Chapter 6. Improving opportunities for gender equitable development.

Chapter 6. Improving opportunities for gender equitable development. Despite some progress and the continuing efforts of lineministries, district authorities, and NGOs, serious gender inequitiespersist in Verb 1. persist in - do something repeatedly and showing no intention to stop; "We continued our research into the cause of the illness"; "The landlord persists in asking us to move"continue Ghana. Gender concerns cut across sectors in a complexnetwork of cause and effect. Disparities in opportunity, access, andperformance limit how much education can contribute to nationaldevelopment. Women still face many barriers to benefiting from, andcontributing fully to, economic development. Persistent genderdisparities hold society to a lower level of productivity and hence alower rate of economic growth. Including women more equally indevelopment can improve the quality not only of women's lives butof the lives of generations to come. Efforts to improve women's role in the national economy havebeen hampered by lack of data disaggregated by gender and by resistancefrom, and inertia in, entrenched bureaucracies. Despite compellingarguments for gender equality, actions still lag. Following is a summaryof specific recommendations for change proposed by study participantsfrom the World Bank and the government of Ghana in a series ofworkshops. IMPROVING WOMEN'S ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY To begin with, efforts are needed to reduce the time constraintsthat hamper most women's ability to manage farms or otherenterprises. Efforts to improve women's ability to participate inmarket-related work should include: * Making the provision of safe, easily accessible drinking water drinking watersupply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. anational priority. Greater investments in water and sanitationinfrastructure would ease women's time burden directly, by reducingtime spent fetching water, and indirectly, by reducing the incidence ofwaterborne diseases. * Researching appropriate technologies for reducing the consumptionof fuelwood. A reliable supply of fuelwood is important both forhousehold cooking and for such income-generating activities as brewingbeer, processing nuts, and smoking fish. Women are primarily responsiblefor such food processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilises these processes. activities, which, together with domesticcooking, account for 80 percent of the demand for fuelwood.Technological innovations that make traditional wood ovens moreefficient would reduce time spent collecting fuelwood, cooking, andprocessing food. Urban women spend less time on household activitiesthan rural women do, but they too would benefit substantially fromenergy-efficient cooking equipment and locally available potable potable/pot��a��ble/ (po��tah-b'l) fit to drink. po��ta��bleadj.Fit to drink; drinkable.potablefit to drink. water. * Providing day care centers (an investment that could be shared bycommunities, employers, and various levels of government). Improving Women's Agricultural Productivity Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural inputs to agricultural outputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, their varying densities make measuring overall agricultural output difficult. The most sustainable approach to the problem of Ghanaianwomen's limited access to finite agriculture resources,particularly land, is probably to improve profits and productivityrather than try to increase the size of farms. To that end, efforts needto focus on: * Improving small-scale agro-processing and storage techniques, sowomen need not sell their crops only at harvest time Noun 1. harvest time - the season for gathering cropsharvestfarming, husbandry, agriculture - the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock , when prices arelow. * Improving agricultural extension Agricultural extension was once known as the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of extension now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organised for rural people by services for women, bringingthose services closer to where women are, and encouraging extensionagents to seek feedback about issues of concern to women. It would alsohelp if more of the extension agents were women. * Introducing or improving alternative income-generating activitiesfor rural women--always considering first the additional work burdenthat will be involved, and associated environmental factors, such asgreater demand for fuelwood in savanna savannaor savannah(both: səvăn`ə), tropical or subtropical grassland lying on the margin of the trade wind belts. areas and the long-termavailability of raw materials. Gender-specific environmental protectionprograms could be built into agricultural development. (Schemes topromote communal woodlots, for example, should ensure that women haveequitable access to, and control over, land and trees.) * Continuously evaluating the impact of interventions upon ruralwomen--focusing initially on qualitative factors, such as the formationof skills. All interventions need to be appropriate to specific parts of thecountry rather than imposed countrywide. Easing or eliminating socialrestrictions that limit women's productivity requires innovative,flexible, imaginative implementation. Some successes have been achievedby NGOs, whose motive has been to assist (rather to produce profits forthemselves or to sustain a good salary). Extension agents can be used(especially to demonstrate agricultural innovations) but locally basedNGOs are probably more effective at getting local citizens to helpidentify an area's main development problems. Supporting Women Entrepreneurs Providing strong support to women entrepreneurs--especially thosein transition from market-stall operations to medium-sizebusinesses--would be especially productive. Many women who arepotentially excellent entrepreneurs have no savings and little access tocredit or the other kinds of financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. considered a normal partof business in the industrial world. The pressure of constant householdresponsibilities limits the time and energy they can devote to smallbusinesses, and they are usually also hampered by poor businessskills--indeed, they may have missed out on a basic educationaltogether. To capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on`v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize onan opponent's mistakes s>. the potential of Ghana's womenentrepreneurs will probably require: * Strengthening the microfinance sector so it can better serve theneeds of women's microenterprises, in agriculture and othersectors. The focus could be on improving the capacity of microfinancialservices to reach more microenterprises (especially those owned bywomen), to learn effective practices from each other, and to become partof a broad network of financial service providers. * Expanding and deepening financial and other business supportservices support servicesPsychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services for women--in particular, providing credit to rural women foragriculture-related income-generating activities. (Contrary to popularbelief, credit for poor farmers, including women, need not be offered atbelow-market interest rates.) For more women to run small businesses,Ghana needs new initiatives that improve women's access to savings,credit, and qualified professionals, such as accountants and financialadvisers--especially for microenterprises trying to grow. * Providing briefing sessions on knowledge important toentrepreneurs. To close the gap between men's and women'sunderstanding of standard business practices, programs can be providedon such subjects as how banks work, how to qualify for loans, how toraise capital for expansion, and possibly on broad areas of practicalbusiness knowledge such as contract law, leasing and propertyregulations, and local or regional variances. Women trying to grow theirbusinesses will probably need easily available training in cashmanagement, finance, accounting, marketing, inventory control, marketresearch, and, in some cases, packaging and point-of-sale advertising. IMPROVING WOMEN'S HUMAN CAPITAL Women's fertility, health, and economic well-being are closelylinked. Women cannot contribute productively to the economy when theyare ill-educated, in poor health, or burdened with heavy childcareduties. Poor education and health care services for women encourage thepersistence of gender inequalities in economic activities, keeping womenill-equipped to reap the benefits of economic opportunities. Improvingwomen's education and health care can only benefit Ghana'seconomic development plans. Improving Women's Education In 1993 only 31 percent of Ghana's women had any primaryeducation. Roughly 38 percent of women six or older (26 percent of men)had never attended school--and in Ghana's northern regions almost70 percent of women had no schooling. The gender gap in education wasgreatest in higher education, where the dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rate for girls risessteeply. Efforts to improve girls' access to education can reducethe direct and indirect costs to parents of girls' schooling andhelp to change parental perceptions about the benefits of educatinggirls. To improve the educational status of Ghana's women willrequire: * Addressing constraints on girls' time and disparities in thehousehold division of labor between boys and girls boys and girlsmercurialisannua. , probably throughcommunication and public education activities. * Making school schedules more flexible. School hours could beorganized so as not to conflict with girls' household and othertasks. Double shifts would give households some flexibility in selectingtime slots appropriate for their daughters. * Increasing the reach of the education system, by establishingschools closer to homes or by providing community-managed boardingfacilities so girls can safely attend distant secondary schools. * Subsidizing education for girls (especially in Ghana'snorthern sector). A strong case can be made for providing free orsubsidized textbooks for girls as well as scholarships, fee waivers, andother incentives that, by reducing direct costs to parents, wouldimprove girls' enrollment and academic performance. This could bereinforced with a public education campaign to raise awareness aboutboth the negative effects of gender discrimination and the positivebenefits of educating girls. * Improving the quality of education by reforming curriculum,textbooks, testing, and teacher training. Spending more on curriculumdesign, textbooks, and other inputs--simply providing blackboards, forexample--to improve the quality of schooling will make a big differencein students' learning. * Training both new and experienced teachers to be gender-sensitiveand unbiased about girls' potential for learning. * Recruiting more women to teach at the secondary level and above,especially in rural and northern parts of the country. * Encouraging school-age mothers to resume schooling, and helpingthem do so (possibly through community-supported babysitting and similarsupport systems). * Expanding nonformal education for out-of-school girls andwomen--giving women the skills they need to contribute to a productiveeconomy. Improving Women's Health Women's HealthDefinitionWomen's health is the effect of gender on disease and health that encompasses a broad range of biological and psychosocial issues. Gender-responsive health policy should address the differencesbetween men's and women's health care needs. Above all, itshould improve women's access to health services health servicesManaged care The benefits covered under a health contract , meet more of theunmet need for contraception, and address the reproductive health needsof young adults. The timing and frequency of childbearing and the numberof births per woman have important implications for women's healthand participation in economic activities. Improving women's healthwill require, among other things: * Reorienting the health care system to effectively addresswomen's needs. HIV HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseasesInfections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely afflict af��flict?tr.v. af��flict��ed, af��flict��ing, af��flictsTo inflict grievous physical or mental suffering on.