Gender Equity Program within The Project of Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goal Acceleration (PRMAP) in Indonesia

Gender Equity Program within The Project of Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goal Acceleration (PRMAP) in Indonesia

A case study of a project proposal funded by

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Indonesia

By

Hesthi Nugroho,SP,Grad.Dip.EMD,M.EMD

Introduction

For decades, many projects, which are funded by international agencies, have focused on the development of any sectors in developing and less-developing countries. Many of them have included gender equity or women empowerment programs within their projects. However, development planners for these projects somehow are not serious in tackling the implementation of gender programs, which make the gender programs only become the complement of the projects. One of these projects is the project proposal by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the Indonesian government, called the Poverty Reduction and Millenium Development Goal Acceleration Project (PRMAP) (ADB 2007). There are many programs within this project and one of them is the gender equity program in education and health sectors (ADB 2007).

The aim of this paper is to analyse the gender equity program within this PRMAP project and deliver the discussion into three major findings, which are the gender-analysis frameworks, the gender needs, and the inclusion of men into the program. From the discussion, we can learn that, first, during the implementation of gender equity program, the development planners must consider specific gender analysis frameworks that would be used to achieve complete formulation of development policies (Beetham & Demetriades 2007). Second, development planners must recognise the gender needs of their program, either practical or strategic, thus, the specific goals and objectives of a gender equity program will be achieved (Warren 2007). Moreover, development planners must consider the importance of the inclusion of men in the implementation of a gender equity program, especially in developing countries, which have strong traditional masculinities and patriarchal relationships between men and women (Flood 2005). For this gender equity program in PRMAP, the development planners have failed to consider these three important points.

Explanation of the project

The PRMAP was proposed in August 2007, which would be implemented in 15 districts in Sumatera, Java, Sulawesi and Bali, and is expected to be completed in 2011 (ADB 2007). This proposed project incorporates many programs to be implemented in supporting the Indonesian government to reform efforts in developing and implementing the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) related policy actions (ADB 2007). However, for this essay, the writer will only discuss and analyse one of the programs within PRMAP, which is the gender equity program in the health and education sectors.

According to the ADB (2007), the primary beneficiaries of the gender equity program in PRMAP will be mainly the women who lack access to equality education and health services. The policies which are established as result to this program, are expecting to improve the access of girls to junior secondary education through scholarship schemes and integrated schools, and also improve the access of women to affordable maternal and reproductive health services through access improvement to emergency obstetric care, antenatal care and family planning services (ADB 2007). The expectation of the target that can be achieved from PRMAP to gender equity is, in 2011, the ratio of girls to boys in basic education is 100 percent, and HIV prevalence among pregnant women will be less than 0.04 percent (ADB 2007). Another expectation is that the Minister of Health will increase the budget allocation by 20 percent in 2007 for women’s health and maternal care until 2011 (ADB 2007).

This essay will particularly discuss and analyse several issues which are not explained by ADB in the process of implementing the gender equity program, which are the gender-analysis framework that is going to be used, the inclusion of men in the implementation of the program, and the specification of gender needs according to this program. Other issues cannot be discussed because of the word constraints. The gender-analysis framework is important to consider because it promotes an awareness of gender development practice by ensuring that the gender issue is seriously taken into consideration at every stage of implementation of the program and can provide solution to the difficulties of incorporating gender issues into development (Warren 2007). Meanwhile, the inclusion of men into the implementation of the gender equity program is also important to mention as their inclusion to the program will create structural changes in the relation of male-female power (Flood 2005). In this case, men can give positive roles to the program, rather than seeing them as obstacles of the program (Flood 2005). Moreover, the specification of gender needs is necessary to consider because by knowing whether the needs are specific or strategic, the program will have a direct focus in its implementation and will achieve its objective, which is imposing the right gender policies (Moser 1989).

Discussion

The gender analysis framework

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2001), the gender-analysis framework is a subset of analysis of socio-economics and the purpose of this framework is to uncover the facts that gender relations are likely to impact on the solution’s problems as well as to identify clearly what that impacts to be along with several courses of actions. Meanwhile, Warren (2007) states that to use gender-analysis frameworks in the project will help the development planners in gathering and using sex-disaggregated and gender-related data as well as collecting information of development of interventions at the various stages, from program conception to design then through to evaluation. Moreover, Warren (2007) also suggests that methods within gender-analysis frameworks will also assist the development planners in gathering the data which will make informed decisions for men’s and women’s benefits, prevent negative impacts, and help the development to become more efficient and effective. There are several gender-analysis frameworks, which have been established and used by many development planners, such as, the Harvard, the Moser, the Levy, the Gender Analysis Matrix, the Longwe, the Capacities and Vulnerabilities Framework, the People Oriented Framework and Social Relations Framework (UNDP 2001).

