And if the Shoe Doesn't Fit? (Wear it Anyway): Economic Transformation and Western Paradigms

20 Pages·2008·2.45 MB·English

And if the Shoe Doesn't Fit? (Wear it Anyway): Economic Transformation and Western
Paradigms of Women in Development Programs in Post-Communist Central and Eastern
Europe
Author(s): Kristen Ghodsee
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 3/4, Women and Development: Rethinking
Policy and Reconceptualizing Practice (Fall - Winter, 2003), pp. 19-37
Published by: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York
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And If the Shoe Doesn't Fit?
(WearI t Anyway)
Economic Transformation and Western
of Women in
Paradigms Development Programs
in Post-Communist Central and Eastern
Europe
Kristen Ghodsee
Introduction1
Fromi ts inception in 1973, the Womeni n Development (WID)p ara-
digm of incorporatingg ender into projectsf or economic growthh as
dominatedt he developmente stablishmentA. lthough this model has
been critiqueda nd modified over time, WIDs cholars,a dvocates,a nd
practitionersc ontinue to dominate the field and to set the agenda in
most multilaterala nd bilaterala id agencies,a s well as in international
nongovernmentalo rganizations( NGOs) workingi n the developing
world.2S ince 1989, with the fall of the BerlinW all,a id organizations
havea ttemptedt o implementW IDt heorya nd practicew ithint he for-
mer communistc ountrieso f Centrala nd EasternE urope.D espite the
millions of dollars of aid dedicated to gender programsa nd the hun-
dreds of projects throughout the region, these efforts have met with
limited success.
This articlew ill brieflye xaminej ust one of the possibler easonsw hy
WID projects have failed to reach women in Central and Eastern
Europe:t he long-suppressedh istoryo f WID-fundedp rojects,w hich
beyondl iberaln otions of development,h avea lso serveda s covertt ools
to stem the spread of Marxist ideology in the developing world.
Traditionala ccounts of the integrationo f women into Americanf or-
eign assistancep rogramsh ave ignored the Cold Warc ontext and the
U.S. government'sf ears that communisti nsurgentsw ere successfully
mobilizingT hirdW orldw omenf or revolutionaryca uses.I n some part,
the rootso f the WIDm odel are intricatelyli nkedw ith the fight against
global communism.
Exploringt hese roots will provide importantc lues as to why WID
and its heir, Gender and Development (GAD), have been largely
unsuccessfuiln the formerE asternb loc countries.C entrala nd Eastern
Europeans ocialism and its legacies have not yet been totally erased
from the collectives ociala nd culturalm emoryo f the region'sw omen,
19
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20 Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3 & 4
manyo f whom mayp referp oliticalr athert han "self-helps"o lutionst o
their economic plight. This important,y et forgotten historym ust be
reclaimeda nd integratedi nto the ways cholarsa nd developmentp ro-
fessionalss tudya nd theorize the WIDm odel.
WID Aid to Eastern Europe
The fall of the BerlinW alle xponentiallye xpanded opportunitiesf or
gender-relatedd evelopmentw orki n Eurasia.T he sudden implosion
of communismw as unexpected by scholars,p oliticians,a nd activists
in both the Easta nd the West.F eministsa roundt he worldw ere equally
surprisedb y the momentous events that came to markt he end of the
greatests ociale xperimento f the twentiethc entury.S oon after,a rmies
of democracyc onsultantsa nd privatizationa dvisersi nvaded the for-
mer Eastern bloc, riding a tidal wave of Western aid (Wedel 2001).
Gender experts and Women in Development advocatesa nd practi-
tionersw ere not far behind
In the earlyy earso f the transition,W esternf eminists cholars( both
liberala nd Marxist)b egan researchinga nd publishinga bout the neg-
ativee ffects that economic transitionw ash avingo n women in the for-
mer communist countries (Corrin 1992; Einhorn 1993; Moghadam
1993;F unka nd Mueller 1993;R ueschemeyer1 994;A lsanbeiguie t al.
1994). Some scholars also felt it was necessary to "bringt he Third
Worldi n" so that parallelsb etween the transitioninga nd developing
countries could be drawn (Moghadam 1993;J aquette and Wolchik
1998;K otzeva1 999;V erdery1 996). This researchs parkedt he active
interesto f the WIDd epartmentso f multilateraal nd bilaterala id agen-
cies. These agencies, in turn, began offering grants targeted to local
women'sg roups as part of "civils ociety"b uilding initiativest hrough-
out the region.
