Introduction

The South African government is bound to various national and international commitments and obligations which compel it to promote gender equality in all its activities, while ensuring that it is achieved in society as a whole. The most notable national commitments are the entrenchment of gender equality in the Constitution and the creation of the Commission for Gender Equality. The ratification (without reservations) of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) by the government in December 1995 and the official adoption of the South African Platform of Action on the return from the 4th United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, are among the most important international commitments. The ratification of CEDAW means that South Africa is legally bound to take the steps outlined in the Convention to ensure that women enjoy real equality, including social and economic equality, in society.

Although the legal equality of women and men in South Africa is indisputable, it remains a well-known fact that women, by no means, have achieved equality in the economy and in society, in general. Women (who constitute 54 per cent of the South African population) are in the most instances still more disadvantaged than men.2 Calculations by Central Statistics3 reflect a nearly twenty per cent difference between the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Human Development Index (HDI), a clear indication of the existence of gender disparity in South Africa. The following examples of the inequality and poverty of women in relation to men will suffice to demonstrate this point. Women earn a mere 38 per cent of the income earned by men. The labour force participation rate for men is 72 per cent, which is significantly higher than the female average of 45 per cent,4 while the unemployment rate for economically active women of 38 per cent is much higher than the 23 per cent unemployment rate of economically active men.5 The situation of black/African women is far worse in that their unemployment rate of 47 per cent far exceeds the national average of 29 per cent (which is also the unemployment rate of African men).6 According to the 1991 census,7 eighty per cent of women in rural areas have no access to income at all. Literacy rates also show that more females than males are illiterate. Of the 46 per cent illiterate people, 43 per cent are male and 49 per cent are female.8 As many as 58 per cent of African women are illiterate.9 Finally, 75 per cent of African workers in the informal sector are women, 82 per cent of whom are in ‘elementary’ occupations such as street vending, domestic work and scavenging.10

It therefore comes as no surprise that poverty in the country has a strong gender dimension.11 Women’s larger share of the poverty burden can be explained by their disadvantaged position in the labour market, both in terms of jobs that are available and income that can be earned. In addition, over one-third of all households in South Africa are headed by single women. The level of income of households run by single women is half that of households in which men also contribute.12

The government’s concern with the development and empowerment of women has been emphasised in official development policy documents, particularly the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). In his State of the Nation address in 1994, President Mandela also maintained that true freedom can be achieved only when women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. He further emphasised that the objectives of the RDP will not have been realised "... unless we see in visible and practical terms that the condition of the women of our country has radically changed for the better, and that they have been empowered to intervene in all aspects of life as equals with any other member of society."

As has been pointed out in the introductory chapter, various development paradigms regarding the development of women have been followed over the years by governments, donor-agencies and non-government organisations (NGOs). This article offers a critical analysis of the South African government’s RDP policy and selected projects through a gender lens. Because of the strong emphasis on attempts to empower women, this analysis also provides some insight into the issue of emancipation which is, as pointed out by Schoeman in the introductory chapter, crucial to security. Empowerment underlies emancipation, thereby also pointing to the inextricable link between security and development.

This analysis makes no claim to being exhaustive. It focuses only on national departments responsible for the selected RDP projects. In most instances, these departments are mainly responsible for the policies surrounding the projects, while the implementation of the projects is the responsibility of the various provinces. Reference to some projects in the provinces, however, will be made to serve as examples.

The Gender Approach

The gender approach to development involves not only an integration of women into development, but looks for the potential in development initiatives to transform unequal gender/social relations and to empower women.13 It therefore views inequality between men and women as structural, dictated by socio-cultural norms that serve as organising principles of society. The gender-based approach is distinct in that it focuses on women and men, rather than considering women in isolation.

The best known methodological framework which examines the gendered position of men and women is based on the work of Molyneaux14 and Moser,15 among others. Moser distinguishes between three categories of work: reproductive, productive and community work. Within these categories, men and women generally fulfil different roles. These are the gender roles of men and women. It suggests that women have a triple role (reproductive, productive and community managing roles), whereas men fulfil a double role (the productive and community politics role).

Reproductive work involves the care and maintenance of the household and its members, including bearing and caring for children, food preparation, water supply, fuel collection, shopping, housekeeping and family health-care. One of the results is that women generally work longer hours than men. Despite it being the foundation of every society, reproductive work is often taken for granted, undervalued, and not regarded as ‘real work’. Productive work involves the production of goods and services for consumption and trade (farming, employment and self-employment in the informal sector). This is usually considered to be the ‘real’ area of work, especially when it generates income. Community work involves the collective organisation of social events and services, including local political activities. Again, both men and women engage in community activities, but a gender division of labour also prevails here. A distinction is made between community managing activities and community politics. The former entails activities such as organising the collective provision of food, basic services, education or health-care. It is regarded as an extension of women’s reproductive role and is thus often done voluntarily. Community politics is the public role of organising and decision-making at community level. While women may participate in this, men usually have the decision-making power.

By assessing and understanding the gender roles in a given society the specific needs of women (and men) can be ascertained and addressed within projects.16 Molyneaux17 distinguishes between practical and strategic gender needs. Practical gender needs are those which are formulated from the concrete conditions women experience in their gendered position within the sexual division of labour. Arising from these conditions are their practical interests for their own and the survival of their dependants. Strategic gender needs seek to address women’s subordination to men. These advocate an alternative, more equal and satisfactory organisation of society in terms of both its structure and the relationship between men and women.

As the term ‘empowerment’, particularly the empowerment of women, has become a central concept in government and development circles in South Africa, its position within a gender perspective needs to be addressed briefly. Empowerment is central to a gender perspective. This is also acknowledged by the government in its National Gender Policy18 which asserts that the empowerment of women can be achieved by "... understanding and addressing the gendered nature of society and the differential needs and interests of women." Although ‘empowerment’ is a multifaceted and complex term, it generally emphasises women’s freedom of choice and power to control their own lives at both the personal level within the household and outside the home, in terms of political, social and economic processes and change. It therefore leads to the general question of whether it increases or decreases women’s power to control their lives.19 The empowerment of women can only be achieved by meeting practical as well as strategic gender needs. Meeting only practical gender needs will not eventually lead to the empowerment of women. Meeting these needs (i.e. the practical gender needs) is necessary, argues Molyneaux20 because "... the formulation of strategic needs can only be effective as a form of intervention when full account is taken of these practical needs." However, a long term strategy addressing practical gender needs often amounts to nothing more than treating the symptoms of a disease. To cure the disease, strategic gender needs must also be met. Therefore, a combination of strategic and practical gender needs should be addressed successfully. Thus, projects aimed at empowerment endeavour to increase women’s knowledge, develop confidence, make them self-reliant, improve their skills, improve their access to resources, and provide opportunities for participation in decision-making.21

The level and quality of empowerment brought about by a development project can be measured qualitatively through the assessment of five criteria. These are based on the criteria used by Longwe22 and are the following:

Welfare: Does the project meet material needs or address immediate problems such as access to food, income, shelter and health-care? In other words, are these practical gender needs met in the planning, implementation and evaluation of a project?



Access: Does the project provide better access to the means of production on an equal basis with men, such as equal access to land, labour, credit, training and all publicly available services and benefits?



Conscientisation: Does the project enhance women’s awareness of the gender roles and inequalities within communities? Are the strategic needs for creating or enhancing women’s awareness and understanding considered and addressed in the planning and execution of a project?



Participation: Are women involved in the decision-making process about the project, in policy-making in the community, in planning and administration not only of the project, but beyond its completion? A significant indication of the degree to which women’s strategic needs are addressed in a project can be found in the degree to which they take part in the planning, management, implementation and assessment of a project.



Control: Do women have control over the end product of their labour? Following on the criteria of awareness and participation, control over the end product of their labour depends on whether women’s strategic needs were considered and woven into the project. The extent of women’s control over the product of their input in development can also be seen as an indication of the degree to which conventional gender roles have been challenged and changed through the project.

