Sida ur ett lilberalfeministiskt perspektiv : Finns jämställdhetsidéer av liberalfeministiskt slag i Sidas bistånds - och utvecklingspolitik?

Sammanfattning: Abstract Essay in Political Science, C – level, by Ylva Björkegren, spring semester 2008. Tutor: Anna Spånning. “Sida from a liberal feministic perspective. Are there gender equality-ideas of liberal feministic kind in Sidas aid – and development policy?” The purpose of this essay is to study if Sidas aid – and development policy reflect gender equality. I aim to do this by applying liberal feministic thoughts on gender and development. Liberal feminism is here seen as that men and women should have the same responsibilities and rights in all spheres of society. My research question is as follows: Are there gender equality-ideas of liberalfeministic kind in Sidas aid- and development policy? Connected to this question are three variables: Entrepreneurship, Ownership and Education. By examining if Sida promotes gender equality in their work within these variables I aim to answer my research question. I examine this by counducting interviews with Sida-personnel and by, with a qualitative approach, studying Sida-documents and publications. I perform this research by conducting a comparative case – study; I compare and study Bangladesh and Ethiopia within these variables. I also conduct a general discussion on wether these variables can have an effect on the level of development in these countries. Development is in this essay expressed through three indexes; Human Development Index, Gender – related Development Index and Gender Empowerment Measure. My delimitation lies in the fact that I only compare two countries. I believe that I would get a more generalizable result if I would have compared say all fifty LDC-countries. The fact that I only study three variables is also a delimitation. The answers to my research question is that Yes – there are gender equality-ideas of liberalfeministic kind in Sidas aid- and development policy. I have also found that my variables are variables that are likely to have an influence on the level of development. I am also very well aware of the fact that there are lots of other variables, that I have not examined, which also have that influence on development. Key words: gender, gender equality, development, entrepreneurship, ownership, education, Bangladesh, Ethiopia