UNIFEM BANGKOK NEWS
Issue No. 3
May - June 1997
Contents
 Lorraine
spent most of May and June on a two-month long series of missions, leaving
the office in Bangkok in the capable hands of Evelyn, assisted by Shoko
and Penparn. Her travels took her to the Tagatay and Manila in the
Philippines, Beijing and Shandong Province in China, Seoul in the Republic
of Korea, Suva, Fiji, New Zealand and home to Bangkok via a visit to her
family in Canberra, Australia, She returned to find her desk buried in
small mountains of paper and everything in the office running quite
smoothly. Alas, no one is indispensable - not even an RPA!
Lorraine attended the Conference on Women
and Decision-making in Cooperatives, organised by International
Cooperative Alliance Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ICA-ROAP
New Delhi) and Asian Women in Cooperative Development Forum (AWCF -
Jakarta) from 7-9 May 1997. The Conference was held at the Taal Vista
Hotel, over-looking picturesque Tagatay, a drive of about an hour or two
from Manila. Lorraine was one of the resource persons at the conference,
giving a paper on "Women's Participation in Decision-Making and
Leadership: A Global Perspective".
More than 130 participants attended from
13 countries, including Canada, Finland, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Vietnam, as
well as staff from ICA-ROAP and AWCF. Regrettably, only ten of the
participants were men.
This was the fifth major regional meeting
on women's issues and gender in cooperatives organized by ICA-ROAP. The
first meeting in 1990 in Jakarta was designed to raise awareness of the
potential of women and the role of gender in cooperative policies and
programmes. The second in 1992 in Colombo sought to establish a
gender-based framework for the cooperative movement, comprising a mission,
targets and indicators of changes toward increasing the participation of
women. The third in 1993 in Japan focussed on how to bring about change
and produced a Plan of Action for mainstreaming a gender approach in
cooperatives. The fourth in 1995 in Bangkok presented examples of
gender-responsive cooperatives that had been developed since 1990. In line
with these earlier meetings, the objective of the 1997 Conference was to
identify strategies to implement the Plan of Action and address the issue
of women in co-operative decision-making.
Some interesting items from the meeting:
Japan: In
Japanese consumer cooperatives, women comprise 96 per cent of the members,
but men dominate management, particularly paid management. Women comprise
only 76 per cent of board members, 95 per cent of part-time directors and
a very low 7 per cent of full-time (salaried) directors. At the national
level, only 6 per cent of the Board of Directors, who must be full-time
directors of lower level cooperatives, are women.
 Women
in Management: Victoria Licuanan of the Asian Institute of
Management noted that the current management paradigm of collaboration,
cooperation and empowerment tends to favour women. Women seem to prefer
persuasion over command and control; women managers see themselves as part
of a web or network of relationships rather than as the apex of a pyramid;
and women are more flexible, accustomed to doing many tasks
simultaneously, and rely more than men on initiative and creativity. Will
this lead to more women in management? Victoria thought not, - or at least
not yet, due to the obstacles that women face. For example, breakfast and
evening meetings, networks based on after-hours socializing and sports
tend to exclude women because of conflict with their domestic roles. Women
often get stuck in middle management, and fail to see the value of
politicking and lobbying. What of the future? How do women go from being
leadership material to actually becoming leaders? Education and training
does help: while some leaders are born, others can be created. Networks
and mentoring can also assist women gain leadership and support them once
they are there.
A Gender-sensitive
Cooperative:The Conference was informed that in one
gender-sensitive regional cooperative, before a man can become a Director,
he must sign a declaration that he "does not beat his wife" and that he
"helps his wife do the housework".
Finland:Raija
Itkoman of Finland, the only woman member of the Board of the
International Cooperative Alliance for the last 13 years, reminded us that
women in Finland were the first women in Europe to have the vote and the
first in the world to be eligible for election. Given their pioneering
status, Finnish women are doing well in some areas and not so well in
others: 70 per cent of Finnish women are in the labour force, and women
comprise 33 per cent of the parliament and one third of the Cabinet of 18.
However, only 10 per cent of managers in the private sector are women and
women comprise only 2 per cent of CEOs in the top 200 companies --
although more than 50 per cent of the employees of those companies are
women. Raija believes that legislation is necessary to bring about change,
and Finland has introduced a number of legislative requirements. From
1995, at least 40 per cent and not more than 60 per cent of all Boards in
Finland must be women. Employers are required to develop a plan showing
how they are working toward gender equality in employment and management.
They are also required to provide access to data on wages and salaries to
show earnings differentials between women and men. Raija also underlined
the importance of the public provision of family services to enable women
to participate in the labour force and in decision-making.
Women's decision-making
skills and experience: An observation from Lorraine: "During
the workshops, some of the workshops were sex-segregated in order to
highlight the differences between women's and men's perspectives. I
decided to sit in on the men's group to learn how they see the issues. As
they struggled to identify strategies to increase women's participation in
management, I felt uncomfortable with the emphasis on what the women
"lacked" - skills, experience, training, education etc. The same could be
said of most men moving into positions of leadership for the first time.
Perhaps we have rather unrealistic expectations of women when they
initially undertake leadership roles. We seem to underestimate women's
skills and experience: in most of Southeast Asia, women are already
experienced and capable managers of their households, and also responsible
for household finances. The issue is really how to transfer these skills
from the domestic arena to the public context."