The greater the number of levels of equality met by the project, the more the project empowers/develops women. Projects oriented to meet practical gender needs usually do not move past stage one.

With the above analytical framework in mind, the extent of gender awareness in RDP policy and projects will be evaluated.

Women and the RDP

The RDP, one of the official policy frameworks for South Africa, is a coherent socio-economic policy which strives towards a non-sexist future, among others.23 Throughout the policy document, specific emphasis is placed on the development and empowerment of women. No less than forty references are made either to women in the development process or to gender equality. The principles set out relate to the fulfilment of women’s practical, as well as strategic gender needs. Needs to be addressed relating to their social condition (practical gender needs) include:

improvement of maternal health;



promotion of the provision of child-care facilities;



affordable and safer transport; and



the provision of electricity (it is acknowledged that rural women in particular face a heavy burden collecting wood).24

Meeting the strategic gender needs of women which are related to their social position, include:

special attention to be paid to their legal, educational and employment status;



all forms of discrimination regarding women’s access to land to be removed;



the approach to housing and other social services to support gender equality;



legislative obstacles and constraints to housing and credit to be removed;



women to have equal access to education, training and economic opportunities;



reproductive rights to be granted to women;



opportunities and choices for women, as well as broader participation in economic decision-making to be facilitated; and



the development of small-scale farming by women and of small enterprises focusing on women to be promoted.25

Although the policy guidelines on development in South Africa suggest a gender-based approach to development, the challenge of a gender approach, however, lies in its implementation, which is the sine qua non of all development policies and programmes. As has been mentioned, all legal constraints inhibiting women’s equality have been abolished since 1994. The issue now is whether the above ideals have materialised in actual projects and whether those projects launched, indeed meet the criteria of empowerment in terms of meeting other ‘social’ strategic gender needs such as participation in decision-making.

The White Paper on the reconstruction and development programme and the identification of projects

In the White Paper on the Reconstruction and Development Programme (WPRDP) various so-called RDP projects were identified. These RDP projects originally consisted of fifteen Presidential Lead Projects, fourteen Special Integrated Presidential Projects and 48 other RDP-related projects. The Special Integrated Presidential Projects are mainly focused on urban renewal, especially those areas where infrastructure was damaged during the unrest before the 1994 elections. Most of these areas are black townships like Katorus on the East Rand, Botshabelo in the Free State and Cato Manor in KwaZulu-Natal. The other 48 RDP-related projects are projects that were initiated through provinces and financed through provincial discretionary funds. The real RDP projects, called the Presidential Lead Projects, will be the focus of this analysis. These projects are:

primary health-care programmes;



building of clinics;



an AIDS awareness and prevention campaign;



primary school nutrition schemes;



rural water provision;



land reform;



land restitution;



the National Urban, Reconstruction and Housing Agency (NURCHA) and the provision of low-cost housing;



a national literacy programme (now known as adult basic education);



a culture of learning programme;



small-scale farmer development; and



public works programmes.26

The criteria set out in the WPRDP to which these presidential projects have to conform, however, seem to be very general and do not take any gender considerations into account. The WPRDP also does not refer explicitly to gender in its discussion of monitoring and indicators. Examples of the general nature of criteria include: programmes should focus on the empowerment of communities, jobs must be created through these programmes; they should focus on training and capacity development; programmes should be visible and transparent; and affirmative action with respect to gender and race must be taken into account.27 The latter does not necessarily mean that policies and programmes will address the differential and unequal needs, responsibilities and opportunities created by the unequal division of labour. However, provision was made for a Gender Unit in the RDP Office whose task was to determine gender policy, as well as evaluate the gender sensitivity of all programmes.28 This Unit also initiated the National Policy for Women’s Empowerment in 1995 with the objective of mainstreaming gender into all government policies and programmes. Important principles of this policy include:

gender equality should be a key objective of all government policies, planning and programmes;



the impact of government gender policies on the private spheres and the implications of this for women’s empowerment should be monitored and addressed;



government policy, projects and programmes should firstly be based on an analysis of the sexual division of labour, and, secondly, on women’s interrelated productive, reproductive and community management and decision-making roles; and



all policy decisions should not only be aimed at addressing women’s practical gender needs, but should also address strategic gender needs.29

Although this policy document had no official status, it served two purposes. In the first instance, it served as a guideline to the development of priorities and programmes by government departments. Secondly, it can be seen as a first step towards making government departments more gender aware in their implementation of RDP and other development programmes. This mainstreaming of gender into all development policies and programmes was strengthened by the ratification of CEDAW in January 1996. This led to the establishment of a CEDAW Working Group which prepared a resource document based on the terms of CEDAW’s provisions, the Women’s Charter for Effective Equality, the above National Policy for Women’s Empowerment and the Beijing Platform of Action. The Women’s Charter provides a reference point for government departments and NGOs in their task of planning and implementing gender policies. It also has a direct bearing on RDP projects because, with the closing down of the RDP Ministry in April 1996, the RDP Office’s disability, gender and children programmes were moved to Deputy President Mbeki’s office.30 In practice, this move resulted in the Presidential Lead Projects being diverted to the individual line departments concerned. The gender sensitivity of all development programmes were to be determined by the individual line departments.

Guidelines to government departments in the Policy for Women’s Empowerment include:31

all key policy-makers and implementers to receive gender education and training for development of skills in gender planning, policy development and implementation; and



that, on the policy side, all policies, projects and programmes are reviewed for their gender implications by using gender disaggregated data, and that indicators, targets and other quantifiable measures of women’s empowerment are established.

In return, the line ministries made various commitments to address gender issues in their RDP and other development projects.

Gender sensitivity of RDP projects

As the presidential RDP projects have been allocated to the appropriate line departments, this analysis, as has been indicated above, is structured according to government departments on a national basis. Their respective commitments to gender sensitivity will serve as a backdrop to the implementation of their projects.

Department of Agriculture

Small scale farming, initially a Presidential Lead Project, presently comes under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. Although small scale farming development should be promoted to benefit all the rural people in South Africa, at Cabinet level, the Department has specifically committed itself to recognise and assist women in their central role as food producers by taking positive steps to support small scale, rural-based agricultural enterprises managed by women.32 However, in its report to CEDAW, the Department of Agriculture33 acknowledges that, although it tries hard to involve women in the field of agriculture, it will take a while before such endeavours are able to produce satisfactory results. The reason for this is that it is mainly African women from rural areas who practice agriculture but they do this as a means of survival (subsistence farming) rather than as an economic commercial activity. In addition, these women are generally poor and illiterate (see statistics above).

Currently, the Department is engaged in grant assistance to small scale farmers. According to the Directorate: Financial Assistance and Land Administration,34 the purpose of the grant assistance for small farming development is "to assist groups of emerging and small food producers to develop/improve their production efficiency." The primary criteria laid down for grant assistance include that projects must be demand-led, that community involvement and ownership are prerequisites, and that the target beneficiaries must be the poor and disadvantaged. In its summary of grant assistance to small farming developments, the Directorate reported that 814 projects involving 20 224 small farmers, were approved until 1997. The projects include the establishment or upgrading of irrigation infrastructure, dairy units, poultry projects, vegetable gardening and the creation of fences.35

No gender disaggregated data are kept by the Department. Such data are the key to ensure that women — as both the majority of the population, and the majority of the poor and marginalised — receive a fair share of resources. The value of gender disaggregated data is that it clearly shows the difference between men and women. If information is not collected in a way that enables the differences between men and women to be clearly stated, it is likely that the specific gender needs and interests of women will be given less attention — if not ignored completely.

Communities apply for financial grant assistance on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and criteria for grant assistance is gender-neutral, despite the claim that agricultural policy is gender-sensitive. Gender-neutral criteria do not take the particular needs of African rural women and the constraints faced by these women in applying for grants into consideration. Such constraints and key issues facing women to gain access to productive agriculture, include:

the lack of accessible information: the Department of Agriculture has been accused of insufficient communication of their services;36



low literacy levels, customary marriage law that gives men a decision-making role, and cultural practices defining women as minors;



the fact that women are economically dependent; and



their lack of skills and training to enter productive agriculture.

