A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Michel Friedman, Gender at Work [email protected]Ray Gordezky, Threshold Associates [email protected]For more than fifteen years, Gender at Work has worked with civil society organizations to address women’s rights, gender equality and social justice issues. What has grown out of Gender at Work’s experiences in Bangladesh, South Africa, India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar is an evolving practice that is multi-factorial (individual, organizational, societal) and holistic (head, heart, hands). It is concerned with the individual psychology and consciousness of women and men, their access to resources, and the social structures in which they live and work – both inside organizations and within the fabric of communities. Out of these ideas, Gender at Work created the Organization Strengthening Program. It has resulted in women and men being able to imagine and act on what was felt to be impossible. In this paper we will describe three key elements of this program, and conclude with some questions for those undertaking social innovation and societal change initiatives. 1 INTRODUCTION It is difficult to desire what one cannot imagine as a possibility. – Amartya Sen 2 In the sphere of women’s rights, bilateral agencies acknowledge that gender equality is critical to development and peace 3 . Despite the considerable energy invested to further social justice and major gains for women through policy reform and changes in workplace practices, positive outcomes for women’s lives are far from the norm. We’ve found two reasons for the lack of more progress. One reason for this situation is that insufficient attention has been given to factors holding inequality in place, such as culturally supported traditions and norms which determine who gets what, what counts, who does what and who decides 4 . These factors include values that maintain the gendered division of labour, the restrictions on women owning land, the limits to women’s mobility, the permissive customs that condone violence against women, 1 This paper would not have been possible without previous papers written for Gender at Work. Kelleher, David. (2009) Action Learning for Gender Equality. Gender at Work. Friedman, Michel and Kelleher, David. (2009). In Their Own Idiom: Reflections on a Gender Action Learning Program in the Horn of Africa, Gender at Work. www.genderatwork.org. 2 From an interview with Amartya Sen, Nobel prize winning economist in an interview with Eleanor Wachtel on CBC radio program Writers & Company, broadcast August 8, 2010. 3 See for example King, Angela E. V. (4 December 2000). “The Global Perspective: Outcomes of Beijing+5, Gender Equality, Development and Peace”. Key note speech for panel discussion "Progress for Women in the New Millennium: the Way Forward" at The Commonwealth Secretariat and the UN Information Center, London. http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/speech/bl_sp_beijing_un_1.htm 4 Friedman, Michel and Shamim, Meer (nd). Change is a Slow Dance. Gender at Work. www.genderatwork.org
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A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
For more than fifteen years, Gender at Work has worked with civil society organizations to
address women’s rights, gender equality and social justice issues. What has grown out of
Gender at Work’s experiences in Bangladesh, South Africa, India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somaliland,
Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar is an evolving practice that is multi-factorial (individual,
organizational, societal) and holistic (head, heart, hands). It is concerned with the individual
psychology and consciousness of women and men, their access to resources, and the social
structures in which they live and work – both inside organizations and within the fabric of
communities. Out of these ideas, Gender at Work created the Organization Strengthening
Program. It has resulted in women and men being able to imagine and act on what was felt to
be impossible. In this paper we will describe three key elements of this program, and conclude
with some questions for those undertaking social innovation and societal change initiatives.1
INTRODUCTION
It is difficult to desire what one cannot imagine as a possibility.
– Amartya Sen2
In the sphere of women’s rights, bilateral agencies acknowledge that gender equality is critical
to development and peace3. Despite the considerable energy invested to further social justice
and major gains for women through policy reform and changes in workplace practices, positive
outcomes for women’s lives are far from the norm. We’ve found two reasons for the lack of
more progress. One reason for this situation is that insufficient attention has been given to
factors holding inequality in place, such as culturally supported traditions and norms which
determine who gets what, what counts, who does what and who decides4. These factors include
values that maintain the gendered division of labour, the restrictions on women owning land,
the limits to women’s mobility, the permissive customs that condone violence against women,
1 This paper would not have been possible without previous papers written for Gender at Work. Kelleher, David.
(2009) Action Learning for Gender Equality. Gender at Work. Friedman, Michel and Kelleher, David. (2009). In Their
Own Idiom: Reflections on a Gender Action Learning Program in the Horn of Africa, Gender at Work.
www.genderatwork.org. 2 From an interview with Amartya Sen, Nobel prize winning economist in an interview with Eleanor Wachtel on CBC
radio program Writers & Company, broadcast August 8, 2010. 3 See for example King, Angela E. V. (4 December 2000). “The Global Perspective: Outcomes of Beijing+5, Gender
Equality, Development and Peace”. Key note speech for panel discussion "Progress for Women in the New
Millennium: the Way Forward" at The Commonwealth Secretariat and the UN Information Center, London.
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/speech/bl_sp_beijing_un_1.htm 4 Friedman, Michel and Shamim, Meer (nd). Change is a Slow Dance. Gender at Work. www.genderatwork.org
A Holistic Approach to Gender Equality and Social Justice
Gordezky and Friedman IODA 2010 2
and the devaluing of reproductive work. The second reason for lack of progress is the
predominance of approaches that give preference to rationality and the mind over the body5.
Gender at Work’s ongoing efforts to address gender inequality have woven together practices
and ideas from a variety of fields to address both reasons for lack of progress in gender equality.
In what follows, we will first provide a brief description of Gender at Work’s Organizational
Strengthening Program, the foundation of our work and learning. We will then discuss three key
elements of the program: the Integral Framework, Action Learning and Capacitar practices. We
will finish with questions concerning scaling up impact and a short case study of work
undertaken in Ethiopia.
