Theme: Development projects can be a factor in strengthening women’s public role. In 2001, IFAD reviewed the gender impact of two of the multisectoral rural projects it had financed in Pakistan. The study found that there had been significant change in women’s self-perception, level of confidence, level of awareness and sense of connectedness with the world outside their households. It illustrated this wider involvement and empowerment of women through examples of women’s emerging interest and involvement in local politics and community development. In Mansehra, where one of the projects was implemented, women were now quite interested in voting for women candidates in the upcoming local elections. In half the communities visited, women’s groups said that they had even considered nominating the project’s traditional birth attendants for local office. The project had enhanced the status and skills of these traditional birth attendants, with the result that they became an important resource in the effort to address women’s wider strategic interests while they also dealt with the practical, health-related needs. The fact that the traditional birth attendants were being considered as local candidates proves the trust women had in them and their status. The study found that the two potential women candidates talked to and had the support of their husbands in their political leadership role, though not necessarily of their in-laws. Another women’s group said that, whereas they would not be nominating anyone for the election, they would be demanding to learn what the candidates (men or women) intended to do for the women in their area. All women wanted more information about the electoral process itself and the new proportional representation of women. The study also provided some examples from another IFAD loan project area, the Neelum and Jhelum Valleys, of women taking the initiative in the village development to ensure that their needs were met. In one village, women had lobbied for improvement of their link road. This indicates their growing mobility, as well as their community spirit and initiative. The women had actually been successful in staging press briefings and obtaining radio and newspaper coverage of the issue. Women in several other communities had taken a major role in the self-help improvement of their drinking water supplies. In one instance, the women had purchased a bore drill through community funds and were drilling. In another, they built their own water tanks to address their domestic water supply needs. Women were also showing signs of fighting for their rights against external entities. This was illustrated by the women in Mansehra who were contesting the decision of government milk inspectors that some of their milk was unfit. They were taking the matter to court. Of course, it cannot be claimed that the IFAD projects were solely responsible for such dramatic changes. But, reportedly, the gender-sensitive development initiatives of the projects played a role in wider women’s empowerment. Lesson: Even in traditional societies, the widening of women’s horizons and the promotion of their confidence and social awareness can facilitate women’s involvement in community affairs and even in the leadership of their communities. Source: Maria Protz, October 2001, Gender Impact Analysis of the Mansehra Village Support Project and the Neelum and Jhelum Valleys Community Development Project, Rome. |
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