Living Gender in African Organisations and

Communities: Stories from The Gambia,

Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia

Senorina Wendoh and Tina Wallace

May 2006

Table of Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................4

Acknowledgements..........................................................................................6

ACRONYMS....................................................................................................9

Overview of the Research..............................................................................11

SECTION 1. THE RESEARCH......................................................................17

1.1. The African context for the gender research .......................................17

1.4.4 The Transform Network.....................................................................20

1.2. The relationship of gender inequality to poverty ..................................22

1.3. The origins of the research project ......................................................23

1.4. A number of key concepts guided the thinking of Transform members in

starting this research ..................................................................................23

1.4.1 Gender ..............................................................................................23

1.4.2. African/local Perspectives on Gender ..............................................24

1.4.3 Transformative ..................................................................................27

SECTION 2. METHODOLOGY......................................................................29

2.1. Introduction..........................................................................................29

2.2. The Soroti Meeting: Brainstorming and Consultation ..........................29

Table 2.1. Classification of responses to gender........................................30

Table 2.2. The key research purpose for Transform members...................31

2.3. The hypotheses developed following the acceptance of the proposal.32

Table 2.3. Hypotheses underlying the research .........................................32

2.4. The approach was qualitative..............................................................33

2.5. Country sampling ................................................................................34

2.6. Timeline and approaches to the interviews .........................................35

2.7. The different country experiences with the research methodology......37

2.8. The problems/challenges of the research process ..............................39

SECTION 3 KEY FINDINGS..........................................................................41

3.1. The iterative approach improved the research process.......................41

3.2. The evolving conceptual framework ....................................................43

3.3. The changing realities and multiple sources of gender knowledge .....44

3.3.2. Multiple sources of gender knowledge .............................................49

Diagram 3.1: Uganda framework................................................................52

Diagram 3.2: Zambia framework ................................................................52

Diagram 3.3: Rwanda Framework..............................................................53

Diagram 3.4: The Gambia Framework .......................................................54

Diagram 3.5: The Revised Framework.......................................................55

3.3 The different sources of gender knowledge and action ........................55

3.3.1 Rights based approaches brought in from outside, and sometimes

endorsed by government............................................................................55

3.3.2. Government as a source of gender knowledge transmission ...........57

3.3.3 Community as a key source of gender knowledge ............................59

3.3.4 Family: The bond that binds ..............................................................61

3.3.5. The centrality of religion and faith based institutions ........................63

3.3.8. Religion is very powerful in shaping beliefs and practice..................64

3.3.7. The Power of Culture and Tradition..................................................69

3.3.9. Donors and northern NGOs as sources of gender knowledge .........71

3.4. Implications of the changing realities and multiple sources of gender

knowledge for the lives of women and men in Africa .....................................77

3.4.1 The effects of changes in legislation .................................................78

3.4.2. External approaches to gender relations often miss the point and so

misfire.........................................................................................................84

3.4.3 Gender mainstreaming is difficult ......................................................89

3.5. Change can come through learning and reflection..................................94

3.5.1 Case Study One: LADA’s Story.........................................................95

3.5.2 Case Study Two: ADWAC’s Story.....................................................95

3.5.3 Case Study three: How Rwanda has ‘claimed and owned’ emerging

gender concepts in Kinyarwanda ...............................................................96

3.6 Concluding comment ...............................................................................99

SECTION 4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................100

4.1 Recommendations for Organisational Development..............................105

APPENDICES..............................................................................................108

Appendix 1...................................................................................................108

1.1 Transform Africa’s Vision, Mission and Values...................................108

1.2 Transform Network Organisations......................................................110

Appendix 2: Gender Research teams ..........................................................115

Appendix 3: Maps of the Research Countries and Interview Regions .........116

Appendix 4: List of Countries, Regions and Organizations visited ...............120

Regions Visited ............................................................................................121

Appendix 5: Key Research Questions .........................................................124

Preface

This exciting report is the output of a four-year process, which was undertaken

to help development and other agencies working in Africa understand how

gender is perceived among African communities and local organisations as a

means to identifying more appropriate approaches that would help us "walk

the talk". The process included research in Rwanda, The Gambia, Uganda

and Zambia. Through it our understanding of gender issues in Africa has been

deepened. We also now fully appreciate why there has been so much

resistance to current approaches among African NGOs and local

communities. Through it, we have also learnt a lot about the difficulties of

managing multiple country joint initiatives, especially where a Northern NGOs

partners with local organisations in Africa.

