99173 ROADS TO AGENCY Effects of Enhancing Women’s Participation in Rural Roads Projects on Women’s Agency A comparative assessment of rural transport projects in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Peru ARGENTINA PerU NICARAGUA ROADS TO AGENCY Effects of Enhancing Women’s Participation in Rural Roads Projects on Women’s Agency A comparative assessment of rural transport projects in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Peru Table of Contents Acknowledgments 5 Executive Summary 7 1. Introduction 15 2. Gender approach in the implementation of the selected projects 19 Overview of gender interventions at different stages of the project cycle 19 Approach to increasing women’s participation at the implementation stage in selected case studies 23 3. Methodology of case studies 33 Research questions 33 Research instruments 33 Communities selection 35 Limitations of the study 35 4. Findings 37 Effects of women’s participation on agency at the individual, household, and community levels 37 Enabling factors and barriers for women’s participation in the selected project gender intervention 43 Challenges faced by women’s participants 47 5. Lesson Learned and Recommendations 53 Strategies to address barriers to participation 53 Strategies to address challenges in program participation 55 Strategies to enhance women’s agency during program participation 57 Strategies to address sustainability and scale-up of gender approaches 59 6. Discussion and conclusion 61 Annexes Annex 1. Methodology of case studies 67 Annex 2. Status of gender issues in the three countries studied in this review 73 List of Boxes, Figures, and Tables Box 1. Conceptual framework to analyze the effects of increasing labor participation of women 16 Box 2. Rationale for addressing gender issues in transport design 21 Box 3. The context of and resources involved in the development of the QCR Initiative 25 Box 4. Modulos Comunitarios de Adoquinados (MCAs) 27 Box 5. Types of training under MEMV 28 Box 6. Micro-enterprises for roads maintenance (Microempresas de Mantenimiento Vial-MEMV) model 28 Box 7. Local Development Windows (Ventanas de Desarrollo Local VDL) 30 Box 8. Findings from women’s participation in VDLs 50 Figure 1. Structure of MCA Board of Directors (IV Roads, AF IV, V Roads) 27 Figure 2. Strategies to foster women’s participation and agency in rural roads work and productive activities 54 Figure 3 Drivers of changes in agency 62 Figure 4. External and internal enablers of agency 63 Figure 5. Education level of woman participants 72 Figure 6. Marital Status of Woman Participants Interviewed 72 Figure 7. Labor force participation by education, 2009 75 Figure 8. Population 15 + years old in the labor force by gender and location, 2009 75 Figure 9. Peru population 15 + years old in the labor force by gender and location, 2009 78 Table 1. Gender issues and approaches in project design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation 20 Table 2. Suggested gender-sensitive monitoring indicators for rural transport projects 22 Table 3. At-a-glance comparison of gender approaches in rural transport project implementation 23 Table 4. Women Centers in the Qom Cultural Route 24 Table 5. Employment in MCA contracts 27 Table 6. Women’s participation in roads work through the MEMV 29 Table 7. Consolidated training under MEMV (2008-2013) 29 Table 8. Questions and topics in interviews and focus groups 34 Table 9. Effects of women’s participation on agency at the individual, household, and community levels 39 Table 10. Enabling factors and barriers for women’s participation in the selected project gender intervention 44 Table 11. Difficulties encountered in women’s participation 48 Table 12. Questions and topics in interviews and focus groups 68 Table 13. Individual interviews and focus groups conducted 69 Table 14. Personal characteristics of women project participants interviewed 72 Table 15. Nicaragua: Level of Education, by gender and location, 2009 75 Table 16. Peru: Level of Education, by gender and location, 2012 77 Acronyms APAFAS Asociaciones de Padres de Familia de la Escuela Pública DRTP Peru Decentralized Rural Transport Project IPP Indigenous People’s Plan MCA Modulos Comunitarios de Adoquinados (community-run modules for laying cobblestones) MEMV Microempresas de Mantenimiento Vial (roads maintenance microenterprises) MIDES Ministerio de Desarrollo e Inclusión Social (Peru) MIMPV Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables (Peru) NGOs Non-Governmental Organization QCR Qom Culture Route VDL Ventana de Desarrollo Local (Local Development Window) VAW Violence against women WDR World Development Report Acknowledgments The report is the result of an initiative led by the Transport the costs of the Nicaragua case study, the development of and ICT Global Practice to capture the impact of many years the methodology and instruments of the overall comparison of mainstreaming gender issues in road operations in Latin report as well as the publishing of the Comparison Report America and the Caribbean, and was led by the TTL’s of the and the three accompanying country notes. projects highlighted in this report: Stephen Muzira (formerly TTL for Nicaragua, Senior Transport Engineer, GTIDR), Maria The report was authored by Ursula Casabonne (Consultant, Margarita Nuñez (formerly TTL for Peru, Senior Transport En- GSURR), Bexi Jiménez (Consultant, GTIDR), and Miriam gineer, GTIDR) and Veronica Raffo (TTL for Argentina, Senior Müller (Research Analyst, GPVDR). Infrastructure Specialist, GTIDR). Having promoted gender issues and working closely with the communities benefited As a comparison report, it builds on three country case stud- through these projects, these TTLs saw an opportunity to ies which built on the summary reports of the fieldwork (au- work with the Poverty GP to support analytical work that thored by Fabiana Menna for Argentina), Elizabeth Dasso (for demonstrates how the transport sector can contribute to gen- Peru) and Nadine Lacayo Renner (Nicaragua). The fieldwork der equality. was conducted by the following teams: Nadine Lacayo Ren- ner (Lead Researcher), Nelly Miranda, Martha Jaen and Victor The team gratefully acknowledges the Umbrella Facility for Potosme in Nicaragua; Fabiana Menna (Lead Researcher) Gender Equality (UFGE)1 that largely funded the research in Argentina; and Elizabeth Dasso (Lead Researcher), Rosa project, including the qualitative data collection and writing Flores (Research Coordinator), Gloria Ríos Espinoza (Re- the country reports in Nicaragua, and Peru, and the compar- search Coordinator), Carmen Valencia (research assistant), ison report. The Argentina Norte Grande Road Infrastructure Aremy Luque De la Riva (Research Assistant), Raquel Condori (2011-2016) project funded the qualitative data collection and Quiñones (Research Assistant), Lucía Bellido Rota (Research analysis for the gender intervention in this country. The Cen- Assistant), Rosario Soto (Research Assistant) in Peru. tral America Gender Mainstreaming Project partially covered The team is thankful for the valuable feedback and comments 1  UFGE supports initiatives that demonstrate a strong public-good ratio- nale and are catalytic for innovation and investment in frontier issues or areas during the preparation, implementation and completion of with persistent gaps. In the Bank’s LAC region, UFGE funding aims to con- this report received from Maria Marcela Silva (Lead Transport tribute to advance knowledge and evidence on women’s agency. It provides Sepecialist, GTIDR), Elizaveta Perova (Economist, GPVDR), policy makers and World Bank staff with concrete recommendations on how to use agency enhancing interventions to improve development outcomes. Sara Hause van Wie (Consultant, GPVDR), Julian Lampietti In this way, LAC UFGE focuses on the operationalization of agency: bridging (Program Leader, LCC7C), Santiago Scialabba (Program As- the gap between analytical work and operations and ensuring that expanded knowledge on agency is used to improve policy design and operations. sistant, LCC7C), and Andrea Monje (IADB, formerly Consul- Roads to Agency 5 tant GTIDR). We would also like to thank our peer reviewers Julie Babinard (Senior Transport Specialist, GTIDR), Luz Ca- ballero (Consultant, GEEES), Lucia Hanmer (Lead Economist, GCGDR), Maria Beatriz Orlando (Senior Social Development Specialist, GSURR) and Jennifer Solotaroff (Senior Social De- velopment Specialist, GSURR). The team would like to thank Aurelio Menendez (Practice Manager, GTIDR) and Louise J. Cord (Practice Manager, GPVDR) for their support, enthusiasm and guidance to this work, and Jesko S. Hentschel (Country Director, Argentina), J. Humberto López (Country Director, Nicaragua), and Alberto Rodriguez (Country Director, Peru) for valuing the relevance of this analytical work in informing dialogue and operations. We would also like to recognize the governments of Argenti- na, Nicaragua, and Peru for their leadership in taking explicit measures to increase women’s voice, participation, and eco- nomic empowerment in the transport sector. Last but not least, this work would not have been possible without the constant and impeccable support from Aracelly Woodall (Senior Program Assistant, GTIDR), Licette Moncayo (Program Assistant, GTIDR), Claudia Nin (Program Assistant, LCC7), Mayela Murillo (Program Assistant, LCCNI), Jose Zuni- ga (Consultant, LCCCNI) and Bernarda Erazo (Program Assis- tant, GPVDR). 