PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF INTEGRATING WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT INTO A BASIC HUMAN NEEDS PROGRAM OR WORKING AND LEARNING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Part one outlines the various proposals of national and international organizations to improve the status of women and their participation in economic, social, and cultural development. The second part contains an illustrative strategy to add women in development of basic human needs for OECD, DAC, Donor Nations, and LDC"s. In December 1975, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1976-85 as the Decade for Women, in the face of women"s determination to participate as decision-makers, contributors and beneficiaries in economic and social development. It called upon regional commissions and national governments to give priority to the World Plan of Action adopted at the UN World Conference on International Women"s Year in Mexico City, July 1975. The five-year minimum goals of the World Plan include the broad issues of education, employment, rural development and women"s participation and also concentrate on the economic value and critical importance of women"s traditional work in domestic food production and in marketing, as well as on the often-overlooked tasks of carrying water, processing and storing food. The author suggests that a Women in Development Task Force be established which would propose a series of model cooperative programs for implementation by LDC"s and donors to meet basic human needs, using the World Plan of Action as a guide. Private, independent, entrepreneurial development institutions such as Women"s World Banking and other cooperative ventures could be encouraged and a special Women"s Decade Basic Human Needs Fund established. Another undertaking might be community participation in national inventories on social and economic conditions. This community inventory should address, among other things, the role and status of women, the magnitude of their problems, and the success in meeting basic needs of both women and men in the community. The OECD could coordinate evaluation and review progress of basic needs, efforts and programs carried out in LDC"s.