One of the most exciting findings for the research is the influence of culture

and region on gender relations in Africa. There was overwhelming evidence

from all the four countries, which give a fair regional representation of Sub-

Saharan Africa, that although there is not a single perspective among local

organisations and communities, there is an inextricable link between culture,

religion and how people perceive gender. This confirmed our belief and

approach to organisational transform, which seeks to focus on understanding

the local context and using transformational processes of constructive

engagement, mentoring and accompaniment in order to bring about lasting

and sustainable attitudes and practices towards gender relations.

Transform Africa and its partners have already taken on board the findings

and started applying them in Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia and other

countries where we are supporting local NGOs to improve their approach to

gender transformation and development work in general. Although it is still too

early to draw conclusions, initial observation and responses from staff of

supported NGOs and the communities they support indicate a high degree of

acceptance of our approach and evidence of positive change in gender

relations.

As a multiple country joint initiative, the opportunity for Transform Africa to

work with seven local partner organisations in seven different countries

created new insights in relation management and realist planning. Several

times we overlooked the realities of communication problems in the region

and as a result set ourselves over-ambitious targets. We would assume that in

the modern world of e-mail and telecommunication, transmission of messages

and getting feedback would be easy. Quite often this did not happen and this

would lead to unnecessary delays, which would be difficult to justify to those

who are not familiar with the situation in Africa.

We are greatly indebted to Dr. Tina Wallace and Dr. Senorina Wendoh

without whom it would have been almost impossible to produce such a high

quality report. We are also indebted to the management and staff of CDRN,

CCD, PREFED and Afri-Consult who were involved in the research in the four

countries for their inputs into the exercise. We are grateful to CASEC, Iceberg

and Development Associates, which helped in the management of the project

and made invaluable contributions that were fed into the final document.

Above all, we would like to thank The Big Lottery for their support and

generous grant, which have enabled us not only to deepen our knowledge of

gender issues in Africa, but also increase our capacity to support development

organisations to improve their gender work in the region.

Charles Kazibwe,

Director, Transform Africa

Acknowledgements

This report, the product of collective collaboration between Transform Africa

and the Transform Network, owes a debt of gratitude to many African NGOs

and communities in Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda and The Gambia and to

participants in subsequent workshops in those countries as well as in Kenya,

Tanzania and Zimbabwe for sharing their stories and their ever changing

gender realities.

We are grateful to the The Big Lottery Fund (formerly Community Fund) for

the financial support that enabled the network to research into and document

African perspectives on gender.

The research was conducted by Transform network members: in Uganda by

the Community Development Resource Network (CDRN), in Zambia by the

Catholic Commission for Development (CCD), in Rwanda by Prefed, and in

The Gambia by African Consultants (Africon). We are grateful to the following

who formed what came to be called ‘the gender team’ - Rosemary Adong who

spearheaded the process, Grace Birabwa-Isharaza for managing the initial

team and Santa Vusia who took over after Grace left (all from CDRN);

Edwidge Mutale and Caroline Mukosa (from CCD), Janviere Mukantwali and

Jean Bosco Kabbagambe (from Prefed). The gender research team was later

enhanced by the presence of Malamin Sonko and Foma Ceesay (from

Africon) who joined the team and spearheaded The Gambia research. The

significant contribution of this leg of the research cannot be overstated.

We thank the various network directors for their support during the research

and in enabling subsequent dissemination workshops: Charles Kazibwe of

Transform Africa, Alfred Sakafu of Casec, John Mwendwa of Iceberg,

Margaret Simbi of DAZ, Malamin Sonko of Africon, Katongo Chifwepa of

CCD, Rosemary Adong of CDRN and John de Connick, who was director of

CDRN when the programme began. We could not have completed the

research without their support.

To friends - individuals and organisations - of the network in Africa and the

UK, who accompanied us on the four year journey, through sharing their

stories, knowledge and experience, we extend our grateful thanks. We are

especially indebted to those who listened to us and facilitated dissemination

sessions that enabled us to share initial findings.

In particular, we are grateful to the following: Elizabeth Wade-Brown at Cafod,

for her unwavering support in raising and maintaining interest in our gender

work and for providing space to share initial findings: Tina Wallace for support

in re-focusing the research, sharing in the analysis and write-up of the findings

and facilitating spaces for reflection and dissemination in the UK. Nikki van

der Gaag, spent her time reading the manuscript and gave valuable advice

and guidance, for this we are truly grateful. We thank Graham Thom,

Transform’s founding director, who wrote the initial proposal and who gave full

support to initiating the programme.

