The concepts of 'empowerment', 'agency' and 'gender' have been variously interpreted and applied by donors and development actors, and in largely instrumental terms. Theoretically, these concepts - as well as gender mainstreaming, the primary tool proposed to achieve gender equality - have drawn criticism for being disassociated with the original political intent to transform power relations. Practically, the current state of knowledge around the outcomes of gender and development programming is rife with institutional perspectives of donors and NGOs reflecting in the short-term, with voices of the constituents of development conspicuously absent. Understanding how gender and development interventions are perceived and experienced by recipients in the context of their life course is an urgent task required not only to improve the current state of knowledge, but also to understand what kinds of measures lead to positive societal changes. Drawing from ten life histories of recipients of gender mainstreamed development programming in Northern Sri Lanka, this dissertation probes how recipients situate and make sense of gender mainstreamed development programs as they navigate a post-war reality. Findings show that encounters with development programming and the development apparatus in general contributed to some positive social changes, with certain groups of women expressing agency and even moments of empowerment. However, the longitudinal scope of this study reveals that these experiences take place within the prevailing structural confines of insecurity that take place at the macro (state), meso (development apparatus) and micro (community) levels. These findings uncover how gender hierarchies and factors of identity influence these limits on choice, and therefore challenge current understandings of agency, empowerment, and the role of development programming within society.
This research points to the limitations of donor-driven development programs that are ill-equipped to address structural issues of gendered insecurity, patriarchal societal norms, and deep-seated trauma. Further, this research offers new dimensions to existing frameworks around the interaction of masculinities, femininities, identity and conflict, suggesting that factors of identity must be complemented with significant experiences across a life course in order to understand how constituents receive and perceive development interventions, and to what extent these interventions are ultimately equipped to facilitate change. Methodologically, this dissertation offers innovative feminist approaches to foregrounding recipients' knowledge and experience of the development process, including pursuing more partnership approaches that include development actors, constituents, and researchers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/43567 |
| Date | 09 May 2022 |
| Creators | Cadesky, Jessica Nicole |
| Contributors | Tiessen, Rebecca |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ |
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