[Middle English afflighten, from afflight, more women than men, so programs to control or prevent thosediseases should have a strong gender focus. Health staff at all levelsshould be sensitized to women's needs and problems. * Bringing services closer to women, to reduce their opportunitycosts Opportunity costsThe difference in the actual performance of a particular investment and some other desired investment adjusted for fixed costs and execution costs. It often refers to the most valuable alternative that is given up. in time and travel. There needs to be less emphasis on tertiarycare tertiary careManaged care The most specialized health care, administered to Pts with complex diseases who may require high-risk pharmacologic regimens, surgical procedures, or high-cost high-tech resources; TC is provided in 'tertiary care centers', often in urban hospitals and more on primary care in rural areas. Servingrural women better requires increasing the availability of trainedhealth workers, outreach programs, health facilities, and essentialdrugs, equipment, and supplies in now underserved rural areas. * Integrating nongovernment providers--including traditional birthattendants and private practititioners--into the health care system. * Reorienting and intensifying information, education, andcommunication campaigns so they provide detailed information aboutcontraceptives and how and where to get them--to men as well as towomen. * Improving the outreach of contraceptive services--to both men andwomen--and making reproductive health services friendlier toward youngadults. * Building consensus among parents, teachers, and religious bodiesto address the needs of young adults. Encouraging better communicationbetween parents and children about reproduction. * Extending and strengthening family life education. The nationalschool curriculum needs to convey accurate and useful information aboutreproduction, safe sex, HIV, AIDS, and other sexually transmitteddiseases. ELIMINATING GENDER BIAS IN NATIONAL POLICYMAKING pol��i��cy��mak��ingor pol��i��cy-mak��ing ?n.High-level development of policy, especially official government policy.adj.Of, relating to, or involving the making of high-level policy: Public policy is now recognized as an important lever for removinggender inequalities and providing women with equal opportunities toparticipate in development. But changing socially deep-rooted genderroles is a long-term process. It requires a clear policy directive, ahigh level of political commitment, and a sustained and coordinatedeffort from line ministries and other stakeholders. A leadinginstitution holding a clearly articulated mandate is best able to showthe way and pull others along. That lead agency must define a vision anddevelop monitorable indicators for measuring progress. The NationalCouncil on Women and Development (NCWD NCWD North Carolina Western District (US federal court system)NCWD National Center for Women Development (Nigeria)) was created in 1975 to see tothe welfare of Ghanaian women and to advise the government on issuesrelated to women. The council and the other stakeholders now needstrengthening for the task ahead. Capacity building can be mosteffective as part of long-term efforts to incorporate gender concernsinto national policymaking. The move from arguing about gender-basedbarriers and imbalances to eliminating them will require: * Making gender analysis an integral part of the design of policiesand programs to promote economic growth and alleviate poverty. Attentionis needed, among other things, to the economic implications of thedifferent ways girls and boys, men and women, allocate their time--aswell as to the imbalance in the gender division of labor and todifferences in access to productive resources. * Reinforcing Ghanaian research institutions' ability andcapacity to collect, analyze, and use gender-disaggregated data. * Giving the research community the financial and technical supportit needs to conduct gender research on key topics. * Improving gender experts' ability to provide local trainingin gender analysis and planning. * Training policymakers about gender issues. * Teaching gender studies in the schools. * Strengthening the National Council on Women andDevelopment's leadership on gender dimensions of public policy. * Building partnerships with NGOs and other stakeholders andmobilizing their help in making gender concerns part of policymaking. * Strengthening the capacity of government sectors, NGOs, anddistrict-level institutions to improve the efficiency of theirinterventions through continuous evaluation--whether the evaluation isdone internally, cross-departmentally, or by an independent body such asthe Audit Office, the World Bank, an NGO NGOabbr.nongovernmental organizationNoun 1. NGO - an organization that is not part of the local or state or federal governmentnongovernmental organization , or another stakeholder. The government of Ghana is committed to a national policy ofeconomic development liberated from gender bias--a policy that willimprove Ghanaian society by enabling women to maximize their own andtheir families' welfare as well as their contribution to nationaldevelopment. But moving from argument to actions that narrow gender gapsin major socioeconomic indicators is difficult. Initiatives for changeusually call for changes in attitude, behavior, and social values. Ghana's gender strategy for development has made significantgains, particularly in increasing awareness of the links between genderand economic development and in raising questions about gender bias fordiscussion and action. The task is now to consolidate those gains, toextend and deepen measures to reduce inequity, and thereby encourageeconomic--and hence social--growth in Ghana.