Quiet Mountain Essays
Copyright ©, 2005
The Influence of Gender Relations
on the Outcomes of Planned Development Projects:
Implications for Food Security
by
Chipo Hungwe
(MSc in Sociology and Social Anthropology, BSc Sociology-UZ)
Abstract
This paper analyses the relations between men and women and how these relations impact on the outcomes of planned development
projects meant to enhance food security. It argues that in many cases planned development projects have failed due to the gender blind
policies that guide them. It is usually assumed that development projects have the same impact upon males and females. This is an
erroneous assumption. In most cases what is viewed as acceptable to men is automatically concluded to be also acceptable to women
without bothering to ask the women concerned. This paper looks at planned development projects, which are usually projects from
outside the rural areas imposed upon rural people in the name of rural development. However, my argument is that by defining rural
development as external intervention, either by government or any other organisation, we are making wrong assumptions that rural
people do not know what they want for development, thus imposing a “cargo” image of development. The failure to address gender
relations properly has led to many projects being deserted by women, caused many conjugal conflicts and divorces, things which have
compromised the set objectives of these development projects, thus impacting negatively on food security. The paper will conclude by
arguing that if gender sensitive planning is not done, development projects will continue to perpetuate social differentiation not only
along gender lines but also, race, ethnicity and age. They will become new forms of social exclusion even in this era of globalization
rendering true claims by Hart (1982) that rural development projects are never meant to benefit the rural people, but are new ways of
entrenching a certain political system. Thus, despite their failure to achieve set objectives, which include food security, these development
projects continue because they are part of the state apparatus in controlling and subverting individual interests. The paper uses four
case studies from Africa. These are the Mwea irrigation project in Kenya, the Kingurungundwa resettlement scheme in Tanzania, the
Jahaly Pacharr project in Senegambia and the Volta Valley resettlement projects in Upper Volta. All of these projects had among their
aims the objective of increasing food security in the areas concerned.
Food security is one important element in society whose analysis and success goes a long way in eliminating
poverty. Thus, like other socio-economic factors such as health, literacy and income, food security is a desired
goal. Food security is achieved when all people at all times have access to sufficient food for a healthy and
productive life (Haddad 1997:03). It comprises three main components: food availability, food access, and food
utilization. Food availability refers to the need to produce sufficient food in a way that generates income while
not depleting the natural resource base, and also the need to get it into markets for sale at prices that consumers
can afford (Chisholm &Tyers 1982: 6). The second component relates to people's ability to get economic access
to this food. Economic access is typically constrained by income. Households that cannot generate sufficient
income to purchase food lack entitlement to that food (Sen 1981). Therefore, what one consumes depends upon
what one is able to acquire, and not merely on food availability on the market. An individual's entitlements
depend on what he/she owns and acquires by exchanging a part of what they initially owned. The third
component of food security is about an individual's ability to use food consumed to promote health and
nutrition. I will discusses how gender relations within the context of planned rural development projects affect
these three components of food security.
Theoretical underpinnings
Two theories, modernisation and neoliberalism, are guiding development projects in Africa. Many development
projects, especially irrigation schemes, are informed by the modernisation perspective. This perspective argues
that new, huge projects from the external world have to be brought into the rural system if development is to
take place. The backward ways of rural people have to be done away with and new infrastructure, new
methods of farming will give better yields leading to development and food security. This theory also informed
irrigation projects in Zimbabwe where Manzungu, Senzanje and Van de Zaag (1999) argued that smallholder
irrigation offers the chance to modernise peasant agriculture. Modernisation could result in smallholder
irrigation contributing to the growth of local industries as well as to higher foreign currency earnings. The
trickle down effect is inherent in this kind of thinking because it is believed that from irrigation industries
foreign earnings would develop.
Another problematic assumption is that of 'familism', where the nuclear family is used as the unit of analysis.
With modernisation it is assumed that ties with the extended families are broken and the nuclear family
comprising the father, mother and maybe two children is formed. This is assumed to be a harmonious group
whose head is always the father, an altruistic being or benevolent dictator who communicates with the external
world and that whatever he gets, he shares with the family equitably. Implicit in this assumption is the issue of
resource pooling; the domestic roles of women and the belief that men's and women’s obligations are not in
conflict. Modernisation has informed many agricultural policies and development projects. In the case studies
to be discussed it would be proved beyond doubt that this western notion of households is erroneous and has
caused more harm than good. Assumptions by the modernisation theory have certain implications in terms of
resources, decision-making and time allocation between the genders. Modernisation has led to a planning
stereotype in many planned development projects with women usually provided with home economics activities
that are not only unnecessary to them as farmers but also do not contribute to rural development, since those
trained in home economics usually migrate to towns to practise their skills (Rogers 1983).
