries to adopt affirmative action
programmes that raise the number of women in politics. In 2000, there were:



seven women heads of state in the world;
three heads of government; and
145 countries have governments which included women.
Activists in South Africa have lobbied their government to breakdown its budget
along gender lines so that women can see who really benefits. In Thailand, the
government has prohibited sexual discrimination in its new constitution. In Egypt,
women worked with religious leaders to repeal a law allowing rapists who marry their
victims to avoid jail.
The Beijing conference also encouraged the UN system to place greater emphasis
on gender. It called on UNIFEM, and other UN agencies, to establish the world’s first
funding mechanism devoted to supporting projects to eliminate violence against
women. Gender units have been set up in many agencies to foster women’s
contributions to shaping critical policies and decisions. At UNESCO, women have
been considered one of four priority groups since November 1995. After the Beijing
conference, the Unit for the Promotion of the Status of Women and Gender Equity
was created, and the Agenda for Gender Equity was established to bring gender into
all of its programmes and activities, especially in the media, peace, and science and
technology education.
Despite the achievements of the past five years, however, women world wide
continue to lag behind in almost all areas. According to the UN Division for the
Advancement of Women, women’s employment has increased in all regions, but
their wages are 50 to 80% of men’s. Up to 80% of refugees fleeing from conflict are
women and children. Two-thirds of the world’s illiterates are female, and nearly half
the women in the developing world do not meet minimum daily caloric intakes.
A long list of obstacles stands in the way of addressing these issues. Discriminatory
attitudes and traditional stereotypes deprive women of resources and continue to
prop up the laws, policies and institutions that prevent greater progress. For
example, so-called ‘honour killings’ which are committed by men who feel that
women have damaged their reputation, are still legal in three countries.
The Beijing Platform is not a legally binding document. Governments follow its
recommendations only because it serves their interests to do so, or because women
marshal the political power to persuade them to change laws and policies.
While women’s movements and networks have grown in strength and in their ability
to work with national and international political systems, they must contend with a
growing set of new challenges.
Source: Adapted from UNESCO Sources, No.125, 2000, pp. 4-5.
BEIJING +5
In June, 2000 delegates from 180 countries convened at UN headquarters in New
York to evaluate progress made since Beijing, agree on obstacles, and map out a set
of actions to continue implementing the Platform for Action.
Protracted debates took place over commitments to reproductive health and rights,
with the Holy See and a handful of conservative Muslim and Catholic countries
attempting to rill back gains by women made on these issues in previous
international agreements.
However, for the first time, governments agreed to address the problems of ‘honour
killings’ and forced marriages. There was consensus on the need to enact stronger
laws against all forms of domestic violence, and to set up quota systems to bring
more women into politics. The agreement also contains a reference to the right to
inheritance, which has long been disputed by Muslim countries.
Source: Adapted from UNESCO Sources, No.125, 2000, pp. 4-5.
The governments at the Beijing +5 conference agreed to a Final Outcomes
Document that reaffirmed their commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action and
their plans to make gender equality on a key underlying principle in development.
This would include:



a focus on women’s conditions and basic needs;
a holistic approach to development based on equal rights;
promotion and protection of all human rights; and

government policies, programmes and budget processes that adopt a gender
perspective.
… AND BEYOND
Since the Beijing +5 conference there have been a further two global conferences
(Beijing +10 and Beijing +15) to mark progress on women’s issues.
The latest of these, Beijing +15, was held in March 2010. The emphasis of the
conference was on the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to
overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the
Millennium Development Goals. In a commemorative event to reflect on the progress
since the first conference in Beijing, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
said in her address:
In the past 15 years, understanding has grown that the empowerment of
women and girls is not just a goal in itself, but is key to all our international
development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.
The impact of recent multiple global crises on women and girls has further
heightened this understanding. We must, therefore, rethink past policies and
strategies for growth and development.
The conference adopted a Declaration which contained the following seven
resolutions, as priorities for attention over the next 5 years:







Women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS
Release of women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently
imprisoned, in armed conflicts
The situation of and assistance to Palestinian women
Women’s economic empowerment
Eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment of
women
Strengthening institutional arrangement of the UN for support of gender
equality and the empowerment of women by consolidating the four existing
UN offices into a composite entity
Ending female genital mutilation.
