P. Goldey et al., APPROACHES TO ADDRESS GENDER-SPECIFIC NEEDS IN RELATION TO ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGICAL-CHANGE, Agricultural systems, 55(2), 1997, pp. 155-172
The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 199
5, provided an international forum for addressing the main issues of i
nequality in women's access to and participation in development. The s
oftening or elimination of gender hierarchies is more or less explicit
ly on the agenda in most national programmes, although the strategies,
rationale and investment rates vary from agency to agency. The first
part of this paper identifies and explores the main approaches adopted
in the 1980s and 1990s for gender-sensitive analysis and planning. Th
e second part of the paper examines issues of practice. the introducti
on of a gender-sensitive approach in programme planning and implementa
tion. This is primarily based upon a review of project documents and i
nterviews with research programme managers, and a review of guidelines
and checklists produced by various agencies during the period. A prim
ary aim of this paper is to interlink the relevant tools from the abov
e approaches to technological change in relation to gender. The social
isation process which supports inequalities in practice, inside and ou
tside the household, is protected by customary behaviour and attitudes
. In the political, technological and organisational spheres from gras
sroots to national levels, the same principle of gender stratification
or hierarchy is maintained. As a result, decisions taken and implemen
ted in these spheres reflect gender inequalities. Examining the proces
s of technology development in relation to gender means understanding
the complex socio-economic context in which technology is adapted, ado
pted or rejected, and the interactions between the technology with its
characteristics and the resource users, owners and controllers. The p
aper identifies specific measures to improve the active incorporation
of a gender sensitive approach in RNR research programmes, and the int
egration of gender sensitive methodologies in the research and project
process and concludes with a set of issues for discussion, from which
recommendations for further research may emerge. (C) 1997 Published b
y Elsevier Science Ltd.