The second theory under discussion is neoliberalism. In this era of structural adjustments, neoliberalist thinking
taints many development endeavours. What is problematic is the assumptions made by neoliberalism in terms
of the effects of the market on the two genders. Sparr (1994:20) notes that from the policymakers’ perspective,
increased economic efficiency may be attained through integrating the agricultural sector into the market
economy through commercialisation. This involves transforming the smallholder, semi-subsistence agriculture
into a modern sector producing primarily for the market. This means reallocating resources such as increasing
the area of land devoted to sugarcane, bananas, cotton, pineapples and other export crops in areas traditionally
devoted to food crops such as corn, millet, maize etc. The consequences of such programmes inspired by
neoliberalism have been horrendous for certain groups, especially poor households who have been left worse off
and food insecure.
Defining the concept of gender
Gender is a social and cultural construct, and can be changed over time. Although masculine or feminine
gender is usually associated with male/female sex dichotomy, this is not an absolute correlation. Gender and
age are terms widely used by societies to make some form of division of labour, a process of specialisation,
which is an important tool for efficiency in any production system. In many discussions, however, where there
is talk of gender it is usually in reference to women. From the feminist perspective, the term gender introduces
questions of power, control of resources, and points up conflicts that are potentially challenging and certainly
difficult to deal with. Harrison (in Goertz 1997) argues that while there is still a need for men to be aware of
women’s interests, claims and rights, it is equally crucial to make male gender identities an issue. It should be
noted that women are not a homogeneous group, therefore planned development projects impact on them
differently.
For a balanced discussion of outcomes of planned development projects there is need to outline some of the
common goals set by these projects. Pala (1976) outlines them as follows;
To increase per capita output and market orientation among the rural populations
To increase food production, hence food security commensurate with rapid population growth
To ensure redistribution of aggregate income
To reduce rural-urban migration
To reduce regional inequities in per capita income
To gain a precise and scientific understanding of the social and ecological environment in which rural
change is to occur.
From the above outcomes it is clear that planned development projects have left gender issues untouched and
assume that the changes introduced have no gender specific implications. To this extent they have been marred
by conflicts not only between genders but also age groups to the effect that many objectives and expected
outcomes have not been realised. This has impacted negatively on the goal of improving food security, creating
a daunting exercise, difficult to achieve given the circumstances.
The cases
As alluded to earlier on, the cases discussed are those from Senegambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Upper Volta.
The main themes pursued include time and resource allocation between genders and how they finally impact on
food security.
Case one: The 1984 Jahaly Pacharr Project in Senegambia
Carney and Watts (1991) state that there was a series of state interventions designed to increase rice output, first
by expanding indigenous swamp production and later by introducing double cropping under mechanised
irrigation. The state sponsored project encountered the following problems:
With mechanisation and expansion of indigenous swamp production, women lost their traditional rights
to land since all the land now belonged to the household head that was defined as male.
Rice that was traditionally grown by women was shifted to the male domain.
Men demanded more labour from women since double cropping meant cultivation all year round. This
meant that women had problems in terms of time allocation and in balancing between cultivation in the
irrigation project and their own traditional crops that were still needed to supplement household consumption.
Because men were taken to be household heads the income got from sales of rice were given to men with
the assumption that they would share with women.
Women resisted male demands of their free labour leading to the commoditisation of relations because
women demanded to be paid for their labour.
Conflicts due to female loss of land and male irresponsibility with the income they got.
Desertions and divorces thus having a negative effect on rice production (Ellis1992).
Case two: The Mwea irrigation project in Kenya
The irrigation scheme was also meant for rice production. Its assumptions were that tenants would have high
incomes, low labour costs, would use rice as their subsistence staple, and would be capable of managing their
cash income over the years. This was despite the knowledge that maize was the staple food for the Kikuyu.
However, Wisner (1988) highlights that women complained of hunger amidst abundant rice crops. The men
who got income from sales only paid school fees for children, while the provision of food in the household
remained the domain of women. For women, since the only outlet for an independent income became
traditional crops, more time was devoted to these at the expense of the rice project. The neglect of the cash crop
compromised the productivity of the scheme. Besides, because women had less time to find fuel wood and
prepare appropriate meals, children in this scheme suffered from malnutrition. Thus again compromising food
security. The results of the Mwea project were similar to the Jahaly Pacharr, since women deserted the scheme.
Rogers (1980:185) asserts that women found the Mwea scheme an intolerable place to live in. Those who
remained at the scheme sold rice on the black market, much to the disgust of the scheme authorities.
