DIREZIONE DELLO SVILUPPO E DELLA COOPERAZIONE DSC / Dipartimento federale degli affari esteri
SWISS AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION SDC / Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
AGENCIA SUIZA PARA EL DESARROLLO Y LA COOPERACION COSUDE / Departamento Federal de Asuntos Exteriores
FACHDIENST IBU
SeSe IFU / Fachdienst Industrie, Berufsbildung und Urbanisierung
Service Sectoriel Industrie, Formation professionnelle et développement urbain
data\CIP-Issue Paper Gender E
IC-HIF-BSM / Industry, Vocational Education and Urban Development Service
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This issue paper is based on the results of a workshop concerned with small enterprise development and on relevant literature in the field listed in the annex. The workshop was organised by SDC's Industry, Vocational Education and Urban Development Service (FD IBU), and was held in June 1997 in Bern (Switzerland). Anita Gehriger wrote the issue paper, with editorial assistance from Doris Romer, Ursula v. Gunten, and Hilmar Stetter.
This issue paper was produced as a part of FD IBU's current programme activities, and is intended for use in the planning of programmes to promote small enterprise development.
THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS CONCERNED WITH SMALL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE:
SDC/FD IBU / Checklist for Preparing (Pre-)Feasibility Studies for Industrial Projects, 20.5.91CIP/SED Tool No 1 / "Developing a Country Concept": The CIP-Cube, October 1994 (new version of September 1997)
CIP/SED Tool No 1a
Frenchversion / "Developing a Country Concept": Guideline/Checklist for Preparing Rapid Appraisals at Macro, Meso and Micro Level, August 1997
"Développer un concept par pays": Aide mémoire pour les collectes d’informations au niveau macro, meso et micro
CIP/SED Tool No 2
Frenchversion / "Developing a Country Concept": Instruments of Small Enterprise Development
"Développer un concept par pays": Instruments de promotion de la petite entreprise
ISSUE PAPER No 1
English version
Frenchversion
Spanish version / Der Gender-Ansatz in der Handwerks- und Industrieförderung
The Gender-Approach in Small Enterprise Development
L'approche genre dans l'appui à la promotion de la petite et moyenne entreprise
El enfoque de género en la promoción de la pequeña empresa y la industria
ISSUE PAPER No 2 / Promotion de la petite entreprise en Afrique de l'Ouest
CIP/SED TOOLS CURRENTLY IN PREPARATION:
- No 3: Programme-Level Indicators (1999)
- No 4: Meso-Level Organisations (1999)
CIP ISSUE PAPER No 1 THE GENDER APPROACH IN SED1
C O N T E N T S
SUMMARY
Part I:Gender-sensitive promotion of Small Enterprise Development
Part II: Basic Concepts
1.TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
a)Gender
b)The gender-balanced development approach
c)Gender Tools
d)Practical gender needs and strategic gender interests
2.GENDER-INDEPENDENT (POVERTY-RELATED) CONSTRAINTS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
a)Small entrepreneurs
b) Employees and family members who work without pay
3. GENDER-SPECIFIC CONSTRAINTS AFFECTING WOMEN
a)Women entrepreneurs
b)Women as employees and as family members who work without pay
c)Characteristics of small enterprises run by women and strategies adopted by women entrepreneurs (as a consequence of constraints)
4.CONCLUSIONS
Part III:Main Steps in the Project Cycle
1.ANALYSIS AND PROJECT IDENTIFICATION
2.PROJECT AND PROJECT PHASE PLANNING/DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS AND TOOLS
3.IMPLEMENTATION PHASE
4.MONITORING AND EVALUATION
5.DECIDING ABOUT CONTINUATION OF A PROJECT
Literature
Summary
Why an issue paper on Gender and Development (GAD) for the promotion of small enterprise development?
In June 1997 a workshop devoted to the question of small enterprise development was held as part of SDC's backstopping mandate on small enterprise (HIF-BSM). This workshop served primarily to clarify three facts:
- Workshop participants exhibited great heterogeneity with regard to know-how, experience, and approaches to small enterprise development in general, and gender-balanced development approaches in particular.
- A certain lack of orientation with respect to gender issues in small enterprise development pervades the development community in Switzerland.
- Integration of a gender-balanced approach in small enterprise development is seen as a matter of fundamental necessity and importance.
In light of these circumstances, SDC's Industry, Vocational Education and Development Service (FD IBU) requested its backstopping mandate on small enterprise development (CIP/SED-BSM) to prepare the present issue paper, for use as a guideline on gender-balanced approaches in small enterprise development. The paper provides an introduction to the topic, and on the other hand, as a checklist, it can serve as a rudimentary working instrument at various stages of a project cycle. It is addressed to SDC project staff concerned with small enterprise development and implementing organisations working with SDC.
What is the goal of a gender-sensitive small enterprise development?