Nevertheless, the gender equity program through health and education in the PRMAP project does not include any of these frameworks. The framework, which is going to be used, is a general framework, which contains all of the programs in the project. The development planners of PRMAP tend to design the framework from the government context, such as predicting the risks that they will face in terms of limited impacts on the outcome from an increased of government expenditure and lack of effective coordination between concerned ministries and local governments (ADB 2007). Throughout the proposal, the development planners do not mention or even explain what kind of specific gender-analysis framework that they would use to implement this gender equity program. The development planners are more focused on explaining their target for 2011, the risks that they might face, their recommendations to strengthen gender policies, and participation process, in which this process only includes government officials, development partners, and other concerned stakeholders (ADB 2007), without mentioning the need of poor women’s involvement as the target of their program. In addition, the proposal has mentioned that collecting sex-disaggregated data is unnecessary and is not required (ADB 2007), without giving any further explanation.

The gender equity program in the PRMAP proposal has overlooked the point that to use a specific gender analysis framework is very important in making sure that gender issues are taken into account and consideration at every stage of the implementation of this program (Warren 2007). The development planners are also overlooking the use of sex-disaggregated data, which will help in informing the development process at every stage of their program implementation, from its conception to design and then to evaluation (Warren 2007). Moreover, by not using a specific gender analysis framework in their gender equity program, means that the development planners have failed to consider the power of traditional patriarchal relationship between men and women in poor communities in Indonesia (Beetham & Demetriades 2007). So far, they have marginalised the position of women throughout the process of every gender program that has been proposed, such as traditional women in Indonesia very much rely on the permission that is given by their husbands to be involved and active in the program[1]. In this case, the development planners overlook the integration of diversity of race, class, caste, sexuality, age, and disability, which is happening in this poor society (Beetham & Demetriades 2007). Not only this, the development planners are also failed to consider that the use of quantitative and qualitative data will help them in obtaining an accurate measure of gender inequality in the field, thus they can build more accurate pictures, in which the quantitative and qualitative data complement each other (Beetham & Demetriades 2007).

Gender needs

There are two specifications of gender needs, practical and strategic. Knowing these specifications is very important in the implementation of gender programs, this is because realistic parameters that need to be identified in the planning process of the program could be accomplished, and the limitations of different policy interventions could be identified (Moser 1989). In addition, by consulting both men and women about their practical gender needs, an entry point to identify and address gender inequalities, in the long term, strategic gender needs could be created (UNDP 2001). Practical gender needs are the needs, which are formulated from women’s experiences and needed for human survival (Moser 1989). Meanwhile, strategic gender needs are the needs, which are formulated from derivation of analysis of women’s subordination to men and derive these identified needs to find more equal alternative organisation of society, in terms of relationship between men and women (Moser 1989). According to the UNDP (2001), practical gender needs tend to be short term, directed towards particular women, related to daily needs, are easy to identify, do not alter traditional roles and relationships, and tend to address women’s involvement in the program as beneficiaries as well as participants. Meanwhile, strategic gender needs tend to be long term, very common among women, relate to the disadvantaged position of women but its basis not always identified by women, could empower women and transform the relationship, and tend to involve women as agents only (UNDP 2001).

The development planners for gender equity program in PRMAP do not mention or identify the gender needs in implementing the program. Therefore, there is confusion in identifying the needs in regards to the expectation of obtaining the precise policy objectives. For example, the purpose of the program is improving women’s health and education, in this case, for the education sector, the development planners have several activities such as to reduce the costs of school for poor communities, while for the health sector, the development planners have planned to develop an efficient referral system, increase the use of contraceptive, and integrate health services that support the containment of HIV/AIDS epidemics (ADB 2007).

It can be seen that the proposed activities of the program tend to be immediate and focus on the short term, and refer to practical gender needs, however, the sector of education needs to refer more to strategic gender needs (UNDP 2001). Strategic needs through education, are expected to empower women and transform relationships between men and women, however, the practical needs through health care would not alter traditional roles and the relationships of men and women thus it cannot provide such transformation and empowerment, in which these two sectors have already contradicted each other (UNDP 2001). Besides, this transformation of relationships is not only contradicted in theory, but also will face obstacles of social and cultural problems when the activities of the program are put into practice, in which the development planners fail to consider. This is because, it may only serve women from a particular caste who obtain access to health care and education, in which at the same time the strong patriarchal pattern of relationships between men and women will encounter women’s access to the services of the program because their husbands do not allow them. For example, the distribution of healthcare services in several villages in East Java, in which the poorest will only accept medicines for what they can only buy and obtain from the nurses, while the women who have kinship with the village leaders may obtain special treatments and refer them to the nearest hospital, if necessary[2]. Another case is these women only used modern health services as their second option, because they prefer to have traditional health treatments in regards to the reason that they do not have enough money to pay for the services or they put their children as their main priority in using these kinds of modern health services.

