Editing Development aid (section)

== Development aid for gender equality ==
Starting at the beginning of the UN Decade for Women in 1975, the [[women in development]] (WID) approach to international development began to inform the provision of development aid.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Charlesworth|first=Hillary|title=Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United nations|journal=Harvard Human Rights Journal|volume=18|pages=2}}</ref> Some academics criticized the WID approach for relying on integrating women into existing development aid paradigms instead of promulgating specific aid to encourage gender equality.<ref name=":4" /> The [[gender and development]] approach was created in response, to discuss international development in terms of societal gender roles and to challenge these gender roles within development policy.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|title=Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=39|pages=182}}</ref> Women in Development predominated as the approach to gender in development aid through the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=Robert|last2=Swiss|first2=Liam|date=September 2014|title=Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending|journal=Sociological Forum|volume=29|issue=3|pages=574|doi=10.1111/socf.12104}}</ref> Starting in the early 1990s Gender and Development's influence encouraged [[gender mainstreaming]] within international development aid.<ref name=":11"/>

The [[World Conference on Women, 1995]] promulgated gender mainstreaming on all policy levels for the [[United Nations]].<ref>Charlesworth, Hilary. [https://harvardhrj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/06/18HHRJ1-Charlesworth.pdf "Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United Nations"]. ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. 18: 3.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/esa/gopher-data/conf/fwcw/off/a--20.en|title=Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women}}</ref> Gender Mainstreaming has been adopted by nearly all units of the UN with the UN Economic and Social Council adopting a definition which indicated an "ultimate goal&nbsp;... to achieve gender equality".<ref>Charlesworth, Hillary. "Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United nations". ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. 18: 4-5.</ref> The UN included  promoting gender equality and empowering women as one of eight [[Millennium Development Goals]] for developing countries.

The EU integrated women in development thinking into its aid policy starting with the Lomé Convention in 1984.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last1=Debusscher|first1=Petra|last2=Hulse|first2=Merran|s2cid=145495201|title=Including Women's Voices? Gender Mainstreaming in EU and SADC Development Strategies for Southern Africa|journal=Journal of Southern African Studies|volume=40|issue=3|pages=561–562|doi=10.1080/03057070.2014.909255|year=2014|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8707481|hdl=1854/LU-8707481|hdl-access=free}}</ref> In 1992 the EU's Latin American and Asian development policy first clearly said that development programs should not have detrimental effects on the position and role of women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|title=Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=39|pages=181|doi=10.1177/0094582x12458423|s2cid=146621788}}</ref> Since then the EU has continued the policy of including gender equality within development aid and programs.<ref name=":5" /> Within the EU gender equality is increasingly introduced in programmatic ways.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|title=Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=39|pages=187–189|doi=10.1177/0094582x12458423|s2cid=146621788}}</ref> The bulk of the EU's aid for gender equality seeks to increase women's access to education, employment and reproductive health services. However, some areas of gender inequality are targeted according to region, such as land reform and counteracting the effects of gangs on women in Latin America.<ref name=":6" />

[[United States Agency for International Development|USAID]] first established a women in development office in 1974 and in 1996 promulgated its Gender Plan of Action to further integrate gender equality into aid programs.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405165525/http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 April 2015|title=Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy|publisher=USAID}}</ref> In 2012 USAID released a Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy to guide its aid programs in making gender equality a central goal.<ref name=":7" /> USAID saw increased solicitations from aid programs which integrated gender equality from 1995 to 2010.<ref name=":7" /> As part of their increased aid provision, USAID developed PROMOTE to target gender inequality in Afghanistan with $216 million in aid coming directly from USAID and $200 million coming from other donors.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/promote/|title=Promote|publisher=USAID|access-date=27 May 2017|archive-date=1 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601103611/https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/promote/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Many NGOs have also incorporated gender equality into their programs. Within the Netherlands, NGOs including Oxfam Netherlands Organization for Development Assistance, the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, and Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid have included certain targets for their aid programs with regards to gender equality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Van Eerdewijk|first=Anouka|title=The Micropolitics of Evaporation: Gender Mainstreaming Instruments in Practice|journal=Journal of International Development|volume=26|issue=3|pages=348–349|doi=10.1002/jid.2951|year=2014}}</ref> NGOs which receive aid dollars through the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway)|Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] or which partner with the Norwegian government on aid projects must "demonstrate that they take women and gender equality seriously".<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Østebo|first1=Marit|last2=Haukanes|first2=Haldis|last3=Blystad|first3=Astrid|title=Strong State Policies on Gender and Aid: Threats and Opportunities for Norwegian Faith-Based Organisations|journal=Forum for Development Studies|volume=40|issue=2|pages=194}}</ref> In response to this requirement organizations like the Norwegian Christian charity Digni have initiated projects which target gender equality.<ref name=":8" />