As a result of all the support and confidence given to us, these findings have

formed the basis for gender awareness workshops (across the network and

beyond), that seek to make a difference through engendering communities

and empowering poor women and men to fight poverty. We extend our

appreciation to the women and men who have attended these awareness

sessions so far. They are the people who have in turn enriched our own

knowledge and understanding of the varied local contexts that colour the

African continent. Their numbers have grown and we can’t name them all

here, but we hope they will continue the struggle for gender equity.

Throughout the research process, we encountered many people and shared

in the joys and tears of NGOs and communities. Today some of those we met

and interviewed, as well as some with whom we worked, have passed on from

the ravages of HIV&AIDS. We thank them for trusting us to bring their stories

to light. This is their moment too. If these stories find root and grow, they will

be the happy outcome of the time so generously given to us by those women

and men.

Finally, where shortcomings emerge in the report, as they will, we take

responsibility and look forward to further learning and improvement: ‘kujikwa si

kuanguka bali in kwenda mbele’ (to stumble is not to fall, but to learn and go

forward’. We hope and expect others to continue the thinking and analysis

started here, and to extend more relevant gender work in Africa in future.

Senorina Wendoh

On behalf of the Transform Network

ACRONYMS

ADWAC – Agency for the Development of Women and Children

AFRICON – African Consultants, The Gambia

ANAZ - Alangizi National Association of Zambia

BLF – Big Lottery Fund, UK

CAFOD – Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, UK

CASEC - Community Aid and Small Enterprise Consultancy (CASEC),

Tanzania

CCD – Catholic Commission for Development, Zambia

CDRN – Community Development Resource Network, Uganda

CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women

CHH – Child-headed households

DAZ – Development Associates, Zambia

FGD – Focus group discussion

GADN - Gender and Development Network, UK

GBV – Gender Based Violence

INGO – International Non-governmental organisation

KII – Key Informant Interviews

LADA – Law and Development Association, Zambia

NEPAD – New Partnership for Africa’s Development

INGO – International Non-governmental organisation

NNGO – Northern Non-government organisation

NGO – Local/National African Non-governmental organisation

PREFED – Programme Regional de Formation et d'Echange pour le

Development, Rwanda

SNGO – Southern Non-governmental organisation

SFM – Sisterhood, Feminisms and Power

TA – Transform Africa

TBA – Traditional birth attendant

Transform – Transform Network

VAW – Violence against Women

WID – Women in development

Overview of the Research

This research comes at a time when many steps are being taken within Africa

to address aspects of gender inequality and when increasing numbers of

women are accessing education, decision-making and public spaces. At the

same time, laws around land, inheritance, children and gender violence are

changing the landscape of gender relations. Yet there is also an increase in

poverty and continuing suspicion among many, especially but not only men, of

the concepts and approaches of the global gender agenda.

Despite the strides taken by some educated, urban and often relatively welloff

women, the NGOs working in the Transform Network found that in their

work with NGOs and communities over many years that there were some

almost universal and discouraging trends among poor women across Africa.

These included:

• The relatively unchanged nature of women’s opportunities/choices;

• Their relative lack of access to key resources such as education, land,

credit, capital, health care, income;

• Their increasingly heavy role as carers, especially in the context of

HIV&AIDS and declining health and welfare provision;

• Their increasing role as single household heads, trying to manage

huge responsibilities while lacking decision making and social authority

and respect;

• Their lack of status, and access to decision-making and control within

the structures of the household, kinship networks, churches and

mosques.

This in spite of years of gender training, gender mainstreaming and gender

rhetoric from donors, governments and NGOs at all levels.

These were some of the reasons why the Transform Network, which consists

of Africon in The Gambia, CASEC in Tanzania, CCD in Zambia, CDRN in

Uganda, DA in Zimbabwe, Iceberg in Kenya, Prefed in Rwanda and

Transform Africa in the UK decided in 2002 to undertake this work. The

research, undertaken over four years by four Transform members in four

African countries with contrasting histories and social and political contexts,

set out to try to understand where things were going wrong. Why was the

work on gender not translating into real change, either within NGOs or within

communities? Was it possible to find better ways of working that would enable

more and better changes to take place?