Furthermore, the focus of development planners in giving recommendations to strengthen the policies of gender has failed to consider women themselves in reinforcing these policies to be put into practice. In this case, the development planners are only focused on the policy makers and institutional frameworks, which contradicts what Moser (1989) states, that women themselves need to be involved in the reinforcement of gender policies. This is because, by having participation of local or rural women, the policies will meet gender needs, which focus on domestic arenas, on income-earning activities, and on community-level requirements of basic services and housing (Moser 1989). Therefore, it would mean that not only the policy makers, are responsible for making and implementing the policies, but also the women themselves (Moser 1989).

Inclusion of men’s role in the gender equity program

The need of men’s involvement in any gender project or program has been considered by gender agencies for so long. This is because, to reach gender equity, both men and women require a transformative change, in which effective gender equity could reach through normative, structural and institutional change at all levels of society (Erturk 2004). In this case, to create those changes, the inclusion of men in gender equity approaches is very important, as it will increase not only women’s but also men’s responsibility for change, and also increase men’s belief that they will also gain from gender equity (Flood 2005).

The ADB (2007) does not mention any men’s involvement in implementing the gender equity program in the PRMAP project. It can be seen that the focus of the program is only for women’s involvement, as the target of the program and several concerned stakeholders from government officials and development partners (ADB 2007). Although there is an inclusion of policy makers to strengthen gender policies, in which mostly are men, however, there is no indication that there would be training of gender analysis and gender equity for men within this inclusion. In this case, there are no strategies, which propose to change male attitudes in accepting gender equity. However, an approach of strategies that would change male attitudes and behaviour about gender equity is very important to be part of this program’s framework. This is because the majority of men in Indonesia are still holding onto their traditional culture, in which gender inequality especially marginalisation towards women appears in this context. In this case, traditional men in Indonesia tend to expect women to obey them, to behave like what men expect them to behave, to look after the children and their men without any complaining, and men expect women to be thankful for everything that men do for them and the family[3]. This inequality of men and women in Indonesia has been rooted in traditional patriarchal gender order, and over time has reproduced into modification forms in human consciousness, language, and institutionalised structures of society (Erturk 2004). Even though many Indonesian men have become government officers or have obtained higher education, however, it does not change their point of view of marginalisation towards women and about their traditional masculinities.

Therefore, it can be seen that the development planners of a gender equity program within the PRMAP project have overlooked this kind of men’s behaviour in Indonesia. As this program is heading to districts within Sumatera, Sulawesi, Bali and Java, the men’s attitudes towards marginalisation of women is even worse compared to that in central cities. In which, in these districts the patriarchal relationships are held strongly by the society and the cultures rather than those who are living in Jakarta, where men are mostly more open about equality and put women at the same level with them[4]. Without the inclusion of men within the gender equity program, not only this program will not be sustained, but the implementation of it will also generate violence problems within the relationships of men and women in households. In which men have felt to be undermined because of this “equity” program and felt that their traditional masculinities have been neglected and ignored by women. For example, many cases of violence in the households, especially in Java, women were beaten or even killed by the men, as the result of learning something new from the society or a particular gender program that generated them to fight for their rights over men. Moreover, the development planners have failed to realise that the inclusion of men in gender work, especially in Indonesia, is very important, in terms of many men of Indonesia needing to change their attitudes and behaviour, so that gender equality can be achieved (Flood 2004). In addition to this, by the inclusion of men into the program, it will increase the responsibility’s of men, it will increase men’s belief that they also gain from gender equity, and it will engage men into the renegotiation of gender relations directly (Flood 2005).

Meanwhile, the development planners have also tried to propose several recommendations to strengthen gender policies and government institutional frameworks (ADB 2007). However, what the development planners overlook is that although strengthening gender policies means that they are ensuring that development resources are used to improve women’s conditions, these policies still do not address the basic structure of inequality of men and women (Erturk 2004). This is because gender policies and its implementation will not effectively target the positions of gender status through normative, institutional and structural changes at all levels of society, as the concern of equity only comes from one side, the woman’s (Erturk 2004). This condition will leave women with more work to do, as they have to deal with unsympathetic men and patriarchal power relations, which even intensify the gender inequalities (Flood 2005). In this case, the development planners have ignored the condition that women in Indonesia, who work within gender institutions and perspectives, are still being mistreated by many men who think that women who work within this area are wasting their time and unsatisfied enough with the freedom that so far already given to them. Such as all the negative comments that the writer and her colleagues received from men, who work at the same institution, who think that women completely have nothing else to do, that all they are doing in their empowerment organisation is a side job to spend time together and gossip, and are asking for too much attention from the society and the government, in terms of empowerment and equity issues[5].