Women and Peace:Following
the Tagatay conference, Lorraine spent a busy week in Manila monitoring
several UNIFEM activities in the Philippines. She first met with Dr "Ging"
Deles on a peace project Women's Role in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding in
Southeast Asia that UNIFEM Bangkok has been developing with the Gaston Z.
Ortigas (GZO) Peace Institute, which Ging heads. Although it was a holiday
for the local elections in Philippines, Lorraine and Ging thrashed out
some revisions to the project proposal at GZO before Lorraine moved on to
a coffee meeting with Jurgette Honculada, consultant for the National
Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW).
Gender Mainstreaming in NCRFW:
Jurgette is documenting the NCRFW Approach to Gender Mainstreaming under a
UNIFEM project called "Documenting the Mainstreaming Process at the NCRFW"
being implemented through Women's Action Network (WAND). An Advisory
Committee appointed by NCRFW, with Ging Deles in the Chair, Remmie Rikken,
Karen Tanăda, Karina David and Tati Licuanan, is overseeing the project.
The manuscript that Jurgette is writing with the NCRFW will cover but not
be confined to UNIFEM's role in the development of NCRFW's approach in
order to identify lessons from the Philippines experience that can be
shared with other countries.
When NCRFW was established, there was no
role model of an appropriate national machinery for women in a developing
country and no clear definition of its role or functions. The monograph
will analyze how the Commission carved out an identity and identified its
tasks and functions within a male-dominated bureaucracy with a rather
"masculine" culture that reflected the needs, values and situation of men.
It will also explore the ways in which NCRFW have tried to create a more
woman- and family-friendly work environment, not just in the Commission
itself but also for the civil service as a whole. The study will be
published In Bangkok under the UNIFEM East and Southeast Asia Political
Empowerment Series.
 Networking
on Gender Statistics: Lorraine also met with Carmelita R.
"Bobbie" Ericta, Assistant Secretary General, National Statistical
Coordination Board (NSCB), Lina V. Castro, Gender Focal Point to discuss
mutual interests on the development of gender statistics in the region.
She learned that the Philippines plans to conduct a national time use
survey in 1997, jointly funded by Phase II of the CIDA project with the
National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women and Government
counterpart funds. [Later in her mission, Lorraine was able to get copies
of technical publications from Australia and New Zealand, who have already
done national time allocation surveys, to share with NSCB - another aspect
of UNIFEM's networking services!] NSCB is also implementing a project
requiring all government surveys to include gender issues and provide
sex-disaggregated data. The project is an initiative under the national
requirement for Government departments and agencies to allocate 5 per cent
of their budgets for the advancement of women. Lorraine later lunched with
Bobbie and NSCB Secretary General, Mr Romeo C. Virola.
UNIFEM National Committee:
On 13 May, at the kind invitation of President Olga Martel, Lorraine was
able to attend a membership meeting of the UNIFEM National Committee
Philippines at the Manila Golf Club. The meeting was attended by a number
of new members, reflecting the dynamism of the Philippines National
Committee.
Liaison with UNDP:
Lorraine was able to meet with the new UNDP Resident Representative, Ms
Sarah Timpson, to discuss some potential joint activities between UNIFEM
Bangkok and UNDP Manila. Ms Jana Ricarsio, the Gender Focal Point for UNDP
was particularly helpful as always in facilitating Lorraine's visit and
schedule of meetings.
 Mainstreaming
in the Department of Labor and Employment: Jeanne Illo of
the Institute for Philippine Culture at Ateneo de Manila University is the
UNIFEM Consultant to a GLO/96 documentation activity under the project
"Standing Up for Philippine Women Workers: Mainstreaming Gender at the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)". This project is being
implemented through the Women's Studies Center in the Institute of
Philippine Culture at the Ateneo University. Jeanne and Lorraine met to
discuss the proposed outline of this monograph, which will also be
published under the UNIFEM East & Southeast Asia Political Empowerment
Series.
Since again there was no model of how a
gender mainstreaming focal point should operate at the sectoral level when
the original UNIFEM-funded activity began, the Bureau for Women and Young
Workers (BWYW) in DOLE also had to invent its role and functions.
Initially, that process centred on three key persons in very strategic
posts. However, this dependence on individuals makes the status of
mainstreaming in DOLE quite vulnerable. Thus, more recent developments
have focussed on institutionalization through development of a gender data
base, a sexual harassment education programme and a variety of other
policies in relation to DOLE's main clients. The study will also examine
the impact of DOLE mainstreaming on women workers. Thus, the Consultant
will interview home worker groups, women advocates in labour unions and
women working with migrant women workers. She is considering conducting
some interviews in the provinces and may also visit some private sector
companies that have participated in the anti-sexual harassment training
programme.
The draft chapters will be presented for
discussion and analysis to the Technical Working Group staffed by Division
Heads or their designates so that the documentation process will also
serve as an opportunity for active learning and feedback by DOLE.
Center for Asia-Pacific Women
in Politics (CAPWIP): High on the lost of places to visit
for Lorraine was CAPWIP, where the former UNIFEM Bangkok RPA and acting
Chief for Asia-Pacific, Linda Miranda, is now the Director. Lorraine,
Sylvia Ordonez, Executive Director, Remmie Rikken and Tati Licuanan
discussed the proposed agenda and other arrangements for the Global
Congress on Women in Politics to be held in New Delhi and the CAPWIP work
programme. The Second Global Congress of Women in Politics will be held
26-28 February 1998 in New Delhi, hosted by the South Asian Network for
Political Empowerment of Women with the Centre for Social Research
providing secretariat support.