6 Roads to Agency Executive Summary Rationale Conceptual frameworks Building and rehabilitating rural roads has enormous eco- WDR 2012 framework nomic and social benefits to the poor in terms of increased agricultural production, lower input and transport costs, in- For the purposes of analyzing the project activities and ap- creased school enrollment, increased access to health and proaches in rural transport projects that affected women’s other services. In addition, rural roads construction, mainte- agency, we use the World Development Report 2012 (WDR nance, and rehabilitation are an excellent employment and 2012) on Gender Equality and Development and the frame- income-generating opportunity for the local population. A work proposed by Vakis and Perova (2013). The WDR 2012 less studied, but potentially quite transformative benefit is provides a valuable framework for understanding the chal- the impact of employing women in roads work and ancillary lenges and opportunities for advancing towards gender productive activities connected to the newly rehabilitated equality. It highlights key outcome areas: endowments (in- roads. equalities related to education, health and/or physical assets), economic opportunities (inequalities related to jobs, land, This study looks at the impact of women’s employment agricultural production, technology, or market access), and in roads work and ancillary livelihood interventions in ru- agency. The framework underscores the fact that disparities ral transport projects in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Peru on are driven by multiple constraints that arise in four types of women’s agency – defined as ‘the ability to make choices mechanisms: formal state institutions (laws, regulatory and transform these choices into desired outcomes’ (World frameworks, and mechanisms for the delivery of services that Bank 2012). Agency is expressed in many ways: control over the state provides such as judicial services, police services, ba- resources (measured by the ability to earn and control in- sic infrastructure), markets (including the markets for labor, come), ability to move freely, ability to have voice in soci- credit, land, and goods which determine the returns to house- ety and influencing policy, decision over family formation, hold decisions and investments), informal institutions (gen- freedom from the risk of violence, control over one’s future, der roles, beliefs, social norms, and social networks which and the ability to execute plans for personal and professional affect household bargaining in many ways), and households development (World Bank 2012). (who make decisions about how many children to have and Roads to Agency 7 Conceptual Framework of the World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality Gender equality outcomes result from interactions between households, markets, and institutions Pol icie s MAL I N FOR ION S UT I N STIT ENDOWMENTS K ETS HOUSEHOLDS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES MAR AGENCY FO I N ST R MAL ITUT ION S DETERMINANTS OF GENDER EQUALITY DIMENSIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY when to have them, how much to spend on education and The framework is useful for understanding the personal and health for daughters and sons, how to allocate different tasks emotional experiences by individuals. In this regard, it lends (inside and outside the household), and other matters that itself for the type of qualitative and subjective exploration determine gender outcomes). The constraints are most se- of what enables agency and how it can be enhanced. The vere among women who face other disadvantages, such as authors postulate that in order to successfully improve agen- being a member of an ethnic minority, having a disability, cy, both of its components-internal and external-should be or being poor. The framework graph shows interconnected addressed. This may happen through a single intervention gears to represent how changes in one or more dimensions aimed at both components or through a combination of propel changes and moves the household gear. The frame- interventions and or/enhanced external factors that comple- work identifies what problem needs to be solved and whether ment each other. interventions should target markets, formal institutions, infor- mal institutions, or some combination of the three. Research methodology Internal and external aspects of agency Through semi-structured interviews2 with women partici- pants in rural roads works/projects, their family members, We complement our analysis with the conceptual framework and with key community informants, the study attempted proposed by Perova and Vakis in their 2013 report Improving to uncover agency effects of women’s participation in rural Gender and Development Outcomes through Agency. The roads work and productive activities in areas where roads authors identified two aspects or enablers of agency: have been rehabilitated, in addition to enablers and barriers to women’s participation, and any other positive and neg- • Internal aspect: The internal motivation to make a choice, ative effects of women’s participation. Qualitative research the willingness to act upon one’s desires. methodologies were employed to understand women’s per- • External aspect: Measures to overcome exogenous con- 2  A small number of focus groups were also conducted to validate the straints (external, or context-related). findings from the semi-structured individual interviews. 8 Roads to Agency sonal experiences of such an intangible and complex phe- apply for the job and in support in doing household work. nomenon that is agency. Despite some slight resistance from women’s husbands in Nicaragua, they felt that the work opportunity was not to be Project approaches missed. Women roads work participants in Peru said they also felt motivated to work in roads maintenance because they The study selected the following three projects based on: (i) knew and respected other women who did this work. Further- demand and support conveyed by the World Bank’s Country more, women in Argentina and Peru were also heartened to Management Unit in each country and implementing agency, apply because of their previous experience of participating in (ii) existence of ongoing and pipeline rural transport projects social organizations. Lastly in Peru, women participants said that could directly incorporate study recommendations; and they felt confident they could undertake roads work tasks (iii) different approaches taken in incorporating women’s par- because it was similar to their farm work. In Argentina, the ticipation in roads work: involvement in the handicraft association was a natural exten- sion of the handicraft work women had been doing previous- • Argentina Norte Grande Road Infrastructure Project ly in their homes. Key barriers for women’s participation in (2011-2016) roads work and productive activities was the inability of find- • Nicaragua Fourth and Fifth rural roads projects (2006- ing childcare as reported by women in Nicaragua and Peru. 2017) In Argentina and Nicaragua, women interviewed that did not • Peru Decentralized Rural Transport Project (2007-2013) participate, often cited lack of information and perception of bias in selection process about the work opportunity. The selected projects took different approaches for fostering women’s participation in rural roads work and productive Women participants in roads work and ancillary livelihood activities connected to the newly rehabilitated roads. The activities also mentioned several challenges during program projects in Nicaragua and Peru increased women’s partici- participation. Among the key challenges mentioned by wom- pation in road construction and maintenance through com- en participants was shouldering the double-burden resulting munity-run roads works organizations and micro-enterprises of work outside the home and the bulk of household re- for roads maintenance, respectively. The projects in Argentina sponsibilities, as well as hard work conditions in the case and Peru include activities to enhance women’s local liveli- of Nicaragua and Peru. In Peru, many women roads work hoods activities in areas where roads have been rehabilitated. participants reported experiencing harsh treatment from their Furthermore, the approaches to foster women’s participation husband, including spousal violence. Husbands complained differed in terms of whether or not they included explicit about their wives’ extended time outside the home and some measures to recruit women, whether or not they promoted felt envious of their wives’ higher earnings. In Argentina and women in decision-making positions, e.g. roads committees, Peru, several women participants in handicraft associations production associations, and in terms of the number of direct and roads works, respectively, were criticized by community women beneficiaries reached. members for their participation. In Argentina, several wom- en referred to the difficulty to communicate in Spanish as Enabling and constraining the main barrier for their participation, which highlights the cumulative disadvantages of gender and ethnicity that poses factors of women’s strong and compounding constraints on women’s agency3. participation In Nicaragua, women expressed their frustration for the short length of work opportunity and the gender-segregation of The study looked at factors that enable and constrain wom- roads work tasks. In the case of Argentina, male community en’s participation in roads work and ancillary productive members were at odds with women taking on roles related to activities, and challenges faced by women during program their leadership within women’s association around the rec- participation. In all countries, the most cited factors that en- ognition of the indigenous language and culture. couraged women’s participation in roads work and ancillary productive activities was economic need and their desire to 3  A recent multi-country analysis of data in Latin America and African make a contribution to the community. In the case of Argen- countries shows that the interaction between being female and belonging to tina and Nicaragua, women participants said they received a minority group (defined as native speakers of a minority language within the country) has a compounding effect on educational attainment (Tas and encouragement from their spouses and family members to others 2013). Roads to Agency 9 At-a-Glance Table: Approaches to foster women’s participation in roads work and ancillary productive activities and key study findings Project country Approach to foster women’s participation Argentina Norte Grande Road Productive activities (320 women direct beneficiaries) Infrastructure Project (2011-2016) • The construction and/or rehabilitation of 4 craftswomen community centers along the newly paved road (there will be a total of 7 craftswomen community centers at the end of the project along the QCR) • Formation of handicraft associations and training of women in organizational and productive capacities and life skills, and mentoring activities. • Creation of a network of the 7 associations along the newly rehabilitated road. Conducting program of exchanges. Nicaragua Fourth and Fifth rural Roads work (1,413 women direct beneficiaries) roads projects • Promotion of women’s employment in roads work within the community-run roads (2006-2017) works organizations through loose targets. • Promotion of women in management positions in community-run roads work organizations through loose targets. Peru Decentralized Rural Roads work (429 women direct beneficiaries) Transport Project • Explicit promotion of women’s employment in roads work microenterprises through (2007-2013) targets, hiring practices and outreach efforts • Target/quota of 20% women in Roads Committees that undertake and contract out roads work. • Skills training of women in tools for roads construction and management. Productive activities • Promotion of women’s participation in productive