Conclusion

There are many development projects, which are funded by several international institutions, being proposed to Indonesian government in regards to massive development, in which every sector of it Indonesia has tried to improve overtime. Although most of these projects do not disregard gender programs being included in their projects, there is still no serious implementation of these programs into reality, in which to put gender programs as the complement of every major development programs. One of these projects is the development project granted by ADB to the Indonesian government called Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Project (PRMAP), which includes a gender equity program in it. This gender equity program is focus on improving of health care and education for women. However, from the proposal of this PRMAP, it can be seen that there are several weaknesses found in the propose implementation of this gender program.

First, the development planners of this project do not have a specific gender analysis framework to put their gender program in place, such as the Harvard framework or the Moser framework. Second, the development planners do not specify the gender needs in their gender program, either practical or strategic needs. Thus, the focus of gender needs of this gender program, tend to be mixed and contradict each other. In this case, improving health care has become a part of practical needs, which needs immediate attention and will not change the traditional roles and relationships between men and women. Meanwhile, improving education is part of strategic needs, which does not need immediate attention and has a chance to empower women and transform relationships of men and women. This condition will likely constrain the implementation of gender policies into practice, especially when women who are the target of this program are not involved in the reinforcement of these policies, which the development planners have overlooked. Third, the development planners do not include the role of men in their gender equity program. This condition will constrain the implementation of the program, as the attitude and behaviour of men towards equality does not change.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the gender equity program in PRMAP, especially in the health and education sectors should apply one of the gender analysis frameworks in its implementation. This is because, without applying a gender analysis framework, the program will lead to the formulation of incomplete development policies (Beetham & Demetriades 2007). In addition, to consider the focus of gender needs is very important, because by knowing the gender needs, either practical or strategic, the development planners will reach their goals and objectives specifically (Warren 2007). Moreover, because gender equity is still of great debate within Indonesian societies, and the majority of Indonesian families have patriarchal level, the need of inclusion of men within the program is very important. Thus, those men who are involved in the gender equity program can appeal to men’s sense, because most Indonesian men believe that gender equity programs will undermine their traditional masculinities (Flood 2005). Furthermore, the combination of using specific gender-analysis framework, in considering the gender needs either practical or strategic or both, and the inclusion of men in gender programs, the development planners will prevent any negative impacts of the program, the process of gender equity development will be clearer in every stage of implementation, which is from the conception to design and then to the evaluation, and finally will make the developments more efficient and effective.

References:

Asian Development Bank (ADB) 2007.Proposed program cluster and technical assistance grant Republic of Indonesia: poverty reduction and millennium development gaols acceleration program, Asian Development Bank, Jakarta.

Beetham, G. & Demetriades, J., 2007. ‘Feminist research methodologies and development: overview and practical application’, Gender and Development, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 199-211.

Erturk, Y., 2004. ‘Considering the role of men in gender agenda setting: conceptual and policy issues’, Feminist Review, vol. 3, no. 21, pp. 3-20.

Flood, M., 2004. ‘Moving Beijing forward: strategies and approaches for creating an enabling environment, working with men for gender equality’, High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review Regional Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and its Regional and Global Outcomes, Bangkok, pp. 1-12.

Flood, M., 2005. ‘Mainstreaming men in gender and development’, Presentation to AusAID Gender Seminar Series, Canberra, pp.1-14.

Moser, C.O.N., 1989. ‘Gender planning in the Third World: meeting practical and strategic gender needs’, World Development, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. 1799-1825.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 2001. ‘Gender in development program: learning and information pack of gender analysis’, UNDP, New York.

Warren, H., 2007. ‘Using gender-analysis frameworks: theoretical and practical reflections’, Gender and Development, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 187-197.

---

[1] According to the observation and research of the writer who used to work at the Women Empowerment Organisation at Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia, 1999-2006.

[2] According to the observation of the writer who used to do research and work at the Women Empowerment Organisation at Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia, 1999-2006.

[3] Based on observation and experienced of the writer who used to work at the Women Empowerment Organisation at Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia, 1999-2006, and becomes part of Javanese traditional culture.

[4] Based on observation and research of the writer who used to work at the Women Empowerment Organisation at Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia, 1999-2006.

[5] Based on the experiences of the writer who used to work at the Women Empowerment Organisation at Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia, 1999-2006.