Listening to the stories of women in the South African rural water services sector to understand how their traditional roles intersect with government gender mainstreaming initiatives
Date
2008-03
Authors
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
Cultural dynamics bring an added dimension to development projects. The Department
of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) recognizes the need to engage with power
relations at different levels between men and women, and that traditional beliefs and
practices are important here. However, the most recent strategy of the Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) fails to address the impact of cultural dynamics on
gender mainstreaming. This study was conducted to increase the understanding of how
this might be dealt with.
To yield personal information on how individuals are affected by traditional culture,
narratology was used. Five women were engaged in three in-depth interviews of
approximately two hours each. The purpose was to discuss their life stories and their
involvement in the water projects, and then to integrate the life stories with the projects
to highlight complexities around specific roles such as that of daughter, wife and
development facilitator. The researcher therefore conducted the study from the point of
view of the women, rather than from the traditional perspective of the development
practitioner or government official.
The empirical results were related to literature reviewed on topics such as complexity,
feminism and sustainability. Thus, it was possible to highlight underlying complexities
related to culture that might impact on gender mainstreaming in the following areas:
(1) Women’s time and labour
(2) Women’s power within African societies
(3) The Butterfly effect in women’s lives
(4) Fundamental human desires in women’s lives
(5) Utilising social capital
(6) The approach of funding and donor organizations
(7) Society as a complex system
(8) The effects of migration on women’s lives Some aspects highlighted by the study are the following. Development and funding
organizations often use a one-size-fits-all individualistic approach whereas the societies
they work in have a more collective mindset. Furthermore, women’s time and labour are
exploited by the developmental organizations as rural women offer their services
voluntarily. And in African society mothering boys is a source of power for women,
which influences resource allocation.
In terms of a recommended approach to addressing the impact of traditional culture on
gender mainstreaming, it was found that a practitioner does not have to tackle
traditional culture head-on by for instance proposing defiance against certain norms.
Rather, the practitioner should obtain information about the wider system (the society,
the prevailing culture and the project context) to provide insight into how women are
affected and how the system might be manipulated to eventually bring about the desired
changes for the specific context. The processes of change in culture and gender
relations must be viewed as on-going and exact time-frames are usually not appropriate
in measuring such.
As the study emphasized the importance of both men and women working together on
projects, a limitation of the current study is that it focused only on the stories of women.
A follow-up study should include the views and stories of how gender mainstreaming
and traditional culture impact on men.
Description
Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
Keywords
Gender mainstreaming, Women in development, Rural water supply, Sustainable development, Dissertations -- Public management and planning, Theses -- Public management and planning