[[Private foundation]]s provide the majority of their gender related aid to health programs and have relatively neglected other areas of gender inequality.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=4–5|oclc=931344632}}</ref> Foundations, such as the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation|Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation]], have partnered with governmental aid organizations to provide funds for gender equality, but increasingly aid is provided through partnerships with local organizations and NGOS.<ref name=":9" /> Corporations also participate in providing gender equality aid through their [[Corporate social responsibility|Corporate Social Responsibility]] programs. [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] helped to create the [[Girl Effect]] to provide aid programs targeted towards adolescent girls.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=6|oclc=931344632}}</ref> Using publicly available data [[Una Osili]] an economist at the [[Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis|Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis]] found that between 2000 and 2010 $1.15 billion in private aid grants over $1 million from the United States targeted gender equality.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=8|oclc=931344632}}</ref>

The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] provides detailed analysis of the extent of aid for gender equality. OECD member countries tag their aid programs with gender markers when a program is designed to advanced gender equality.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=3|oclc=931344632}}</ref> In 2019-20 OECD DAC members committed almost $56.5 billion to aid for gender equality, with $6.3 billion of that committed to programs where gender equality is a principal programmatic goal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oecd.org/development/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-topics/development-finance-for-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment.htm|title=Gender-related aid data at a glance|publisher=OECD}}</ref>

=== Effectiveness of aid for gender equality ===
Three main measures of [[gender inequality]] are used in calculating gender equality and testing programs for the purposes of development aid. In the 1995 Human Development Report the [[United Nations Development Programme|United Nations Development Program]] introduced the [[Gender Development Index]] and [[Gender Empowerment Measure]].<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|url=https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=IAFFE2016&paper_id=66&file_type=slides|title=Does Foreign Aid Improve Gender Performance of Recipient Countries? Results from Structural Equation Analysis|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> The Gender Empowerment Measure is calculated based on three measures, proportion of women in national parliaments, percentage of women in economic decision making positions and female share of income. The Gender Development Index uses the Human Development Index and corrects its results in life expectancy, income, and education for gender imbalances.<ref name=":11"/> Due to criticisms of these two indexes the United Nations Development Program in its 2010 Human Development Report introduced the [[Gender Inequality Index]]. The Gender Inequality Index uses more metrics and attempts to show the losses from gender inequality.<ref name=":11"/>

Even with these indexes, Ranjula Swain of the [[Stockholm School of Economics]] and Supriya Garikipati of the [[University of Liverpool]] found that, compared to the effectiveness of health, economic, and education targeted aid, foreign aid for gender equality remains understudied.<ref name=":11"/> Swain and Garikipati found in an analysis of Gender Equality Aid that on a country and region-wide level gender equality aid was not significant in its effect. Swain and Garikipati blame this on the relative lack of aid with gender equality as a primary motivation.<ref name=":11"/>

In 2005, the Interagency Gender Working Group of the [[World Health Organization]] released the "So What? Report" on the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming in NGO reproductive health programs. The report found these programs effective, but had trouble finding clear gender outcomes because most programs did not measure this data.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/knowledge/so-what-report.pdf|title=A Summary of the "So What?" Report|publisher=WHO}}</ref> When gender outcomes were measured, the report found positive programmatic effects, but the report did not look at whether these results were from increased access to services or increasing gender equality.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last1=Ravindran|first1=TKS|last2=Kelkar-Khambete|first2=A.|title=Gender Mainstreaming in Health: Looking Back, Looking Forward|journal=Global Public Health|volume=3|pages=127–129|doi=10.1080/17441690801900761|pmid=19288347|year=2008|s2cid=5215387}}</ref>

Even when gender equality is identified as a goal of aid, other factors will often be the primary focus of the aid.<ref name=":11" /> In some instances the nature of aid's gender equality component can fail to be implemented at the level of individual projects when it is a secondary aspect of a project.<ref>Charlesworth, Hilary. "Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United Nations". ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. 18: 12.</ref> Gender equality is often put forward as a policy goal for the organization but program staff have differing commitment and training with regards to this goal.<ref name=":14">Van Eerdewijk, Anouka. "The Micropolitics of Evaporation: Gender Mainstreaming Instruments in Practice". Journal of International Development. 26: 353.</ref> When gender equality is a secondary aspect, development aid which has funds required to impact gender equality can be used to meet quotas of women receiving aid, without effecting the changes in gender roles that Gender Mainstreaming was meant to promote.<ref name=":14" /> Programs can also fail to provide lasting effects, with local organizations removing gender equality aspects of programs after international aid dollars are no longer funding them.<ref name=":13" />