ACTIVITY 4: WORKING FOR A SUSTAINABLE
FUTURE
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
In 1999 the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO)
investigated the progress of 90 countries in addressing women’s rights since the
1995 Women’s Conference in Beijing.
Read an overview of the findings of this survey.
Q23:
Identify (i) some of the positive changes and (ii) some of the disappointments
in women’s experience of development since the 1995 Women’s Conference.
Provide examples and data where available.
Improvements in the rights of women and their access to services such as education
are the result of what UNIFEM calls “women’s advocacy worldwide”. That is, they are
the result of women working actively in their local communities, and through national
and international networks, to improve the life opportunities of all women and their
families.
This activity provides an opportunity to meet some of these women.




Q24:
Michiko Ishimure of Japan wrote a documentary account of Minamata
Disease and organised a civic group to assist victims of the disease.
Chipko women in north India pledged to save forests from logging.
Sophie Kiarie in Kenya worked on greening arid areas of Kenya.
Maria Cherkasova of Russia led a protest against a dam in the Altar
Mountains.
Analyse the contributions of these women to a sustainable future.



Identify the issues that concern these women.
What types of strategies did these women use?
Why do you think these women have been successful?
See other case studies of women working for a sustainable future from the report by
the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation.
ACTIVITY 5: REFLECTION
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
Completing the module: Look back through the activities and tasks to check that you
have done them all and to change any that you think you can improve now that you
have come to the end of the module.
Q25:
Identify three reasons why the study of gender and sustainable development
should be an important part of every person’s education.
Q26:
Identify (i) a subject or syllabus, (ii) a grade level, and (iii) a syllabus topic
where the topic of gender and sustainable futures may be taught.
Q27:
Identify the name of a woman, women’s group or project that could be used as
a case study to illustrate these topics. This could be a case study from this
module or one that you know about from your own community or country.
Q28:
Explore the following gender issues in your school:












Are the experiences and contributions of girls and women included in
text books used in your school? Are many textbooks written by
women?
Are both boys and girls encouraged to enrol in the same types of
classes (social studies, mathematics, science, sports, etc.) in your
school? Does the school maintain records of enrolment patterns by
gender for each subject area and course?
Does the rate of participation in programmes for gifted and talented
students reflect the gender balance of the school?
Do the rates of participation in advanced mathematics and science
courses reflect the gender balance of the school?
Do boys and girls participate equally in classroom discussions?
Do boys and girls participate equally in hands-on activities in settings
such as science laboratories and computer classes?
Do girls get into trouble for the same reasons as boys? (For example,
are loud voices, speaking out of turn, tardiness, and failure to complete
assignments on time, treated uniformly?)
What proportion of student leadership positions in the school are held
by boys and girls?
Do student clubs, organisations and extra curricular activities seem to
attract boys and girls equally? If not, which activities attract boys and
which girls? Why?
Is there gender equity in your school’s sports program? Is the
attendance at girls’ events and boys’ events comparable?
Do teachers, counsellors, and administrators receive training in gender
fairness?
Are there policies for reporting and responding to complaints of sexual
harassment and sex discrimination?
Sample answers
Question 1
Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Question 2
Girls are often kept home to do household chores, especially in cultures where girls
become members of their husband’s household when they get married. There is little
incentive to invest in the education of daughters as sons are expected to contribute
to the family’s income and to support their parents in old age.
Question 3
Literacy rates for women are lower than those for men almost everywhere in the
world. Just over one-third of all the women in the world are illiterate, while less than
one-fifth of all men are illiterate.
Question 4
Highest: Industrialised countries, East Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Lowest: South Asia, Sub-Sahara Africa and Arab States.
Question 5
Biggest: South Asia; Arab States.
Smallest: Industrialised countries, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Question 6
Being unable to read and write means that a person finds it difficult to function as a
worker, a citizen, or even as a consumer.
While the proportion of the population that is illiterate is much smaller in the North
than the South, the consequences of illiteracy for the individual are the same
everywhere.
Question 7
Teaching women to read and write benefits them as well as their families and
communities. By educating women, a country can reduce poverty, improve
productivity, ease population pressure, and offer its children a better future.
Educated mothers and fathers have better educated children, and maternal
education tends to influence a girl’s education in particular. So, as each generation of
women is educated, the long-term rewards for society build quickly.
Question 8
Jamaica, Thailand, Colombia, Sri Lanka and the Dominican Republic.