After the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on
Womeni n Beijing, cooperation among internationalw omen's agen-
cies reached a zenith, and WIDe xpertsi n the nonprofit sector began
to "discover"E astern Europe. International women's nongovern-
mental organizations based in the Westr ecognized the plethora of
opportunities availablef or gender-relatedw ork in the Central and
EasternE uropeanr egion and began applyingf or grantst o do projects
and carryo ut studies." Feministn"e tworksw, omen'sa lliances,g ender
studiesp rograms,a nd local women'sN GOsh ave multipliedt hrough-
out the former communistw orld, and many millions of dollars have
been spent on consciousness-raisinga ctivities,c onferences, and gen-
der assessments( Greenberg2001).
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Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3 & 4 21
For the most part, however,t hese activitiesh ave been unsuccess-
ful in creating a broad-basedw omen's movement in any of the for-
mer communist countries, even as women's statush as continued to
decline (Einhorn 1993; Holmgren 1995; Gal and Kligman 2000a,
2000b). In the few areasw here EasternE uropeanw omen have seen
their status improve in the wake of the privatization of their
economies, this has had less to do with Westerna id efforts and more
to do with the historicall egacies of women's position under the pre-
vious regimes (Fodor 1997; Szalai 2000; Ghodsee 2003).
Furthermore,w omen's NGOs and feminism in general have been
met with great skepticism not only by the Eastern European soci-
eties as a whole, but specificallyb y the women in these societies (Kay
2000; Sperling 1999; Gal and Kligman 2000a; Grunberg 2000;
Richter 2002; Jalusic and Antic 2000). Citizens in these countries
were also waryb ecause they felt that local NGOsw ere controlled by
foreign donors and therefore had little legitimacy (Snavely and
Desai 1994; Ottoway and Carothers 2000; Mendelson and Glenn
2000, 2002). Many Eastern European women feel that feminism is
an alien ideology that does not address the real needs of women in
post-communistc ountries.
These same frustrationsa nd misunderstandingbs etween Easta nd
West have been cited by many other feminist scholars and activists
throughout the region (Funk 1993; Drakulic1 993). This essay,h ow-
ever,w ill focus on trying to untangle why WID and GADp aradigms
designed to incorporate women into capitalist development have
had such a hard time taking root in Central and Eastern Europe.
Manym isunderstandingsm ight stem from incomplete accounts of
the history of WID and GADi n the United States and the develop-
ing world.W ithout a nuanced explorationo f how the threat of com-
munism in the "ThirdW orld"p ropelled the incorporation of WID
into the development efforts of the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), an understanding of the
underlying tensions that hamper successful cooperation between
women born and raised on either side of the capitalist-socialisitd e-
ological divide will be obscured.
Historyo f WID
Workfo r the Revolution is morei mportant than my marriage. Will thef amily
disappeara s a result?F idel says, "Onlyl ove will hold thef amily of thef uture
"
together. (House of Representatives 1971)
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22 Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3&4
Manys cholarso f WIDm arkt he beginning of the field with the publi-
cation in 1970 of Ester Boserup's landmark book, Women'Rs olei n
EconomiDc evelopmen(Tt inker 1983, 1984, 1990; Mosse 1993; Parpart
1995). They also cite the general influence of the United States
women's movement on the United Nations and the international
developmentc ommunity.T hen there was the growingr ecognition of
the failure of traditional development models in the Third World,
which created industrial" growth"a t the expense of social harmony
and increased poverty.T akent ogether, these factorsl ed to the inclu-
sion of Section 113 in the 1973 amendment to the 1961 Foreign
AssistanceA ct; this Percya mendment officiallyi ncorporatedw omen
into U.S. aid programsf or the first time.
Other scholars (Kabeer1 994) recognized that the general atmos-
phere of social unrest and protest, both domestically and interna-
tionally,t hat markedt he late 1960s and early1 970s mayh ave shaped
the ideas and opinions of the development community.R adicalc ri-
tiques, such as dependency theory coming out of Latin America,
forced development practitionerst o rethink their goals and priori-
ties, and ultimatelyt o considert he plight of those left out of more tra-
ditional development models that were focused exclusively on
economic growth.