initiatives. • Women had to account for at least 20 percent of the executive committee of the organizations promoted. Agency effects of women’s local jobs, provided a strong incentive for women to partici- participation pate in roads work. Women’s entry into non-traditional mar- ket work in Nicaragua and Peru, and women’s participation in handicraft association in Argentina challenges prevailing social The overarching conclusion from the study is that women’s in- norms (informal institutions) on women’s roles, abilities tegration into rural roads projects enhances their agency, thus and participation in public spheres. The projects were also projects should capitalize on that. We apply the WDR 2012 instrumental in broadening women’s networks through their conceptual framework to understand how project activities participation in the formal labor market, in community-run to integrate women in rural roads works and ancillary activi- roads work organizations (Nicaragua) and microenterprises ties had an impact on key determinants of gender outcomes (Peru) and handicraft associations (Argentina), and partici- (functioning of markets, formal and informal institutions, and pants’ greater physical mobility. Social networks give women households), which in turn affected the three dimensions of increased access to peers, social support and information. In gender equality: endowments, economic opportunities, and addition, women’s income and control over their income had agency (Figure 3). With regards to markets, the projects an impact on their bargaining power within the household, opened up new employment and income generating opportu- nities for women through quotas, targets, recruiting strategies, especially in Argentina and Nicaragua. Husbands felt more re- and formation of handicraft associations. In Nicaragua and spect for their wives and valued them more when they became Peru the strong economic need of household and the sub- income earners. In Peru, women roads works participants stantial higher wage of roads work jobs compared to similar reported increased incidence of domestic violence, which demands up-front attention when designing programs that in- 10 Roads to Agency Drivers of changes in agency Key entry points to enhance women’s agency: • Non-traditional jobs and income (influence markets, informal institutions, households) economic opportunities, agency • Technical and soft skills, on the job-training (all countries) greater endowments, agency • Networking and group formation, e.g. Argentina QCR handicraft associations (informal institutions) agency (greater voice and participation) • Opportunity to exercise leadership, e.g. Argentina QCR, Peru MEMV, Nicaragua MCAs) (informal institutions) agency (greater voice and participation) Pol INFORMAL icie s INSTITUTIONS Change in social norms on women’s roles and abilities; build social MARKETS networks Opening new ENDOWMENTS HOUSEHOLDS employment Allocation of ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES opportunities for resources and women; female care/house work AGENCY autonomous earnings INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS DETERMINANTS OF GENDER EQUALITY DIMENSIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY crease women’s economic empowerment especially in coun- The next figure presents the key external and internal as- tries that already have a high incidence of domestic violence. pects or enablers of agency following Perova and Vakis (2013) framework that emerged from the qualitative re- In turn, these determinants had an effect on three dimensions search for this study. Women participants in roads work and of gender equality outcomes, as follows: rural productive activities reported increased self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-confidence, decision-making capacity, • Technical, soft and job training increased women’s educa- leadership and assertiveness, as a result conquering new tional endowments. skills and know-how, and participating in public spheres of • Access to jobs and income, increased women’s econom- community engagement. The opportunity to venture into ic opportunities, and new spheres and perform non- traditional work, gave them • A combination of project interventions increased wom- confidence in their own capacities and helped them envi- en’s agency, analyzed using Perova and Vakis (2013) sion a better future for themselves (and their families) and framework. take control over their own future. Networking, socializa- Roads to Agency 11 External and internal enablers of agency EXTERNAL INTERNAL • Non-traditional job opportunity • Increased control over income, and income autonomy, and independence • Technical and soft skills and on • Increased sense of self-efficacy, the job training self-esteem, ‘can do feeling’ • Change of social norms on women’s • Increased decision-making power roles, capacities all countries within the household • Networking, socialization, group • Increased voice in public spheres formation, mentorship • Increased aspirations for personal • Opportunity to exercise leadership development tion, and group formation activities increased learning and to women’s agency have to be addressed with additional boosted women’s morale and self-assurance. Furthermore, and complimentary interventions. Project design should the study shows that women’s increased income and their include measures to address women-specific barriers to control over their own income enhanced women’s agen- participate, such as villagers and husbands’ resistance to cy, which had impacts on intra-household gender power women’s work in male-dominated trades through commu- relations. nity outreach and sensitization, as well as gender-specific lifecycle demands such as providing child care facilities that The study shows how external barriers limiting women’s are culturally sensitive and offering flexible working hours agency can (slowly) be deconstructed by proactive mea- to help balance domestic responsibilities and employment sures focused on increasing women’s participation in the activities. public sphere (work or community participation) and their taking on non-traditional roles, such as working in roads Lastly, given the time-bound nature of rural roads employ- construction and maintenance. While husbands and com- ment, project design should at the outset include activities munity members might have had initial doubts, concerns, that capitalize on women’s enhanced agency through pro- or even resistance to these new roles, the projects offered moting cross-institutional linkages to complementary pro- a scenario where women stepped into non-traditional roles grams, e.g. agricultural extension, rural financial services, and such as workers in roads maintenance and public sphere business development skills. such as members of (handicraft) associations. Seeing wom- en perform and perform well, challenged traditional gender Lessons learned stereotypes. While everyone might not have immediately agreed to such new roles, initiatives such as the ones studied The report proposes 16 lessons learned from the project in this report are a small step in changing gender norms and case studies grouped into four areas: (i) those that address increasing gender equality. barriers to participation, (ii) those that address challenges in program participation, (iii) those that enhance women’s On the other hand, community and husbands’ resistance agency during program participation; and (iv) those that in- – sometimes expressed in the form of violence as in some crease sustainability and scale-up of gender approaches (see cases in Peru – also highlights how external constraints table below). 12 Roads to Agency Strategies to foster women’s participation and agency in rural roads work and productive activities Strategies to enhance Strategies to Strategies to address Strategies to increase women's agency address barriers challenges in program sustainability and scale-up during program to participation participation of gender approaches participation • Deploy a variety of • Alleviate harshness of • Combine technical and • Introduce measures to recruitment strategies working conditions life skills/language institutionalize gender in • Child care provision and • Sensitize construction training roads projects, e.g. part-time/flexible work unit staff and contractors • Leadership training and changes in operational • Community outreach • Change operational open opportunities to manuals and gender and awareness/ manual to enhance women to exercise quotas sensitization campaigns gender equality in leadership • Introduce a long-term • Affirmative action assignment of tasks • Development of group perspective in initiatives measures • Incorporate domestic formation and mentorship to empower women violence sensitivity up interventions • Develop graduation front when incorporating • Disseminate role models. strategies to improve women in roads works • Disseminate the participants’ chances of community benefits of obtaining employment participating in roads after they exit from the work and associative rural roads program activities • Evidence-based advocac y • Open savings account Roads to Agency 13 14 Roads to Agency 1 Introduction { “Infrastructure projects seem to provide promising contexts for pursuing women’s empowerment and gender equality” World Bank, 2010: Mainstreaming Gender in Road Transport: Operational Guidance for World Bank Staff, World Bank } Infrastructure projects, and more specifically, roads construc- desired outcomes’ (World Bank 2012, Box 1). This study aims tion and maintenance are one of the core operations of the to bridge this knowledge gap. The study looks at the effects World Bank. Traditionally, infrastructure sectors have been of women’s participation in roads construction and mainte- viewed as gender-neutral by many actors, usually related to nance and rural economy promotion activities on women’s the assumption that roads (for instance) benefit all. In recent agency, which has recently become a focus of study at the years, emerging research has uncovered important gender World Bank4. Through individual interviews and focus groups differences in transport needs owing to different social and the study assesses the effects of women-targeted interven- economic roles and responsibilities of men and women, tions in three rural transport projects in Argentina, Nicaragua, which has prompted policy makers and development prac- and Peru. By focusing on agency, the study sheds light on titioners to introduce a gender-lens in the design of transport effects of gender mainstreaming interventions that have more projects. lasting effects on gender equality given the catalytic value of agency on other gender outcomes such as economic op- In addition, gender mainstreaming efforts in Bank transport portunities and endowments. The perceptions and attitude projects have focused on women’s participation in construc- changes among men and women that are an integral part tion, rehabilitation, maintenance, and management of trans- of agency certainly would represent lasting effects. Exhibit- port infrastructure. These opportunities offer unprecedented ing the agency effects of Bank’s interventions can take the income generation opportunities for women and can contrib- institution beyond “checking boxes” when it comes to main- ute to challenge traditional gender roles in a male-dominated streaming gender in Bank operations and can show concrete sector, can increase women’s agency by expanding their life development outcomes. choices and their capacity to better support their families and more actively participate in communities and societies. 