Gender sensitivity in relation to small enterprises is concerned with the promotion of gender-balanced development (equality of development for both women and men), in terms of social equity, economic efficiency, and efforts to foster sustainable development. These goals are to be achieved through the use of strategies that are adapted to the conditions, needs, and potentials of local populations, including both women and men.
How are the most important terms in this area defined?
The term gender refers to the socially defined roles of men and women, and to relationships between the two sexes (as opposed to the term "sex", which has a biological meaning). By contrast with sex in its biological sense, gender roles are not determined by nature but by society and social values. There are therefore subject to change.
A "gender-balanced development approach" (or gender approach) involves an understanding of the socially determined roles of both women and men, and of relationships between women and men as determined by prevailing social values. It also indicates that gender-specific conditions and needs must be taken into account in the formulation of aims, methods and indicators used in development programmes. SDC policy on gender-balanced development, on the other hand, is committed to ensuring that women benefit at least as much as men in development programmes and projects.
There is no need to develop and introduce new methods to implement policies concerned with gender. Rather, there is a need to integrate gender as a factor in existing methods and tools.
Meeting practical gender needs immediately improves the position of both women and men, although it does not necessarily deal with inequality between the sexes. With strategic gender needs, the positions of women and men are addressed. Taking into account strategic gender needs is of particular importance in improving the position of women.
What do men and women involved in small enterprise have in common?
People involved in small enterprises are exposed to many disadvantages resulting from poverty, regardless of gender. As a result of these constraints, they are inclined to adopt strategies characterised by the following features: frequent use of low-growth strategies; use of profits from small enterprise for "exceptional" household expenses; a low level of investment; a short-term decision-making perspective; non-observance of standards of quality, exploitation of labour; acceptance of high relative production costs as a result of the small size of business operations.
What differences exist between men and women engaged in small enterprises?
Both women and men suffer from constraints due to poverty, although women are frequently affected to a greater extent. Consequently, certain gender-specific disadvantages only affect women.
Gender-specific constraints result from:
- Legal provisions: Many women, for example, must have the approval of a male relative in order to conduct financial transactions or obtain land, and women are also subjected to other legal constraints.
- Socio-cultural, moral and ethical codes: Most cultures have established patterns of behaviour and activity considered typical for women or men, respectively, which sometimes severely limit the choice of activities open to women. Women in some cultures are traditionally bound to the household.
- Women's family and social obligations: Among other things, the role of women in the family and in society results in a greater workload for women, limited freedom of choice regarding the location and the nature of an enterprise, and limited mobility.
- Institutional constraints: Women's interests are poorly represented in small enterprise organisations, and they lack access to information systems, professional networks, and education and training in modern, dynamic economic sectors.
As a result of these constraints, women pursue certain strategies, and small enterprises run by women reflect characteristics related to these strategies. For example, women often run small enterprises that exhibit irregular growth; women are active in relatively non-dynamic economic sectors with low levels of productivity, concentrating on a small number of usually non-market-oriented sectors; women are frequently tied to the household and thus have little exposure to customers; women accept lower profits in order to minimise risk, and they tend not to separate their household finances from the finances of the enterprise in which they are engaged.
How can gender-sensitivity be integrated into small enterprise development?
Consideration must be given to the specific situation of women and men in a particular social context, in both the design and the implementation of development projects. This means paying attention to the different strategies specifically adopted by women and men active in small enterprises, and focusing on the reasons for these differences (gender-specificd constraints).
The diagram below illustrates the decisive steps in a gender-balanced approach to project work. It is important that awareness of gender be integrated into every phase of the project. It is not enough to consider the subject of gender only at the outset, or only during evaluation, or only in relation to a particular activity.
PREREQUISITES:
Active participation by the target group
Equal representation for women at all levels
Employment of trained personnel who exhibit gender-awareness
______
Analysis and project identification / Project- & phase planning / Implementation phase / Monitoring & Evaluation / Decision on continuationPart I:Gender-sensitive promotion of Small Enterprise Development
SDC sectoral policy on small enterprise development is characterised by gender neutrality.[1] In other words, the aims, strategies and basic principles incorporated in this policy do not take explicit account of the different realities and needs of women and men. It is true that the integration of women's issues, in relation to the role they play in preventing discrimination, is one of the basic principles of this policy at programme level. But this principle applies exclusively at programme level, along with other basic concepts such as encouragement of one’s own initiative, focus on poorer population groups, and encouragement of supporting institutions. The integration of issues that specifically concern women into sectoral policy is thus only one of numerous factors which has to be taken into account.
SDC thus has a strong interest in incorporating gender awareness into its future sectoral policy, in order to take account of the different conditions and the different needs of both men and women at all levels of small enterprise development.
The aim of gender-sensitivity in small enterprise development is a gender-balanced development for women and men through the use of strategies adapted to the conditions, the needs and the opportunities of both women and men in local populations.
Gender-balanced development is a prerequisite first of all for social equity, secondly for economic efficiency, and finally, for sustainability.