Question 9
The same five countries: Jamaica, Thailand, Colombia, Sri Lanka and the Dominican
Republic.
Question 10
As women become literate, they have fewer children. This affects overall population
growth.
The connection is most pronounced among those who have completed primary
school and had some secondary schooling. According to World Bank studies, for
every year of schooling a woman receives, her fertility rate is reduced by 10%.
Question 11
Lowest: Sweden, United States and Japan.
Highest: Somalia, Nigeria and India.
Question 12
High maternal death rates are often caused by malnutrition. Malnutrition impairs
women’s physical development and health and affects their capacity to bear healthy
children.
Women are more likely than men to be malnourished. Half of all women in Africa and
south-west Asia are malnourished. In many developing countries, food is distributed
within households according to a person’s status rather than nutritional needs. In
India and Bangladesh, females are given less food from birth.
The maternal death rate reflects women’s lack of access to the health-care system,
especially in rural areas.
Many women do not have control over the number of children they have. They lack
access to contraceptives or may not be able to use them because of economic
limitations or cultural norms.
High fertility rates contribute to many health problems for women.
Question 13
Improved nutrition and access to health care, including prenatal care as well as care
during childbirth.
Maternal mortality rates decrease as education for women increases.
Question 14
Bhutan, India and Nigeria
Question 15
Australia, Japan, Sweden and United States
Question 16
Bhutan, China, India and South Korea
Question 17
China
Question 18
Girls are sometimes given less food than boys in the same family. In rural
Bangladesh, for example, malnutrition was found to be almost three times more
common among girls than among boys.
To limit its population growth, China has a strict policy of one child per family. When
girls marry, they are no longer considered to be members of their own family, but are
now members of their husband’s family. They are not available to help support their
own families. Boys have more economic value to the family because they can
contribute income and because it is their responsibility to care for the parents in old
age. Thus, if families can only have one child, there is a cultural preference for a son.
In some regions, patriarchal inheritance customs also lead parents with limited
resources to invest more in their sons than in their daughters. Sons will inherit the
family’s land and holdings; daughters cannot.
Some cultures require the parents of a daughter to pay a large dowry to the family of
her husband when she is married. This dowry can be an enormous financial burden
to a poor family with several daughters.
Question 19
Among the many factors are the mother’s and infant’s diet, whether the mother and
infant have access to medical care, including prenatal care and immunisations, as
well as access to clean water and sanitation, and exposure to diseases such as
HIV/AIDS. Drought, famine, floods, war, and other calamities also play a part.
Sithembiso’s Story
Sithembiso comes from Zimbabwe in Africa. She is concerned with land ownership
and land use and is the founding Director of the Organisation of Rural Associations
for Progress (ORAP). ORAP has over 700 affiliated groups and is the largest grass
roots Non-Government Organisation in Southern Africa.
Sithembiso says:
Perhaps you would like to hear what happened to my own family? It’s a
very common story. In 1945, my parents were moved from their land in
Matabeleland south to the Midlands to make room for soldiers returning from
World War II. It was very good, fertile land that we lost. The land tenure
meant that we had to move to virgin land and start from scratch. There was
no compensation for our old homes or the loss of our land. We were just
moved out and our homes were destroyed.
Each family was given about 10 acres in the new area, and as the families
grew, the land had to be worked more and more. Before, on our old land,
there was room for us to cultivate different fields each year and let the land
regenerate itself.
I have seen a lot of changes in my own lifetime. When I was a child there
used to be a lot of thick brush and a great variety of plants and animals and
grasses. There was also a lot of underground water and the rivers were
flowing full. But today these things do not exist any more because of the
droughts, the economic situation, which has pushed people to stay on the
land, and the land tenure system, which has pushed large numbers of people
onto unsuitable land.
People have to rely on their surroundings for their livelihood. But
sometimes if you go to a village where there is soil erosion, for example, you
will tend to blame the people you see there, rather than look behind at the
history of those people and see why the situation is what it is. The
environmentalists accuse people of ignorance and not caring, or having too
many children, of over-exploiting the land. No one asks why they are there in
the first place.
The women are the ones who suffer the most. Where the land has been
overused and is becoming less productive, the men will usually go to the
cities and try to find a job. But the women will remain in the village, to look
after the family, or try to make a living from the land.
In my job I go to a lot of villages and find that they are occupied by women
and children, and sometimes very old people. But the majority of young
people and able-bodied men go to the cities to look for work. The women get
overloaded with work – taking care of the children, the household, making a
living.