Women's Businesses and Women
in Business: UNIFEM was approached by the NCRFW and the
newly formed Philippine Women's Business Council to try to form a better
understanding among the ASEAN members of APEC on women's issues and gender
for the APEC Small and Medium Business (SME) Ministerial meeting in Ottawa
in September. NCRFW wanted to assist the countries to lobby with their
delegates to put women's issues on the APEC agenda. Lorraine and NCRFW
brainstormed and tentatively came up with the idea of a regional dialogue
between senior women business leaders in ASEAN and their government
representatives to the APEC meeting. NCRFW promised a project proposal
would be submitted quickly due to the limited time before the Ottawa
meeting.
 From
Pigs to Politics: Lorraine also met with UNIFEM consultant
Chona Echavez and received several draft chapters from her of the
manuscript of another documentation project under this intriguing title.
This project is being implemented by Kababaihang Barangay Development
Foundation (KBB-KDF) in Bulacan who were one of the first groups in the
Philippines to receive funding from UNIFEM way back in the 1970s. The
project is documenting the steady progress of this small but growing group
of women from a small credit project to raise pigs through a multitude of
other activities, including mango and mushroom growing, a barangay-based
toy factory that later moved into garments and a knitting project, and
eventually into local politics. The documentation is actively involved the
women themselves, who are learning about aspects of their own stories that
they had not previously been aware of. This manuscript will also be
published in the UNIFEM East and Southeast Asia Empowerment Series,
although at present we are slightly at a loss as to whether it should be
in the Political or Economics series!
In Beijing Lorraine met with staff of the
Department of Social, Science & Technology Statistics in the SSB who had
been involved in UNIFEM Project CPR/92/WO1 Statistics in China. These
included Mr Xiong Zhennan, Deputy Director and Ms An Xin Li, statistician
(Department of Social Statistics), Mr Chen Qangen, Division Chief
(Department of International Cooperation) and Ms Xia Hui Qing,
interpreter. The meeting was held in the new SSB building occupied only
since last July which houses approximately 20 divisions, including the
Computing Centre.
The main purpose of the meeting was to
discuss the formulation of a new project to build on the original project
and institutionalize gender statistics within the national statistical
 system.
Despite the successes of CPR/92/WO1, the generation of gender statistics
in China largely depends on one division in SSB and a small number of
people. Gender statistics must now be institutionalized throughout the
other divisions of SSB so that they will continue to be produced - and
used - regardless of the personal interests and commitment of individuals
or particular departments.
[For those of you who are wondering: the
term "gender statistics" refers to two distinct but related processes. The
first is the separation (dis-aggregation) of all data by sex to show the
differences between women and men. The second is the collection and
presentation of statistics on gender issues, that is, issues of importance
that arise out of gender inequalities - the different roles and life
experiences of women and men. These will vary among societies but are
likely to include: violence against women; sex differentials in income and
earnings; the counting and/or valuation of unpaid labour; differences
between women-owned/operated and men-owned/operated businesses (for
example, in terms of size, location, access to capital, markets etc). Not
surprisingly, since men have long been the key decision-makers, most of
the gender issues on which we currently lack data are issues of importance
to women that have been overlooked by men.]
Lorraine was briefed by SSB on the
growing recognition in China of the importance of gender statistics. In
October 1996, a meeting convened by the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China on the "Construction of Civilization" designated the
achievement of equality between women and men and social stability as
major concerns of Government. As a result, social statistics and gender
statistics have been given increased prominence within the national
statistical system. Following the Fourth World Conference on Women, the
National Working Committee on Children and Women (NWCCW) was made
responsible for the implementation of the Program for the Development of
Chinese Women. In November 1996, a meeting of the Committee with 31
provincial Governors highlighted the importance of gender statistics in
providing the data base required for this. As a result, t he Committee has
made gender statistics a focus of its work for 1997.
As a result of widespread dissemination
of the booklet Women and Men in China produced by UNIFEM project
CPR/92/WO1 and the associated technical reports and provincial booklets,
the gender statistics expertise of the Social Statistics Division of the
SSB has been increasingly recognized. Thus, in January 1997 the Division
was asked to provide technical support on gender statistics to the NWCCW.
However, the Division realized that other divisions and sections in the
SSB did not yet share the same understanding of and recognition of the
importance of gender statistics. The continued commitment of SSB to gender
statistics still depended on a small number of people in one division.
There was a need to involve other divisions and to expand the
understanding of gender statistics beyond simple sex disaggregation to
include issues such as time allocation studies and the valuation of unpaid
work. SSB felt that a new project was needed to build on the achievements
of CPR/92/WO1 and ensure that gender statistics are institutionalized in
the national statistical system. It was agreed that UNIFEM Bangkok would
seek support from UNIFEM New York for a consultant to assist SSB to
develop a full project proposal. Following a very productive meeting,
Lorraine enjoyed a pleasant lunch hosted by Mr Xiong and Mr Chen.
In Beijing, Lorraine also met with Mr Guo
Li of the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchange (CICETE)
to discuss her mission to Shandong. Guo Li later accompanied her on that
mission. She also met with the Gender Focal Point in UNDP Ms Ge Youli to
discuss, among other things, the USD 30,000 provided to by UNDP New York
to their ing office for joint programming with UNIFEM for the advancement
of women. Ge Youli suggested that the USD 30,000 be used to develop gender
training materials and train a core of national trainers to use them with
participatory gender training methods. Since there are few gender training
materials available in Chinese and few trainers able to train in Mandarin,
Lorraine agreed with this suggestion.
