Everywhere/Nowhere: Gender Mainstreaming in Development Agencies

Gender mainstreaming emerged in early gender and development work and gained strength following the 1975 Conference on Women in Mexico City. After three decades of gender and development approaches, and a more recent emphasis on gender mainstreaming, ""Everywhere/Nowhere"" presents a timely reflection on the challenges and opportunities development agencies have faced as they attempt to translate gender mainstreaming policies into practice. Reports on gender mainstreaming within development agencies tend to concentrate on technical solutions with little attention to the political changes necessary for transforming the mainstream. Technical solutions (such as quantitative information about the number of female staff members hired or the allocation of a certain amount of resources to gender-related activities) are more frequently reported and more easily measured. An emphasis on technical solutions has resulted in limited impact within organizations and minimal changes to gender inequitable relations. Development agencies and their staff members are, however, finding innovative - or subtle - strategies to transform the mainstream through networking, coalition-building, and leadership initiatives. This book examines these approaches and analyses their contributions to gender mainstreaming.

Review :
''For the most part, development organizations are gendered institutions built on patriarchal power and privilege, which unfortunately are often assumed to be gender neutral... Today, there is a sense that feminism is passe, that women are not oppressed, and that if there are inequalities, they are part of "culture.".. Tiessen has very ably demonstrated that for development initiatives to succeed, gender must be front and centre. "A path-breaking study of gender mainstreaming in development agencies. Tiessen moves beyond interrogating gender mainstream theory, to ask the question -- how can it be achieved? Her in-depth analysis of Malawian and Canadian NGOs highlights the profound challenges facing those who seek to promote gender equality, both for and within development organizations. Tiessen reminds us that gender mainstreaming is not just a goal, it is also a process, requiring careful empirical research. Until this warning is taken seriously, gender mainstreaming will indeed remain an empty phrase." "This is a fine-grained description of the experience of NGO staff attempting to change gender relations inside organizations and in the field. Tiessen builds on a decade of research on gender mainstreaming practice and it shows in the quality and texture of her descriptions. She has also done a good job of assembling research findings from other relevant studies that shed light on the problem. But, her unique contribution is to highlight the experience of actually implementing gender mainstreaming day-to-day and how working on gendered organizational dynamics is central to success of gender mainstreaming efforts."