By adopting the Policy for Global Development (PGD) in 2003 the Swedish parliament established gender mainstreaming as a goal in development cooperation policy, thereby emphasizing women’s role as agents of empowerment in development. This has not always been the case. During most of the history of Swedish foreign aid women issues have been handled separately and development policy mainly based on a male perspective. A lot of research has focused on trends in the global debate over how to better integrate women in development process, but much less academic attention has focused on how Swedish development policy has addressed the issue and how women have been referred to in development policy since the origin of Swedish foreign aid. According to the theories of critical discourse analysis (CDA) our written and spoken language influence our view of the reality and how we understand society. Following that logic, how women are referred to in Swedish development policy influence how women are perceived by the actors of development cooperation. Through a critical discourse analysis of official Swedish governmental documents concerning foreign aid, such as government bills and letters of appropriation, this study aims to detect discourses of Swedish development policy regarding women in developing countries. Furthermore it aims to understand how these discourses have related to the global debate about women’s role in development. This study observes six discourses of women in developing countries in the material: Women as passive recipient, agent of empowerment, the savior, motherhood-women as mothers, the other woman, and the man as the norm. The analysis shows Sweden’s development policies following the global discussions fairly coherently during much of the period, with 80s as the only possible exception.

<p>The purpose of this study is to understand the situation concerning women and gender in relation to development, in the Mozambican district of Nacala Porto. The ambition is to identify present theoretical feminist perspectives in terms of perceived problems for women, their ability to solve them, focus areas for improvement and strategies for reaching development aims.</p><p>To enable an understanding of the situation concerning women and gender in relation to development, we have conducted an analytical framework consisting of three main theoretical feminist perspectives in international development policies. These were applied as analytical tools, which consisted of Ester Boserups perspective of Women’s role in economic development, Women In Development (WID) and Gender And Development (GAD).</p><p>The study displayed a discrepancy between the powerful women in the Mozambican parliament and the lack of social power described by the women in Nacala Porto. At the district level the results showed a dominating modernistic paradigm, similar to the situation identified by Boserup, who emphasised that the economical development did not benefit women equally. The subordination of women has been apparent in the district. The long-term strategy of transforming the gender structure has been met with support as well as resistance. The GAD-aim of mainstreaming gender showed a gap between international policy and practise in the district. The interventions that were WID-oriented have on the other hand shown progress regarding female representation, non-discriminatory legislation and increase of girls starting primary school. However, the WID-progress is limited without a gender perspective.</p><p>Three main areas were continuously discussed as means having to change, to potentially alleviate poverty and include women in the development process. These areas were the access to employment, sustainable education and functioning family relations. The interdependence of these areas also seemed to require an integration of the three theoretical feminist perspectives of Boserup, WID and GAD.</p>

The purpose of this study is to understand the situation concerning women and gender in relation to development, in the Mozambican district of Nacala Porto. The ambition is to identify present theoretical feminist perspectives in terms of perceived problems for women, their ability to solve them, focus areas for improvement and strategies for reaching development aims. To enable an understanding of the situation concerning women and gender in relation to development, we have conducted an analytical framework consisting of three main theoretical feminist perspectives in international development policies. These were applied as analytical tools, which consisted of Ester Boserups perspective of Women’s role in economic development, Women In Development (WID) and Gender And Development (GAD). The study displayed a discrepancy between the powerful women in the Mozambican parliament and the lack of social power described by the women in Nacala Porto. At the district level the results showed a dominating modernistic paradigm, similar to the situation identified by Boserup, who emphasised that the economical development did not benefit women equally. The subordination of women has been apparent in the district. The long-term strategy of transforming the gender structure has been met with support as well as resistance. The GAD-aim of mainstreaming gender showed a gap between international policy and practise in the district. The interventions that were WID-oriented have on the other hand shown progress regarding female representation, non-discriminatory legislation and increase of girls starting primary school. However, the WID-progress is limited without a gender perspective. Three main areas were continuously discussed as means having to change, to potentially alleviate poverty and include women in the development process. These areas were the access to employment, sustainable education and functioning family relations. The interdependence of these areas also seemed to require an integration of the three theoretical feminist perspectives of Boserup, WID and GAD.