China II - Shandong and Rabbits
 Lorraine
and Mr Guo Li of CICETE flew together to Jinan airport, where they were
met by staff from Linqu County. After detouring into Jinan city to pickup
the UNIFEM consultant, Ms Wang Wanying who had arrived earlier from
Kunming, they drove down a broad four-lane freeway for a couple of hours
before turning onto the narrower road to Linqu County. Lorraine's hosts
for the mission were Mr Fu Guangyong, Director, Foreign Economic Relations
and Trade Commission (MOFTEC), Shandong Province, President of Foreign
Investment Enterprises Association of Linqu County and President of
Economic Development Association for Support for the Poor (EDASOP), Deputy
Magistrate Fu Ting Ming, People's Government of Linqu County, Ms Yue Xiang,
Women's Federation, Linqu County and Ms Cao Xiao Nan, MOFTEC Weifang
(County Township) With such an impressive group of dignitaries committed
to assisting UNIFEM, the mission was bound to be a success!
The main purpose of the mission was to
introduce Wang Wanying, who will later return to undertake a consultancy
to document the experience of UNIFEM project CPR/88/WO2 Rabbit production
in Shandong. This project was initiated to assist women in Linqu County to
raise rabbits for sale to a local Government-owned meat-processing plant
for export. At the time, Linqu County was one of the 300 poorest counties
in China, with a per capita income of less than Yuan („) 300. The Project
set up a Women's Revolving Loan Fund to manage the project and established
a joint office involving MOFTEC, the Women's Federation and the Daguan
Township Office. The office was responsible for distributing the young
rabbits and then purchasing the mature rabbits, initially acting as a
bridge between the households and the market. In 22 of the 24 villages,
Project also established veterinary clinics. Four thousand rabbit hutches
had been constructed and 15,400 purebred rabbits introduced into farmers'
households.
 From
1990, when the market price of rabbits had fallen, the Project office also
helped farmers to move into other forms of household production. They
built 250 sties for pigs and also helped start chicken raising. From 1992,
they had extended the Project to neighbouring villages and townships.
In Daguan township, the original project
location, Lorraine found that most of the original rabbit producers
continue to raise rabbits, which remain an important source of
supplementary household income. Mr Fu reported that of the original 3200
households in 24 "natural" (as opposed to "administrative") villages;
one-third are still raising the original breed of rabbits; one-third are
raising an improved breed of rabbit and one-third have moved into other
activities such as raising chickens, ducks, goats and even cows. Women in
the original villages are also now engaged in other income generating
activities, particularly handicraft production during winter.
The main advantage of rabbit production
seems to be the small amount of capital required for start-up (just the
cost of the hutches, which are built from mudbrick and therefore cost
little more than labour) and the minimal labour requirements. The women
are able to tend the rabbits in the courtyards of their houses with little
effect on their other duties. The rabbits are fed on branches of a local
tree during summer and given dried grass mixed with a little prepared meal
in winter.
Today, Linqu County is far being among
from the poorest counties in China. Per capita income has increased more
than ten times the 1988 figure, partly as a result of small enterprise
projects such as the UNIFEM project that particularly targeted women. In
the villages that she visited, Lorraine observed an impressive amount and
diversity of "courtyard" (as they are described locally) enterprises, many
operated by women. Through Wang Wanying, UNIFEM will now document this
experience and what has been learned from the UNIFEM project. Wanying will
distill these lessons to produce a short booklet in Chinese that can be
shared with other counties in China to assist them to increase women's
participation in small enterprises and thus reduce poverty. UNIFEM also
hopes that the process of documenting the experience will enable EDASOP
and the other project partners to review, analyze and learn from their own
experience. It will provide an opportunity for them to identify exactly
what had worked well and why the project was successful, as well as what
aspects had not worked so well.
Below are some extracts from Lorraine's
mission notes describing her observations during the mission:
Household No.1 Daguan
Township: This household specializes in breeding young
rabbits for sale to other households. From 4 males (bucks) and 20 females
(does), it produces 1000 rabbit kittens per year. These are sold at age 40
days for „3-4 each, providing an income of „3-4,000 per year. Originally
the Project had operated a township-owned breeding programme, but this
failed as it was not cost effective. They then encouraged individual
households to set up breeding farms and now had 50 of these in operation
in five townships. Each year, the County produces 2 million rabbits valued
at an estimated „25 million (USD 3.1 million). The breeding animals were
obtained from the Agricultural Science Institute of Shandong in Jinan. The
brood does have to be replaced every two years at a cost of „80 each. Each
doe can produce 50 young over the two years in 7 litters. In this
household, the husband of the woman owner was also actively involved and
seemed to be the expert on the economics of production. He explained that
the rabbits are the main source of income in his household, the ratio of
feed to meat is 3:1 and it costs „7 per animal to produce a body weight of
3 kg. The rabbits also need to be vaccinated twice a year at a cost of
„0.3 each. The survival rate is 92 per cent. At present they can sell the
fattened rabbits for around „30, yielding a net profit of around „ 15,000
per year. He estimated that to become a breeder required a capital of „
3,000 - „ 2,000 for the construction of the hutches and the rest for
working capital. This household also raises chickens and goats but rabbits
provide more income. The husband explained that they have very little land
and can only use that for their own consumption.