In conclusion, the provision of assistance for small scale farming in the Department of Agriculture does not take any gender considerations into account. The empowerment of women is therefore unlikely to take place, as substantive equal access is not provided and economic domination by males is apparently the norm.

Department of Education

A national literacy programme (presently known as Adult Basic Education and Training) and a Culture of Learning programme are the two Presidential Lead Projects relating to education in the country. This section will pay particular attention to the Adult Basic Education and Training programme, as the Culture of Learning programme mainly concerns the restoration of a culture of learning in educational institutions. The programme caters for the physical improvement of school buildings, as well as the quality of learning by targeting the improvement of school governance.37 It therefore leaves little scope for a gender interpretation.

According to the RDP policy framework,38 Adult Basic Education aims to "provide adults with education and training programmes equivalent to exit levels in the formal school system, with an emphasis on literacy and numeracy skills." It also states that special attention must be paid to the needs of women: "adult basic education and training programmes should give special emphasis to women trapped in the rural areas."39 This special emphasis on women, particularly rural women’s, needs no justification as the figures given above on women’s literacy rates illustrate. However, when referring to the 9,4 million adults in South Africa who have had fewer than nine years of schooling, the Department of Education’s Directorate of Adult Education and Training does not acknowledge, for example, the particular lack of education among African rural women.40

A first step in the process of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) was the adoption in September 1995, of the Interim Guidelines for the Provision of Adult Basic Education and Training as the official policy of the national government. These guidelines represent a fundamental component in building a coherent framework for the provision of ABET achievements in particular areas of learning (language, literacy and communication, and mathematics/numeracy).41

A programme was launched to improve both the quantity and quality of delivery to adult learners at the lowest level of ABET, known as the Ithuteng ‘Ready to Learn’ Campaign. This was the first Presidential Lead Project with an overall budget of R50 million. Some 10 000 learners in each province were taught literacy and numeracy skills equivalent to Grade 4,42 in the pilot ABET programme nationwide.

The above Interim Guidelines have been reviewed since 1995, and this has resulted in the Policy Document on Adult Basic Education and Training in October 1997, as well as the National Multi-year Implementation Plan for Adult Education and Training. The Department sees ABET as both part of and as a foundation for lifelong learning and development.43 The Document provides policy guidelines on key components of the ABET system, as well as guidelines for a national curriculum framework which will assist the provision of ABET learning, which is still being developed by the Department. According to a member of the Directorate for Adult Education in the Department of Education, the Department is only responsible for the formulation of policies, while all programmes are implemented at a provincial level.44

Despite the RDP policy framework’s emphasis that special attention should be paid to the needs of women and the fact that the Department committed itself at Cabinet level to "develop gender sensitive curricula,"45 neither the Interim Guidelines nor the subsequent Policy Document is recognised as having a gender dimension.46 This is of particular concern, given the historical legacy of racial and sexual inequities that have led to a situation where black women occupy the most disadvantaged educational position in society.

The particular needs of women to be addressed in specific gender-sensitive ABET programmes are not recognised in the Policy Document. They are merely envisaged in a gender-neutral sense: the "new policy will serve the needs of a diverse range of learning constituencies, including organised labour in the formal economy; self-employed and under-employed people; ... the rural unemployed; and women heads of households in urban and rural areas."47 In a similar gender-neutral vein, a curriculum framework is proposed "that will equip learners with the knowledge, attitudes, skills and critical capacity ..."48 Programmes would therefore be general and not directed at a particular group’s specific needs. Women’s interests are thus subsumed under the broad goals of ABET. Failure to recognise the specific needs of women is likely to result in inadequate provision of ABET and may contribute to the perpetuation of women’s low status in society.

Although ‘disadvantaged’ women and ‘women with special needs’ are among the groups that have been identified as priorities for mobilising and enrolling learners in ABET programmes, the gender-neutral approach is also evident in the targets set for state provision of ABET in each province.49 In the Gauteng Department of Education’s ABET Business Plan, which set the guidelines for implementing the Ithuteng ‘Ready to Learn Campaign’ in the province, no specific targets to reach women were set. It has also been acknowledged by the Gauteng ABET Centre that no particular effort was made to mobilise women to participate. The fact that they are not enabled or encouraged to participate in ABET programmes was expressed by women as a grievance at the ABET National Working Conference in 1997. They maintained that more constraints are faced by women learners than by men50 In this regard, Wolpe51 remarks that additional factors such as familial activities, militate against women taking advantage of educational programmes, particularly if they take place outside working hours. Because of their responsibilities at home, the amount of time they can devote to education is limited and their motivation is low. With the increasing number of female-headed households, these elements become even more important.

As suggested in the criteria above, the success of a development project in terms of empowering women depends in the final instance on whether practical and above all women’s strategic needs have been met. Have conventional gender roles been challenged and changed by the ABET programme? The guidelines on monitoring and evaluation set out in Chapter 15 of the ABET Plan52 do not include provision for a gender analysis. It is mentioned, however, that the collection of data and reporting will be focused particularly, but not exclusively, at the five special target groups identified earlier: disadvantaged women, women with special needs, disadvantaged youth, youth with special needs and disadvantaged learners with special needs.53 The indicators according to which data will be collected, include aspects such as enrolment and performance success. Although disaggregated data will be available on the above, it would merely seem to reflect women’s participation and performance in these programmes and not whether the new skills acquired really contributed to their empowerment. If a gendered approach is not built into programmes in terms of needs, targets and contents, there is no guarantee that such programmes will indeed benefit disadvantaged groups such as African rural women. A gender-neutral approach to development has been criticised on these grounds by development practitioners.

In conclusion, the ABET policy and plan presently fail to recognise the specificity of women’s interests, whether practical or strategic. Continual disregard of the particularity of the needs of different groups of women in accordance with their specific circumstances will lead to the failure of ABET to redress gender inequalities in South Africa.

Department of Health

The three former residential projects which now fall under the Department of Health are primary health-care programmes, such as free health-care for pregnant women and children under six years of age; the building of clinics; and an AIDS awareness and prevention campaign. Free public health-care for pregnant women and children under six years has already been introduced in 1994. This has led to the increased use of antenatal health services contributing to fewer pregnancy complications. These programmes are also in line with the Department’s CEDAW commitment that accessible and affordable primary health care should be provided for vulnerable groups such as women and children.54 Since 1994, 504 new clinics have also been built, serving an additional five million people.

The introduction of the above programmes serves practical gender needs. The programmes contribute to making women’s lives easier in that they help them to perform their traditional roles and responsibilities better. Although it may appear that women and men have common needs with regard to, for example, the provision of clinics and an AIDS awareness programme, women have a particular interest in these programmes because of their disproportionate responsibility for social reproduction.

HIV/AIDS continues to be an important health concern in South Africa. The country is considered to have one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the world. According to Sher,55 women of reproductive age are the fastest-growing segment of the population to be infected. It is also easier, he notes, for women to become infected with HIV/AIDS than men. Statistics published by the Department of Health obtained from a national HIV survey of women attending antenatal clinics reveal that, at the end of 1997, 16,01 per cent of the women were infected by HIV. This represents a 12,99 per cent increase in the prevalence of HIV infection since 1996.56

Although an AIDS/HIV awareness and prevention campaign has been identified as a Presidential Lead Project, the Department of Health has been criticised since 1996 for the lack of implementation of a national AIDS/HIV awareness programme.57 The most recent criticism comes from the National Assembly’s Health Committee report, which describes the government’s response to HIV/AIDS as being slow and inadequate. The Department of Health, according to the report, had not shown a broad vision for dealing with the disease, for example, by indicating interventions, target groups or ways of evaluating how effective interventions were.58 Given these accusations, it is not surprising that no gender-sensitive approach to the epidemic exists. The lack of a gendered approach to AIDS/HIV prevention has also been confirmed by a spokesperson for the HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Directorate in the Department of Health.59 At present, there are no particular strategies relating to women and their particular needs. A gender consultant, however, has been appointed in April 1998 to design and implement a gendered approach to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention strategies.