Global civilisation, and therefore population health, is threatened by excessive inequality, weapons of mass destruction, inadequate economic and political theory and adverse global environmental change. The unequal distribution of global foreign exchange adjusted income is both a cause and a reflection of global social characteristics responsible for many aspects of these inter-related crises. ¶ The global distribution of foreign exchange adjusted income for the period 1964-1999 is examined. Using data for more than 99% of the global population, a substantial divergence in its distribution is found. The global Gini co-efficient, adjusted for national income inequality, increased from an already high value of 71% in 1964 to peak at more than 80% in 1995, before falling, very slightly, to 79% in 1999. The global distribution of purchasing parity power income is also examined, for a similar period. Though also found to be extremely unequal, its trend has not been to increased inequality. Implications of the differences between these two trends are discussed. ¶ A weighted time series index of global environmental change (IGEC) for the period 1960-1997 was also calculated. This uses nine categories of global time series environmental data, each scaled so that 100% represents the level of each category in nature prior to anthropogenic change; zero represents decline to a critical point. This index fell from 82% in 1960 to 55% in 1997, and will further decline during this century. ¶ Using evidence from several disciplines, it is argued that the decline in the IGEC correlates with major macro-environmental changes, which, combined with flawed social responses to scarcity and its perception, place at risk the ability of civilisation to function. This could occur because of the interaction of conflict, economically disastrous extreme climatic events, deterioration of other ecosystem services, regional food and water insecurity, and currently unforeseen events. Uncertainty regarding both a safe rate of decline and the tolerable nadir of the IGEC is substantial. ¶ Substantial reduction in the inequality of foreign exchange adjusted income is vital to enhance the development of policies able to reverse the decline in the environmental goods which underpin civilisation, and to promote the co-operation needed to maximise the chance that civilisation will survive.

Avant d'aborder un terrain nouveau, l'étudiant ou le chercheur découvre la région par le biais de lectures dont certaines lui donneront peut être une vision déformée de la situation. Ainsi, dans certains textes sur Madagascar, ses habitants, ses forêts ou son agriculture, nous avons retrouvé les mêmes discours sur la disparition de la forêt, l'érosion des sols et le cercle vicieux qui englobe la dégradation de l'environnement et la crise du développement.<br />Le tableau dressé par ces textes présente des forêts brûlées par des populations en accroissement rapide : les forêts tropicales humides de l'est de Madagascar qui regorgent de richesses naturelles partent en fumée, en particulier à cause des paysans pratiquant la riziculture sur brûlis (essartage). Cette activité consiste à défricher et à brûler une parcelle de forêt pour cultiver du riz pluvial pendant un ou deux ans, avant que le terrain soit abandonné et que l'agriculteur parte brûler ailleurs.<br />Les mêmes textes avancent que, dans un contexte de grande pauvreté, des agriculteurs de plus en plus nombreux ne survivent que par l'essartage. La pauvreté et l'incapacité des agriculteurs face à la situation gênent le développement d'alternatives à l'essartage, comme la riziculture irriguée. Avec la croissance démographique, les durées des jachères diminuent, les sols s'épuisent et l'érosion s'aggrave. Telle est la vision de la côte est de Madagascar propagée par certains écrits.<br />Notre découverte de la région de Mananara à Madagascar a bouleversé la vision à priori donnée par ces textes. Les collines n'étaient pas dénudées mais étaient couvertes par de grandes étendues d'arbres plantés (des girofliers et des caféiers). La transparence de l'eau des rivières dénotait un transport de sédiments et une érosion assez faibles. Outre les bas-fonds entièrement aménagés en rizières, des terrasses rizicoles étaient visibles sur les collines et des techniques originales de riziculture étaient appliquées. Leur présence contrastait nettement avec les discours sur l'absence d'alternatives à l'essartage.<br />Un autre fait marquant de l'observation de la région de Mananara est lié à la densité de population. Alors que l'accroissement démographique est considéré comme un fléau dans certains discours sur l'environnement, nous avons découvert que les zones les plus peuplées sont celles où les paysages ressemblent le moins aux visions catastrophiques.<br />Cette confrontation entre différentes lectures des paysages nous a conduit à vouloir étudier la dynamique du paysage. En supposant que la démographie joue un rôle dans la construction du paysage, une question émerge : quel est ce rôle ?<br />L'hypothèse est que les actions des agriculteurs, bâtisseurs du paysage, dépendent de la situation dans laquelle ils évoluent et qu'il existe des facteurs expliquant la construction du paysage. La situation économique locale, comme les prix des produits agricoles ou l'enclavement, a probablement une influence sur les paysages, de même que les politiques foncières ou forestières. Peut-on mettre en évidence des relations entre la construction du paysage et le contexte ? Plus généralement, quel est le rôle de la démographie et du contexte politique, économique ou social dans la dynamique environnementale ? Le contexte est défini comme l'ensemble des facteurs exogènes à un décideur qui influencent sa décision. Il comprend à la fois les facteurs exogènes à un groupe social qui influencent les décisions individuelles (les lois, les prix, le marché du travail,) et les facteurs qui régissent les interactions entre les individus au sein du groupe (les relations sociales, les règles d'actions collectives,).<br />A partir de cette observation de terrain et des interrogations qui l'ont suivie, une question spécifique de recherche s'est progressivement construite. Après un aperçu des théories relatives aux relations entre population et environnement, la formation de la question de recherche sera présentée. Elle concerne le rôle de la démographie et du contexte économique, politique ou social dans la construction des paysages ruraux et s'applique à la région de Mananara. Nous voulons montrer que l'évolution démographique est un moteur de la construction du paysage et que le contexte oriente cette construction.<br />L'application de la question de recherche au terrain a conduit au développement d'un itinéraire méthodologique à plusieurs échelles. Des résultats de terrain seront présentés. Enfin, une comparaison avec d'autres sites et une réflexion sur la méthode seront proposées.