both men and women appeared to become more comfortable with women borrowing money for their own purposes. Similarly, during implementation of a natural resource management project in Peru, an unsuccessful business initiative program for indigenous women shifted from a focus on gender equality to one on gender complementarity, recognizing the gender-differentiated roles and capacities and consistent with the Bank’s indigenous peoples policy requirement on provision of culturally appropriate gender support.24 The project ICR concluded that there were no significant changes, given women’s “high level of illiteracy, low self-esteem, and the patriarchal culture that still predominates in the countryside and even at the project design level, which fails to see peasant women as capable of leading the process for change” (World Bank 2004f). This may be symptomatic of ambitious project objectives. Women’s inputs varied, depending on the type of organization in which they participated. In infrastructure-related activities, their inputs were disproportionately higher yet less rewarded in monetary terms than men’s. For example, Zambian men typically performed the paid skilled labor, whereas women performed the unskilled unpaid labor in all but one of the cases reviewed. Field assessments confirmed that the burden of labor was higher on women. Women, lacking access to transport technologies, carried sand, stones, firewood, and water by head-loading (and simultaneously carried babies on their backs), whereas men were able to use oxcarts, wheelbarrows, or bicycles, in addition to their regular domestic chores. For example, women who provided most of the labor to build the community school in a poor Lusaka community reported that they worked from seven in the morning to seven at night, and then did domestic chores after that. Thus, the evaluation finds that women’s participation in community committees improved their participation as beneficiaries and provided a way for them to participate outside their households. However, to sustainably influence
gender relations and empower women, long-term support is needed, as well as carefully designed mechanisms that will address gender imbalances in participation, rather than strengthen existing stereotypes. Institutional strengthening Despite the strengthened country-level strategic mainstreaming approach, support for formulating gender-aware policies, for eliminating gender biases in laws and regulations, for strengthening institutional capacity to implement development activities to support gender equality or women’s empowerment, or for generating gender-related or -disaggregated data was not common. They were found only in 4 of the 10 sample countries where such support was relevant. In the Philippines and Colombia, policies and institutions supporting gender equality are fairly advanced, and Bank support was not considered highly relevant in this area.
A focus on institutional strengthening, critical for a strategic mainstreaming approach, was not common. In Ghana and Zambia, the Bank and other supporters supported revised gender-aware policies, although the support was not sustained in Zambia. In Ghana, a directorate for women in agricultural development was established, and gender considerations were integrated into agricultural policies and in the delivery of extension services. In Nigeria and Tajikistan, Bank support aimed to generate gender-aware poverty data through support for statistical agencies. ICRs for both countries rated the component as satisfactory but were silent on the gender issue. A visit to the Central Statistical Unit in Tajikistan confirmed that the Bank had provided it with gender-aware training and that gender-disaggregated data are now available. Long-term and sustained support is required to influence institutional and policy change. In Yemen, as in Zambia,
BOX 6.8 INFLUENCING BOTH MALE AND FEMALE ATTITUDES IS NECESSARY TO INFLUENCE GENDER EQUALITY There was greater resistance in some areas to women’s participation until men actually saw the benefits of such participation. For example, a young couple in Gizaa, Ghana, related their story about joining the literacy program. The wife was elated about finally being able to read and write, but her young husband did not think it would be beneficial. Unable to oppose her decision because the program was supported by the community, the husband frustrated the woman’s efforts by making unreasonable demands on her time each night she tried to prepare to attend literacy classes. He only acknowledged the benefit when the group formed an income-generating activity and he saw his wife bringing in income. At that point, he not only encouraged her but also joined the group. Another woman stated that her husband had encouraged her to join when he noticed his neighbor’s wife could now understand the figures on her baby’s weighing card. Source: IEG Ghana field assessment.
Results of Bank Support
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