My organisation is a village movement. We work at the village level. What
we try to do is assist women, and the whole family, to make a living in the
village situation. The first thing that we do is popular education, to make
people aware that they should not blame themselves for what has happened
to the land, and to understand the forces that have acted on them.
We also have to work within the culture. One of the things I have learned in
my job is that this development work is not about what I know and can give,
but about what people themselves know and can use. Our culture is rich. We
are not a bankrupt continent, contrary to Western perceptions. We are rich in
moral values, in spirit, in things that really matter.
One of the strategies that we are using in ORAP is to go back to our
culture and understand how land is being used now, and how it could be used
– how people should relate to land and nature. The main thing is that we
really should learn to respect the land. This is our traditional way. You cannot
respect the land if you do not understand it, or if you do not know much about
it.
So the first stage for us is to learn about our environment, to learn about
our trees, to learn about our forests and what they can do for us. What
various types of plants are used for and how they grow and how they are
taken care of. Also we need to learn about the relationships between the
animals and insects in our forests because all of nature is balanced.
The second stage is to use a different method of agriculture. We are
changing it back from commercial monoculture, where you clear everything
on the land and then plant a single crop. Now we are going back to
multicropping. We plant all the crops together, just as in nature. There are
bushes growing next to tall trees and little plants. We grow different things
together – such as maize, groundnuts and millet. This is what we used to do
before the introduction of Western methods of agriculture. Our old women
know which crops we should plant together to enhance the soil, to control the
insects, to keep the worms away from the seeds in the ground, to keep the
birds off the crops. We are also returning to using compost and organic
fertilisers, as we used to do.
The Western-style agriculture that has been introduced to our country has
been very bad for the land and for the people. For example, when you cut
down all the trees and plough the huge fields, the soil becomes loose and the
wind strips off all the topsoil.
Western-style education has taught us that the old ways are ‘backward’ but
we are now learning the wisdom and value of them. We are listening to the
knowledge of the old people and setting up documentation centres in the
villages.
I have found that in every human being there is a need and a push for
change – in everyone there is a force towards a better world!
Source: Williamson-Fien, J (1993) Williamson-Fien, J. (1993) Women’s Voices –
Teaching Resources on Women and Development, Global Learning Centre,
Windsor, Australia. Adapted from Living from the land, Youthpower, No. 14, 1992,
pp. 5-7.
Jane’s Story
Jane is a farmer. She works a farm with her husband in Australia. This is how she
tells her story:
Our property is about 200 hectares. It’s a mixed grazing property with
sheep and cattle – we don’t do any cropping. I’m full partner in the farm and I
share 50% of management and planning decisions and 50% of the domestic
work with my husband. I suppose the most physically taxing job I do is hay
carting, which involves stacking square bales, taking them from the paddock
and stacking them in the shed. A lot of women don’t do that work because
they haven’t been encouraged to have a try. A lot of men don’t do it either
because it’s very hard work but, although it is physically demanding at the
time, after I’ve done it I feel very good. With just a bit of thought and ingenuity
I know that women can do practically any job on the farm, using principles of
physics or whatever, just using their heads.
Women’s contributions are not recognised: even people who know the
amount of work I do and have seen me doing it still find it very difficult to
accept me as a farmer. They refer questions about the farm to Simon and
expect him to answer them. They call him the boss, which annoys us both
because we know that’s not so. I’ve had a lot of trouble in the past with
people like stock agents and people in machinery shops. Once when Simon
was away a couple of my women friends from the city were staying with me.
We spent a day laying pipes from a tank to a trough and had a wonderful time
working together, and at the end of the day we felt so good that we thought
we would come down to town to celebrate with a few drinks and dinner. On
the way I stopped in at the stock agents in Mount Gambier to get some gate
saddles, which are like hinges.
I went and said, “I’ll have half a dozen saddles for the gates,” and the man
behind the counter said, “Does he want galvanised or plain?”
I said, “I’d like them galvanised”
“Which size does he want?”
“I”d like such and such a size.”
There was some other question, “Does he know such-and-such?” to which
I just said, “Look, I know what I want … (that certain type of hinge).”
To me it was amazing; I felt I had some invisible man over my left shoulder
that this person was talking to.