THE ORGANIZATION STRENGTHENING PROGRAM
The foundation of Gender at Work’s approach is the Organization Strengthening Program. The
program is explicitly not a training program; it is explicitly an organizational change initiative
intended to address gender inequality. Informal evaluation of impact indicates that the program
has considerable personal impact, and has resulted in organization and community change.
The Organization Strengthening Program starts with a series of meetings between Gender at
Work and the organizations that are potential partners. Once partners have decided to
participate, a three-member organization change team attends a two-day meeting at the
organization’s office, a meeting we call “Hearing Our Stories.” We reflect with them on the
history, culture, and programs of their organization, explore together how women and men live
in their region, and generate ideas for what project they might initiate to improve gender
relations either inside their organization or in a community in which they operate. In addition,
they are introduced to both Capacitar practices and the use of collage and creative expression to
release tension and free up energy for new understanding and action.
The Organization Strengthening Program then unfolds with a pattern of three action-learning
workshops, one-to-one consultations with organizations between Action Learning meetings, and
a writing workshop at the end.
The First Action Learning Workshop: The first Action Learning workshop brings together
the change teams from five to eight organizations (12 – 24 individuals) to build a climate
of collaboration and trust for peer learning. Participants are introduced to the Integral
Framework (see below) and how to use it as an analytical and action planning tool.
Participants are also supported in developing plans for change projects. The session often
challenges existing perceptions and offers new ways of seeing. Following the workshop,
participants work for six to eight months to implement their change plan, supported in
their work by a Gender at Work facilitator who visits them at their organizational setting.
The Second Action Learning Workshop: During the second Action Learning workshop
change teams share what they have done and how they have done it. Some teams have
been unable to change anything. Other teams have altered and sharpened the focus of
5 Keller, Catherine. (1986). From a Broken Web: Separation, Sexism, and Self. Beacon Press.
A Holistic Approach to Gender Equality and Social Justice
Gordezky and Friedman IODA 2010 3
their change projects. Change team members reflect on lessons learned, and get advice
from their peers and Gender at Work staff. Facilitators introduce concepts and processes
for use in working with personal and organizational power, help participants deepen their
peer-learning practice, and support the use of the Integral Framework to assess their
organization and change initiative. Finally, change teams review and re-plan their change
project work based on their insights and advice received. During the next six months, or
so, change teams continue their work, supported by a Gender at Work facilitator.
The Third Action Learning Workshop: The third Action Learning workshop invites
participants to tell stories of their change process and to identify the factors responsible
for what they’ve changed and how change came about. Where relevant, the Gender at
Work team provides ideas to assist participants in developing deeper insight and
understanding of the issues that emerged during the change projects.
The Writing Workshop: Writing is a particularly powerful means of undoing the silence
that has built up from years of exclusion, We make use of different writing techniques as
tools for reflection, self-reflection, self-discovery, and learning throughout the Action
Learning meetings. Writing about their experience of the process builds a personal sense
of power, for many women participating in the program have not been in the position of
expressing their thinking in a way that gets read and listened to.
A key theory underlying the Organization Strengthening Program is Ken Wilbur’s Integral
Theory.
INTEGRAL THEORY
Integral Theory emerged from philosopher Ken Wilbur’s synthesis of Western and non-Western
understandings of consciousness with accepted wisdom about cosmic, biological, human and
divine evolution6. An Integral approach to community development draws on moral,
sociological, psychological and cognitive research to more fully address the complexity of long
standing social and cultural issues. The theory has helped advance an approach that weaves
together divergent disciplines, such as psychology, policy- and law-making, capacity
development and spirituality, into a pragmatic multi-disciplinary approach.7 One of Wilbur’s key
developments has been the Integral Framework that distinguishes two major polarities: 1)
individual and collective; 2) interior and exterior.
6 Wilbur, Ken. (1996). A Brief History of Everything. Shambhala. 7 Hochachka, Gail. (2009). Developing Sustainability, Developing the Self: An Integral Approach to International &
Community Development, http://www.drishti.ca
A Holistic Approach to Gender Equality and Social Justice
Gordezky and Friedman IODA 2010 4
The matrix resulting from combining the two polarities produces four quadrants, or lenses, that
guide exploration of complex issues. Many proposed solutions to global problems (and to
organizational problems) focus on only one quadrant, or perhaps two. According to Wilbur,
interventions will be more comprehensive, effective and sustainable when change efforts focus
on all four quadrants.
The Experience Quadrant concerns the invisible, or interior, aspects of individual consciousness.
This is the area of individual values, intentions, thoughts, principles, morals and religious beliefs.
The Behaviour Quadrant is the external view, what we can see and measure of individual
consciousness. This includes hormone levels and blood pressure, as well as observable skills and
physical manifestations of feelings such as a loud voice and red face. The Systems Quadrant is
about the institutional and material forms of the collective aspects of consciousness. These
include social, political, economic and ecological systems, from systems of governance and
finance to architectural styles and population levels. Finally, the Culture Quadrant is about the
interior of our collective experience. This quadrant includes collective beliefs, traditions, values,
mindsets, and ways of doing things that community’s share, such as how women are treated.
Applying Wilbur’s Model: The Gender at Work Framework8
Wilber’s framework has been applied to a number of complex issues, particularly environmental
and poverty issues, yet as far as we know has not been used to support efforts to address
gender inequality. Gender at Work evolved Wilbur’s framework, altering some of the terms to
encompass actualizing women’s rights at the individual, organization and community levels.
8 The following tables are adapted from Hochachka. op. cit.