4  Recent analytical work on women’s agency include: (i) Ana Maria Mu- noz Boudet, Patti Petesch, and Carolyn Turk with Angelica Thumala, 2013. On Norms and Agency Conversations about Gender Equality with Women However, despite the increase of gender mainstreaming ef- and Men in 20 Countries, World Bank, Washington DC; (ii) Perova, E. and forts in transport projects little is known about the effects of Renos Vakis, 2013. Improving Gender and Development Outcomes through these interventions on women’s agency defined as ‘the ability Agency: Policy Lessons from three Peruvian Experiences. Washington DC; and (iii) World Bank, 2014. Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls to make effective choices and transform these choices into for shared prosperity, Washington DC. Roads to Agency 15 Box 1. Conceptual framework to analyze the effects of increasing labor participation of women in rural roads projects on women’s agency For the purposes of analyzing the project activities and approaches in rural transport projects that affected women’s agency, we use two conceptual frameworks: World Development Report 2012 (WDR 2012) The first conceptual framework employed is the WDR 2012 on Gender Equality and Development that helps explain the pro- cesses that lead to gender equality and identifies policy areas and policy instruments. The WDR identifies three dimensions of gender equality: endowments (inequalities related to education, health and/or physical assets) and economic oppor- tunities (inequalities related to jobs, land, and agricultural production, technology, or market access), and agency. Agency can be understood as women’s ability to make choices they value and to act on those choices. The WDR defines agency as the “process through which women and men use their endowments and take advantage of economic opportunities to achieve desired outcomes”. In this regard, women’s agency is not only a dimension of gender equality in itself, but additionally, it functions as a catalyzer with regards to other dimensions of gender equality. Given its complexity, agency is inherently difficult to measure (World Bank 2014). For cross-country comparisons, the common approach used to measure agency is to use data on what people say they do in different domains of life. Such actions are called ‘expressions of agency’. WDR 2012 focused on five of its ‘expressions’: women’s access to and control over resources; freedom of movement; freedom from the risk of violence; decision making over family formation; and having voice in society and influencing policy. The WDR 2012 offers a framework for diagnosing and addressing gender-specific constraints. The framework posits that in choosing and designing policies to address the gender gaps of concern, it is necessary to target the determinants of the gender gaps of concern, not just the outcomes. The framework identifies four sets of determinants: formal state institutions, markets, informal institutions and households, specifically: • Markets: pertains to the incentives that are largely influenced by markets (including the markets for labor, credit, land, and goods), which determine the returns to household decisions and investments. For example, gender-constraints in markets are seen in the higher proportions of women than men working in the informal economy, gender segregation in occupa- tions, discrimination of women in formal credit markets related to institutional requirements and the type of productive activities in which women predominate. • Formal institutions: pertain to all aspects of the functioning of the state, including laws, regulatory frameworks, and mechanisms for the delivery of services that the state provides (such as judicial services, police services, basic infrastruc- ture, health, and education). Laws and regulations can constrain women’s agency and opportunities as when women and men have different ownership rights, or when restrictions are placed on hours and sectors of work for women but not for men. Where credit and labor markets already discriminate, such unequal laws and regulations can accentuate the problem. Unequal treatment may also manifest itself more indirectly through biased service delivery, as is the case for agriculture extension services. • Informal social institutions: consist of the mechanisms, rules, and procedures that shape social interactions but do not pertain to the functioning of the state, such as gender roles, beliefs, social norms, and social networks. Gender roles provide guides to normative behaviors for each sex within certain social contexts. Roles gain power as they are learned through socialization, elaborated in cultural products, and enacted in daily life. The repeated experience of performing gender roles affects widely shared beliefs about men’s and women’s attributes and one’s own sense of identity. Social norms refer to patterns of behavior that flow from socially shared beliefs and are enforced by informal social sanctions. These can affect household bargaining in many ways: they set limits on what can be bargained about; they can be a determinant of or con- straint to bargaining power; they can affect how bargaining is conducted; and they themselves can be subject to bargaining and can change. Social networks refer to the system of social relationships and bonds of cooperation for mutual benefit that shape one’s opportunities, information, social norms, and perceptions. • Households: Households make decisions about how many children to have and when to have them, how much to spend on education and health for daughters and sons, how to allocate different tasks (inside and outside the household), and other matters that determine gender outcomes. These choices are made on the basis of the preferences, decision-making (or bargaining) power, and incentives and constraints of different household members. Preferences can be innate or shaped by gender roles, social norms, and social networks. And they may be shared by or differ across individuals within 16 Roads to Agency Box 1. Conceptual framework to analyze the effects of increasing labor participation of women in rural roads projects on women’s agency (cont.) the household. For instance, evaluations of transfer programs, such as pensions and conditional cash transfers, show that spending decisions differ depending on whether money is given to women or men within the household, suggesting dif- ferences in men’s and women’s preferences. Bargaining capacity is determined by two distinct sources of individual power: economic and social. Economic bargaining power depends primarily on the wealth and assets each individual controls and his or her contribution to total household income, while social bargaining power results primarily from formal and informal institutions. For instance, a woman’s capacity to decide how to allocate her time across various activities in and outside the household may be weakened by her lack of asset ownership (low economic bargaining power) or by strong social proscrip- tions against female work outside the home (low social bargaining power) (World Bank 2012). The constraints are most severe among women who face other disadvantages, such as being a member of an ethnic minority, having a disability, or being poor. The framework graph shows interconnected gears to represent how changes in one or more dimensions propel changes and moves the household gear. The combined movement of these gears ultimately triggers the turning of the gear representing gender outcomes, thus increasing gender equality. As the framework suggests, the subcomponents of equality also interact. The graph also suggests movement going in the opposite direction—that is, with the gender equality gear moving those rep- resenting households, markets, and institutions and ultimately generating higher economic growth. In this setting, market and institutional constraints can be thought of as wedges that prevent one or more gears from turning, thereby weakening both directions of the two-way relationship between economic growth and gender equality. Pol icie s MAL I N FOR ION S UT I N STIT ENDOWMENTS S KET HOUSEHOLDS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES MAR AGENCY FO I N ST R MAL ITUT ION S DETERMINANTS OF GENDER EQUALITY DIMENSIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY Internal and external aspects of agency We complement our analysis with the conceptual framework proposed by Perova and Vakis in their report Improving Gender and Development Outcomes through Agency (2013). The authors identify two aspects or enablers of agency: • Internal aspect: The internal motivation to make a choice, the willingness to act upon one’s desires. • External aspect: Measures to overcome exogenous constraints (external, or context-related). The framework is useful for understanding the personal and emotional experiences by individuals. In this regard, it lends itself for the type of qualitative and subjective exploration of what enables agency and how it can be enhanced. The authors postulate that in order to successfully improve agency, both of its components-internal and external-should be addressed. This may happen through a single intervention aimed at both components or through a combination of interventions and or/ enhanced external factors that complement each other Roads to Agency 17 In this respect, the study has three main objectives: • To provide fresh evidence and build awareness about the effects of gender- targeted activities in rural transport projects among policy makers to help garner support from key local stakeholders, which may fear resistance and backlash of dominant groups at the local level. Un- derstanding mechanisms behind impacts is important for scaling up and replicating gender approaches in other interventions and programs. • To incorporate lessons learned of gender-targeted activi- ties in the design of rural transport projects. • To provide guidelines and recommendations on how to improve gender-targeted activities in the implementation of transport projects. Following this introduction, the report is structured as fol- lows: The second section describes the gender dimensions and agency-enhancing approaches in transport projects and the gender approaches in project implementation in the selected case studies. The third section provides a sum- mary of the methodology of the study. The fourth section describes the key findings of the qualitative research. The fifth section presents the lessons learned to inform future rural transport interventions. The sixth section provides concluding remarks. 