In Acord Newsletter Issue 1: February 2001

Return to Contents page

Article 9:

Gender, diversity or social exclusion?

By Angela Hadjipateras, Research Officer, ACORD

Over a year has elapsed since ACORD’s new Gender Policy was approved and circulated to all programmes. As part of the follow-up action plan, all programmes were asked to report on their implementation plans by April 2000 and the London Secretariat undertook to set up a Gender Equality Task Force with field representation to review and monitor progress.

However, only a handful of programmes have provided London with any information about their implementation plans and London has not progressed with plans to set up a Task Force.

Is ACORD’ understanding of ‘gender’ still relevant?
Staff both in Africa and London have criticised the Gender Policy on the grounds that it revolves essentially around the polarisation of men and women and fails to adequately recognise the differences between men and between women.

Similarly, the policy does not pay enough attention to other forms of discrimination and marginalisation that are not based exclusively on sex. Not all men oppress women and not all women are oppressed. In Northern Mali, both men and women members of the ‘slave’ class are subservient to the male and female members of the ‘noble’ class. People’s social status and access to economic resources are also determined by their ethnic origin.

Some have also expressed the view that the policy does not put enough emphasis on understanding the ways in which men, as well as women, are oppressed by societal norms and expectations and fails to challenge the stereotype of men as perpetrators of violence and women as passive victims. Both men and women are involved in constructing and perpetuating the cultures of male violence and female submission.

The Gender and Conflict research project, which involves programmes in Sudan, Mali, Uganda, Somalia and Angola, is challenging many of these prejudiced assumptions. The need to constantly review and challenge our understanding of gender is clearly stated in the Gender Policy itself. Thus, this should not constitute a stumbling block.

Gender and social exclusion
Building on its successful adaptation and use in Namibia, the social exclusion model for understanding all forms of discrimination, including sex discrimination, is gaining increasing recognition as a framework that is highly suited to the new direction and focus of ACORD’s mission. It focuses not only on the consequences of discrimination – unequal access to resources, denial of self-respect, and so on – but also on the causes rooted in the ideology of superiority and the culture, religion and institutions that uphold it. As a planning tool, it helps to redirect ACORD’s programming focus on interventions aimed at transforming, rather than merely alleviating the root causes of poverty and discrimination in society.

A question debated by the Gender Committee was whether ACORD should retain a special focus on gender or whether gender should be viewed as one among many forms of social exclusion. If we opt for the latter course, this would have implications for the development of our gender training strategy and it would also affect the decision about the need to set up a Gender Equality Task Force or any other gender-focussed networks.

Gender and diversity
A related issue discussed at the Committee meeting was the recent move among a number of NGOs such as Oxfam, Actionaid, NOVIB and Save the Children, to integrate gender and diversity as the focus of their programming and advocacy strategies. The main rationale for this is to link gender and other forms of discrimination and to emphasise the value of recognising and celebrating diversity of language, culture and religion as a means of enriching nations and societies.

Threats and opportunities
Linking gender and diversity presents new opportunities for deepening our understanding of gender discrimination and more effectively linking it to broader struggles opposing all forms of discrimination based on ethnicity, race, class, age, religion, sexual orientation and so on.

Applying the social exclusion framework of analysis can also lead to the strengthening of ACORD’s overall gender strategy by focusing on the root causes of sex discrimination in society.

On the other hand, if we abandon the particular focus on gender, do we risk losing sight of the specificity of women’s experiences of discrimination and oppression? If we reject the case for establishing organisational systems and structures to focus on gender issues, will ACORD’s commitment to equality and the promotion of women’s rights be weakened or even lost?

These are the questions that will be debated at the next Gender Committee meeting to be held at the London Secretariat at the end of February.

We would like to hear your views on these issues and to get a debate going involving all ACORD programmes. So, please write to us and let us know what you think and we will undertake to publish your responses in the next issue of the Newsletter.

Return to top