Gender mainstreaming and rural development policy; the trivialisation of rural gender issues

Abstract

This paper considers gender mainstreaming of the EU Rural Development Programme. The EU promotes the gender mainstreaming of rural development policies because retaining women in rural areas is seen as crucial to the long-term viability of rural areas. A review of literature and scan of policy documents demonstrates that few rural development plans address gender issues, and generally only by including some separate projects for women. Little is done to address the systemic features of gender inequality and to realise inclusive developments that address the needs of all social groups. The de-politicisation of rural gender issues results in policy makers ticking the obligatory gender box without envisioning any real change in the agenda or process of rural development policy making. I argue that a more fruitful way to go forward is to re-politicise gender in rural development and to tease out at the local level how changing gender relations and rural development coincide.

La transversalización de la perspectiva de género y las políticas de desarrollo rural; la trivialización de los temas rurales de género

Este artículo considera la transversalización de la perspectiva de género en el Programa de Desarrollo Rural de la UE. La UE promueve la transversalización de la perspectiva de género en las políticas de desarrollo rural porque retener a las mujeres en las áreas rurales es visto como algo crucial para la viabilidad de largo plazo de las áreas rurales. Un repaso de la literatura y un paneo por los documentos de políticas demuestra que pocos planes de desarrollo rural abordan temas de género, y generalmente sólo lo hacen incluyendo algunos proyectos separados para mujeres. Poco se hace para abordar las características sistémicas de la desigualdad de género y para realizar desarrollos inclusivos que satisfagan las necesidades de todos los grupos sociales. La despolitización de los temas de género rurales resulta en los formuladores de políticas marcando con una cruz en el lugar obligatorio de género indicado sin contemplar ningún cambio real en la agenda o proceso de diseño de políticas de desarrollo rural. Propongo que una forma más fructífera de avanzar es repolitizar el desarrollo rural y descubrir a nivel local cómo coinciden las cambiantes relaciones de género y el desarrollo rural.

性别主流化与农村发展政策：农村性别议题的细琐化

本文考量欧盟农村发展计画中的性别主流化。欧盟推动农村发展计画的性别主流化，是因为将女性留在农村地区，被视为是农村地区长期生存的关键。文献回顾与政策档案检视则证实，鲜少有农村发展计画处理性别议题 ，且一般而言仅是透过引入一些针对女性的独立计画因应之。在应对性别不平等的系统性特徵，以及实践纳入所有社会群体需求的包含性发展方面则做得非常少。农村性别议题的去政治化，导致政策制定者在性别议题上儘是照表操课，而无法期待农村发展政策制定的议程或过程中的任何实质改变。我主张，更具成效的方法是农村发展中的性别再政治化，并在地方层级梳理改变中的性别关係与农村发展如何相互重合。

Keywords::

• gender mainstreaming
• rural development
• de-politicisation
• re-politicisation
• inclusiveness

Palabras claves::

• transversalización de la perspectiva de género
• desarrollo rural
• despolitización
• repolitización
• inclusividad

关键词::

• 性别主流化
• 农村发展
• 去政治化
• 再政治化
• 纳入

Acknowledgements

I thank Sally Shortall, Majda Cernic Istenic, Theresa Oedl-Wieser and Ilona Matysiak for their collaboration in writing this special issue. I also thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

Notes

^1. Previously LEADER (Liaison Entre Actions de Développement del Économie Rurale) was a programme (LEADER I, II and LEADER +) for specific areas. The present CAP (2007–2013) integrates its approach for regional governance capacity building for all rural areas (European Commission 2008).

^2. Council Regulation EC No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural fund for Rural Development; Council Decision (of 20 February 2006) on community strategic guidelines for rural development 2007–2013.

^3. The European Network of Rural Development and LEADER websites and a selection of similar national websites (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, UK); the EU website for regional policy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bettina B. Bock

Bettina B. Bock is Associative Professor for rural sociology at Wageningen University. Her PhD, received in 2002 at Wageningen University, dealt with women participation in rural development politics and practice. Since then, she has been involved in multiple studies dealing with the gender-specific aspects of rural livelihoods and rural development in Europe and beyond. Her research interests further include the analysis of farm animal welfare policy and practice, as part of which she has cooperated in various interdisciplinary European projects. Recently she also coordinated a project on sustainable food production and consumption, that aimed at closing the gap between policymakers, scientists and practitioners by involving them in online Communities of Practice.