Household No.3:
This household was still using the original UNIFEM hutches to produce
10-20 rabbits for sale, earning approximately „ 2,500 per year. The woman
said that this income was very important because she used it for her
children's education. Her husband works on a quarry and they also raise
cattle and goats, which are cared for by her elderly father. The capital
required for the larger animals was obtained from the rabbit production.
Household No. 5:
This household uses its rabbit income to send their two sons (!!) To
college. The eldest has just graduated in physics from Shandong University
and the other is studying in an Industrial College in Liaoning in
Northeast China. They make around „ 5,000 per year. The husband is a
farmer. The woman sells her rabbits in the free market held every five
days in the township. She also gives all the vaccinations to rabbits in
the village, although for this she only charges the cost of the vaccine.
She was trained in vaccination under the UNIFEM Project.
Lorraine fails her Culinary
Cultural Sensitivity test! On the first day, Lorraine was
honoured by a particularly exotic menu that she was rather embarrassed to
find was beyond her capacity to enjoy. It began with a plate of small
blackish objects that looked rather beetlish - fried silkworm cocoons!
After that, came three successive plates of fried beetles of various
kinds, then some large fat fried locusts that looked (and sounded) rather
crunchy.
 This
was followed by a plate of fried scorpions,
 complete
with the sting in the tail. The piece de resistance was a plate
of white bony meat mixed with what looked like small relatives of the
Australian witchetty grub and accompanied by two wine glasses half full of
red and green liquid. They turned out to contain snake-blood wine (do
green snakes produce the green mixture?) and the dish was, of course,
snake! She admired them all from a distance and felt quite guilty for
being unable to enjoy the delicacies that had been ordered in her honour.
Fortunately, Wangyin was able to come to the rescue and uphold UNIFEM's
reputation!
Day Two: Women's enterprises
in Ye Yuan Township - The Deputy Township Head, Ms Yi, is
also the Chair of the Women's Federation. The Township Head, the Secretary
Mr Chen gave us a briefing: the township has an area of 113 sq. km., with
36,000 mou of arable land and a population of 59,000 (52,000 farmers) in
47 administrative villages. The Township has a per capita income of „
2,380 and a township revenue of „ 16 million. The Township has been
increasing the economic role of women in areas such as agriculture, fruit
tree production and domestic livestock rearing, as well as fresh fish
farming (rainbow trout) and straw weaving. The Township has established a
training centre (which we later visited) to train the women in production
skills. Many of the women have now graduated from courses (100 hours of
classes per course) as "technicians" in subjects such as veterinary care,
fish farming and fruit tree cultivation. This is a new development. The
women must have secondary education to be accepted onto the courses and
they receive formal certificates.
 Household
No. 1 - Fish Farming Household, Woman Manager - This
household operated a substantial rainbow trout fish farm on lowland
beneath the dam wall that received a steady supply of the fresh water
required to keep the trout in freshly flowing water. The farm had about
ten large concrete tanks and obviously involved substantial capital. I was
told by the young woman manager that the total capital was „ 200,000 and
that in the first year of production the farm earned „ 400,000. It is
operated by a family of four adults and two employees. The family raised
the capital through a similar but much smaller scale enterprise and did
not take any bank loan.
Household No. 2 Duck Breeding
Farm, Women Manager -Ms Liu runs a duck breeding farm that
produces an English breed of ducklings that she sells at 40 days old to 53
surrounding poorer households for „ 3-5 each. A small cold storage leased
by her husband that is used as a storage and slaughterhouse then buys the
fattened ducks. The farm produces 300,000 ducklings per year, 1,000 per
incubator. It is run by a four-adult family and employs a staff of 15, six
women and nine men, and started as a cooperative enterprise with five
other households raising chickens. Three years ago, when chicken prices
fell, this household moved into duck raising. Two of the original
households are still raising chickens and one is working as employees on
the duck farm. Most of the output of the slaughterhouse is exported to
other provinces; Ms Liu does some of the marketing.
 The
poorer households raising the ducks were originally given the ducklings to
raise without charge and the cost of their purchase was then deducted when
they sold the fattened birds back to the farm. Now they pay for the
ducklings at the time of purchase. The change was made when they were able
to afford to pay in advance. They could sell a five-Xin (2.5 kg) duck at „
3.5 3.6 per Xin, each household raising 1000 or more at a time. The
wastage rate is only 2 per cent and no vaccinations are needed, in
contrast to the chickens which cost „ 1 per head for vaccinations.
Day 3 Xin Zhai Township
- Here Lorraine met Mr Fu the manager of the carpet factory she had
visited on her previous mission. He is the Deputy Township Head. Mr Zhang
the Township Head reported that the new four-storey building in which we
met cost only „ 1.2 million. Lorraine and Wanying met almost the entire
staff: a woman Deputy Ms Ling, and the Chair of the Township Women's
Federation Ms Zhu, a graduate of Shandung Agricultural University.
This township has an area of 105 sq. km.,
a population of 53,000, 58 administrative villages and per capita income
of „ 2,280. Women play an important role in economic life. Of the total
output, industry accounts for more than 60 per cent from village
enterprises like the carpet factory, which employs mainly women, and
mushroom growing. In 1997 in some villages per capita income from mushroom
growing can reach „ 1000. In some households, the women's courtyard
businesses earn more than the men. Asked whether this created problems, Mr
Fu explained that people still thought that only women worked inside the
courtyard and men should work outside. The difference in earnings did
create problems in some households but on the whole people adjusted quite
quickly. The Township thought that men need to learn to appreciate the
value and importance of the courtyard economy and perhaps stay home and
contribute to the family business.