The original hypothesis underlying the research was that gender was being

resisted precisely because it was imported from outside, specifically from

northern universities and NGOs, and that the concepts and approaches were

seen as alien. While that hypothesis certainly proved true in all the countries,

it was seen to be only one part of a much more complex story.

The research is based on the voices of those interviewed in the four countries,

mainly communities and the local NGOs that work with them, as well as

opinion leaders in the church and mosque, community structures and

government officials.

Several critical issues emerged from the research, including:

1. The need for a more complex definition and analysis of gender,

rooted in African realities, which includes religion, family and culture

very strongly. While lip service is paid to these realities, the dynamics

of gender relations beyond individual men and women within their

extended families and the wider community are not well understood by

many working with gender frameworks.

2. The need to understand where and how people in Africa acquired

gender knowledge, understanding, attitudes and beliefs around

gender relations. The sources of gender knowledge included the

governments which have signed up to CEDAW and Beijing and are

introducing new legislation; the family and socialisation processes from

birth; TV, radio and the media, as well as the training and

dissemination work by International NGOs and local NGOs.

3. The need to understand the fast changing nature of gender

relations in Africa, which are subject to many forces that are bringing

about major changes in behaviour, attitudes and beliefs. The situation

is far from static and issues such as conflict, liberalisation and the loss

of formal sector jobs, HIV&AIDS are leading to major changes in roles

and responsibilities between women and men; who has access and

control of resources, and who can participate in public arenas. Little

gender work starts from this understanding of flux and change that

characterises life for many in Africa now, or from an understanding that

these changes play out in different ways in different contexts across the

continent.

4. The reality that changing gender legislation and shifts in gender

relations have had some positive effects, giving women in these

countries access to new resources and activities, seeing them

participate more fully in public life, supporting them as household

heads and so on. It has also had many negative effects, including

increasing men’s hostility towards change, and exacerbating tensions

between women and men in families. For many poor and rural women

totally dependent on their extended families for survival, the ideas and

opportunities have been way beyond their reach.

5. The importance of understanding that national NGO staff share

many, if not all, of the beliefs and attitudes of the communities

they work with and are a product of their socialisation. While they may

pick up ideas from donors, INGOs and others, the importance of

understanding their context has been overlooked up to now. They have

been expected to be change agents in contexts where they may share

the concerns and reservations around gender equality that affect many

in the communities where they work.

Many readers may say they know all these issues. However, the research

highlighted clearly that gender practice within the international aid community

does not take these points seriously and nor does it root its training and

development work in these realities.

Rather gender work, the research found, as currently practised by donors,

INGOs and local NGOs is characterised by:

• Quick and short term training.

• Standard packages applied across Africa, with little modification for

context, language, cultural differences etc.

• Training that appears to ignore many of the realities that shape the

lives of women and men in communities, including the multiple contexts

of rapid change (war, disease, drought, floods, hunger, religious

revival), all of which require a differentiated analysis and understanding

of gender.

• Gender equity work is often defined in individualistic terms that are not

appropriate for women who are totally dependent on the family for their

survival, and can be counter productive for poor rural and urban

women whose livelihoods and security are tied to male relatives.

• While the approach is called ‘gender’, in practice gender training often

focuses on women and excludes men, and gender projects are often

solely for women; this has led to men feeling undermined by these

approaches and this in turn has a negative effect on the women they

live and work with.

• Concepts, terms, analyses used are far from the day to day realities of

national NGO staff, let alone communities, and often clash with local

understandings of gender, which are rooted in culture, and reinforced

by religious teaching.

• Lack of consultation and even less trust in the capacity of African

perspectives on gender and how these can contribute to transforming

relations between women and men in Africa.

The research found that the ways gender has been approached and worked

with in the communities in the four African countries has often had a

devastating impact on the intended beneficiaries. Some of the most disturbing

findings were:

• There was great confusion about what ‘gender’ meant. It was seen as

an external and imported concept, divorced from peoples’ own analysis

and understanding of gender in their communities and organisations.

• Men, and many women, felt alienated by the rather confrontational

approach taken, and as a result many were hostile to the messages of

gender equity.

• Gender equity was understood simply as the need for numerical

balance in society, called ‘50:50’. People had a poor grasp of why

50:50 was important and the accompanying idea that women and men

can all do each other’s work equally was a source of ridicule in many

communities.

• NGOs ostensibly subscribed to these gender concepts, but many were

found to be sceptical and were just repeating the terms in order to

access donor funding, or ‘masquerading’ – pretending to understand

and support new gender terminology and concepts while rejecting them

because they clashed with their own beliefs or position in society. Only

a few ‘gender embracers’ were found, who were committed to

addressing gender inequalities in their organisations and communities.