18 Roads to Agency 2 Gender approach in the implementation of the selected projects This section provides an overview of integrating gender issues in transport projects before describing the approach taken by the selected project case studies in fostering women’s participation in project implementation. Overview of gender other partners) to promote ownership and commitment to interventions at different the objectives of gender equity in rural infrastructure as a matter of development effectiveness. stages of the project cycle Project design. Conventional rural transport planning has Gender issues in transport projects can be consistently inte- focused on road networks and long-distance transport of grated throughout the project cycle. Concrete entry-points produce, which has sometimes led to the neglect of trans- lend themselves at different stages: preparation, implemen- port solutions for rural women who lack access to motorized tation, and monitoring and evaluation. Table 1 presents transport and travel on feeder roads and tracks on foot or use and overview of gender issues in transport projects and intermediate means of transport such as donkey carts and corresponding measures to address them at different stag- bicycles. Therefore, the different roles of women and men es of transport projects in a meaningful and effective way. need to be understood and recognized in order to adequately Gender-enhancing measures for project implementation are plan and design the spatial and temporal characteristics of highlighted in green below. the transport modes that both women and men depend on for their travel to undertake economic, domestic and social Preparation activities (Box 2). Project experience has shown that including women in stakeholder consultations for the planning of trans- Project staffing and awareness. The transport sector port systems often provides practical insights that can improve staff are very often mostly focused on delivering outputs for access and safety. The majority of the constraints and unmet the projects as a whole and often do not pay attention to needs that women face are not typically captured in standard- gender-differences in transport use and needs due to lack of ized household surveys in which male heads of households gender-sensitive awareness and training. Projects should thus generally provide the answers. Therefore, it is important to include gender-sensitive experts in design and review teams conduct more open-ended individual or group interviews for to ensure that both women and men are equally consulted. women. Data on user needs and access constraints should In addition, it is recommended to structure capacity-building be gender-disaggregated and collected through routine trans- opportunities for project stakeholders (team members and port project monitoring and evaluation processes. Roads to Agency 19 Table 1. Gender issues and approaches in project design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation Preparation Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Gender • Project staffing and • Labor participation: Women are often • Data collection: Gender issues in awareness: Transport not employed in roads work because it disaggregated and gender- transport projects teams are focused is not seen as appropriate for women. relevant statistics are not on delivering outputs, on • Management of services: Women collected. the project as a whole, and are not included in decision-making often, don´t pay attention to processes. gender-differentiated needs/ design. • Transport design: Women’s transport specific mobility patterns and preferences, and security related issues may not be included; women are not consulted in project design. Measures • Client awareness: Enhance Agency-enhancing measures: • Gender-sensitive M&E: to address client awareness and Incorporate gender- gender management capacity: e.g. • Management of services: Enhance sensitive indicators and issues gender awareness training, women’s leadership skills and gender dimensions in gender focal points, gender participation in Roads Maintenance monitoring and evaluation specialists in project team. Committees and similar decision- systems and procedural • Consultations with women making committees. manuals. and men: Include a gender- • Labor force participation: (i) Consider sensitive approach in design a gender approach in dissemination through consultations with and recruitment practices; (ii) Promote women. inclusive information sharing that enhances women’s understanding of their rights and opportunities; (iii) establish quotas; (iii) revise hiring criteria and practices; (iv) measures to alleviate binding constraint to women’s participation (i.e. child care provision; flexible working arrangements). • Training, mentorship and group formation: (i) provide training in technical skills and soft skills; (ii) establish group formation and peer-to- peer training/ support so woman share information and inspire each other. Sources: World Bank. 2006. Gender and Transport Resource Guide: Mainstreaming Gender in Transport Policies and Projects. Washington, DC; World Bank. 2010. Making Transport Work for Women and Men Tools for Task Teams, Washington DC; World Bank. 2010. “Mainstreaming Gender in Road Transport: Operational Guidance for World Bank Staff.” Washington DC; Gutierrez, Maria Teresa and Maria Kuper, 2010. Women in Infrastructure: Boosting Gender Equality and Rural Development. Gender and Rural Employment Policy Brief. International Labor Organization (ILO) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). 20 Roads to Agency Box 2. Rationale for addressing gender issues in transport design • Women have disproportionate share of household transport burdens (Blackden 2003; Blackden and Wodon 2006; Quisumbing 2003; Priyanthi and Porter 2002). • Women have more limited access to available means of transport (Venter and others 2007; Odufuwa 2007; Srinivasan 2002). • Men and women have different travel patterns and trip purposes (Anand and Tiwari 2006; Odufuwa 2005; Abidemi 2002; Rosenbloom 1995; Malmberg-Calvo 1994; Hanson and Hanson 1980). • Women spend more on transport (Kamuhanda and Schmidt 2009; Srinavasan 2002). • Quality, safety, and security concerns (Okoko 2007). Implementation include specific clauses on a required percentage of women employees and efforts should be made to inform women of Agency-enhancing measures the possibilities open to them and provision made for appro- priate training. Furthermore, in some cases, account need to Management of services. Women rarely have an equal be taken of the organization of work and the specific con- voice in the planning and decision making for rural infra- straints on women, notably childcare. structure. Men also participate predominantly in community meetings at which decisions are made on the selection of pri- Training, mentorship and group formation. Life skills orities for, and on the location of, infrastructure investments. training are designed to teach a broad set of social and be- Measures need to be taken to increase women’s participation havioral skills, such as decision-making (e.g. critical and cre- and leadership skills in the management of the infrastructure ative thinking, and problem solving); community living (e.g. services, such as road maintenance committees. Such partic- effective communication, resisting peer pressure, building ipation is often an opportunity for improving women´s agen- healthy relationships, and conflict resolution); and personal cy. It provides an opportunity for women to exercise their awareness and management (self-awareness, self-esteem, leadership and decision-making capabilities. managing emotions, assertiveness, stress management, and sexual and reproductive health behaviors and attitudes). Life Labor force participation. The construction and mainte- skills training can empower women to think critically about nance of rural infrastructure generate a significant demand how gender norms govern their interactions with others and for labor and therefore provide significant opportunities for affect their behaviors. employment and income creation for the rural population. However, women face numerous constraints to participate Numerous studies find that women’s participation in net- in roads work: cultural norms about women engaging in works and groups/associations has enhanced women’s certain tasks and jobs such as road construction, and men’s agency, building their organizational skills, self-esteem and perceptions that women cannot handle certain “heavy tasks” self-confidence through working collectively to influence or equipment such as chain saws and driving machinery even change in their communities. Women report that their gains though women often are used to doing heavy work else- in agency often surpass the economic benefits obtained from where, particularly in agriculture. group action (World Bank 2009: 65) Mentorship programs can motivate women. Mentoring has been shown to lead to Women’s participation in construction, rehabilitation, main- the development of coping skills and an increased willingness tenance, supervision and monitoring of rural roads can pro- to challenge oneself and attempt new experiences (Campbell vide income-generating opportunities, and challenge gender and others 2012). Mentors can also serve as role models who norms regarding women’s acceptable employment. To in- help grow women’s aspirations and provide them with active crease the number of women in such jobs, contractors can reinforcement to overcome gender bias in labor markets. Roads to Agency 21 Table 2. Suggested gender-sensitive monitoring indicators for rural transport projects Area Suggested indicators Beneficiaries • Direct project beneficiaries—(number), of which (percentage) are female. Transport design • Consultations: Number of women and men in all stakeholder and road user consultation groups and decision-making forums. Quality/Usefulness • Time savings: Travel time for men and women to essential services. • Improved