Thesis (DPhil (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Gender Mainstreaming (GM) was popularised as an approach to advance gender equality
at the United Nations (UN) World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Since then
it has been adopted by the UN and international development organisations as the
approach to integrate women and gender issues into development. The United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), a major international development organisation,
claims a strong policy commitment to GM. As such, it is an important organisation to
study for its GM implementation to establish what lessons can be learnt from its practice.
Because it is an international organisation, the study has implications for global GM as
well as for SA.
This thesis examines mainstreaming women and gender in development in the UNDP
Country Office in South Africa (UNDP/SA). It explores the gap between Gender
Mainstreaming policy and practice, through discursive analysis of UNDP policy
documents and reports, as well as an analysis of qualitative interview data and
participatory approaches. The study focuses on the organisational challenges facing
institutions trying to mainstream gender, particularly in the South African context. It puts
forward a proposal for improving GM by combining organisational development and
feminist theory. Through the proposal, which focuses on a broad transformation process
within which to frame GM implementation, the thesis aims to contribute towards
advancing gender equality through GM in South Africa and elsewhere.
Development was initially gender-blind until the early 1970s. Since then, development
organisations have moved women and gender onto the development agenda through
various approaches. The major approaches have been Women in Development (WID),
Gender and Development (GAD) and Empowerment. The current approach, Gender
Mainstreaming (GM), is about moving women and gender issues from the margin to the
centre of development organisations and their practice. While being an improvement on
the earlier approaches, GM still faces a number of challenges for successful
implementation in development organisations such as the UNDP.
This qualitative study interrogates the GM policy discourse of the UNDP/SA, and finds a
serious gap between its policy discourse and practice. This gap is evident not only in the
UNDP/SA, but also in one of its funded projects, the Capacity Building Project for the
Office on the Status of Women. GM fails to make an impact because of factors such as
lack of training, absence of political will from senior managers in development
organisations (and in government), and lack of resources. It is also clear that GM cannot
occur in the absence of a broad organisational transformation process. To address the
challenges facing GM, I propose a model for implementation with a special focus on the
deep structure of organisations that exposes the masculinist roots of gender inequality.
What is essential for this model to succeed is that GM implementation should be framed
within a broader organisational transformation process, based on organisational
development and feminist theory. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geslagshoofstroming het gewildheid verwerf as ‘n benadering om geslagsgelykheid te
bevorder by die Verenigde Nasies (VN) se Wêreld Konferensie oor Vroue in Beijing in
1995. Daarna is dit deur die VN en internasionale ontwikkelingsorganisasies aanvaar as
die benadering om vroue en geslagskwessies te integreer in ontwikkeling. Die Verenigde
Nasies Ontwikkelings Program (VNOP), ‘n vername internasionale ontwikkelingsorganisasie,
maak aanspraak op ‘n sterk toewyding aan Geslagshoofstroming as beleid.
Die VNOP is dus ‘n belangrike organisasie om te bestudeer vir sy Geslagshoofstroming
implementering om vas te stel watter lesse ons kan leer. Die studie het implikasies nie net
vir Suid-Afrika nie, maar ook globaal omdat die VNOP ‘n internasionale organisasie is.
Die tesis ondersoek die hoofstroming van vroue en geslag in ontwikkeling in die VNOP
Kantoor in Suid-Afrika (VNOP/SA). Dit verken die gaping tussen Geslagshoofstroming
beleid en praktyk deur middel van ‘n diskoers analise van VNOP beleids-dokumente en
verslae, en ‘n analise van data verkry deur kwalitatiewe onderhoude. Die studie fokus op
die organisatoriese uitdagings vir die instellings wat Geslagshoofstroming probeer
implementeer, veral in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Dit stel ‘n kombinasie van
organisatoriese ontwikkeling en feministiese teorie voor om Geslagshoofstroming te
bevorder. Die tesis streef daarna, deur die voorstel wat fokus op Geslagshoofstroming as
deel van ‘n breë transformasie proses, om by te dra tot die bevordering van
geslagsgelykheid in Suid-Afrika en elders.
Ontwikkeling was aanvanklik geslagsblind tot met die vroeë 1970s. Sedertdien het
ontwikkelingsorganisasies vroue en geslagskwessies op die agenda geplaas deur verskeie
benaderings. Die vernaamste benaderings was Vroue in Ontwikkeling (WID), Geslag en
Ontwikkeling (GAD), en Bemagtiging (Empowerment). Die huidige benadering,
Geslagshoofstroming, het ten doel om vroue en geslagskwessies vanaf die kantlyn te
beweeg tot in die kernpunt van ontwikkelings-organisasies en hulle praktyke. Alhoewel
dit ‘n verbetering op die vorige benaderings is, staar Geslagshoofstroming
implementering nog ‘n aantal uitdagings in die gesig in ontwikkelingsorganisasies soos
die VNOP.
Die kwalitatiewe studie interrogeer die Geslagshoofstromings diskoers van die
VNOP/SA en vind ‘n ernstige gaping tussen sy beleidsdiskoers en praktyk. Hierdie
gaping is sigbaar nie net in die VNOP/SA nie, maar ook in een van sy befondsde
projekte, die Kapasiteitsbou Projek vir die Kantoor vir die Status van Vroue.
Geslagshoofstroming maak nie impak nie as gevolg van faktore soos ‘n gebrek aan
opleiding, die afwesigheid van politieke wilskrag by senior bestuurders in
ontwikkelingsorganisasies (en in die regering), en ‘n gebrek aan hulpbronne. Dit is ook
duidelik dat Geslagshoofstroming nie kan plaasvind in die afwesigheid van ‘n breë
organisatoriese transformasie proses nie. Om die uitdagings vir Geslagshoofstroming aan
te spreek, stel ek ‘n implementeringsmodel voor met ‘n spesiale fokus op die diep
struktuur van organisasies wat die maskulinistiese oorsprong van geslagsongelykheid
blootlê. Noodsaaklik vir die sukses van die model, is die kontekstualisering van
Geslagshoofstroming in breë organisatoriese transformasie, gebaseer op ‘n kombinasie
van feministiese en organisatoriese ontwikkelingsteorie.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/1492 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Rippenaar-Joseph, Trunette |
| Contributors | Parpart, Jane L., Gouws, Amanda, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
Page generated in 0.0034 seconds