Case three: The Kingurungundwa Resettlement in Tanzania
At Kingurungundwa, James Brain (Rogers1983: 185) noted that land rights were vested in men. All proceeds
from sales were also to be handed to the man. Women revolted against the scheme and demanded their land
rights. This scheme not only created injustices realised by the majority of men as well as women as a severe
problem, but also produced great confusion and insecurity for women in their old age or widowhood. The
response of government to women’s revolt was to close down the scheme shortly afterwards. Therefore in terms
of food security there was no improvement since the project abandoned midway.
Case four: The Volta Valley Projects in Upper Volta
These were a series of resettlement villages set up in Upper Volta by the government authority called Autorité de
Amenagenemts des Vallees des Volta (AVV). In the resettlement villages women had absolutely no land on
which to grow their families’ food, nor did they have control over their income that was passed by management
to the husbands, either in cash or in kind. Moreover, the work was exceptionally hard for women- 15 hours a
day during the growing season. In addition to work in the cotton fields, subsistence tasks such as fetching water
and processing millet were made much harder by the failure of managements to supply the promised water
wells and grain mills. Thus again compromising food security, because women could not prepare food properly
to ensure healthy diets. The results were the same with the three cases discussed above, as some women
deserted the scheme due to the inability to feed their children.
From the cases analysed above some conclusions can be drawn on food security and rural development projects.
These include the following:
According to Heyer (1981:12) rural development encompasses multiple and often contradictory interests.
Some of these may be satisfied at the cost of others. The above cases are similar to the Gezira scheme of Sudan
that succeeded in producing cash crops at the expense of preventing peasants from expanding food production
for the internal market.
The dual economy thesis: in all the cases studied, some individuals, especially women, continued to be
involved in their traditional crops. This compromised the time allocated to cash crops, thus lowering
productivity. However, the continued involvement in traditional foods shows the food insecurity inherent in
households involved in these projects. Similarly in Zambia, Muntemba (in Bay 1982) comments that some
women expressed their discontent on cash crops by withdrawing their labour from household fields particularly
at peak labour periods where women returned to their matrikin villages to farm in lands accessed in their own
right. This practise incensed men to the extent that some filed for divorce.
The simple reproduction squeeze thesis: Barker (1989) argues that gender relations can be analysed
through the concept of the simple reproduction squeeze, where with the introduction of cash crops, women are
pressed to continue their usual household work of cooking, caring for children and cleaning, while they also
take even greater responsibility for food production. In addition, women are asked to do work without getting
commensurate control over earnings gotten from cash crops.
New forms of exclusion: there is systematic discrimination against women in terms of their access to
resources where women are relegated to production of food crops, while men produce export cash crops.
Confined to traditional foods, women have no access to global, international markets since they do not grow
export crops. Without access to the market, they do not enjoy the benefits that come with involvement in the
international market.
Increased social inequality: Muntemba (1982) notes that the peasantry has been sharply stratified into
rich, middle and poor peasants. Women formed the largest single group among poor peasants. While being
aware of the differences among women, it is argued that development projects discussed above usually
demanded experts in some areas. These were usually men from outside the area. Thus men at the schemes had
to take unskilled, precarious jobs while women in the same scheme were not employed at all.
The above issues call for a shift of paradigm, a new gender planning (Moser 1993). This is an approach based
on the explicit recognition of unequal gender relations between men and women, which are justified by
symbolical codes. Development projects must address deeper structural inequalities rather than the surface
structures, which, if addressed, only enable women to fulfil their roles efficiently. Unless gender relations are
addressed in a reasonable manner, development projects will continue to have problems and therefore not
achieve the expected outcomes, which includes food security. However, some projects fail because the state
machinery is hopelessly centralised and inefficient. Hart (1982) argues that often cooperatives in West Africa
are a means of incorporating independent economic activities into a framework of government control and
when they are routinized, they often become instruments of absolute state power in the village. However, the
familiarity of these planned development projects with their gender blind policies boggles the mind as to why
governments insist on these projects. Hart (1982) responds by arguing that they serve political interests by
strengthening state rule in the countryside. This, unfortunately, is at the expense of their food security.
Bibliography
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Gender Relations in Senegambia” in Signs Vol 16 # 4 pp 651-680
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Contributor's Notes...
Ms. Hungwe is a lecturer in the Department of Human Resource Management at the Midlands State University in Gweru,
Zimbabwe. She is a sociologist by training and has a Masters degree in Sociology and Social Anthropology; and is currently
working towards a PhD in aging. She has written on aging, food security and gender.
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