Over and above physiological differences, women’s educational, economic, social, political and cultural status in varying degrees and combinations affects their capacity to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and to demand that their partners do so as well. For these reasons, women’s particular problems and needs need to be taken into consideration in any HIV/AIDS prevention plan for such a plan to achieve any measure of success. Specific factors to be taken into consideration regarding women, include the following:

Women’s lack of access to and control over resources for decision-making particularly in the sexual relationship appears to be a key to their vulnerability and that of their children in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.60



Therefore, if reducing the risk of HIV transmission appears to threaten the balance of power in the sexual relationship, then measures to prevent AIDS could mean failure in their roles as women and loss of position in the family.



For the majority of rural African women, fertility means status and self-esteem. Having offspring who will survive beyond infancy may also mean benefits from children’s labour. As Ulin remarks: “under conditions of scarcity and competition for survival, the economic metaphor is central in women’s interpretation of their own sexuality.”61



Socio-economic factors that constrain life options and sexual behaviour represent another set of influences on women’s vulnerability to HIV infection. Women are more likely to be poor and uneducated than men, as has been indicated above, and are thus likely to be dependent on men for their survival and that of their children. In the context of unequal relationships and in settings where their wage-earning abilities are limited, women may be afraid to risk angering or losing their partners by raising the issue of monogamy and condom use. Leaving an unco-operative partner is not seen as a realistic option. Furthermore, women who do have to support themselves may find that they have to exchange sex for money, goods, favours and other services, thus placing themselves at risk of exposure to AIDS.62 To the extent that sex means survival, its economic rewards will reinforce high-risk behaviour and perpetuate the powerlessness of women to break out of a downward spiral.


There are socio-cultural aspects, such as the importance of large families, which can be attributed to an overriding emphasis on lineage in the African social system. Lineage survival is dependent on women’s ability and willingness to produce large families. Reports from several sub-Saharan countries document women’s fears of family conflict, economic loss, and lowered self-esteem if they advocate condom use.63

The particular focus on women in an HIV/AIDS campaign stems from their reproductive role as care-givers (mothers), and as service providers (sexual partners). There is a well-known link between maternal health and child survival. This is illustrated in the lives of children of HIV-infected mothers. Between twenty per cent and forty per cent of these women will pass the virus on to their babies, and about eighty per cent of the infected children will die before their fifth birthday.64 In addition, mothers suffering from AIDS are unlikely to provide the care their children need to prevent and survive those diseases that already account for high rates of child mortality. As the AIDS epidemic among adults progresses and results in death, the impact will be increasingly evident in growing numbers of orphans.65

Gender-sensitive strategies need to be adopted in HIV/AIDS campaigns, and women therefore have to be active participants in prevention strategies at community level. Such campaigns must include research and intervention directed at removing barriers to participation by men and women in decisions to protect themselves from HIV transmission. Male perspectives and gender differences on important issues in the patterning of sexual behaviour should form the basis of HIV/AIDS campaigns. Sher66 further emphasises the importance of the empowerment of women in the struggle to deal with the HIV/AIDS problem. Such empowerment, however, should be part of a larger strategy of poverty and social upliftment.

Department of Housing

Housing is a fundamental human right embodied in Section 26 of the Constitution, and every citizen of the country has the right to have access to adequate housing. The state is now bound to ensure that, within its available resources, the right is realised. The provision of low-cost housing is therefore regarded as one of the key RDP projects. Only twenty per cent of households in South Africa requiring housing are able to meet their needs in the marketplace without assistance. The remaining eighty per cent depend on state support to a greater or lesser extent. Hence, the national housing subsidy scheme which is administered by the various Provincial Housing Boards, was introduced. The subsidy criteria are gender-neutral and subsidy levels are linked to household incomes and not to gender criteria. A family with a monthly household income of R0 — R800, for example, is eligible for the full subsidy of R15 000. This Housing Subsidy Scheme offers subsidies over a range of options: project-linked subsidies, individual subsidies, consolidation subsidies and institutional subsidies.67

According to the 1998 Budget Review,68 approximately 385 000 houses have been built and 700 000 subsidies have been reserved in the period April 1994 to December 1997. No gender disaggregated data are available.

Another Presidential Lead Project was the establishment of the National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency (NURCHA) in October 1995, to provide guarantees to financial institutions for low-income housing provision.69 The issue of bridging finance has been a problem for developers in the low-income housing sector since the above subsidy scheme was implemented.

Although the Department of Housing committed itself to enable women to obtain affordable housing, to take positive measures in conjunction with other stakeholders to assist women with dependants who have limited or no financial resources to acquire housing, and to facilitate women’s participation as consumers and employees in decision-making processes concerning the allocation of housing, a spokesperson of the Department acknowledged that the Department’s current primary aim is to facilitate low-income housing to the broader population. At present, no specific preference is given to the housing needs of low-income women (see statistics above which would justify such a preference).70 Although the Department is especially looking at the plight of rural women and their problems of access to land, in particular, the current housing programmes are gender-neutral. As a result of the decentralisation of power to provinces and local governments, the Department is also at present not in a position to enforce gender sensitivity in the planning, allocation and implementation of programmes.71

Illustrating the lack of a gender-sensitive policy towards housing is the Presidential Urban Renewal Project of the township Katorus, mentioned above, of which the Phola Park housing project forms part. Community leaders within existing organisations played a key role in identifying housing needs and steering the process of identifying the best ways in which their community’s needs could be satisfied. Although more than sixty per cent of households in Phola Park are headed by women, the project in no way indicated responsiveness to women’s practical or strategic needs.72 There was no gender sensitivity with regard to the design and management or implementation of the project.73 Additional training in new directions for women in particular has not been considered, and even where women have been included in some building activities, little attention has been paid to equip them with new and marketable skills, like brickmaking or bricklaying. Women were only involved in cement-washing walls and assembling roofs — work presumably more suitable for women.74 Training and capacity-building among women are important activities in terms of the RDP’s plans for community labour-based construction methods and are essential in terms of the empowerment criteria set out earlier. In the absence of ongoing skills development and training, women’s access to employment and income has not improved in Phola Park. Not only did the developer not train women in non-traditional areas of work, but no notice was taken of the potential contribution of women. Support facilities to clear more of the women’s time were therefore not included in the project. It is unlikely that Phola Park women will benefit from the project beyond receiving adequate shelter. Empowerment criteria also require that there will be a fundamentally changed perception by women of their position in the community and in the wider society. This understanding has not been engendered by the Phola Park project.75

Similarly, projects guaranteed by NURCHA are not subject to any gender-sensitive criteria. According to Mjoli-Mncube, the Executive Director of NURCHA, women are not incorporated in all the stages of the housing projects.76 Although women attend meetings to initiate housing projects, they do not participate because of their marginal knowledge of technical terms. They are therefore not elected to decision-making committees. Despite NURCHA’s preference for assistance to women-driven projects, fewer than ten of the 75 projects launched by them are women-driven.

A gender-sensitive approach to housing has great potential to transform women’s position by, for instance, favouring women’s access, tailoring projects to women’s needs and to the needs of particular households, and by including more development aspects, such as training and income-generation.77

Research by Todes and Walker78 confirms that women address the issue of housing from the perspective of its meaning in their lives, rather than as a mere commodity. Owning a home gives a woman, for example, greater control over her home, and over gender relations within. As Moser79 also points out, men and women’s priorities frequently differ, and it is more often women who take responsibility for housing.