Another day, we finished shearing and were both very tired. We then went
over to a place to inspect some sheep which we were considering buying. It
was about 38°C and, as I say, we were tired. We were inspecting the sheep
in the yard – I might preface this by saying that I had asked a few relevant
questions of the man who owned the sheep and he answered me in a
sensible way, in a way that recognised that I knew what I was talking about.
The stock agent then turned to me and said, “I suppose it’s nice to get out
and come for a drive.” It was 38°C and we’d travelled about 220km so it was
hardly that. I thought. “Listen mate, if you could have seen what I’ve done
over the last week and a half” and he was standing there with his big fat beer
stomach.
The image of the farmer in the media is still the same, unfortunately. You
have shows like the Country Hour, which constantly refers to farmers as “he”.
It used always to refer to the problems of succession on farms as ‘the son
taking over the farm’. I haven’t noticed that has changed a great deal. There
has been a little more attention paid to the capacities of women to run farms
and to work on farms but not as much as I think is due. I think it’s probably up
to women to help one another.
Source: Williamson-Fien, J. (1993) Women’s Voices – Teaching Resources on
Women and Development, Global Learning Centre, Windsor, pp. 34-35.
Cathy’s Story
In one of the wealthiest residential areas on the east coast of Singapore, a 32 year
old Filipino named Cathy works as a maid. In the quiet late afternoon she sits on the
verandah of the apartment where she is slowly rocking a sleeping baby in a
hammock.
The baby wakes and is fretful; Cathy takes her up in her arms and kisses her cheek.
“Shizu is such a darling that I forget I’m homesick,” she says with a warm smile. Her
English is very good even though she speaks with a strong Filipino accent. Cathy
begins to talk about herself. A typical Filipino woman, she is friendly and frank.
Four-months-old Shizu is the daughter of the Japanese businessman who employs
Cathy, and his American wife who is working on behalf of refugees. “When I am
looking at Shizu she reminds me of my own four children left behind in my home
country,” said Cathy.
Why did the mother of four children have to leave them and go to Singapore to work?
Cathy was born in Visayas, in the central part of the Philippines, one of the most
economically depressed areas. Her father is a primary school teacher, and her
mother works for the local government. Cathy went to college and studied to become
a laboratory technician but, even with her training, it was difficult to get a job. Finally,
she was hired to work in a nature conservation bureau, but her salary was very low.
She married a local government official, but her husband was also poorly paid. Even
though they were both working, it was difficult to raise four children. This is why
Cathy began to consider going abroad as migrant worker. Her sisters-in-law were
already working in Singapore as maids. “I heard that some women who had migrated
to other countries had dreadful experiences, so I chose Singapore as I was told it
was a safe place to work” Cathy’s father was opposed to her plan to work overseas.
“He felt that it was a pity that a college graduate had to become a maid,” Cathy says.
Nevertheless, Cathy was determined to go. She applied to an overseas employment
agency and for permission to leave the country.
Cathy’s first job in Singapore made her very unhappy. She was unable to
communicate with the family and was badly mistreated. Eventually she ran away but,
because she had failed to fulfill the terms of her two year contract, she was forced to
return to the Philippines.
Fortunately, before she left she was introduced to her present employer and, after
spending some time at home, returned to Singapore to begin working for this new
family. “The wife of my present employer is very warm and kind; I’m very lucky,”
Cathy smiled. She earns $350 each month which is the average pay for domestic
helpers here.
Sunday is her only day off.
On Sunday I go to mass in the morning, and then to the Botanical Garden.
This is the meeting place for the Filipinos and I can see my sister-in-law,
cousins, and friends.
On Sundays the Botanical Garden in Singapore is crowded with Filipino women; they
have lunch together, and sing and play guitars. It is really a holiday scene where the
maids from the Philippines can rest and enjoy themselves. For Cathy, it is also a time
for meeting with her relatives- her aunt, who was a teacher for many years, and six
other family members are working in Singapore. They get together to forget the
loneliness of living in a foreign country. Cathy usually leaves early to have time to
write letters to her family.
Even on a working day, after I finish my job, I write letters to my children
about school, study, play, behaviour, and such ordinary things. It is quite
natural for a mother to be concerned about these issues. Fortunately, my
mother-in-law is taking good care of them. My elder sons go to school and
make very good marks. I am encouraged.
This mother of three sons, aged ten, eight, and seven, and a three-year-old
daughter, is concerned about her children all the time. She carries their photographs
with her everywhere she goes.