Yeti n addition to the factors mentioned above, it is important to
remembert hat the field of WID,l ike the projecto f ThirdW orldd evel-
opment itself,w asc reatedp artiallyin responset o fearso f the spreado f
worldc ommunism.3I n the context of the ColdW ar,t he United States'
recognition of women as an importantc onstituencyi n development
mayh aveh ad less to do withg enuine concern aboutt he unequalh ard-
ships that modernization produced, than with the perceived threat
posed by communistsw ho were successfullym obilizingd isenfranchised
women (and ruralp easants)f or revolutionaryc ausest hroughoutt he
developingw orld.T his is not to sayt hat the WIDs cholarsa nd activists
themselvesw ere promotingW IDa s a wayt o fight Marxisti deologies,
but that the U.S. government'sf ear of communismm ayh aveb een one
importantr easonw hyt he PercyA mendmentw asa cceptedb y the over-
whelminglym ale congress in 1973. Moreover,f unds to support WID
programmings hould be seen as part of a largers hiftf rom direct mili-
tarya id to more sociallyo rientedt ypeso f aid thatt he 1973a mendment
to the 1961 ForeignA ssistanceA ct accomplished.
The historyo f how andw hyw omenb ecamei ntegratedin to the inter-
nationald evelopmente stablishmenitn the contexto f the ColdW arh as
been largelyl ost. Reclaimingi t will,i n some smallw ay,a ssistb oth schol-
ars and practitionersi n understandingw hy so many problems arise
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Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3& 4 23
when WIDp rojectsa re transplantedf rom the ThirdW orldt o Eastern
Europeans oil. After all, if WIDa s a development paradigmw as pro-
ducedi n responset o the perceiveds uccesseso f socialista nd communist
countriesi n grantingw omen greaterp oliticala nd economic rights,i t
might proved ifficultt o applyt he same model to the veryw omen who
wereb eneficiarieso f the socialists ystemt hatt he WIDm odel wast rying
to displace.
The Birtho f Developmenta nd "BasicN eeds"
The goals of foreign aid to the ThirdW orldw ere bound up intimately
with the Cold Wara nd the need to suppressc ommunistu prisingsi n
the newlyi ndependent states emerging from colonialism across the
globe (Leebaert2 002). Indeed, the rapidi ndustrializatioonf the Soviet
Union and other Easternb loc countriest hat employedt he communist
model served as a powerfule xample to new nations hoping to mod-
ernize and catchu p withb oth the Firsta nd SecondW orldsO. ne of the
foundationalt exts of developmente conomicsw asW alterW . Rostow's
Stageso fE conomicG rowthA: Non-CommunisMt anifesto( 1960) . This book
outlineda progressivel,i nearp ath to economicd evelopmentt hatr elied
upon and celebrated individualism,e ntrepreneurship, and private
propertyi n contrastt o the communal,c entrallyp lanned, state-owned
economies of socialista nd communistm odels.
The allureo f communisti deologiesi n the developingw orldb ecame
especiallyr elevantd uringt he VietnamW ara nd the United States'f ail-
ure to "save"th e SouthV ietnamesef rom socialismN. o one understood
the consequenceso f communismi n the developingw orldb etter than
one of Rostow'sc olleagues in the Kennedya ndJ ohnson administra-
tions, Robert S. McNamara.F resh from his tenure as secretary of
defense afterh avingf allen out with PresidentJ ohnson overA merican
involvementi n Vietnam (McNamara1 995), McNamaraa ssumedt he
presidencyo f the WorldB anki n 1968. He had spoken and published
widely on the idea that povertyb red communism, and that the only
wayt o fight socialisma roundt he worldw ast o raiset he livings tandards
of the poor and to soften the worsti nequalitiesc reated and perpetu-
ated by capitalism( McNamara1 968). He writes,
Givent he certainc onnectionb etweene conomic stagnationa nd the
incidence of violence, the yearst hat lie ahead for the nationso f the
southern half of the globe look ominous. This would be true if no
threat of Communist subversion existed, as it clearly does. Both
Moscow and Peking, however harsh their internal differences,
regardt he modernizationp rocess as an ideal environmentf or the
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24 Wome'nsS tudiesQ uarterl2y0 03: 3 & 4
growth of Communism. ... It is clearly understood that certain
Communistn ations are capable of subverting,m anipulating and
finallyd irectingf or their own ends the whollyl egitimateg rievances
of a developing society. (1968, 147-148)
McNamara'tsh irteen-yeapr residencyo f the WorldB anku sheredi n
an era of lending for projectsb ased on a new paradigm- one called
"redistributionw ith growth"b y the WorldB ank and "basicn eeds"b y
the United Nations.T his new paradigmf ocused on improvingt he liv-
ing standardso f the poor. WorldB ank lending would increase from
$883 million per year in 1968 to $12 billion per year in 1981 when
McNamaral eft the bank (Leebaert2 002) . This new focus on human
development saturatedt he development establishment and funda-
mentallya ltered developmentt heory and practice.4I nsteado f focus-
ing effortso n buildingr oads,d ams,f actories,a nd airports,t he World
Bank and USAIDb egan funding such things as waterw ells, primary
schools, and hospitals.