affordability: percentage of income spent by women and men on transport • Increased security: reduced incidence of harassment, crime and rape on streets, on transport and in transit points; reduced male and female pedestrian accident rates • Satisfaction levels among community members with quality and usefulness of infrastructure constructed, disaggregated by gender. Measures to alleviate binding • Availability and utility of flexible working arrangements. constraint to women’s • Child care provision. participation in rural works Agency-enhancing • Management of services: interventions - Number of women and men trained and participating in and leading road committees. • Labor participation - Number of women laborers and supervisors recruited. - Increased women’s and men’s income from transport employment and enterprises. • Leadership: - Participation in leadership training/coaching for women’s participants of rural roads committees and other governance/decision-making bodies. • Training and group formation: - Participation in training in specific construction, business development skills, and soft skills disaggregated by gender. - Targeted clients who are members of an association—female (number). • Internal dimension of agency (qualitative analysis): Self-esteem, self-efficacy, aspirations, control over one’s future - Do women and men perceive that women are becoming more empowered, more confident in their own skills, decision-making capacity? Why? - Do women perceive that they now have greater self-respect? Why? How does this relate to men’s perceptions? - Do women feel greater self-esteem? - Do women feel more confidence and prepared to pursue their future plans? Bargaining power within the household - Do women/men perceive that they now have greater economic autonomy? Do women feel that having income and control over their income they can make decisions and that they can act so that those decisions occur in the household? Why? - Are changes taking place in the way in which decisions are made in the household, and what is the perceived impact of this? - Do women make decisions independently of men in their household? What sorts of decisions are made independently? - Have there been any changes in the marital relationship? Has women’s work participation created conflict in the household? 22 Roads to Agency Monitoring and Evaluation pation in roads work and productive activities connected to the newly rehabilitated roads activities, but had different Gender issues should be incorporated in the systems to mon- approaches. The projects in Nicaragua and Peru increased itor the implementation of rural transport projects through women’s participation in road construction and maintenance sex-disaggregated beneficiary data and relevant measures of through community-run roads works organizations and mi- gender equality integrated into the baselines and other rou- cro-enterprises for roads maintenance, respectively. The tine transport monitoring and evaluation processes (Table 2). projects in Argentina and Peru include activities to enhance is expressed in many ways: control over resources (mea- women’s local livelihoods activities in areas where roads sured by the ability to earn and control income), ability to have been rehabilitated. Furthermore, the approaches to fos- move freely, ability to have voice in society and influencing ter women’s participation differed in terms of whether or not policy, decision over family formation, freedom from the risk they included explicit measures to recruit women, whether of violence, control over one’s future, and the ability to exe- or not they promoted women in decision-making positions cute plans for personal and professional development. e.g. roads committees, production associations, and in terms of the number of direct women beneficiaries reached (see Table 3 below). Approach to increasing women’s participation at Argentina Norte Grande Road Infrastructure the implementation stage Project (2011-2016) in selected case studies The Argentina Norte Grande Road Infrastructure Project The following section describes the approach taken by the (2010-2016) aims to reduce transport costs for users of pro- three different project case studies to increase women’s par- vincial roads along selected corridors of the Norte Grande ticipation in roads work and/or productive activities in areas provinces, through the improvement of the quality of roads where roads have been rehabilitated. Hence, the report’s fo- and the introduction of improved road asset management cus is on the gender mainstreaming activities at the project tools and methods. The Norte Grande Region is one of the implementation stage. Annex 2 provides a summary of the most marginalized, underdeveloped, and poor regions in status of key gender issues in the three countries that are part Argentina. There are about 50,000 people, who recognize of this review. themselves as IPs in Norte Grande Region. All of the projects studied aimed to enhance women’s eco- The ‘Qom Culture Route’ (QCR) initiative was designed as nomic empowerment through increasing women’s partici- part of the Indigenous People’s Plan (IPP) to promote the Table 3. At-a-glance comparison of gender approaches in rural transport project implementation Type of intervention Promotion Inclusion of Women’s participation in: Explicit mea- No. of direct of women in additional Project sures to recruit women Productive decision-making agency-enhancing Roads work women beneficiaries activitiesa positions activitiesb Argentina √ √ √ 320 Nicaragua √ √ 1,413 Peru √ √ √ √ √ 429c Notes: a Refers to activities that seek to actively recruit women and promote women’s employment in roads work or productive activities linked to revitalizing the rural economy where the roads have been built or rehabilitated, b Refers to activities that seek to develop women’s decision-making capacity, enhance their confidence and self-esteem, and increase awareness of their rights. c The number refers only to women participants in rural roads construction and maintenance , not women participation in ancillary productive activities. Roads to Agency 23 Table 4. Women Centers in the Qom Cultural Route Number Name in Qom Year of Number of Department Activities of women language formation coordinators members QOCHIIQI'LAE' Presidencia Roca Handicrafts, appreciation of history 2013 45 3 and Qom language PIOC LAASAT Pampa Chica Sewing, dancing and music 2012 18 2 TACAI LAPA´ Cuarta Legua Crafts, sewing and Qom language 1985 15 3 PIGUIÑEC LAE´ Pampa Grande Intercultural and bilingual education, 1985 22 5 health, sewing, crafts, Qom dances QOMLASHEPI Fortín La Valle Crafts 2013 70 6 ONATAXANAXAIPI LAATAQA' Villa Río Bermejito Crafts 2013 30 2 ELE'IPATA'AC El Espinillo Crafts, wildlife watching 2012 120 7 Total 320 28 Source: Fabiana Menna, 2014. QCR qualitative study on the impact of women’s participation in women’s handicraft associations and women’s agency, unpublished. Provincial Route 3 in the Province of Chaco as a tourist and will be 7 craftswomen community centers at the end of cultural corridor, centered on valuing the Qom culture with a the project along the QCR. focus on women’s economic empowerment5 (See Box 3 on • Training of women in technical, organizational, produc- the context of and the resources involved in the development tive, and life skills, specifically : (i) skills training of women of the QCR). Specifically the QCR initiative included two ac- artisans in: the management of rotating funds, the devel- tivities. The first was the rehabilitation of the Route 3 gravel opment and marketing of products, entrepreneurial skills access roads to indigenous communities and the production sewing and selling strategies; (ii) capacity building of of bilingual road signs showing indigenous communities’ his- women to form a network of associations that integrates torical sites and cultural–ethnic sites of interest. The second the 7 centers, to give greater visibility to all Qom women; aimed to enhance and amplify associative processes through (iii) training workshops with indigenous women to de- women’s centers in Espinillo, Fortin Lavalle, Pampa Grande, velop the community tourism development strategy (i.e. Pampa Chica, Cuarta Legua, Presidencia Roca and Villa Rio cultural heritage sites, environmental protection actions, Bermejito. This included: road safety awareness campaigns in indigenous languag- es led by indigenous women); and (iv) family planning • The construction and/or rehabilitation of 4 craftswomen workshops in Qom language for indigenous women. community centers: i.e. buildings along a provincial road • Mentorship and group formation to enhance women’s paved under the project, in which altogether 300 indige- agency: Programs were organized for older women to nous women participate in cooperative activities. There mentor and teach younger QOM women handicrafts techniques. The associations themselves provided a 5  World Bank, 2010. Sub Proyecto Ruta Provincial No Tramo Pampa Del In- physical ‘safe space’ for women to socialize, exchange dio  Villa, Río Bermejito  Provincia De Chaco *Proyecto De Infraestructura Vial Para El Desarrollo De Norte Grande Ministerio De Planificacion Federal Ucp knowledge, work together, learn about their rights, etc. Y Fe Direccion De Vialidad Provincial Del Chaco, Plan De Pueblos Indígenas • Creating a network of associations along Route 3: the 15 De Noviembre De 2010 24 Roads to Agency Box 3. The context of and resources involved in the development of the QCR Initiative What is the context of how the attention to gender emerged in the IPP of the Argentina Norte Grande Road Infrastructure Project (2011-2016)? The World Bank worked with specific champions both within the federal government (executing agency), and in the provincial road agency in Chaco) on designing gender-specific consultation and communication tools as part of the social management framework (including the preparation of the IP Plan for the road in Chaco). The Bank team relied on gender experts (both ex- ternal consultants and internal bank staff) when working on these tools. In addition, the team included specific gender-based indicators in M&E framework and in the design of an Impact Evaluation Study (currently ongoing) with technical support of Bank gender and M&E experts. Furthermore, the bidding documents required the contractors to hire a social and indigenous people’s specialist with strong gender background to manage and supervise the social management plan. The Bank carried out training sessions for the federal government program implementation unit and provincial road agencies social specialists on social management (including gender and IP perspectives). During project execution the consultations were carried