Mushroom village 2
- Lorraine visited a village mushroom service centre that was
operating cooperatively in a disused brick kiln. A number of greenhouses
were operating in the old kiln floor, some of the kilns had been converted
to giant cookers to steam-sterilize the mushroom-growing medium and the
service centre sold the cotton husk by the bag and purchased the mushrooms
for sale under contract to other provinces, including Tianjin. The centre
has been operating for two years, employs 12 women and 4 men and sells
through a management committee of 2 men and 2 women.
Carpet weaving village-
we visited one household where two women were weaving a carpet on a large
loom installed in their house. The two women work 8 hours per day and six
days per week on average and can earn „ 1500 each for the 3 months work
that it takes to complete one carpet. The women had been working in this
way for 7 years. The lighting inside where the women worked was quite
poor, the loom was constructed of heavy rough logs and the work of
knotting the rugs seemed extremely tedious. However, the women were quite
cheerful.
Carpet Factory - We then
visited the factory. The factory is used as a training centre for women
from the villages, who must undergo 6 months of training at the factory
before they can be set up with a loom in their own villages or their own
households. [Some villages have large workshops where 20-30 women (and
sometimes 1 or 2 men) work together.]
Village girls can board at the factory,
where they do not pay for board or lodging. They do not pay for training
but are paid „ 500 per month. The factory includes a dormitory, staff
canteen and very pleasant gardens for the use of the workers. The hours of
work are 7:30 - 12:00 and 14:00 - 18:00, although Mr Fu said that some of
the workers would like to start earlier because rural people are
accustomed to rising early. It also pays a proportion of its earnings (I
think a figure of 5 per cent was mentioned) into a social welfare fund for
the workers.
 Women
in Government, Linqu County - the County has also approached
UNIFEM to assist it to develop and fund a project to train women for
leadership positions at both the village and township levels. The area
already has a relatively high proportion of women in leadership positions
compared with other areas of the country. However, the County feels that
it would benefit from a more active decision-making role for women. At
present, the County is governed by a Magistrate, two Deputy Magistrates
and the County Standing Committee, a total of nine persons, three of whom
are women. This is the highest proportion of women in the Province. The
Magistrate (a woman) and her Deputies (one also a woman) are elected by
the County Congress. Their appointment must also be approved by the
Weifang City Government. The other seven members are the Departmental
Heads of the Personnel, Propaganda, Protocol and Legal Affairs
Departments, the Chair of the People's Congress and the Party Secretary
and Deputy Secretary. The other woman member is the Head of the Legal
Affairs Department. The Standing Committee is the key decision-making body
in the County, providing administrative leadership to the line agencies.
The County Congress consists of 1700
people representing Government Departments, Townships and Villages (the
Heads plus elected members). Thirty-seven per cent are women. There used
to be a requirement by the Central Government that one-third of the
members be women, but "this requirement no longer seems to be emphasized".
UNIFEM East & Southeast Asia feels that
the further development of women's leadership in Linqu county is an
important and worthwhile project that could serve as a model and example
for other counties in China. We are now working to fund the project
formulation process and to identify an appropriate consultant for this.
From Beijing, Lorraine flew to Seoul,
Republic of Korea to attend the Conference on Integrating Paid and Unpaid
Work into National Policies. The meeting was organized by the UNDP
Regional Bureau for Asia-Pacific, UNIFEM and the Korean Ministry of Policy
and held from 28 - 30 May at the Korean Women and Development Institute (KWDI)
in Seoul. Among those attending were Mr Xiong and a colleague from the SSB
in Beijing. Two excellent and thought-provoking technical papers were
presented at the meeting by Dr. Isabella Bakker of York University, Canada
and Dr Maria Floro, of American University and currently visiting scholar
at University of Sydney. Dr Bakker's paper "Integrating Paid and
Unpaid Work into Economic Growth and Human Development Strategies"
focussed on macroeconomic policy linkages to unpaid work. Dr Floro's paper
was "Dynamic Interaction between Sectoral Policy and Gender Issues:
Empirical Evidence in the Asia-Pacific Region". The participating
countries also presented papers on their own situations and the meeting
produced a Draft Plan of Action outlining proposed actions at the country
and regional levels.
In closing, Ms Thelma Awori of UNDP
(formerly of UNIFEM) noted that "we have arrived at a new space, we have
some of the tools, but we need to create pressure for demand from policy
makers and we need a paradigm shift so that people count. It is now two
years since Beijing, and time to break new ground. However, to do this we
need political will."
 On
Saturday, 31 May, before leaving for the Pacific, Lorraine also
participated in a UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia-Pacific sponsored Meeting
of the Chennai Resource Group of Women Scientists and Technologists in the
Asia-Pacific Region. This very interesting group of prominent women
scientists is working to bring access to and the benefits of the most
modern and "highest" technologies to poor women. In the past, "appropriate
technology" for the poor and particularly for women has often meant
"traditional" and "low" technology. However, as the group realized, low
technology has low productivity and low productivity results in low
incomes and continued poverty. To eradicate their poverty, poor women need
to raise their productivity and thus they need the most modern
technologies.