Robert C. Jones of [[McGill University]] and Liam Swiss of [[Memorial University of Newfoundland|Memorial University]] argue that women leaders of governmental aid organizations and NGOs are more effective at Gender Mainstreaming than their male counterparts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Robert|last2=Swiss|first2=Liam|title=Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending|journal=Sociological Forum|volume=29|issue=3}}</ref> They found in a literature review that NGOs headed by women were more likely to have Gender Mainstreaming programs and that women were often the heads of Gender Mainstreaming programs within organizations.<ref>Jones, Robert; Swiss, Liam (September 2014). "Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending". ''Sociological Forum''. '''29''' (3): 578.</ref> By breaking down gender equality programs into two categories, gender mainstreamed programs and gender-focused programs which do not mainstream gender, Jones and Swiss found that female leaders of governmental aid organizations provided more financial support to gender mainstreamed programs and slightly more support to gender aware programs overall.<ref>Jones, Robert; Swiss, Liam (September 2014). "Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending". ''Sociological Forum''. '''29''' (3): 582-583.</ref>

=== Criticism of aid for gender equality ===
Petra Debusscher of [[Ghent University]] has criticized EU aid agencies for following an "integrationist approach" to gender mainstreaming, where gender mainstreaming is used to achieve existing policy goals, as opposed to a "transformative approach" which seeks to change policy priorities and programs fundamentally to achieve gender equality.<ref name=":15" /> She finds that this approach more closely follows a Women in Development model than a Gender and Development one. Debussher criticized the EU's development policy in Latin America for focusing too much attention on gender inequality as a problem to be solved for women.<ref name=":16">Debusscher, Petra. "Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?". ''Latin American Perspectives''. '''39''': 190.</ref> She found that the language used represented more of a Woman in Development approach than a Gender and Development Approach.<ref>Debusscher, Petra. "Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?". ''Latin American Perspectives''. '''39''': 192-194.</ref> She notes that men's role in domestic violence is insufficiently brought forward, with program and policy instead targeting removing women from victimhood.<ref name=":16" /> Rather than discussing the role of men and women relative to each other, women are discussed as needing to "catch up with an implicit male norm".<ref name=":16" /> Debussher also criticized EU's development aid to [[Southern Africa]] as too narrow in its scope and too reliant on integrating women and gender into existing aid paradigms.<ref name=":17">Debusscher, Petra; Hulse, Merran. "Including Women's Voices? Gender Mainstreaming in EU and SADC Development Strategies for Southern Africa". ''Journal of Southern African Studies''. '''40''' (3): 571-572.</ref> Debusscher notes that women's organizations in the region are often concerned with different social constructions of gender, as opposed to the economic growth structure favored by the EU.<ref>Debusscher, Petra; Hulse, Merran. "Including Women's Voices? Gender Mainstreaming in EU and SADC Development Strategies for Southern Africa". ''Journal of Southern African Studies''. '''40''' (3): 566-567.</ref> For EU development aid to Europe and surrounding countries, Debsusscher argued that programs to encourage education of women were designed primarily to encourage overall economic growth, not to target familial and social inequalities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|s2cid=143826318|date=1 October 2012|title=Mainstreaming Gender in European Union Development Policy in the European Neighborhood|journal=Journal of Women, Politics & Policy|volume=33|issue=4|pages=333|doi=10.1080/1554477X.2012.722427|issn=1554-477X}}</ref>

Some criticism of gender equality development aid discusses a lack of voices of women's organizations in developing aid programs. Debusscher argued that feminist and women's organizations were not represented enough in EU aid.<ref>Debusscher, Petra. "Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?". ''Latin American Perspectives''. '''39''': 191-192.
</ref> and that while feminist and women's organizations were represented in implementing policy programs they were not sufficiently involved in their development in EU aid to [[Southern Africa]].<ref name=":17" /> Similarly, Jones and Swiss argue that more women need to be in leadership positions of aid organizations and that these organizations need to be "demasculinized" in order to better gender mainstream.<ref>Jones, Robert; Swiss, Liam (September 2014). "Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending". ''Sociological Forum''. '''29''' (3): 583-584.</ref> T.K.S. Ravindran and A. Kelkar-Khambete criticized the Millennium Development Goals for insufficiently integrating gender into all development goals, instead creating its own development goal, as limiting the level of aid provided to promote gender equality.<ref>Ravindran, TKS; Kelkar-Khambete, A. "Gender Mainstreaming in Health: Looking Back, Looking Forward". ''Global Public Health''. '''3''': 139.</ref>