Women"s organizations in rural development

Against a review of women"s generally disproportionate political standing, this paper discusses organizational strategies to increase women"s political participation in developing countries. Conventional measures such as voting, recognition by development agencies, and active party membership reveal women"s meager political involvement, as does the absence of female leadership of and adequate representation in political and bureaucratic activities. Strategies to reverse this situation -- strategies which are needed even in countries professing "emancipationist" ideologies -- must take into account the type of political system. Women"s political prospects increase to the degree that the system recognizes organizational, as opposed to socioeconomic, status as the basis for political activity and incorporates independent groups into the decisionmaking process. Economic and social incentives (e.g., income-earning projects and collective causes) are key means of helping women organize to satisfy both immediate and -- if programs are well managed -- long-term needs. Although male/female organizations are ideal, sex-based strategies can help women develop skills needed to gain leverage in integrated mainstream groups. Long-term group effectiveness can be thwarted, however, by submersion into larger political structures; the rise of upper class women group leaders; and counterproductive external intervention (e.g., cultural imposition). If development projects become sensitized to sex, class, and distributional effects, more self-sustaining women"s projects will have a chance. Sixteen policy recommendations, based on the above analysis, are made regarding organizational strategies, employment/institutional strategies, and data collection. Key recommendations include financing women"s organizations, e.g., through PVO"s; providing incentives for official bureaucracies to employ women; and collecting pre- and post-project data on women"s groups. A 119-item bibliography (1955-80) is appended.