As has been pointed out above, no special preference is given to the housing needs of low-income women — although access to housing for such women is potentially made possible, particularly through the state’s subsidy scheme. However, according to the South African People’s Homeless Federation (which represents 350 communities countrywide at the very low-income scale of the spectrum and whose members are predominantly women), access to the subsidy proves to be difficult as it seems to favour projects undertaken by private contractors, rather than people building for themselves.80 Even with the government subsidy, unemployed individuals (among whom women are the majority) cannot access housing.

If women are to benefit and not be marginalised, they must participate in and have influence over the institutions controlling housing in the first place. Without women’s participation in and influence over the institutions affecting housing, women will be unable to ensure that their needs are met, either at the level of housing policy as a whole, or in relation to more localised issues as the practicalities of allocation. Women are only empowered when such participation "increases their power to control their lives."

Secondly, a product mix should be incorporated into housing projects to suit different kinds of households. Women should therefore also have a say in the structure of houses. Conventional housing is not always appropriate to women. Housing is generally designed for a nuclear family, the members of which live individualised lifestyles, and is seen as purely residential space. Such housing is inappropriate for aged women and single mothers, and one third of all households in South Africa are headed by single women. It tends to isolate, force them to live on their own, and expose them to physical and sexual harassment. It also does not take women working from home into account, an increasingly important phenomenon in developing countries.81

Thirdly, a critical area for consideration is the appropriate level of service provision, and how decisions on it are made. The quality of services has an obvious impact on the extent and burden of household labour, and also affects health, and thus women’s responsibility in this regard. Where women also have to work outside the house, poor service levels can exert an intolerable burden on them.82

Lastly, if housing is regarded as a key target for government investment from a macro-economic perspective (by kick-starting the economy through job creation), a focus on domestic labour reinforces the argument in favour of housing from a gender perspective. Women’s responsibility for domestic work is an important constraint on their participation, choice and position within the labour force. The housing projects can benefit the local economy through training and employing women, and also ensuring that skills remain that can be utilised after the project is complete. Women can benefit both as wealth generators, and beneficiaries in the process. The irony in South Africa is that, although the majority of home-builders in rural and informal housing are women, men take over when the activity is formalised and becomes an income-generating activity.83

A voluntary group, supported by the Department of Housing, set up a Women for Housing Group in 1996 (co-ordinated by Mjoli-Mncube, also Executive Director of NURCHA), to empower women through housing, ensuring that they benefit from subsidised housing, and preventing the marginalisation of women during the process of housing formalisation.84 Major objectives of the Group include:

promoting the inclusion of gender-sensitive women in all decision-making bodies that impact on housing so that policies may begin to reflect a gender-sensitive approach;



lobbying and educating the housing industry on how it can involve women as contractors, labourers etc.; and



education and conscientisation of women on housing issues – their rights, responsibilities, potential and capacity-building in terms of skills training and education in the technical housing fields.

Despite the extensive and ambitious goals of the Women for Housing Group which is affirmed in the Department of Housing’s Urban Development Framework,85 this group has little influence in terms of any of their stated goals. At most, it may have contributed to sensitising the Department to the housing needs of women, particularly those of rural women.86

Department of Land Affairs

Land reform and land restitution are the two Presidential Lead Projects which are now the responsibility of the Department of Land Affairs. The government has a stated policy commitment to the material, social and political empowerment of poor and landless women through land reform and rural development. According to the Green Paper on South African Land Policy (the green paper on land reform) published in February 1996, the land reform programme has the following elements:

land distribution (which explicitly aims to provide the disadvantaged and the poor with land for residential and productive purposes). Labour tenants, farmworkers, women and emergent farmers are targeted. The government would assist in the purchase of the land by providing a settlement/land acquisition grant, to a maximum value of R15 000 per household for the purchase of land directly from willing sellers. This grant is pegged at the same level as the national subsidy housing scheme. The Green Paper promised that by 2006, rights in land would be secured for a large proportion of eligible South Africans, assisted by government grants. It stated, however, that the proposed redistribution was not yet quantifiable but priority would be given to the ‘marginalised’ and the needs of women;



land restitution which aims to restore land to those dispossessed through racially discriminatory measures; and



land tenure reform that will provide security of tenure to all South Africans.

In a draft document on Women’s Rights in Land, the Deputy Director of Land Affairs, Mihloti Mathye,87 acknowledged that, in order for women to achieve a fair and equitable benefit, it is necessary that all legal barriers to women’s participation in land reform should be removed. This includes a reform of marriage inheritance and customary law where they contain obstacles to women’s rights to land. In addition, clear mechanisms in project planning, beneficiary selection and project appraisal should exist in order to ensure that women as a group benefit; special provision should be made for women to enable them to access credit facilities; specific mechanisms should be developed to provide security of tenure for women; and training in participatory gender planning should be given to all officials and organisations involved in implementing the land reform programme. The above issues clearly indicate the existence of gender sensitivity. Meeting these requirements will contribute to the fulfilment of women’s strategic gender needs. The Department acknowledges, however, that its ability to identify areas of concern, design appropriate remedial action, and monitor progress will depend on the availability of gender disaggregated data.88

The Land Reform Pilot Programme (LRPP) was the initial exploratory phase of the land redistribution programme and was initiated in December 1994. The programme involved the selection of individual projects within pilot districts in every province, so that the Department of Land Affairs could develop and test land reform approaches which were efficient, equitable and widely replicable. The LRPP were to ‘kick-start’ land redistribution and enable the development of "efficient, equitable and sustainable mechanisms of land redistribution in rural areas."89 The total financial commitment for the land reform pilot programme in the nine provinces until the end of 1996/97 was R315,81 million, or R35,09 million for each province.90

Regarding women’s needs, the LRPP Core Business Plan explicitly states that "the elements of the Programme are intended to enhance the material, political and social status of women."91 The programme is to adhere to the RDP guidelines, which are specified in the Framework for Planning of the Core Business Plan. The framework requires the participation of women in representative decision-making structures for district and project planning and measures to ensure that rural women gain social and economic benefits. These centre on women securing access to land through responsive tenure design and employment opportunities through appropriate construction design. Legal entities for land and property holding are to be developed which protect the rights of all members to assets held collectively, and which specifically enshrine the rights of women and the poor.

Despite the existence of gender-sensitive policy guidelines, in practice, the pilot programmes do not reflect such guidelines. In an analysis of the Land Reform Pilot Programmes in Mpumalanga and the North West Province, the Transvaal Rural Action Committee (TRAC) has identified serious problems which prevent poor rural women from gaining the maximum social, economic and political benefit from land reform and development. The first problem is that, within all the institutions of the pilot programme (from national to community level), in Mpumalanga as well as the North West Province, the representation of women with effective decision-making capacity is uniformly inadequate.92 Women are confined either to secretarial and administrative roles and where they are represented on pilot structures, they generally lack the self-assurance and capacity to participate to maximum effect. Poor rural women’s participation in public forums is further hampered by physical and time constraints associated with their multiple roles and cultural and social barriers.93

A second problem identified by TRAC is that the planning briefs for both the North West and Mpumalanga district plans contain hardly any reference to the inclusion of rural women in the planning process, nor do they define clear guidelines for ensuring that the poorest and most vulnerable gain benefits.94 Therefore, no commitment exists to the empowerment of the poorest (for example, the women-headed households). The process of beneficiary selection should adhere to the principles set out in the RDP and the LRPP’s Core Business Plan. Sensitivity to different situations and different categories of women is required, and should be rooted in disaggregated analysis.95 In this regard, Friedman96 also warns against the generalised notion of ‘rural women’. She points out that South African rural-based women occupy and use land in a variety of different ways, and there are considerable differences between and contradictions within rural communities which should be taken into consideration in land reform programmes.