When I left home, my children saw me off and all of them were crying. It
was very, very hard when my daughter, Sherila, cried, “Mummy, don’t go” and
clung tightly to me. When some friend is going home I always send toys to my
children.
Cathy weeps, but she adds:
Without education you cannot get out of poverty. I’m working hard now not
only to earn my living, but also to save for the children’s education so that
they can grow up to be good citizens. My husband has recently written to me
saying that he also wants to migrate to work in the Middle East. I have made
up my mind to continue working here for another two years after this contract
is up. Both of us are ready to sacrifice ourselves for the future of our children.
A college graduate mother has to bring up someone else’s child far away from her
own, and her husband is also planning to leave the family to work elsewhere. Such a
case, where family members are living and working in different places, is not at all
exceptional in the Philippines. More than one million Filipinos are working abroad.
Men go to Middle Eastern countries as construction workers and women go all over
the world as maids.
Source: Williamson-Fien, J. (1993) Women’s Voices – Teaching Resources on
Women and Development, Global Learning Centre, Windsor, Australia. Adapted from
Matsui, Y. (1987) Women’s Asia, Zed Press, London, pp. 50-51.
Angela’s Story
Angela is a qualified architect and works with a firm of architects in Stockholm,
Sweden. She lives reasonably close to her work place in a modest, but restored,
apartment that she obtained on a mortgage last year.
Angela is a single woman, in her late 30s. She enjoys her work and is making what
she describes ‘as a comfortable living’. She argues that there are certain frustrations
associated with her profession, however. One concern is the unspoken assumption
that, as a woman, it is more appropriate for her to be involved in the design of
domestic housing rather than have her expertise directed towards commercial or
public buildings.
However, for the most part, Angela is happy to be concerned with domestic
architectural design. She has always felt, for example, that conventional building
plans for kitchens and laundries – areas traditionally associated with female domestic
activity – are poor.
These rooms may be located in parts of the house which experience extremes of
temperature, for example, and this is crazy because they are areas in which women,
traditionally, do a lot of work. They are often relatively small, too, which discourages
family participation in kitchen and laundry activities and suggests that they are places
where women are expected to work alone.
In contrast, Angela notes, the parts of the house associated with leisure and
recreation, the games room, the bar, the sitting room – even the barbecue area – get
prime locations and are often more spacious. “Interestingly”, Angela says, “These
areas are frequently associated with male activities or male control, except of course
when it comes to cleaning them!” Angela enjoys talking with her clients about these
issues. “It can be exciting to design homes that challenge some of the gender-based
assumptions about life and work in the home.” She says.
Angela also has concerns about the trend towards bigger and bigger houses.
Some of these palatial homes built for wealthier end of the market make no
sense at all. After all, fewer and fewer people are living in the sort of nuclear
family that requires that amount of space and, if you think about it, it is absurd
to have homes with three to four bathrooms when people in other parts of the
world are lucky to have a tap in their street. No, I think we need to promote
denser settlement of the near city area, with people living closer to their work
places and to the facilities they need. This means returning to smaller, more
compact homes although, of course, these sort of projects should not be
developed without respect for the existing, established communities.
Although she enjoys designing homes and considering the implications for women,
Angela thinks that women architects should be more influential in the design of
bigger commercial, government and public buildings. As she says:
Government offices and inner-city buildings generally house the sort of
services that employ vast numbers of women in clerical, secretarial, retail and
even cleaning jobs. Part of the frustration of women in the city is that they are
living and working within the constraints of a man-made environment. For
example, it has only been in the last few years that the operators of some car
parking stations have provided special places for women with babies or small
children.
But despite some improvements that make the city more ‘woman-friendly’, there are
other questions about the use of urban space which need confronting. Angela asks:
Why is it that the women’s toilets and mothers’ rooms are frequently found
in the most inaccessible place in the big department stores? Why are
secretaries expected to work in small, public areas while their bosses sit
behind big desks in enclosed offices? Why are there never enough toilets for
women in theatres and concert halls so that we always have to queue?
Of course, some of these questions might seem rather trivial in view of the
bigger issues associated with the life and death struggles of women
elsewhere, but, I think, they do point to broader underlying questions about
the nature of women’s environments and about the control women have over
them. Development for women must address these underlying questions.
Source: Adapted from Williamson Fien, J. (1993) Women’s Voices – Teaching
Resources on Women and Development, Global Learning Centre, Windsor, pp. 1819.