Among the technologies discussed in the
meeting were Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing
technologies (presented by Dr Wayne Mooneyhan, former manager of the
Apollo Space Program), biotechnology (by Dr Sudha Nair of the Swaminathan
Foundation), biogas production (Professor Deng Keyun, Senior Engineer and
Vice-Director, China Energy Research Society, Director-General, Rural
Energy Committee, and Vice-Director, China Association of Rural
Engineers), natural products chemistry to screen traditional remedies for
anti-cancer properties (Dr Mathuros Ruchiriwat , toxicologist, Chulabhorn
Research Institute, Mahidol University, Thailand) and Information
Technologies. The meeting sought to identify four specific proposals for
which funding would be sought.
UNDP has provided selected countries (all
those in which as certain others) with USD 30,000 for joint programming
between UNIFEM and UNDP to assist UNDP in mainstreaming gender. In
Thailand, UNIFEM and UNDP have decided to use this to support a senior
Thai gender consultant with a strong background in economics to work with
the Thai-UN Collaborative Action Plan (Thai-UNCAP) and the UNDP Country
Programme to ensure that gender is mainstreamed effectively and women's
issues addressed.
 In
case you have forgotten: the Global Network of Women in Politics is
organizing the Second Global Congress of Women in Politics to be held on
26-28 February 1998 in New Delhi. It will be hosted by the South Asian
Network for Political Empowerment of Women. For further information please
contact:
- Ms Remedios Rikken, Global
Network of Women in Politics
- Room 303, Philippine Social
Science Center
- Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman,
Quezon City, Philippines
- Tel: (632) 922 9621-30 Loc Fax:
(632) 456 1923
or
- Ms Kamla Nath, South Asian
Network for Political Empowerment of Women
- C/- Centre for Social Research
- c4/68 Safdarjung Development
Area, New Delhi, 110016, India
- Tel: (91 11) 685 5837 Fax: (91
11) 686 3697
[For those of you who haven't had
the pleasure, Geoff is Lorraine's spouse who, when in Bangkok is usually
to be found in our office where supports UNIFEM in many very practical
ways. When not, he continues to serve as an "outpost of empire" - in
fact, on bad days he has been known to answer his Canberra phone with
"Hello, this is UNIFEM South"]
New on the Internet or the
World Wide Web? - are you or just wishing that you could
find some clear advice on what you could or should be doing? Help is at
hand - and on a women's Web site. Connect your browser to "www.women-connect-asia.com"
(without the apostrophes, please) then click on their "Dear Web Woman"
entry. It has quite a lot of information, written for humans and not for
computer freaks. While you are with the Web Woman, also have a look at the
"Tips" page.
Searching the Web Without
Wasting Time: Have you ever tried finding information on the
World Wide Web (WWW)? Not so easy, is it? Most of us look by pressing
Search or Find in our Web browser, usually Netscape Navigator or Internet
Explorer. That starts up one of several "search engines" (with the
unlikely names of Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista and so on), where we enter the
words or phrases that we want to find. The search engine then produces a
list of likely Web sites. Unfortunately that list is often very long and
includes sites that just aren't relevant, or misses sites that we know
exist and are relevant, or includes lots of
 duplicates.
We spend a lot of time trying to make a better search, and sometimes we
just give up in frustration. There has to be a better way of searching,
right? Right.
Infoworld, a well respected computer
magazine, recently looked into alternative ways of searching the Web.
Infoworld recommended MetaCrawler, which you can get by pointing your
browser at "www.metacrawler.com" (without the apostrophes, please). You
use MetaCrawler just like a normal search engine, by typing in words or
phrases. Infoworld found that MetaCrawler produced more relevant results,
listed them in a better order, and had less duplication than the common
search engines.
If you want to know more about how
Infoworld reached its conclusions and how MetaCrawler works, point your
browser at "www.infoworld.com" and find the article. If you just want a
better way of using the Web, go to the MetaCrawler site and start
searching.
Confirmation from Lorraine:
I tried it on a search for "women + poverty" and "poverty + Asia" and
indeed it worked. Instead of hundreds of listings, many of them duplicates
and most of no real interest (my experience with Yahoo and others), I got
a much shorter list but about 90 per cent were relevant.
Since we are on the subject of the Web,
let me share with you some interesting Web sites that I have come across
recently. One useful site is the USAID homepage. Under their publications
section I found a very useful short series called TIPS. Each is 4-5 pages
long and can be printed directly through Acrobat in very nice format and
covers such topics as: Conducting a Participatory Evaluation, Conducting
Key Informant Interviews, Using Direct Observation Techniques, Selecting
Performance Indicators, Using Rapid Appraisal Methods, Preparing a
Performance Monitoring Plan, Establishing Performance Targets and
Conducting Focus Group Interviews. Well worth a visit at
www.info.usaid.gov/pubs.
Some things that cross our desks seem so
important and interesting that we just have to put aside some of that
boring correspondence in order to read them. [Now you know why we
sometimes don't reply to your inquiries as promptly as perhaps we should!]
Gender and Development, Vol.
5 Number 2 June 1997. This issue focuses on the theme of Men
and Masculinity. Some may be surprised that UNIFEM takes time off to study
this issue. However, we believe it is very important to both women and
men. Most women live, happily or otherwise, in families with men. As we
change our roles and ideas about our places in the world, inevitably men
must do the same. We have seen too many examples of the difficulties that
women, particularly poor women, experience (the double and triple burdens
of domestic work, economic activity and community roles) when men do not
change. Sarah C. White makes this point quite powerfully with an example
from the Philippines in her article "Men, masculinities and the politics
of development" [pp.14-22]. Men's concept of masculinity is highly
relevant to issues such as men's roles in family planning, violence
against women and the sexual exploitation of women. Masculinity is very
definitely a gender issue of great relevance to women.