• ‘Masqueraders’ took gender training and exhortations into

communities, but left these behind within their own family and

organisational lives.

This research is an indictment of much of the ‘gender mainstreaming work’

undertaken both within governments and NGOs, usually at the behest or

encouragement of the international community. While many organisations

appear to go along with the ideas and approaches, in fact they often do not

understand them or actively reject them because they have failed to take into

account the complexities of the realities in each country and region of Africa.

However, change is possible. The action researchers in this project went on to

use the learning from the research to implement different ways of working with

gender, starting from where people themselves were, building on their own

analysis and experience of gender relations, their beliefs about what is right

and wrong, and what is already changing in their lives and contexts. By

building from the complex, differentiated and very different realities in each

cultural and economic context, Transform members believe it is possible to

work to transform gender relations. It can be done by working slowly and

locating gender ideas within the critical African institutions of the family, the

religious community and the wider community. Government legislation and

new initiatives need to be explained and responded to and gender equity and

gender relations need to be translated into the local understandings of how to

allocate resources, who should do what, who has which rights. By working

from local experiences, current trends and changing behaviours, it will be

possible to see how and what needs to be changed to ensure that women and

men can work together to obtain their basic rights and meet their basic needs

in conditions of increasing poverty in Africa.

SECTION 1. THE RESEARCH

1.1. The African context for the gender research

These research findings arrive at a moment when the international spotlight is

focused on Africa and its struggle against poverty. It also comes at a time

when increasingly opportunities are being accorded the women through, for

example, the introduction of new inheritance rights, decision-making, and the

inclusion of women in politics- encouraging them to participate in politics and

civil society. Gender commitments are being made by national governments

and the issue of inequality has a raised profile. Some women have certainly

become more central as actors in development, rather than only recipients as

they were in the 1980s.

African governments are now increasingly being called to account by external

donors; poor governance that oversees the denial of poor people’s rights is

being challenged and the more democratic regimes showing concern for

poverty reduction are receiving increased aid funding. Civil society, including

NGOs, is encouraged to hold governments accountable for their policies and

use of budgets, to ensure that strategies to address poverty are implemented.

National, regional and international charters and declarations highlighting the

need to redress gender imbalances have been ratified in Africa. These efforts

have been bulwarked by civil society organizations and many local initiatives.

Continental initiatives such as NEPAD include a declaration that favors the

rights of women. This was a clause that was spearheaded by African women,

with the support of like- minded women, men and organizations from within

and outside African borders. All African governments have ratified the

commitments made in Beijing in 1995 to address women’s inequality and

subordination. They have set up gender departments within line ministries as

well as developing ministries of gender, and initiated a range of gender

policies to address existing inequalities. Gender imbalances have been

acknowledged and efforts are being made to address some of the very

practical issues that limit women’s opportunities. For example, in some

countries women workers are now given housing allowance where before it

was denied them if they were married, girl children’s education is being

supported through attention to hygiene and privacy within schools, and girl

children who become pregnant can sometimes continue going to school, or

return after the birth, keeping their dreams for the future.

In some countries steps are being taken to address sexual violence and

women’s need for protection, including attempts to introduce domestic

relations laws and laws on female circumcision. However these often founder

in male dominated parliaments around issues such as the denial of rape in

marriage, the support for polygamy, and major concerns about inheritance of

land going through females. In most contexts these remain bills that seem

unlikely to become law in the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, in politics, in academic institutions, in international fora, at home

and abroad some African women are taking their place alongside men in

development. Uganda has had a woman vice president, while Liberia has

recently inaugurated a woman president, the first in Africa. The continent has

had several Nobel laureates, two of whom have been women. Wangari

Maathai, the most recent laureate, when receiving the Nobel peace prize sent

a message of encouragement: ‘African women in general need to know that

it’s ok for them to be the way they are – to see the way they are as a strength,

and to be liberated from fear and silence’.

Yet the external lens that is trained on Africa and African people remains

problematic. While so many initiatives that seek to redress the imbalance

between Africa and the North are actively touted and pursued, African people

are still perceived in some cases as the ‘other’, to be seen but not heard, to be

given but not to have. African culture is often indicted as the culprit in African

people’s marginalization. The African canvas is seen as replete with

corruption (mostly seen as originating from African cultures) and also with

people who can not speak for themselves and who must be represented and

spoken for by others.

