Rapport från Utrikesdepartementet

Power and Privileges - on Gender Discrimination and Poverty

Publicerad 01 april 2004 Uppdaterad 02 april 2015

Ladda ner:

• Power and Privileges - on Gender Discrimination and Poverty (pdf 1 MB)
• Power and Privileges - on Gender Discrimination and Poverty, interim studies (pdf 1 MB)

Makt och privilegier - om könsdiskrimineringoch fattigdom, på engelska Main text: The photography to illustrate poverty often features a woman. However, analysis and strategies aimed at eradicating poverty tend to focus on men. This tendency is basically explained as shown by this and several other studies by the fact that presumably gender neutral interventions, in areas such as economic reforms and health, tend to take men as the norm and point of departure, and thus primarily benefit men. This is a reflection of existing power structures. And power is established to retain advantages and privileges, if need be by exercising violence and using other sanctions, within families and in societies at large. It is a matter of transparency to investigate and reveal power and discrimination and the costs born by women in terms of deaths, violence and lack of respect, which poor women often suffer - just because they, like half of "man kind", are women. Gender discrimination also has a high economic cost for society at large, as it blocks prospect for individuals and groups to move out of poverty. Discrimination is a major obstacle for development and poverty eradication, and often an impediment to effective use of development resources. The fact that power is a construction means that it can be altered. Another world is possible. An important point of departure for change is the Government Bill 2002/03:122 on global development, which states the rights perspective, and the equal worth of every human being. The Bill also stresses the perspectives of the poor. This study illustrates that we need to be aware of the fact that the perspective of a poor women often differ from the perspective of a poor man, as the expressions of female poverty and deprivation differ from those of men. To initiate changes is a political choice, which can be expressed in policy-guided management and in allocation of resources. It is also a question of rethinking conven-tional wisdom. --- Interrim report: This book contains interim studies to the report "Power and Privileges: On Gender Dis-crimination and Poverty", commissioned by the Swedish Government and presented in early 2004. The studies provide more in-depth reading to the main report on areas of special interest. These concern the ways we define and assess female vs male poverty and deprivation, and how such asessments are influenting efforts to reduce poverty and ill-health. At the heart of the studies are questions of power and privileges and societal costs of gender-based discrimination. --- Stockholm, February 2004 Gerd Johnsson-Latham, Deputy director and leader of the project "Gender based discrimination as a cause of poverty"