A Tool for Thought and Transformation: Gender-Considerate Global Change Research in Practice

BIERI, SABIN; OTT, CORDULA; FREYTES FREY, ADA; CROSS, CECILIA; PARTENIO, FLORENCIA; FERNÁNDEZ ÁLVAREZ, MARÍA INÉS

Research for Sustainable Development. Foundations, Experiences, and Perspectives

Geographica Bernensia

Lugar: Berna; Año: 2011; p. 185 - 205

This contribution illustrates aspects of gender and development research inthe Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-Southprogramme, asking whether the often diagnosed ‘gender ennui’ has alsoaffected this research network. Based on an overview of gender-considerateresearch in the programme, the article suggests how the innovative analyticalpotential of gender concepts in development research can best beexplored. The authors follow a classic constructivist definition of gender,adopting it as a powerful corrective to naturalised explanations about socialrealities. They argue that the claim for gender equality, however, has to begrounded in a detailed understanding of a given society’s social organisationso as to reflect on the cultural framing of gender and on its intersectionwith other, equally fragile categories such as class, age, or ethnicity.While many of the NCCR North-South contributions examined for this articleemploy gender as an analytical framework to elicit gender-specific data,only a few explore the potential of using gender as a tool for interrogatingbasic concepts, let alone joining in a normative or epistemological debate.This is partly due to an unpopular obligation, partly for career considerations.The authors argue that using a gender perspective can help to reinterpretsocial change – which is at the core of development – in particularlygainful ways. Often reduced to the term “modernisation”, such transformationscan be reflected on through gender-considerate scrutiny, providing thedevelopment community with a fine-tuned picture of how change is sociallynegotiated. The overall goal is to make sure that gender approaches supportmeaningful analyses that integrate complexity while not losing sight ofimplementation.