GLOBAL SURVEY FINDS PROGRESS ON WOMEN’S
RIGHTS AND EQUALITY COMPROMISED BY
ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION
A report to be released March 1 by the Women’s Environment and Development
Organisation (WEDO) finds progress on promises made by governments at the 1995
UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. However, women’s organisations
from a majority of reporting countries say economic restructuring is severely affecting
the realisation of the Beijing commitments and reducing women’s access to jobs,
rights to health care and equal opportunity. In light of the 50th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, WEDO’s report, Mapping Progress:
Assessing Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, spotlights the ways in
which economic globalisation is undermining women’s rights and equality in key
areas.
On the positive side, over 70% of the world’s 187 countries have drawn up national
action plans or drafts as required by the Beijing Platform. WEDO’s in-depth report
covers 90 of these 187 countries. Governments in 61 countries acknowledged the
expertise and experience of women’s NGOs by involving them in formulating these
plans. Further, governments are strengthening mechanisms to implement the plans;
66 have already set up national offices for women’s affairs, 34 of them with the
power to initiate legislation.
“In countries around the world, women’s groups have pushed their governments for
specific actions to live up to the promises they made at Beijing,” observed Bella
Abzug, WEDO President and former US Congresswoman. “In a growing number of
countries, governments are being challenged to act on their commitments by
women’s caucuses, formed along the lines of WEDO’s Women’s Caucus that
mobilised thousands of women during the UN conferences.”
Since the Beijing conference, 58 countries have adopted legislation or policies to
address women’s rights. For example, 26 countries, a number of them in Latin
America and the Caribbean, China and New Zealand have passed laws to curb
domestic violence. In Egypt, the Supreme Court has issued a landmark ruling
prohibiting the practice of female genital mutilation in state-supported and private
facilities. In Thailand, a new law stiffens penalties and speeds trials to prevent and
suppress the trafficking of women and children. Due to gender segregation policies in
Iran and the introduction of co-education in Pakistan, girls’ school enrolment has
increased. In Zimbabwe, a new inheritance law has been drafted to favour neither
sons nor daughters.
But, women’s groups report, that fiscal austerity measures in industrialised and
developing countries, and the current economic turmoil in Asia have had a crippling
effect on many positive legislative efforts. “On balance, women are still the shock
absorbers for structural change,” noted Susan Davis, WEDO Executive Director.
Women in economies in transition, whether in Europe, Central Asia, South Asia,
Africa or Latin America, pay a disproportionate share of the costs of economic
globalisation while being excluded from its benefits. An abhorrent aspect of the
global economy is the prostitution of women in a sex industry that spans the world.
In Canada the deepest job losses have been in the government, health and
education sectors dominated by women. The incidence of low-paid employment
among Canadian women is now second only to Japan among industrialised nations.
In the Ukraine, an estimated 80% of those currently unemployed are women. In
Zimbabwe, where macroeconomic restructuring is ongoing, the informal sector has
ballooned, drawing on the poorly paid labor of mostly women and more recently girls.
“Mapping Progress, the fifth in a series, reveals incremental progress by
governments in implementing the Beijing agenda and the growing political strength of
women’s movements across the world,” said Bharati Sadasivam, WEDO’s Program
Coordinator for Women’s Rights, who conducted the survey.
Source: Women’s Environment and Development Organisation, 1999.
Michiko Ishumure Of Japan
Towards the end of the 1950s, the people in a small fishing village on Minamata Bay
in Kyushu, Japan, began to suffer from a terrible disease.
Their limbs were paralysed, their lips unmovable; and they cried aloud like dogs
howling in madness. Japanese scientists discovered that this strange disease was
caused by waste from Chisso Corporation’s factory, located in Minamata City, which
had polluted not only the coastal waters but also the fish and the shellfish.
There was one woman visitor to this fishing village who made calls on these poor
victims. She was Ishimure Michiko, a poet and housewife. She kept records of all she
saw and heard during her visits to the victims. Among those she visited were a blind
boy who could not talk but fumbled for a baseball bat with which to hit at stones; a
fisherman’s wife who, longing to live a healthy life once more and to go fishing with
her husband, died in convulsive agony; a beautiful little girl who lived a death-like life;
and an old man who died in madness, rending the wall and hitting his head against
the head-board of his bed.