In Africa even though policies that favor women’s empowerment have been

passed, in reality women still suffer disproportionately to men in so many

ways. The public space, long the preserve of men, continues to be elusive

and closed to most women. Progress made in the policy/strategy arena is

negated by the tension between policy and practice; practices prove hard to

change and it is in the day to day that the realities of gender inequality limit

real progress, especially for poor women. Women, socialized as ‘priests of the

home’ and ‘leaders of the inside/interior’, struggle with entrenched traditional

perspectives that threaten to ostracize them when they overstep set

boundaries and reward them only when they conform to existing gender

stereotypes and expectations.

Northern, religious, government and traditional patriarchal concepts and

practices are all implicated in the maintenance of gender inequity. African

cultures are a product of many influences, many historical and external.

Unfashionable as they may appear, slavery and colonization continue to form

a significant part of the African psyche. Traditional norms have often become

skewed to fit new externally imposed realities; corruption and corrupt practices

are often the product of distorted relationships, with responsibility lying with all

involved. Traditional gender beliefs and behaviours have been modified and

skewed also through external contact and interactions.

It is this complex and changing reality in Africa that provided the context for

this gender research. It seemed, in general, that the low status/oppression of

women living in poverty was overall relatively little unchanged in spite of many

years of gender-focused policies and funding. This needed to be explained

and understood in order to change the way gender inequality is addressed in

Africa, because the urgent need to improve the condition and position of poor

women is crystal clear. While the evidence is that more opportunities are

accorded to educated women in comparison with rural women and men, and

the differences between regions within and between countries are significant,

gender relations are, in fact, highly diverse and rooted in local economic,

political, social religious as well as cultural factors. Yet across Africa the lot of

poor women remains remarkably consistent. Their realities include:

• the relatively unchanged nature of their opportunities/choices;

• their relative lack of access to key resources such as education, land,

credit, capital, health care, income;

• their increasingly heavy role as carers, especially in the context of

HIV&AIDS and declining health and welfare provision;

• their increasing role as single household heads, trying to manage huge

responsibilities while lacking decision making and social authority and

respect;

• their lack of status, decision-making and control within the structures of

the household, kinship networks, churches and mosques

While the differentiation between women according to their wealth, education,

geography, religion is certainly recognized, overall women in Africa still have

less status, authority or access to public spaces, decision-making and

choices/control over their lives than men. In spite of many years of gender

policies, gender mainstreaming, and gender rhetoric the realities remain, for

many women especially the poorest, unchanged or in some contexts

worsened as the economic crisis, HIV&AIDS and conflict hit hard at the family

and social structures of support.

1.4.4 The Transform Network

The Transform network comprises 8 African organisations engaged in

capacity building of southern NGOs in Africa, through learning, sharing,

research and advocacy. The members are Africon in The Gambia, CASEC in

Tanzania, CCD in Zambia, CDRN in Uganda, DA in Zimbabwe, Iceberg in

Kenya, Prefed in Rwanda and Transform Africa in the UK. The Transform

mission is to enable African NGOs to better fight poverty and its root causes

through facilitating organisational and institutional change and strengthening

their capacities to work well. Transform also tackles the inequalities in the

wider donor-NGO relationships, which they see as shackling local initiative

and creativity and distorting the development process. Their aspiration is to

unlock local organisations’ potential and support their self-determination, while

learning to be and remain responsiveness to the women and men, girls and

boys in the communities they work with. They want to improve the lives of the

poor, by promoting strong, relevant internal NGO practices to address

poverty, while at the same time limiting any negative influences on their work

that can emanate from external government and donor agendas (for further

details on the Transform vision, mission, membership and core activities see

Appendix 1).

Four members of the network were engaged in the gender research. They

wanted to be involved because after six years of training and advocacy these

Transform members especially found that it was proving hard to achieve real

change in gender relations within southern NGOs and the communities they

worked with. Gender was still perceived negatively, sceptically, suspiciously or

with indifference by NGO staff and many community members. The position of

women in relation to men within NGOs, as well as more broadly within the

community, was proving hard to change. Many of the attitudes towards the

roles and rights of women remained firmly entrenched in a patriarchal view of

society, including the importance of men in the public domain and the need for

women to be subservient in manners, behaviour and culture in many areas of

life, following long established traditional definitions of roles, responsibilities

and rights.

