Reconceptualizing Violence Against Women as a Development Issue

By Qiyamah A. Rahman*

Ten years after efforts to integrate women into development, the visibility and recognition of gender violence as a development issue still poses obstacles to development programs and policy goals. Women, development and gender violence have only converged in recent years as critically linked issues. This is partly due to the synergy generated by the UN Decade for Women's international conferences which attracted thousands of women globally concerning women's deemed priorities to women. It was women's global advocacy that helped lift up the issue of gender violence, thus linking it with another prominent issue, that of development.

Robin Morgan's, Sisterhood is Global, reported on the status of women's conditions in the 1980's and more recently in 1996.  Her findings dramatically report the pervasiveness of gender violence in over 70 countries studied. Another source also confirms the grim reality of gender violence in the United Nations Development Fund for Women's (UNIFEM). UNIFEM's projects from various regions of the world identified violence against women as a major barrier in women's lives.  Similarly, the present author's review of the Country Human Rights Reports generated by embassy staff around the developing world, indicate almost without exception, the "women sections" consistently designated violence against women as a prevalent social problem.

MATCH International, a Canadian NGO,  conducted a global survey in which violence against women was identified as the most frequent concern. The findings inspired MATCH to launch a program linking their development mission with that of violence against women as a top priority. In a Mexican project funded by UNIFEM,  the participants experienced increased incidents of battering. It appeared that the men's perceptions of the women's growing empowerment escalated  their fears of loss of control over their partners. It is speculated that the increased abuse reflected the men's attempts to reverse the women's increased independence by disrupting their project involvement.

A significant development case study that poignantly depicts the parallels between development planning and gender violence involved a Sri Lankan woman that participated in a  local credit scheme. The scheme allowed women to process cashew nuts in their homes. As a result of her economic success the woman initiated a legal separation from her abusive husband. Her husband and friends reacted hostilely toward her. They  subsequently branded her a "hard" woman and allegations of prostitution were made against her.

Development planners must be aware that development programs have the potential to adversely affect the prevailing social relations between women, men, and their communities, as the former examples suggest. Such outcomes might include stigmatization, threats, acts of violence and possibly even death. Increasingly some development programs are beginning to understand that the improvement of women's status can upset the fragile social relations between genders traditionally based on men's power and control over women.

Where assault or any form of threats and intimidation prevents women from learning, earning or actualizing their full development, the national development of the social formation is impeded and development cannot successfully occur. In some countries as much as half the population is incapacitated or affected by gender violence. This obviously has serious implications for the national development of a country.

Several suggestions are offered to development program to begin to address gender violence:

Programs
1)  Foster an awareness of culturally specific forms of gender violence. This can help identify and overcome obstacles that might pose potential barriers to women's involvement in development programs. Although domestic violence occurs within the context of the family, in some countries women may be as likely to be assaulted by their brothers, uncles, male and/or female in-laws as well as their male partners;

2)  Build in outreach components to males. Change can be threatening to males who are accustomed to being in charge of family matters. Building in outreach components to men and other family members is essential to minimize the potential for gender violence. Focus groups can provide advance feedback in advance. The UNIFEM project in Tempoal, Mexico had to work with the male partners of their female community members when domestic violence emerged.

3) Hold staff trainings on gender sensitivity and the use of gender analyses to increase staff's awareness of the potential for gender violence. Include incidences of gender violence in program reports as "lessons learned" from project experiences. Problem solve  with staff to determine appropriate interventions for incidents of gender violence. Identify the local resources to implement support services such as sexual assault and crisis intervention for battered women's. Hire local informants as consultants to assist the program if no local services exist.

4) Establish line items in the budget for training, consultants and expertise on gender planning and development that include gender violence as a development issue. Identify resource materials for staff.

Advocacy
1)  Gather country information on gender violence and disseminate to other development sources and planners which can highlight the impact of violence against women on development programs and its prevalence.

Public Policy
1)  Conduct planning with other development planners and examine ways to foster a spirit of collaboration with women's programs to address both development planning and gender violence.
2)  Coordinate develop planning with NGO's and government agencies that includes gender violence as a development issue.

The efforts of development planners and workers can be enhanced by women's unencumbered participation in national development. This however, must include women's rights to live violence free lives as full and equal citizens.

*Qiyamah A. Rahman is a graduate of the Center for Women's Global Leadership's 1991 Women's Global Leadership Institute. She can be reached at qiyamahrahman@aol.com.