Three important reasons for striving to achieve gender equity are:
- Gender equity per se: equality is important and desirable for reasons of social equity as well as of human rights.
- Gender equity in relation to efficiency: a gender-balanced approach ensures goal-oriented and efficient development (i.e. development that conserves resources to the greatest extent possible) by allowing the different skills and interests of both women and men to be incorporated into projects.
- Gender equity to promote sustainability: only if the different needs and interests of both women and men are taken into account, and a gender-balanced development ensured, will it be possible to guarantee that measures to promote sustainability have a lasting impact.
Part II: Basic Concepts
1.Terms and definitions
a)Gender
The term "gender" refers to socially determined "male" and "female" roles that are subject to continual change and to relations between men and women. By contrast with "sex", which designates a biological and thus unchangeable status, the gender-related roles of women and men are not determined by nature. Rather, gender-related roles and relations are socially constituted and thus determined to a substantial degree by the social values predominating at a given time, and by the social, economic, political and legal structures of a society. If social values change in a given society, gender relations will also change.
Gender is therefore a part of the social system and, like social class, age, and ethnicity, it is an important factor in determining the roles, rights, responsibilities and relations between men and women. "Male" and "female" roles, as well as relations between men and women, may vary within a particular society, depending on whether an individual comes from a rich or poor family, is married or unmarried, young or old, belongs to a particular ethnic group or is affiliated with a particular religion.
b)The gender-balanced development approach
The gender-balanced development approach (GAD approach)[2] is defined as consistent consideration and inclusion of gender-specific conditions and needs during an entire project cycle (analysis, identification, project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation). Depending on the specific situation, this approach may result in an activity being concerned with both women and men, only with women, or only with men. Frequently, it is necessary to offer special support to women, as they are at a disadvantage in relation to men. However, women should never be considered in isolation from their social environment.
- A gender-balanced development approach strives to understand roles and relationships determined by prevailing social values and norms and by gender, as well as by other social factors, and to take account of them when formulating project aims, methods, and indicators.
- Gender in development is not a neutral concept concerned only with illustrating differences in social roles. The aim of SDC policy on gender-balanced development is to ensure that women benefit at least as much as men from SDC development programmes and projects.
- to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of development efforts
- to foster social equity
c)Gender Tools
Implementation of SDC policy on gender-balanced development does not require that new methods be devised and introduced . Rather, implementation will be a matter of incorporating gender-specific perspectives and consideration of gender-specific conditions and needs into existing institutional procedures and instruments (e.g. PEMT tools and other general planning instruments such as country programmes, yearly programmes, etc.), implementing them at the operational level, and making sure they are given consideration, within SDC as well as in organisations that administer SDC programmes.
It is also important to consider gender-balanced development in relation to measures employed at different levels: at the micro-level (operational project and programme level), at the meso-level (e.g. work with professional organisations), and at the macro-level (e.g. policy dialogue, contributions to the legal framework).
d)Practical gender needs and strategic gender interests
Practical gender needs are the immediate, important, practical needs of women and men in a specific context (e.g. better access to drinking water, health care). When these needs are met, the result is immediate improvement in the lives of both men and women, although existing inequality between men and women is not necessary affected.
Strategic gender needs are needs which determine the position of women and men in society (e.g. access to and control over resources, division of labour between women and men). As the social position of women is usually inferior to that of men, it is particularly important to consider the strategic gender needs of women, so that they can participate equally in the development process.
With regard to these two categories of gender needs, SDC employs two complementary strategies, together or one after the other, in activities concerned with small enterprise development:
i)Strategies that bring immediate improvement in the situation of men and women involved in small enterprises, without questioning existing inequalities between men and women (e.g. income generating measures in traditional sectors).
ii)Strategies that focus specifically on reducing existing social imbalances between women and men and that fundamentally strengthen the position of women (e.g. legal reforms, better access to resources through changes in the law, removal of barriers to women's advancement, measures to reduce women's workloads, training for women in dynamic economic sectors with good potential for future development).
It is not always possible to make exact distinctions between measures that meet practical gender needs and those that address strategic gender needs.
For example, higher income for women does not automatically mitigate gender-specific constraints. In fact, it may even serve to intensify them: increases in income are used, among other things, for household expenses normally covered by men, thereby giving men more income for personal use (largely for personal pleasure). Mayoux (1995) has shown that male family members support initiatives to raise women's income if such income is received directly by the household and if no changes are made that affect unpaid household and productive labour.
2.Gender-independent (poverty-related) constraints and their consequences
SDC has three goals with respect to small enterprise development: first, it aims to stimulate demand-oriented growth; second, to create jobs and income; and third, to ensure more equitable distribution of economic benefits. In trying to achieve these goals, SDC concentrates its activities on small entrepreneurs. People in this category are exposed to many disadvantages resulting from poverty, regardless of gender. These constraints will be discussed in this section, where distinctions will be drawn between self-employed producers (people engaged in small enterprises) and job-holders (employees and family members who work without pay).