A further problem surrounds the Department’s policy, which identifies the household as the unit of grant allocation. Two issues arise from the definition of a household comprising a minimum of a single adult with one or more dependants or two or more adults with or without dependants. Firstly, as Moser97 points out, it is assumed that the household functions as a socio-economic unit within which there is equal control over resources and powers of decision-making between members in matters influencing the household’s livelihood. Concern about whether all household members will enjoy the benefits of the grant equally, or whether the unequal power relations within households and in broader society will merely be affirmed, is expressed by TRAC.98

Secondly, women object to the fact that community proposals for beneficiary selection criteria that included single women had been rejected by pilot district managers.99

From the above discussion it can be concluded that, despite general gender-sensitive policy proposals on land reform, the translation of gender policies into practice is difficult. Problems identified in land reform pilot programmes in Mpumalanga and the North West Province suggest that fundamental changes are required in the planning and implementation of the LRPP if rural women are to be empowered through land reform and rural development.

Department of Public Works

A community-based public works programme to create jobs especially in rural areas is a further Presidential Lead Project (within the National Public Works Programme) identified in the WPRDP. The National Public Works Programme (NPWP) was adopted by the Government of National Unity in May 1994 as one of the key mechanisms for the implementation of the RDP. The aim of the NPWP is to:

reduce unemployment;



empower communities;



create physical assets that will improve the quality of life of the poor; and



provide education and training to the unemployed, especially women, youth and rural dwellers.100

A strategy called the Community-Based Public Works Programme (CBPWP) was adopted to kick-start the programme and ensure short term delivery. The target beneficiaries for the CBPWP are rural areas, women, women-headed households and youth.101 It is significant that officially the existence of the large percentage of women-headed households is implicitly recognised.

Since 1994, approximately R350 million has been allocated to the NPWP, while R250 million was allocated to the CBPWP from the RDP fund. In the same period, 900 CBPWPs have been implemented, creating approximately 40 000 job opportunities.102 The Department of Public Works was not too far off its target of creating 30 000 job opportunities by March 1996 and 68 000 by 1997. By 2000, the Department plans to increase the number of jobs created to 300 000 a year.103

A 1997 evaluation of the above programmes concluded that 41 per cent of those employed, were women. However, it was found that women were often assigned the more menial jobs, that their average wages were lower than those of men, that they were employed for shorter periods than men, and that they were less likely to receive training than men.104 Unemployment through these programmes is thus not addressed in proportion to the existing unemployment rate for men and women. A gender bias in the availability of employment opportunities therefore exists. This is further confirmed by research conducted in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape which concluded that, in 46 per cent of the projects, no women were employed at all.105 This is a cause for concern, seeing that women are one of the key target groups in the programme.

Due to the fact that programmes and needs are identified in development committees at this level and women have minimal involvement in decision-making structures at community level, women’s particular needs are not prioritised in projects. According to Gwagwa, the Deputy Director-General responsible for the National Public Works Programme in the National Department of Public Works,106 women’s participation in these committees stood at 46 per cent, while women held key positions in only 25 per cent of the projects.

As pointed out above, women are assigned the menial or supportive jobs such as carrying water and bricks, doing site-clearing or administrative work. These job-creating programmes therefore still reinforce the sexual division of labour. Very few women have obtained vocational or technical skills training.

Women’s minimal involvement in the decision-making process at community-level limits the responsiveness of projects to women’s strategic or practical needs. As pointed out above, a significant indication of the degree to which women’s strategic needs are addressed in a project can be found in the degree to which they take part in the planning, management and implementation of a project. The planning, design and management of the majority of present public works programmes do not reflect gender sensitivity.

The limited number of women receiving vocational or technical training skills emphasises the fact that little attention has thus far been paid to equip women with new and more marketable skills such as those required in the construction industry, which is still male-dominated at all levels. Women do not seem to gain any significant new abilities through these projects. Instead, as has been pointed out, the sexual division of labour continues to be reinforced. In view of the limited skills development and training, the majority of women’s access to employment and income has not improved. Training and capacity-building among women are important activities in terms of the RDP’s plans for community labour-based construction methods107 and are essential to the empowerment criteria as set out earlier.

While the limited number of women in decision-making positions within communities may have contributed to improved articulation of community needs, women in general have not been helped or directed to achieve greater control over the conditions that govern their lives.

In sum, while some practical needs of women have obviously been met (e.g., the provision of an income), the lack of gender sensitivity in the majority of the projects has served to stagnate women further in their traditional position. Little contribution has been made toward challenging their roles (see empowerment criteria above), thus in meeting strategic needs. In general, public works programmes do not seem to be vehicles for empowerment for the majority of women, nor for giving women a unity of purpose beyond a project’s lifespan.

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation is the RDP Presidential Lead Project being implemented by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The lack of water supply and sanitation in rural areas is evident in the statistics provided by Central Statistics in their October 1995 Household Survey. According to these statistics, 66,6 per cent of African dwellings in non-urban areas have no access to running tap water in their dwellings or on sites, while more than half of these households (34,3 per cent) have to travel distances of more than half a kilometre per day to fetch water (members of 16,6 per cent of these households travel a kilometre or more per day).108

The lack of basic services, such as water supply and sanitation, is a key symptom of poverty and underdevelopment. The provision of such services is therefore regarded as central to reconstruction and development in South Africa. In addition, the need for running water is specific to women as it relates to their reproductive responsibilities. It is also women who are primarily responsible for the collection of water.

A basic policy principle emphasised in the White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation, is the fact that development in this regard should be demand-driven and community-based.109 New ways of implementing community water-supply projects were therefore proposed with increased focus on community involvement and management of the process. The White Paper further acknowledges the fundamental role played by women in the provision and maintenance of basic services, as well as the fact that they are the key to household health. The Department therefore committed itself to the empowerment of women by undertaking to recommend to all statutory bodies in the water sector, including Local Water Committees, to involve a minimum of thirty per cent women at all levels, particularly in management.110

Additional Guidelines for Increasing the Involvement of Women on Water and Sanitation Projects in Local Communities in Rural Areas were published in 1995 when the Department started to implement the new community-managed water projects. Areas for women’s involvement were identified on project management level (to encourage a gender-sensitive approach to the project), in project construction (to provide income for unemployed women), in project design (with regard to end-user facilities which can make all the difference between use and non-use, or more comfortable use (ergonomics) for the end users, who are predominantly women), and lastly, in project health and water usage promotion (women are continually making decisions with regard to water quality and quantity and its uses which are not apparent to an outsider).111

The document further acknowledges the necessity to adopt a gender-sensitive approach to the creation of an enabling environment for the increased involvement of women. Such measures include:

a supportive policy framework at project level which supports the participation of women as ‘equal partners’ in projects and committees;



the official targeting of women as the major beneficiaries by project planners;



the identification, understanding and consciousness-raising at all levels of the project which would involve raising the debate at all meetings, establishing reasons for women’s possible lack of participation and prioritising factors that need to be overcome to ensure greater involvement of women; and



data collection covering information on women, such as how they see their role in the project, unemployment and representation of women on committees and their roles.

The Department further ensured that women’s involvement was adequately addressed in project business plans and tenders.

The content of the above document bears testimony of an understanding of the meaning of a gender-sensitive approach, in practice. If the practical guidelines are followed in water and sanitation projects, women’s practical and strategic needs will be addressed. The empowerment criteria set out earlier will therefore be met, ensuring that women’s ‘power to control their lives’ will be increased.

The fact that a million women and children in rural areas have thus far gained access to clean water supplies,112 that unemployed women and men have been trained, and that some 38 000 jobs have been created, mainly benefiting women,113 does not necessarily ensure the application of a gender-sensitive approach in these projects as envisaged by the Department of Water Affairs in its policy documents.

Despite the supportive policy framework and the monitoring of women’s involvement, women still seem not to be fully participating at project level and men are still dominating project activities. In a study of three water-supply projects in the Northern Province, problems regarding women’s participation have been identified. This can by no means be interpreted as a general trend in water-supply projects in all provinces. It does suggest, however, that the application of a gender-sensitive approach in practice is not a necessary consequence of a gender approach in policy and guidelines.

