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Juxtaposing gender-transformative programming with equity, intersectionality, human rights, and environment justice

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Author: Ranjani K. Murthy*, April 12 2023 - Programming refers to the gamut of programme planning, monitoring, and evaluation, and it covers the development cycle. Gender-transformative programming and equity/human rights/environment programming have happened in parallel. Ending intersectional discrimination is receiving attention only recently in development, through the concept has existed since 1989 (Kimberlé W. Crenshaw). Without attention to gender transformation, equity, non (intersectional) discrimination, human rights, and environment justice, international covenants cannot be fulfilled, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved.

Gender-transformative programming refers to programming that seeks to transform social norms, power relations, resources, and legal/policy structures that constrain women. Gender-transformative programming is distinct from programming that is gender exploitative, gender instrumental, gender blind, gender sensitive, and gender responsive (UNICEF, 2022). Examples of frameworks used for gender-transformative programming include the Harvard framework, Moser framework, gender@work framework, and social relations framework. Gender-transformative indices like the Women’s Empowerment and Agriculture Index (WEAI), though not a framework, have also been used for programming with a gender-transformative lens, but these indices are not discussed here.

Equity-focused programming explores the larger issue of equity between development outcomes for different dominant and marginalised groups. Gender and equity lenses would entail asking how to plan, monitor, and evaluate so that parity is reached between Black women and White men, Dalit women and dominant caste men, women living with disability and men living without disability, women from a minority community and men from the majority community, trans women and cis men, and so on. As such, frameworks for equity-oriented programming are limited. The Social Equity Assessment Tool (SEAT) offers such a framework for looking at issues of equity, as well as environment justice, in the context of evaluation (Bitar, 2021).

While equity and non-discrimination are interlinked, intersectional discrimination against oppressed groups is unlikely to have parallel in the case of dominant groups/men to aid comparison, like breast ironing in Cameroon, female genital mutilation in Somalia, dedication of Dalit girls in India to goddess and pushing them into sexual relations with dominant castes, etc. Addressing intersectional discrimination against identity-based groups of girls and women is central to equity and furthering human rights.

A key question is how to deepen gender-transformative programming frameworks from an equity, non-intersectional discrimination, human rights, and environmental justice framework. Some suggestions are given in Table 1.


To sum up, gender-transformative programming is just a beginning. It needs to be grounded in the principles of equity, non-intersectional discrimination, human rights, and justice. Models of neo-liberal development need to be challenged. Innovative communication strategies like podcasts, vimeos, online training, quiz/polls, street theatre, and wall posters could be used to bring about such transformation.

References
Bitar, Khalil, 2021. A Social Equity Assessment Tool for Evaluation, Universitat Erfurt.
Kabeer, Naila, 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. Verso, London/New York.
Moser, Caroline, 1993. Gender Planning in Development: Theory, Practice and Training, Routledge, London.
Overholt, Caroline, Anderson, Mary B., Cloud, Kathleen, and Austin, James E., 1985. Gender Roles in Development Projects, Kumarian Press Inc., Connecticut.
UNICEF, 2022. Gender Transformative Programming in UNICEF: Selected Case Studies, UNICEF, New York.
Rao, Aruna, Kelleher, David, and Batliwala, Srilatha, 2008. The Change Matrix, http://www.dmeforpeace.org/educateforpeace/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/T…
Rowlands, Jo, 1999. Empowerment Examined, Development and Social Diversity, edited Oxfam, Oxfam, UK, pps. 86-92.

Image credit: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International: CC BY-NC 4.0)

* Thanks to Kier Olsen DeVries for editorial assistance.

As with all the blogs posted on our website, the content above does not imply the endorsement of The CI or its Partners and is from the perspective of the writer alone. We do not check facts and strive to retain the writer's voice, as is detailed in our Editorial Policy.