In profound sympathy, understanding and anguish, Ishimure Michiko wrote her
documentary account, Kugai Jodo (Pure Land Poisoned Sea), which was subtitled
‘Our Minamata Disease.’ This documentary brought the true results of
industrialisation vividly to the attention of the Japanese people, and an enormous
reaction ensued. The book openly and effectively questioned the ’productivity-first
and profit-first’ attitude of industrialised Japan.
Ishimure Michiko herself organised a civic group to assist victims of Minamata
Disease and launched a movement to secure adequate compensation for them from
Chisso Corporation.
(N.B. This extract uses the Japanese convention of putting the family name first and
the personal name second.)
Source: Adapted from Matsui, Y. (1975) Protest and the Japanese Woman, Japan
Quarterly, 22(1), pp. 31-32.
The Chipko Movement Of North India
India’s hill forests are a critical resource, not only for the women who utilise them for
gathering food, fuel and fodder but as a watershed, regulating water flow to the
valleys below. However, commercial logging in the Garhwal Himilaya region led to
landslides and disastrous floods.
In the 1970s, local resistance to forest destruction gathered pace in the form of the
Chipko movement (‘Chipko’ means to hug). By 1974, hundreds of women from the
Chamoli District in Uttar Pradesh had pledged to save the trees at the cost of their
own lives if necessary. When the loggers arrived the women went into the forests
and put their arms around the trees, telling the loggers that they would not be able to
cut the trees before first killing them.
The contractors withdrew and the forest was saved. The Chipko movement spread
and many villagers began to guard the forests, fast for them and hug the trees to
prevent them being felled. When forest officers accused the women of being foolish,
saying:
Do you not know what the forests bear? Resin, timber and foreign
exchange”, the women replied. “What do the forests bear? Soil, water and
pure air! Soil, water and pure air are the very bases of life!
Source: Adapted from Weber, T. (1989) Hugging the Trees, Penguin,
Hammondsworth.
Sophia Kiarie Of Kenya
Sophia Kiarie moved from Kenya’s forested highlands to the arid community of Ruiru,
about 20kms north of Nairobi where she was shocked by the lack of greenery. The
parched fields provided little food or firewood for her family of 11 children.
She decided to learn all she could about the life cycles of different trees, talking with
foresters and making her own careful observations. She now says, “I have a degree
in understanding the problems of my area”, even though she never took a class in
forestry or botany.
Finally, Sophia became a field officer for the Bellerive Foundation that focuses on
environmental issues. In this job, she learnt more and more about land degradation
and so opened a tree nursery which has distributed more than half a million
seedlings to schools, hospitals and farmers. This is part of a wider campaign to
establish ‘green islands’ around government institutions.
Sophia also began to promote energy-efficient, low-cost stoves in order to save
trees. These stoves burn much less wood than traditional stone-bordered fires. More
than 2000 Kenyan families and 600 institutions now use them.
Sophia believes that women are the key to a sustainable future and hopes to get
many more involved in her reforestation projects. “Women know how to nurse”, she
says, gently tucking a tiny sprout into the earth. “They have caring hands.”
Source: Adapted from Newsweek, 9 March, 1992.
Maria Cherkasova Of Russia
In 1986 local authorities and the Ministry of Energy in the Soviet Union decided to
build a huge, 200 metre high dam on the Katrun River in the Altar Mountains.
They hadn’t counted on Maria Cherkasova, a biologist and journalist. When she
realised that the dam would flood a beautiful historic wilderness, destroy wildlife,
erode fertile land and, by leaching mercury and other toxic substances out of the
rocks, pollute the drinking water for millions of people, she spread the word, and
small action committees for the Salvation of the Katun River were created in six
cities. They soon won the support of thousands of citizens who started protest
marches, signed mass petitions, and organised meetings and letter-writing
campaigns – and construction on the dam was stopped.
Other consequences of the campaign are just as important. It raised nationwide
Soviet consciousness about environmental issues. It also taught those involved a lot
about environmental activism and led to the creation of an umbrella organisation of
200 Soviet environmental groups, the Socio-Ecological Union, under Maria
Cherkasova’s leadership. The Union established contacts with international
organisations and has gone on to lead a wide range of successful environmental
campaigns and activities.
[Due to the recent difficult economic climate the goverment of the Altai Republic is
reviving its plans to build a hydropower dam on the Katun River to generate energy
and to encourage investment in industrial development.]
Source: Adapted from Rees, P. (1992) Women’s success in environmental
management, Our Planet, 4 (1), pp. 16-17.