Gender and Development
Aurora Ximenes
Coordinator, East Timor Women’s Network (REDE)
The issue of
gender in East Timor is similar to the issue of gender anywhere else in the
world. Generations of women everywhere have been given the task of only
performing household chores, while men have been valued as the productive
members of society, working in the plantations, in the ricefields, and in
public positions. This long held division of labour covers all facets of
community life, so that women have never been prioritised for their importance
as individuals, but only prioritised in relation to the needs of men. This
situation is such that roles and responsibilities are divided according to
gender.
In our society,
men are brought up to have authority, with the result that a paternalistic
culture develops. This causes a
discriminatory social environment where women are not accorded the same rights
as men and are not respected. The
result is that women are marginalised and subordinated and. This means that in our
social environment division between the roles and responsibilities of men and
women arise automatically, giving rise to the issue of gender.
Gender first came
to the fore as an issue in the 1970s when it was brought up by Ann Oakley who
described the issue of gender whereby: “the different characteristics accorded
women and men are a social construct, while the real differences are only those
of biology”.
Based on this
assumption, the understanding of gender can change over time with changing
situations, such as crisis or conflict that can change a situation very
rapidly.
As we already
know, women in East Timor have experienced great changes due to the conflict in
East Timor, and these changes have resulted in people seeing the reality of the
construct of gender. The situation of conflict in East Timor caused women to
become involved in the development of all aspects of life, in the National
Freedom Movement, as well as in the movement to free their fellow women,
especially in the fields of politics, economy and education.
However, this
period of participation did not last long, because Indonesian military
activities caused people to become quiet and to stop struggling. Women’s
position of subordination in a patriarchal society was made worse by the conflict
in East Timor, where women were forced to endure violence. This situation
resulted in women becoming ignorant and poor, and their sense of dignity
suffered.
As such, we can
see that along with a paternalistic East Timorese society, due to the long conflict
in East Timor, women as subordinate members of society have experienced changes
since 1975.
East Timorese
women’s organisations have taken initiatives to raise the dignity of East
Timorese women, and to free women from their ignorance. In relation to
undertaking such initiatives, the Women’s Congress held in Dili in June 2000
discussed the following issues:
Political
issues:
· Policies
that are supportive of women are required;
· Policies that ensure equality for all people
are needed in the fields of law, justice, education, health, economy and
transportation.
Economic
issues:
· Lack of
funds;
· There is
no provision of basic goods for production purposes;
· There is
no means for transportation of goods;
· There is
unequal distribution of income;
· Lack of
business skills in the community;
· Women do
not yet have access to small business;
· There
need to be policies and programs that support women, such as micro credit.
Education
issues:
· The
majority of women are still illiterate;
· Lack of
school facilities;
· The
school curriculum is not yet decided;
· There
needs to be guidance for children as to how to value and respect other people;
· Develop
Tetum and Portuguese languages.
Health issues:
· Lack of
medicines in villages;
· Lack of
vitamins;
· Lack of
health workers in villages;
· Lack of
mental health workers and programs;
· Lack of
clean water facilities.
Media and
communications:
· Need
adequate communication facilities
In relation to the
above issues, it can be concluded that women must be able to contribute to and
take part in development in all areas.
In general women
do not advance due to many inhibiting factors in areas such as education,
economics, communication and politics. These factors influence gender
development because if women do not experience an improved level of
participation in all of the above areas, the development process will remain
uneven. The development process will not address community needs in general,
and women’s needs in particular.
At the CNRT
National Congress in August 2000, a Resolution on Women’s Rights was made
concerning:
1. The continuing discrimination and inequality of opportunities for
women in East Timorese society;
2. The violence against women in and outside the home;
3. Polygamy and the lack of participation of women in decision making;