According to the research, the above projects did comply with the basic criteria on women’s involvement set by the Department to get business plans approved. These include that women formed more than thirty per cent of the Project Steering Committee and that the business plan had a section on women’s empowerment (i.e., through capacity-building, training, employment, etc.).114 The following problems were encountered which resulted in men dominating the project activities:115

Most consultants were not exposed to gender issues and the need to involve women in terms of ergonomics (as women form the majority of water supply services end-users). They therefore lacked the commitment to ensure that women were involved in all stages of the project, including the design.



When included, women’s participation was not meaningful as they lacked confidence to speak at project meetings due to the lack of experience in articulating their views, their unfamiliarity with technical concepts and the predominant use of English.



Educated rural women have heavy workloads and therefore did not attend project meetings as these placed a further burden on them.



Women’s involvement or empowerment is seen as a threat to family values. Most men within the communities feel that women’s participation in water project activities led to them neglecting their responsibilities in the household. Men are still dominant in community activities (men fulfil a community politics role), and most women share the traditional outlook of their situation with men.

From the above, it is obvious that no community awareness was developed, especially on the importance of women’s involvement and the barriers to that. No traditional gender practices were therefore challenged.

With regard to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Modiba116 identified the following problems:

The Department’s project teams, particularly the technical staff, had little exposure to gender issues and gender awareness to the extent that they could make a difference to project activities.



Gender disaggregated data are lacking within most project plans, and the concentration is on technical feasibilities. Without a clear understanding of the position of men and women it will be difficult to evaluate the relevance of the project to men and women and its impact on them.



Sound monitoring tools (and not only quantitative ones) on the success of women’s empowerment programmes, are largely absent.

From the above problems, the conclusion can be drawn that the implementation of a gender-responsive water project faces many obstacles, most of which developed over a long time and cannot be solved overnight. Problems seem to revolve around three issues:

the conditions or environment of the project are not conducive to women’s meaningful participation;



a community environment that is not supportive of women’s involvement; and



the lack of knowledge of gender issues by those implementing policies and strategies.

Conclusion

The incorporation of a gender perspective in general national development policy documents and guidelines and the incorporation of a gendered approach in the policies and programmes of national line departments, range from the acknowledgement of the need to mainstream gender in all policies and programmes to gender-neutral principles and criteria to which Presidential Lead Projects have to conform. The national Policy for Women’s Empowerment of 1995 initiated by the Gender Unit in the former RDP Office and the Guidelines for Increasing the Involvement of Women on Water and Sanitation Projects in Local Communities in Rural Areas serve as examples where gender is mainstreamed, while gender-neutral principles and criteria are evident in the Adult Basic Education and Training programme, public works programmes, financial grant assistance for small scale farmers, and the national housing subsidy scheme for low-cost housing.

Particularly striking in some policies and programmes (such as in public works programmes) is the apparent lack of understanding of the actual meaning of a gender-sensitive approach. Gender-sensitivity seems to be equated with special efforts that have to be made in targeting women or in identifying women as ‘target beneficiaries’. No further reference to women in policy guidelines is then made. Women’s particular needs are not prioritised in the planning and execution of projects. If gender equality is to be promoted, it is essential that women’s different and unequal needs, and the responsibilities and opportunities created by the unequal division of labour are addressed in policies and projects.

Where policy frameworks supportive of a gender-sensitive approach to projects exist (as in the case of the Department of Land Affairs and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry), problems are experienced in translating gender polices into practice. The first problem experienced is the lack of meaningful participation by women in the planning, management, implementation and assessment of a project, which is a significant indication of the degree to which women’s strategic needs are met. Participation not only increases the information available about the locality in which projects are to be launched, but also enables women to prioritise their needs and develop self-confidence and collective capacity. Meaningful participation of women can be measured against the empowerment test: Does it increase their power to control their lives?

Women face various obstacles which limit their participation in decision-making, a problem also touched upon by Cornwell in an earlier chapter. These include: time constraints associated with their multiple roles, which are exacerbated when there is a lack of infrastructure and services, particularly in rural areas, as this increases women’s workload; inexperience in articulating views and unfamiliarity with technical concepts; cultural and social barriers in that they are not expected nor encouraged to become involved in decision-making processes; and, lastly, prevailing attitudes to women’s abilities. Widely accepted stereotypes depict men, not women, as having the skills required to become involved in, for example, decision-making and project management.

A further problem is the lack of appropriate experience and analytical abilities with gender issues among officials. Gender-awareness training should therefore be promoted at all levels of government, including among those directly involved in projects. Such training is a means of ensuring the integration of gender issues into policy, planning and implementation. A last problem concerns the lack of gender-disaggregated information. If information is not collected in a way that enables differences between men and women to be clearly established, it is likely that the specific gender needs and interests of women will be given less attention — if not ignored completely.

Finally, a gender-sensitive approach requires not only the incorporation of gender planning in programmes, but also the development of appropriate methodologies for planning and monitoring projects for their impact on gender relations. Only by understanding the effect of projects and policies on women and men, is it possible to know whether their various needs are met. Quantitative indicators are not sufficient and the focus should not only be on meeting women’s practical needs but also their strategic needs. In this way, women will be empowered and emancipated, thereby promoting the development of a secure society.

Endnotes

Dr Yolanda Sadie is a senior lecturer in the Department of Politics and Dr Elsabe Loots a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at the Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg.



It must be remembered that women in South Africa do not form a uniform group and differ mainly in terms of race, colour, class and region, although these categories are not mutually exclusive. Class and regional differences within the ranks of women, especially, seem to play an increasingly important role. African rural women are the most suppressed, impoverished and unequal women in South African society, followed by the extremely poor women in the squatter camps on the fringes of cities and large towns.



Central Statistics, October Household Survey 1995, P0317, Central Statistics, Pretoria, 1996.



DBSA, South Africa’s Nine Provinces: A Human Development Profile, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Midrand, 1994.



Central Statistics, op. cit., p. 6.



Ibid., p. 45.



The 1996 census figures have not yet been released. The figures quoted here are taken from the Weekly Mail & Guardian (supplement), 20-26 September 1996.



Central Statistics, op. cit., p. 75



Ibid.



Ibid., p. 39.



A Whiteford, D Posel & T Kelathang, A Profile of Poverty, Inequality and Human Development, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, 1995, pp. 5-6; The Star, 9 August 1996.



Weekly Mail & Guardian, op. cit.



R Braidotti et. al., Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development, Zed Books, London, 1994.



M Molyneaux, Mobilization without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, the State and Revolution in Nicaragua, Feminist Studies, 11(2), 1985, pp. 231-234.



C Moser, Gender Planning and Development, Routledge, London, 1993, pp. 27-36.



C Moser & C Levy, A Theory and Methodology of Gender Planning: Meeting Women’s Practical and Strategic Gender Needs, DPU Gender and Planning Working Paper, 11, Development Planning Unit, London, 1986.



Molyneaux, op. cit.



South African Government, National Gender Policy, Office of the Deputy President, Pretoria, January 1997 (NGP).



UNDP, Human Development Report, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993, p. 21; see also N Heyzer, Introduction: Market, State and Gender Equity, in N Heyzer & G Sen (eds.), Gender, Economic Growth and Poverty, Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1994; ANC, The Reconstruction and Development Programme, Umanyano Publications, Johannesburg, 1994.



Molyneaux, op. cit. p. 234.



See, for instance ANC, op. cit., pp. 52; 79.



S H Longwe, Gender Awareness: The Missing Element in the Third World Development Project, in T Wallace & C March (eds.), Changing Perceptions, Oxfam, Oxford, 1991, pp. 151-153.



ANC, op. cit., p. 1. The RDP document was originally an ANC election document, but was subsequently accepted in 1994 by the Government of National Unity (GNU) as its official development policy document. To implement the proposals made in the the RDP document, the White Paper on Reconstruction and Development, based on the principles set out in the RDP base document was published in September 1994; see RSA, White Paper on Reconstruction and Development, discussion document, Pretoria, 1994.



