Grappling With Complexity: Gender and Equity Aware Participatory Processes in Evaluation

Ranjani.K.Murthy, ConsultantSupported by Indian Social Studies Trust to be present at AEA

Objectives

• Complexity of gender relations in India

• Opportunities & challenges-globalisation

• Gender and equity aware participatory processes/methods.

• Factors to be kept in mind.

Inequities that affect Indian Women

Gender

Caste andClass

Ethnicity

Religion

AgeReproduction

related

Relation position

Abilities/illness

Sexual orientation

Which inequity is more stark depends on what one is

talking about

Changes in gender and social relations

Household 11

Community

Markets

State

RulesPracticesResources People and power

1 4

Globali-sation

Positive Legislati

on

Life cycle

Why gender-aware participatory evaluation processes?

• To capture changes in social norms, practices, issues of power

• To capture contributions/unintended impact of projects/programs in complex environments.

Gender and equity aware participatory evaluation

MethodsMethods that are gender and social relations sensitive and participatory

Processes……also that marginalised women participate in defining the contours of the evaluation, process of evaluation, validating findings, and recommending changes (Gaventa and Cornwall, 2006, Harding, 1997, Tupuola, 2006).

Poverty (Sen, 1980, Murthy and Kappen, 2005)

Dimensions

Food

Clothing

Shelter

Water

HealthEducation

Sleep/Sex

Causes:

Ownership

Consumption

Exchange

Production

Women’s Empowerment (Rowland, 1998, Kabeer, 2005)

Power to

Power with

Power within

Increase in choices

and agency of women

Gender and equity aware participatory methods

Engendering existing

participatory methods

Evolving new gender and equity aware participatory

methods

Example 1: Engendering social mapping and resource mapping

Women’s empowerment and natural resources management project with dalit women (TN)

Gender and diversity aware resource mapping (TN)

Example 2: Engendering participatory rankingMaking government services accountable to women

School teachers

come, sexual harassment

reduced

Health Services :

Doctors spend more time

Less corruption

Gender and equity-specific participatory methods

Methods Methods

Gender division of labour mapping Gender aware road map of changes

Gender based access and resources profile Happiness mapping

Body mapping Caste and gender discrimination mapping

Control over body mapping Story telling on discrimination

Power walk Conflict mapping

Attitude mapping Incidence of violence against women mapping

Gender analysis matrix Empowerment mapping

Poverty reduction and women’s empowerment projects

• Mobilization of women • Women and livelihoods • Women and governance

• Gender-aware participatory evaluation process ??

• Semi structured intra-household interviews (Control) • Focus group discussion- semi structured• Validation through discussion with service providers • Discussion with implementing agencies

• Gender-aware participatory methods at individual and group level

How did we choose women?

Representation of progress

Choose women who have progressed, remained same, and deteriorated during the project period

Inter-section of marginalised identities

Selection of women who are dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, single, differently abled, living with HIV, and sexual minorities

Gender based control over resources (Overholt et al 1985)

Control of women over small animals and cattle had improved as a result of the projects. Control over land and housing still rested with men

Body mapping:

• Pleasure-womb- giving birth to her children

• Pain- heart-when husband died, also relief

• Shame- vagina/breast –desires, skin dark

• Pride- in her heart as leader/member of her group, she has income in her hand, as manager of common property resources.

Attitudinal change mapping

Inter caste marriage

Sons as security

Right to say no to

sex

Women Contraception

Property Rights

HW by men

Lineage through

sons

Menstrualtaboos

Only sons can light funeral

pyre

What is present

attitude? If

positive, has it

changed, why?

Power walk

10

0

Husband

Sarpanch

Police

Mother in law

Upper caste employer

IncomeGroup

backingEthnicit

yAge

Caste and gender discrimination mapping

Little impact on interaction, and work and resource division

Manual scavenging reduced

Dalit women beginning to attend Gram Sabha

Violence mapping

Reduction in child

marriage

Gender and decision making matrix

PGIs placed on the agenda in village assembly, and 60% met

Overall findings using gender aware participatory evaluation process

Poverty reduction• Agricultural land and water bodies declining • Women’s access to immovable assets difficult to change• Impact on productivity of assets mixed; labour increasing but.. • Equity in consumption still an issue, but improving • Women continue to slip into poverty in gender specific waysEmpowerment:• Attitudes on gender and caste slow to change• Marginalized women beginning to exercise collective power. Not SGIs. • Women’s mobility and access to productive work is expanding,

accompanied by a little help in care work.• Women’s control their bodies still an issue.

Things to be kept in mind while using gender-aware participatory evaluation methods

• Participant-non participant comparison difficult

• Difficult in conflict zones

• Difficult if linked to funding

• Quantification possible!

Things to be kept in mind while using gender aware participatory processes/methods

Hamlets of

marginalised

Safe space

ExpertiseKnowled

ge.

Keeping men away

Democr

atic

Drawing a means

Have a male facilitator s to engage men/upper caste

Songs, proverbs, story telling

Things to be kept in mind while using gender aware participatory processes/methods

Choose

methodsEthical

Same sex facilitator

ReflexivitySubjectivity

TimingTime

Power withCounseling

TOR

Planning

Interpreting

Recommendations