out and a communication plan was implemented. As part of this work, the indigenous women requested specific support, i.e. family planning workshops first, then road safety awareness campaigns in their language for indigenous schools in the area of intervention. For these activities, the Madres Cuidadoras de la Cultura Qom (Mother Caretakers of the Qom Culture) were actively involved (as per their own request) in the preparation of the Road Safety awareness/education campaigns, and in delivering the awareness workshops in these schools). These women also actively participated in the preparation of environmental protection actions (identification of local fauna and flora for a baseline study that was carried out as mitigation measure against risks of deforestation) and the identification of cultural heritage sites to be included in the signs along the road being paved. As part of these activities, Madres Cuidadoras de la Cultura Qom requested support to strengthen their association, and entrepreneurial skills, which is how the QCR initiative emerged. To design, supervise, and potentiate these activities, the Bank team contracted a local Indigenous Peoples and gender specialist, who is the director of an NGO based in Northern Argentina (Fundación Gran Chaco) that is actively involved in social and environmental issues in the Chaco Ecore- gion. The Bank’s partnership with the NGOs active in the region was a key ingredient to ensure sustainability and successful launching of the initiative. What resources were allocated for the QCR initiatives? • Project preparation: The Bank hired a gender expert during consultations and in the design of social management man- uals (both within Bank team, and in the Government of Argentina team) • Implementation: - Construction costs of gravel access to schools and women handicraft centers (approximately US$ 80,000) - Construction costs of women community centers (approximately US$ 50,000) - Workshops/mentoring sessions/training sessions: (approximately US$ 25,000) • Monitoring and Evaluation: - World Bank supervision costs on the Bank side (consultant fees, field work and travel costs for anthropologist/gender and Indigenous Peoples specialist, including research assistants that participated in the qualitative study) and supervision costs borne by the Government (both federal and provincial government) and supervision costs by social specialists in the contractors’ teams (two contractors participated in this sub-project). - Impact Evaluation study costs, (approximately US$ 216,000). Roads to Agency 25 program conducted exchanges aiming to forge links and 4th Project to 15 percent in the Additional Financing of the integrate the 7 handicraft associations to give greater vis- 4th Project, and more recently to 34 percent under the 5th ibility to all Qom women (Table 4). These activities also Project. Over the course of the 4th Project, 34 percent of the aimed to strengthen the collective identity, empowering Board membership positions for the modules were filled by women in their role of custodians of the Qom culture. women. Table 5 and Figure 1 show the share of jobs created The visibility of women’s organizations is a key aspect through the MCAs (direct jobs created for MCA board direc- for the development of the QCR not only to the general tors and direct workers for the MCA model – not including public and tourists, but also for women themselves within project employment supported for private contractors on as- the community. These centers aim to legitimize the place phalt rehabilitation and periodic maintenance road contracts, of women in the community, stimulating the desire to private contractors on cobblestone roads, workers supported associate in addition to facilitating the production and under the force account, private earthworks contractors, cob- marketing of handicrafts. blestone manufacturers, other suppliers and transporters). Thus, through the above-mentioned activities the QCR Initia- Formation of MCAs is based on the selection of local labor, tive aimed to enhance women’s agency through two mech- for which MTI works closely with the mayors of each mu- anisms. The first mechanism is income generation through nicipality, convening with the community and using records sale of handicrafts. Women’s control of income could have of the unemployed in the area and in the communities sur- impacts on gender dynamics within the household and wom- rounding the location where the work is to be performed. The en’s agency at individual, household and community level. municipality must make an announcement to the community Second, the promotion of Qom cultural identity and protec- to fill the Occupational Sheets, in order to assess availability tion of cultural heritage through the development of artistic of the existing workforce. The people selected to form the productions will increase women’s role in the development Board, with the support of the Municipality and MTI will then of their community. Women are the ones who carry out constitute a Board of Directors to serve as representative of the transmission of cultural values in the Qom community the module for construction of pavement in their municipal- through educating their children, and the promotion of artis- ity. The Board then subcontracts the remaining workers who tic production. are going to be part of the MCA. Nicaragua Fourth and Fifth rural roads projects Peru Decentralized Rural Transport Project (2006-2017) (2007-2013) The “Fourth Roads Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project” The Peru Decentralized Rural Transport Project (DRTP) (2007- approved in May 2006, and the “Rural Roads Infrastructure 2013) is the third project in a series of rural transport proj- Improvement Project” referred to as the Fifth Roads Project, ects designed to improve and maintain rural roads, reducing approved in December 2011 aim to improving the access of transportation costs for local inhabitants and ultimately pro- the rural population living to markets and social and admin- moting the development of Peru’s poorest communities. In istrative services and supporting generation of short-term terms of project implementation, the project promotes the employment opportunities for the rural population living in participation of women in: (i) roads work through their roads the project areas. The projects promoted women’s partici- committees and roads maintenance microenterprises (Mi- pation in community-run modules for laying cobblestones, croempresas de Mantenimiento Vial –MEMV), (ii) rural pro- known in Spanish as Modulos Comunitarios de Adoqui- ductive activities through the ‘Local Development Window’ nados (MCAs) that perform road upgrading tasks (Box 4). (Ventana de Desarrollo Local – VDL). Women have been recruited to serve as presidents of the MCAs, supervise the works, and act as treasurers, traffic con- trollers, pavement joint fillers mostly. Women’s participation6 in total has been increasing from 10 percent in the original 6  The share of women participating under the 4th and the AF of the 4th was not recorded since the beginning of the implementation. Although sig- nificant efforts were made in order to measure female participation in the MCAs, this was not a task of the project in itself before 2011. 26 Roads to Agency Box 4. Modulos Comunitarios de Adoquinados (MCAs) MCAs are local entities formed under the leadership of local mayors with each MCA staffed by a board of 5 directors (with the president of each MCA as the legal representative) to perform a specific road upgrading task. MCAs join together and use economies of scale to contract an earthworks contractor and a cobblestones supplier. Individually, each MCA hires its own local labor in order to construct a specified stretch of road. The MCA personnel receive technical support and training from MTI from inception, and have an MTI supervisor and promoter accompanying them throughout the implementation process. Cobblestones are concrete-like paving blocks that are precast in an offsite factory location with the raw materials being ce- ment, fine aggregates, coarse aggregates, filler and water. The MCAs have generated employment opportunities in the short term, contributing towards technology transfer, building technical skills, and creating a sense of community and ownership for the roads (Muzira and Hernandez de Diaz 2013). The current project, Additional Financing of the Fifth Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project (AF V) continues imple- mentation of the MCA model in rural roads in Nicaragua. Moreover, it will pilot a results-based minor routine maintenance targeting a total of 75 km on the cobblestones roads by converting MCA members into small micro-enterprises aimed at making the MCA model more sustainable. Table 5. Employment in MCA contracts Board Member Total Employed Project No. MCAs Men No. Women No. % Women Men No. Women No. % Women IV Roads 120 249 71 22% 2,792 327 10% IV Additional 152 446 239 35% 4,946 857 15% V Roads 44 94 66 41% 450 229 34% Total 316 789 376 32% 8,188 1,413 15% Figure 1: Structure of MCA Board of Directors (IV Roads, AF IV, V Roads) 250 Men Women 218 200 184 166 150 138 126 96 107 100 67 49 50 15 0 President Secretary Treasurer Field Supervisor Responsible for inventory (Fiscal de campo) (Bodeguero) Source: UCP/MTI. Roads to Agency 27 Box 5. Types of training under MCAs MCAs are local entities formed under the leadership of local mayors with each MCA staffed by a board of 5 directors (with the president of each MCA as the legal representative) to perform a specific road upgrading task. MCAs join together and use economies of scale to contract an earthworks contractor and a cobblestones supplier. Individually, each MCA hires its own local labor in order to construct a specified stretch of road. The MCA personnel receive technical support and training from MTI from inception, and have an MTI supervisor and promoter accompanying them throughout the implementation process. Cobblestones are concrete-like paving blocks that are precast in an offsite factory location with the raw materials being ce- ment, fine aggregates, coarse aggregates, filler and water. The MCAs have generated employment opportunities in the short term, contributing towards technology transfer, building technical skills, and creating a sense of community and ownership for the roads (Muzira and Hernandez de Diaz 2013). The current project, Additional Financing of the Fifth Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project (AF V) continues imple- mentation of the MCA model in rural roads in Nicaragua. Moreover, it will pilot a results-based minor routine maintenance targeting a total of 75 km on the cobblestones roads by converting MCA members into