Special attention was given to those who had been previouslyl eft
out of development'sm odernizatione fforts:p oor, rural populations
and women. These two groupsw ere particularlyim portantb ecauseo f
their vulnerabilityt o communistc o-optation.O n February1 6, 1962,
a classifiedt elegramf rom the Americane mbassyi n Thailandw arned
that the communist National Front for the Liberation of South
Vietnam had begun to infiltratet he south through the formation of
"variouas ffilists[ sic]b odies,"i ncludingt he LiberationF armer'sF ront
and the LiberationW omen'sF ront (Departmento f State 1962). While
a September 1966 intelligence memorandum, "The Organization,
Activities,a nd Objectiveso f the CommunistF ronti n SouthV ietnam,"
included a list of the leaderso f Hoi Phu Nu GiaiP hong, the liberation
women'so rganizationw, ith detailedb iographies( CentralI ntelligence
Agency [CIA] 1966). This list demonstratest hat the CIAr ecognized
women as importantl eaderso f the communistm ovementa nd marked
them as potential enemies.5A nother CIAr eport spoke of the "usual
array of mass organizations (women's, youth, peasant and labor
"
groups) (1972, 47) that the Vietnamese communistsm obilized for
their own ends. The dedication and mobilization of Vietnamese
women as soldiersf or the communistc ause (Turley1 972) must have
also concerned the U.S. government.
Between 1970 and 1974, the Committeeo f InternalS ecurityo f the
House of Representativeso f the United StatesC ongressh eld a series
of hearings,t he Theory and Practiceo f Communism.T hese hearings
were held because the U.S. governmentf elt that
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Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3 & 4 25
there existsa world-wideC ommunistm ovementw hose purposei t is
by espionage, sabotage,a nd other means to establisha totalitarian
dictatorship in countries throughout the world . . . and that the
Communisto rganizationi n the United States,t ogetherw ith other
circumstanceso f the internationalC ommunistm ovement,p resents
a clear and present danger to the securityo f the United Statesa nd
the existence of Americani nstitutions.( House of Representatives
[HR] 1970, 4631)
The U.S. government had to acknowledge that women were an inte-
gral part of this clear and present danger. Testimony presented at the
hearings supports the idea that women's organizations such as the
Third World Women's Alliance and the Women's International
Democratic Federation were considered "communistf ronts," "founded
and supported at all times by the international communist movement"
(HR 1974, 2693). Moreover, the devotion of women in Cuba to Fidel's
communism (Smith and Padula 1996) was yet another example of how
leftist parties were successfully able to integrate women into revolu-
tionary causes. A pamphlet prepared by two American women active
in the U.S. women's movement and included in exhibits for the hear-
ings demonstrates that communist governments had already included
women in development - well before the capitalist world:
In everyC ubann eighborhoodw omen get togethert o discusst opics
ranging from Jose Marti to day care, and from the struggles in
Vietnam to problems of picking citrus fruits. Largeru nits of the
Federation[ of CubanW omen] organizew omen'sw orkb rigadest o
combat on one front or another Cuba's number one problem:
underdevelopment.( HR 1971, 5569)
As the 1970s progressed, there were growing references to the role
of women in the developing world. In later testimonies given in sup-
port of further incorporating women into USAID's projects and for
soliciting funds from Congress to support the Voluntary Fund for the
United Nations Decade for Women, advocates argued that women
were essential for carrying out a basic needs paradigm of development
(HR1978).
In fact, the Percy amendment was part of a foreign policy trend away
from direct military intervention toward indirect economic interven-
tions in developing countries. This new strategy coincided neatly with
McNamara's call for poverty alleviation as a way to fight communism.