The research was undertaken between 2002 and 2004: in Uganda, November

to December 2002; Zambia, July to August 2003; Rwanda, November to

December 2003; and The Gambia, November to December 2004. While

seeking causes for NGO and community resistance to gender in Africa, the

research also endeavoured to find what was unique or particular about African

perspectives on gender that could be used to shape different ways of

approaching gender relations in the struggle for social justice.

1.2. The relationship of gender inequality to poverty

Transform members are convinced that addressing gender issues is key to

the current fight against poverty precisely because women’s lack of

participation, their exclusion from access to many resources and decisionmaking,

and their lack of control over key aspects of their lives and their lowly

status directly affect the causes and solutions to poverty for the community

and wider society. The network felt they could not claim to be fighting poverty

if it did not address issues of gender imbalance, especially most women’s

silence and invisibility within the partner NGOs and the communities they

served.

The members acknowledge that traditional institutions, strengthened by

colonialist attitudes, together with the patriarchal bias of religion work together

to ensure women’s subordination. This subordination of women in turn feeds

into gendered poverty. Poverty affects men and women differently, and at

times their needs and concerns have to be met in different ways. Poverty for

women often means the denial of their basic needs and rights to a sustainable

livelihood, water, education and health, protection and security, a voice in

public life, or freedom from discrimination. In Africa, where a confluence of

factors collude to deny poor women space to participate in decision-making,

women suffer disproportionately to men. Priority and access to education is

still reserved for boys in resource poor contexts; cultural and religious edicts

shape the role of women primarily as carers. They often carry huge

responsibility yet have little or limited authority in the household or community:

most women are excluded from owning land, controlling labour or accessing

credit and capital, and receive many of the rights to access resources through

male household members, as daughters or wives.

Economic status, religion, age, geography all affect gender relations and the

degree of power and control women have over access to public goods and

spaces, so usually elite/educated/urban women have more opportunities and

choices than poor rural men. However, in each comparable context women

are subordinate to men and often even very senior women find themselves

subservient at home. While gender has to be addressed in the fight against

poverty, especially in a context where women are evidently bearing many of

the burdens imposed by growing poverty, addressing gender inequalities is

also about meeting women’s human rights.

1.3. The origins of the research project

It was the evident lack of progress in addressing the needs and issues of poor

women, and the apparent disregard for gender issues seen in many NGOs

working with communities and partners to the Transform Network1 members,

that led Transform to define the need for research to understand what was

going on around gender. On the one hand a lot of policies, procedures, donor

requirements and NGO rhetoric were focused on gender and addressing

inequalities, on the other realities on the ground seemed stubbornly resistant

to change. Where did the problems lie, and more importantly how could they

be rectified in future?

1.4. A number of key concepts guided the thinking of Transform

members in starting this research

1.4.1 Gender

Gender, as used in this study, refers to the social relationships governing the

sexes. A social construct, it differs in time and place, from context to context

and is culturally and socially shaped. The research team defined ‘gender’ as a

broad ranging concept, encompassing the unequal relationships between

women and men, which are ameliorated and influenced by a range of factors

such as age, geography, the means of generation of wealth, religious and

1 Tranform Africa (TA) is the UK member of the Transform Network (Transform) which has a

membership of 8 organisations, seven of which are based in Africa.

traditional norms, government policies, and current government and NGO

practices.

The research team also included a range of other concepts in their

understanding of gender, drawn from African writers and feminists. These

focused on the issues of dialogue and co-operation that is often essential

between women and men in the building of strong confident communities, the

concept of inclusiveness, and not excluding men from gender work, building

on the present and recognising incremental change leading to transformation.

The often confrontational definitions and concepts used in gender analysis

globally, were tempered by these concepts such as cooperation and dialogue,

‘gender means how men and women live, how they get on’, similar to what

Obioma Nnaemeka (1998) captures as “resistance to gender separatism … is

more a manifestation of the cross-gender partnership that is a prominent and

time-tested feature of African cultures – a partnership that is reinforced by

colonialist and imperialist threats’. The importance of these and other

concepts central to how women challenge prevailing disparities, included

encouragement and practise to dialogue, “collaborate, negotiate, compromise”

and the recognition of the importance of motherhood. This thinking found

resonance in the research discussions, and seem to many observers central

to African realities.2 These ideas are echoed in the literature. A good

illustration of the diversity and yet also unity of voices in Africa, around

concepts of gender, is to be found in Sisterhood: Feminisms & Power (1998)

