APPROACHES TO ADDRESS GENDER-SPECIFIC NEEDS IN RELATION TO ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGICAL-CHANGE

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.