Thus, if women were essential to basic needs, and meeting basic needs
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26 Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3 &>4
was essential to fighting communism, then women were essential to
fighting communism.6
The imperativet o integratew omen into the development process
turns out to be not a product of Americanf eminism,a s some have
implied, but growso rganicallyo ut of the situationo f poor women
and the needs of development.T he everydaya ctivitieso f the world's
poor women intersect with a basic human needs approach. (Elsa
Chaney,t estimony,c ited in HR 1978, 9)
A good illustration of the possibilities of a new women's focus on
development (and one rarely mentioned with reference to the birth
of the WID paradigm) was the very important role played by Chilean
women in opposing Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile
between 1970 and 1973. After the Popular Unity's rise to power and
its wholesale nationalization of the economy, Allende's three-year stint
in power was punctuated by parades of women banging spoons on pots
and pans to protest severe food shortages. This ultimately lent support
to the U.S.-backed coup that brought Ugarte Pinochet to power (de
los Angeles Crummett 1977; Townsend 1993). In the March 7, 1974,
testimony of Hermogenes Perez de Acre before the Committee on
Internal Security, the Chilean professor is asked directly about women
in Chile, "Youm entioned that the women had a demonstration with
regard to pots and pans. Did the women play an important role with
regard to the downfall of Allende's government?" Perez de Acre then
explained in detail how women's "resistance to Marxism was much
more than the one from men" (HR 1974, 2556). In an exhibit attached
to this testimony, there is a newspaper article entitled "Women and
Their Fight for Chile," which states:
Undoubtedlyt he role playedb y Chileanw omenw aso ne of the most
decisivef actorsi n the fight againstM arxisto ppression.. . . There can
be no doubt that the women of Chile, of all ages and conditions,
were the first to realize the crisisw hich afflicted our country. (HR
1974, 2639)
The political actions of El Poder Feminino in Chile proved defini-
tively that women, if incorporated into a capitalist development para-
digm, could be very valuable allies in the fight against socialism.
Therefore, although the women's movement in the United States and
Boserup's book were certainly influential voices, these brief examples
demonstrate that the Cold War context must be considered when
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Women's StudiesQ uarterly2 003: 3 & 4 27
unravelingt he creationm ythss urroundingW ID.I will, however,r eit-
erate here that the women who were advocatingf or WIDh ad no visi-
ble interest in using women as a tool againstc ommunism.T he focus
needs to be shifted to the U.S. government. Wast he government's
receptivityt o WIDi nspiredb y altruisticc oncernsr egardingt he moral
imperativesf or grantingw omen equal rightsa nd resources,o r was it
motivatedb y the perceived threat of communist infiltration?W ID's
underlyinga lliancet o capitalisma nd its incorporationin to mainstream
developmentw oulde ventuallyo pen it up to sometimesh arshc riticism.
Women and Development, Gender and Development
Two other models of incorporatingw omen into economic develop-
ment, both of which censured WIDf or its liberal feminist and First
Worldb iases,s ubsequentlyc ritiquedt he WIDp aradigm.T he firstc ri-
tiquew asa neo-Marxispt erspectivet hat attackedW IDb asedo n its ide-
ological adherence to capitalism. The Women and Development
(WAD)s chool believed that only with radical,s ystemicr eform could
women benefit from development.7 WAD theorists (Rubin 1975;
Maguire1 984) would frequentlyp oint to the advanceso f women in
communistc ountriesw here the state had abolishedp rivatep roperty.
In termso f the traditionald evelopmente stablishmenth, oweverW, AD
wasf ar too radical of a critiquet o be taken seriouslyi n development
practice. It fundamentally attacked the capitalists uperstructureo f
developings ocieties, the veryc apitalismst hat developmentw as trying
to preserve.
Proponentso f the GADp aradigml eveled a second line of criticism.
Mucha s women of color mounted an attacka gainstt he white, middle
classf eminists of the "SecondW ave"8in the United States, so Third
Worldw omen claimed that the WIDp aradigme xported FirstW orld
feministv aluest hatw ere not applicablet o theirl ivesa nd experiences.9
ThirdW orldw omen in conversationw ith FirstW orldw omen created
the GADp aradigmi n order to modifya nd make WIDm ore relevant
to their lives (Mosse 1993;V isvanathane t al. 1997). GADp rojectsa re
supposedt o be more participatorya nd sustainablet han WIDp rojects,
often working to mobilize women at the proverbial grass roots.
FurthermoreG, ADr ecognizest hatw omen in differentc ountries,e ven
in different regions within countries, may have very different goals.
GADs trategiesf or development,t herefore,a re more varieda nd flex-
ible. Despite these modifications, GAD theory and practice is com-
patible with WID in that it neither fundamentally challenges the
capitalist model nor seriously considers a class-based analysis of
women's oppression.
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