 Andrea
Cornwall, in an article "Men, masculinities and the politics of
development" [pp.8-13], discusses the practical implications for
development practice of new theoretical work on masculinity. Judith Large
"Disintegration conflicts and the restructuring of masculinity" examines
the issue in relation to men's and boys' roles in situations of conflict
[pp.23-30], while Katharine Wood and Rachel Jewkes relate the issue to
"Violence, rape and sexual coercion: everyday love in a South African
township" [pp.41-46]. The role of men in families and as fathers is
addressed by Patrice L. Engle in "The role of men in families: achieving
gender equity and supporting children" [pp.31-40]. Niels Sampath uses a
startling metaphor of "'Crabs in a bucket': reforming male identities in
Trinidad" [47-54] and Kamla Bhasin reviews "Gender workshops with men:
experiences and reflections" [pp.55-61]. The volume concludes with a
Chilean perspective from Gonzalo Falabella G. "New masculinity: a
different route" [pp.62-64].
The articles in Gender and Development,
published by Oxfam, are always short, quite focussed and very practical in
orientation. This is one development journal that I would not be without:
and for subscribers in countries listed as developing in the UNDP Human
Development Report a subscription is very modestly priced at USD 17 for
three issues per year.
Recent
visitors
Margaret De Monchey, UNICEF. Margaret had
formerly worked in Phnom Penh, where Shoko first met her. [May]
Khun Varai Woramontri, National
Statistics Office, to discuss possible collaboration on gender statistics
in Thailand [26 May] and again on 2 June, following her return from the
UNDP Conference on Integrating Paid and Unpaid Work into National
Policies. Khun Warai had met Lorraine there and had kindly carried the
documents back to UNIFEM so that Lorraine would not have to carry them
around the Pacific.
Dr Viginia Miralao of CIDA Philippines
and Khun Anusorn Inkampheng of the National Commission on Women's Affairs,
Thailand to discuss the ASEAN Women's Programme and a SEAGEP project
Strengthening National Machineries in ASEAN that is currently
 being
funded. Lorraine had earlier provided input to the exercise through a
lengthy phone conversation with the Canadian consultant Dr Patricia Keays.
Virginia and Khun Anusorn were further briefed by Evelyn on related UNIFEM
activities. [3 June].
Dr Lisa Marten of Planned Parenthood
Singapore who was briefed by Evelyn on UNIFEM work in the region. She was
particularly interested in reproductive health issues. [4 June]
Victoria Apuan and Barbara McCann of
Canadian CIDA informed Evelyn on a consultancy that is being proposed to
gender mainstream gender in the ASEAN Secretariat. [12 June]
Bernadette Cheeseman. An Australian,
Bernadette has spent two years working on the Thai-Myanmar border working
refugees for Australian Volunteers Abroad and wanted some input on a paper
that she is working on. [13 June]
Meetings of Trafficking Working Group
UNDP Office [Lorraine, 1 May; Evelyn 13 May]
Meeting with Michael Heyn, UNDP Resident
Representative on the proposed regional trafficking in women project and
the UNDP-UNIFEM joint Gender Facility [Lorraine, 5 May].
RICAP (Regional Interagency Cooperation
in Asia-Pacific) meeting on Disability. These regular meetings involve
representatives from both UN agencies and NGOs, including some from the
region. [Evelyn 14 May]
UNFPA Meeting on the Thailand Country
Programme 1997-2000 [Evelyn, 16 May].
SEAWATCH (Southeast Asia WATCH) Meeting.
This meeting of the regional NGO formed to monitor implementation of the
Beijing Platform for Action was held in Bangkok at the home of the Chair,
Thanpuying Sumalee was also attended by Nancy Spence of Canadian CIDA
SEAGEP (Southeast Asia Gender Equity Program) and Dr Kani Soin of
Singapore. [Evelyn, 23 May]
Meeting of UNAIDS Technical Working Group
[Shoko, 2 June]
National Launch of the UNDP Human
Development Report, at which Dr Juree Vichitvadakan gave a keynote address
on the situation of poverty in Thailand. Dr Juree emphasized the issue of
gender inequality as an important aspect of Thai poverty, noting the low
participation of women in policy making and their limited influence on
decision making in general. [Shoko, 18 June]
National Seminar on "Policy Options for
the Implementation of Foreign Labour Into Thailand: A Study of Interest
Parties, Law Inventory and Analysis of State Management System". The
meeting was of particular interest because of its relevance to the
trafficking issue. [Evelyn, 27 May]
Numerous meetings with UNDP on the GID
(Gender in Development) Facility. UNDP has provided select countries (all
those where a UNIFEM RPA is located as well as certain others) with USD
30,000 for joint programming between UNIFEM and UNDP to assist UNDP in
mainstreaming gender.
Opening of a meeting organized by the
Social Development Division of ESCAP on the Social Development Agenda
[Evelyn, 25 June].
Evelyn had a working lunch at
Chulalongkorn University with Therese Caouette to discuss the trafficking
in women proposal and Terms of Reference for the consultant. Therese has
worked extensively on trafficking and related issues in the region, spent
some time in Japan working with Thai women who had been trafficked there
and also speaks both Thai and Khmer. [17 June]
Evelyn also joined a group organised by
IOM to visit the Immigration Centre to see at first hand the situation of
women and children (and men) who have been trafficked into Thailand and
subsequently arrested for illegal entry. [26 June] |