1.4.2. African/local Perspectives on Gender

African perspectives to gender, as defined by the researchers, refers to views

and experiences of gender that are drawn from local contexts across Africa,

and which have meaning for the people who live and work with them. The

2 For more illuminating discussions on on-going discussions on ‘African feminism(s)’, see

Obioma Nnameka, ed., Sisterhood: Feminisms & Power, Africa World Press, Trenton, NJ,

1998;(hereafter referred to as SFP), Femi Nzegwu, Love, Motherhood and the African

Heritage, Africa Renaissance, Dakar, 2001, Signe Arnfred et.al, African Gender Scholarship:

Concepts, Methodologies and Paradigms (Series 1), Gender Activism and Studies in Africa,

(Series 3), Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (Codesria)

Dakar, 2004 & 2005 and Andrea Cornwall, ed., Readings in Gender in Africa, The

International African Institute, London, 2005.

researchers shared a perception which they brought to the research that

working on gender needs to be transformative and change local realities, but

to be effective this work has to be rooted in local understanding and local

approaches to gender. The research’s thinking on the importance of

contextualising of African realities found resonance with current gender and

feminist discourses from Africa (SFP, 1998).

The research recognised that there was not one experience that

encompassed ‘Africa’. Rather Africa and African realities were complex and

heterogeneous, reflecting diverse understandings and experiences of gender

relations and gender inequalities. At the same time, it was agreed that there

are common threads/strong themes that differentiate Africa from other

continents, especially Europe and America from where most gender

frameworks emanate.

These include:

1. History. The unique experiences of slavery, colonialism (and residual

colonial culture and laws) and neo-colonialism are some of the common

threads that have shaped present day Africa.

2. Family structures. The people’s belief in the extended family and

community cohesion, their strong social norms and focus on communal

responsibility, respect for age and elders makes them stand apart, especially

from north European and US societies.

3. Poverty and rural populations. Furthermore, the people’s deepening

poverty in many parts of Africa, and the reality that in most African countries

populations are still predominantly rural are cross-cutting issues.

4. Cultures and religions. African perspectives include Africans’ sense of

conformity to social norms for survival, the power of traditional cultures and

shared as well as different languages. Traditional cultures, including initiation

in many cases through circumcision, dowry, powerful rituals around birth and

death, coupled with a strong sense of faith in religion, largely Islam,

Christianity and African religions, are some of the factors that make up Africa.

5. Conflict and marginalisation. In an increasingly globalised world, Africa

continues to grapple as an economically, and often politically, marginalised

continent - in spite of the fact that within its boundaries lie some of the world’s

richest natural wealth. At the same time, conflict, resulting often from

inappropriate and imposed political boundaries (largely ignored by border

populations), from growing competition for scarce or valuable resources, and

also from the consequences of bad governance afflicts Africa. Conflict shapes

the roles and responsibilities of women and men in new ways, and distorts

social norms, often through the increased use of violence against women.

6. Health and education. Health and education systems are weak and under

funded, lacking capacities and resources. More recently, HIV&AIDs, the

subsequent increase in tuberculosis, and growing strains of resistant malaria

contribute to low life expectancy and poor health profiles. Growing poverty

discriminates against the access of girls and women to these resources, and

women especially are becoming the most affected by HIV&AIDS - as sufferers

lacking access to treatments, as carers, and as women lacking control over

their own bodies.

African responses and adaptation to the assault of disease and war,

modernity and globalisation (which are many and varied), their reliance on

traditional values –culminate in what the research calls ‘African perspectives’

on gender. They encompass the African present, which has been influenced

by the past, and responds to people’s hopes for the future. African

perspectives to gender are diverse and shaped by other factors beyond the

strong social norms that determine society positioning, including externally

developed concepts, tools and frameworks, and government legislation.

The research considered African perspectives on gender were informed by its

people’s traditional cultural values, their strong faith base, their history of

colonialism, neo-colonialism and the present globalised word. When

considering gender in Africa, one would not be able to ignore the reality of

conflict, violence, modernity, HIV&AIDS, and Africa’s position in the global

social and political economy. Yet, every context is also unique in the way

gender norms, values and cultural beliefs work and function.

Children from CHH, at school in Kumi,

Eastern Uganda

Children after school in The

Gambia

Pen holder in the shape of a woman’s

body. On the desk of a pastor – the

confluence between religion and

traditional culture. What message does

the ornament carry for you?

University student in Rwanda