ANC, ibid., p. 31.



Ibid.



RSA, 1994, op. cit., pp. 55-58. The three remaining Presidential Lead Projects focus on provinces and as this analysis deals with national projects, they are omitted. Also omitted is the primary school nutrition programme as it is directed at children and a gender-sensitive approach is not applicable.



Ibid., pp. 17-18.



To co-ordinate and implement the RDP projects, an RDP Office was set up in the Office of the President during 1994 and headed by the Minister without Portfolio, Jay Naidoo. It was expected that this office would manage the RDP fund and liaise with the different government departments in implementing RDP projects.



RDP Office, Mainstreaming Gender Considerations in Policies and Programmes, Pretoria, July 1996, pp. 15-18.



RDP Monitor, 3, April 1996, p. 2.



RDP Office, op. cit., pp. 30-31.



Ibid., p. 36.



Department of Agriculture, The Status of Women in South African Agriculture, CEDAW Report, 7 March 1997.



Ibid., p. 1.



Ibid., p. 3.



See, for instance, Department of Land Affairs, Report on the Consultative Workshop on Women’s Rights in Land, 21-22 Johannesburg, November 1996.



RDP Culture of Learning, Final Report, National Co-ordinating Office, 1997.
38 ANC, op. cit., p. 63.



Ibid., p. 62.



Department of Education (DET), Policy Document on Adult Basic Education and Training, October 1997.



Department of Education (DET), A National Multi-year Implementation Plan for Adult Education and Training, October 1997a, p. 24.



SAIRR, South Africa Survey 1995/1996, South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg, 1996, p. 213.



DET, op. cit., 1997, p. v.



N Daniel, Interview, Directorate for Adult Education, Department of Education, Pretoria, 21 April 1998.



RDP Office, op. cit., p. 47.



See D Daniels, Gender Gaps in Education White Paper, Agenda, 24, 1995, p. 57.



DET, op. cit., 1997, p. 2.



Ibid., p. 11.



DET, op. cit., 1997a, pp. 13; 92-93.



This is mentioned in ibid., p. 64.



A Wolpe, Inserting Feminism into Adult Education, Perspectives in Education, 15(1), 1993/94, p. 141.



DET, op. cit., 1997a, pp. 183-212.



Ibid., p. 187.



RDP Office, op. cit., p. 60.



R Sher, The Role of Women in the AIDS Epidemic, Medicine and Law, 12(608), 1993, pp. 468-469.



Department of Health, Summary Results of the Eight National HIV Surveys of Women Attending Antenatal Clinics of the Public Health Services in South Africa in 1997, facsimile message, 15 April 1998.



SAIRR, South Africa Survey 1996/97, South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg, 1997, p. 508.



The Star, 21 April 1998.



R Smart, Communication, 21 April 1998.



P R Ulin, African Women and AIDS: Negotiating Behavioral Change, Social Science and Medicine, 34(1) 1992, p. 64.



Ibid., p. 67.



See, for example, A Waldman, Old Troubles, New Resolve, Populi, December/January 1994/95, p. 12; Sher, op. cit., p. 468.



As quoted in Ulin, op. cit., p. 68.



J Chin, Current and Future Dimensions of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Women and Children, Lancet, 1990, p. 336.



E A Preble, Impact of AIDS on African Children, Social Science and Medicine, 31, 1990, p. 671.



Sher, op. cit., p. 469.



Department of Housing, Urban Development Framework, Pretoria, 1997, pp. 25-27.



Department of Finance, 1998 Budget Review, Pretoria, 1998 p. 6; 30.



NURCHA was recently registered as a Section 21 company and is financed by foreign funds.



S Carye, Interviews, Assistant Town and Regional Planner, Department of Housing, Pretoria, 31 January 1998 and 15 April 1998.



Ibid.



A Lombard, Women’s Empowerment through Low-income Housing: An Analysis of Two Case Studies, seminar submitted in partial fulfilment of the MA degree, Department of Political Studies, Rand Afrikaans University, 1997, p. 25.



Ibid., p. 26.



Ibid., p. 19.



Ibid., p. 29.



N Mjoli-Mncube, Interview, Executive Director, NURCHA, 16 April 1998.



See, for example, various chapters in C Moser & L Peake (eds.), Women, Human Settlements and Housing, Tavistock Publications, London, 1987.



A Todes & N Walker, Women and Housing Policy in South Africa: A Discussion of Durban Case Studies, Urban Forum, 3(2), 1992, p. 122.



C Moser, Women and Self-help Housing Projects: A Conceptual Framework for Analysis and Policy-making, in K Mathey (ed.), Beyond Self-Help Housing, Mansell, London, 1992.



The Star, 25 April 1997.



A Todes, Shelter, Women and Development: First and Third World Perspectives, Urban Forum, 3(2), 1992, p. 152.



Todes & Walker, op. cit., p. 132.



N Mjoli-Mncube, The Role of Women in Housing, paper presented at the Interbuild ‘96 Conference, Pretoria, 21 August 1996, p. 1. A case in point, for example, is the Free State town of Fouriesburg where 200 low-cost houses were recently completed. The specification to the contractor was that 75 per cent of the employees should be from the local community. Though 85 per cent of his employees came from the local community, none of them were women.



Department of Housing, op. cit., p. 28; Mjoli-Mncube, op. cit., 1996.



Department of Housing, ibid., p. 28.



S Carey, Interviews, Assistant Town and Regional Planner, Department of Housing, 31 Januray and 15 April 1997; Mjoli-Mncube, op. cit., 1998.



M Mathye, Women’s Rights in Land, draft discussion document, Department of Land Affairs, Pretoria, 1995, p. 1.



Ibid., p. 9.



Department of Land Affairs, Land Reform Pilot Programme: Core Business Plan, Pretoria, 1994, p. 1.



SAIRR, op. cit., 1996/97, p. 774.



Department of Land Affairs, op. cit., p. 9.



S Hargreaves, Land Reform Pilot Programme: Capturing Opportunities for Rural Women, Agenda, 30, 1996, p. 20.



Ibid., pp. 20-21.



Ibid., p. 20. As pointed out by the author, the Provincial Steering Committees (PSCs) in each province are responsible for the formulation of planning briefs. The PSCs primarily consist of representatives from provincial government departments, the regional Department of Land Affairs, the Provincial RDP Office, NGOs and representatives of the District Forum and District Office.



Department of Land Affairs, Green Paper on South African Land Policy, Pretoria, 1996, p. iii.



M Friedman, The Rural Challenge: Women and Land, Southern Africa Report, 9(3), January 1994, p. 9.



Moser, op. cit., 1993, p. 15.



Hargreaves, op. cit., p. 23.



Department of Land Affairs, op. cit., 1996, pp. 6; 17.



Gwagwa, The Public Works Programme: No Benefit to Women?’, Agenda, 30, 1996, p. 48.



Ibid.



RSA, op. cit., p. 2.



SAIRR, op. cit., 1995/96, p. 316.



Department of Finance, op. cit., p. 6.44.



Gwagwa, op. cit., p. 49.



National Department of Public Works, op. cit., 1996.



RSA, op. cit., 1994, p. 49.



Central Statistics, op. cit., pp. 57-59.



Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, Pretoria, 1994, p. 8.



Ibid.



Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Guidelines for Increasing the Involvement of Women on Water and Sanitation Projects in Local Communities in Rural Areas, Pretoria, November 1995, pp. 1-3.



RSA, op. cit., 1998, p. 2.



Department of Finance, op. cit., p. 6.57.



I B Modiba, Identifying Barriers to Women’s Participation in Water Supply Projects: A Case of Three Projects in the Northern Province, mini applied project submitted in partial fulfilment of a certificate course, Gender Policy Management Programme, P&DM, University of the Witwatersrand, 1996, p. 4.



Ibid., pp. 4-8.



Ibid., pp. 9-11.