small micro-enterprises aimed at making the MCA model more sustainable. Box 6. Micro-enterprises for roads maintenance (Microempresas de Mantenimiento Vial-MEMV) model Goal The goal of the micro-enterprise-based road maintenance model is to generate employment for poor men and women from rural communities living alongside the rehabilitated roads and thus ensure the benefits from improved access (following road rehabilitation) goes to the local community. The program also provides incentives for the most advanced micro-enterprises to diversify outside of the road sector. Payment and Incentive Mechanisms Micro-enterprise contractors (with 10–16 employees) received annual performance-based contracts. Micro-enterprises receive a fixed sum payment each month if performance indicators set in the contract have been met. Initially, payment was uniform for maintenance on all types of roads, but gradually roads were classified according to road conditions, traffic load, geographic location, and climate impact. Micro-enterprises are now required to submit at the end of each month brief reports of types of maintenance activities implemented, expenditures incurred and amount of materials used. The pressure of local municipalities and other members of their communities -- their next door neighbors -- is one of the main driving forces for micro-enterprises to comply with the level of service required. The employees of micro-enterprises are members of the local communities living along the roads they maintain. The other driving force is a possibility to renew their contract for another year without bidding subject to continuing compli- ance with the performance indicators set in the contract. Supervision Monitoring and supervision of micro-enterprises is regularly done by Technical Assistants. In addition to supervision, their oth- er responsibilities are to collect the data on road condition, to provide social assistance (dealing with gender and co-financing issues, and teaching employees of micro-enterprises to read and write). Roughly, one technical assistant is responsible for 6-7 micro-enterprises. (35 of 87 Technical Assistants are involved in supervision). In addition, the Provincial Road Institutes sometimes undertake site inspections to verify the work done by the Technical Assistants and micro-enterprises. Source: World Bank, Resource Guide, Performance-based Contracts for Preservation and Improvement of Rural Roads, Case Study, http://www-esd.worldbank. org/pbc_resource_guide/Case-Peru.htm. 28 Roads to Agency Table 6. Women’s participation in roads work through the MEMV Total Legal Departments Rural Members of MEMV Presidents number Representatives Project Roads of Provinces Districts (Km) M W %W M W %W M W %W MEMV Rural Roads 116 577 11,641 573 2786 1010 27% 357 8 2% 201 7 3% I&II DRTP 27 141 3,595 184 964 429 31% 86 6 7% 87 5 5% Other 0 34 1,630 100 412 148 26% 49 4 8% 46 1 2% sources TOTAL 143 752 16,866 857 4162 1587 28% 492 18 4% 334 13 4% Source: Ministerio de Transporte y Comunicaciones de Peru, “ Resultados de Género y VDL del PTRD” (Implementation Report), November 2013. Table 7. Consolidated training under MEMV (2008-2013) YEAR No of Men No. of Women Total % of Women 2008 1,063 81 1,144 7% 2009 3,664 1,026 4,690 22% 2010 6,902 1,359 8,261 16% 2011 3,818 784 4,602 17% 2012 904 554 1,458 38% 2013 1,264 526 1,790 29% TOTAL 17,615 4,330 21,945 20% Source: Ministerio de Transporte y Comunicaciones de Peru, “ Resultados de Género y VDL del PTRD” (Implementation Report), November 2013 Women’s participation in roads work targets (10 percent), hiring practices, and outreach efforts (Box 6 explains the MEMV model in Peru). In terms of In terms of roads work, the project implemented a series of hiring practices, for example, the projects prioritized fe- measures to promote the participation of women in road re- male-headed households, reducing the weight given to habilitation, including: education level in determining membership, recognizing previous experience in specific tasks needed for road • The inclusion of at least 20 percent of women in the Road maintenance rather than in actual road building, and Committees, integrated by villagers. Road Committees classifying women’s management of households as man- undertake and contract out maintenance in the local agerial experience. area. Specifically, Road Committees approved operations, • Skills training of women in tools for road management assigned tasks, paid wages and organized contributions (Box 5). of labor. The committees involved traditional communi- ty groups, including women’s groups, to ensure that the The DRTP created jobs for 429 women, who participated in transport needs of all community members are met. 184 roads construction and maintenance micro-enterprises • Promotion of women’s employment in MEMV through distributed across the country (Table 6). Women also held Roads to Agency 29 Box 7. Local Development Windows (Ventanas de Desarrollo Local VDL) What are VDLs? The Local Development Window (VDL, for its Spanish acronym) was first piloted in the Peru Rural Roads II project. The idea for this intervention originated from the findings of the impact evaluations of the Peru Rural Roads I project, which found that the roads project did not have meaningfully increased economic opportunities for rural communities (Instituto Cuanto 2000, GRADE 2006). An additional catalyst was needed in order for these production opportunities to be acted on. The VDL intervention aims to complement the investments in road improvements with economic generation opportunities along the newly rehabilitated roads. VDL is a mechanism, managed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), through which productive initiatives are identified and prioritized. The VDL component contributed to the rural economic development of 28 provinces in the following two ways: first, it assisted small associations of rural producers in developing 52 business plans, helping 46 of them obtain funding from various sources (mostly local governments) and providing assistance in their implementation; and secondly, it worked to strengthen the public sector’s involvement in rural development, by (i) assisting municipalities in the preparation of 30 local development plans; (ii) helping develop and approve 60 rural development res- olutions; (iii) and, most importantly, by convincing local governments to adopt many of their objectives and strategies. This approach to territorial development was unique in Peru, since it focused on demonstrating to public institutions the benefits of supporting rural producers and strengthening them so they can continue and expand these efforts in the future. The VDLs helps to strengthen both the municipalities and local stakeholders in defining territorial development strategies and plans, and identifying potential production activity sponsors. The executing agencies of the VDLs were selected on a competitive basis from among private operators and NGOs. The projects were aligned to the interests and aspirations of the stakeholders and to the potential products in the area. Example of VDL-sponsored livelihood project where women participated Fish Farms in Sauce, San Martín Department. The community of Sauce (San Martín Department) used the VDL to identify the start-up financial resources necessary for the development of tilapia fish farms. Road access between Sauce Lake and the pro- vincial market of Tarapoto prevented the community from taking advantage of the economic potential of the lake. In addition to road rehabilitation, which reduced the average time necessary to reach Tarapoto from six to two hours, approximately 61 families benefited from the project, with female participation estimated at approximately 40 percent. The project also led to the creation of a cooperative composed of an Artisanal Fishermen’s Committee and a Women’s Committee, which assumes tasks related to product sales and coordination with the Municipality of Sauce. Sources: World Bank, 2014, Implementation Completion and Results Report, Decentralized Rural Transport Project. Washington DC; María Margarita Núñez and Sebastián Elías Guerrero, 2014. Improving Rural Transportation through Decentralization; María Margarita Núñez and Sebastián Elías Guerrero, 2014, Experienc- es of the World Bank in Peru 1995 – 2013, Working Paper, unpublished draft. 30 Roads to Agency managerial positions within the microenterprises in DRTP. A total of 11 women representing 6 percent of the total filled managerial positions (Presidents and Legal Representatives in MEMV’s). Between 2008 and 2012, the project trained around 4,330 women in different events, representing around 20 per- cent of total participants (Table 7). Women’s participation in rural productive activities through Local Development Windows (Ventanas de Desarrollo Local VDL) Women were also encouraged to become more involved in the VDLs, either by joining the staffs or by submitting proj- ects. In all initiatives promoted, women had to account for at least 20 percent of the executive committee. VDLs were implemented in 28 provinces and involved an effort to de- velop commodity sales strategies through the provision of technical assistance, aiming to increase income-generation activities in an effort to reduce poverty in rural areas (Box 7 provides a more detailed description of VDLs). Between 2008 and 2012, 90 productive organizations, and a total of 2,250 rural households benefited directly from the VDL component. On average 24 percent of the managerial positions of these organizations were held by women (100 women in total). The majority of women’s managerial positions were treasur- ers. Around 35 percent of people that received technical and managerial training under the VDL were women. Roads to Agency 31 32 Roads to Agency 3 Methodology of case studies Qualitative research methodologies were chosen for this study for its ability of providing rich textual descriptions of intangible factors such as agency, social norms, and gender roles. The use of open-ended questions and probing gives participants the opportunity to respond in their own words, rather than forcing them to choose from fixed responses, as quantitative methods do. In addition, open-ended questions have the ability to evoke responses that are meaningful and culturally salient to the participant, unanticipated by the researcher, and rich and explanatory in nature. Qualitative analysis attempts to iden- tify trends, statements that are similar across different research participants.. Another added advantage of using qualitative methods is the speed of data collection, given that the sample size is much smaller, which also brings down the cost of data collection. This section provides a summary of the study methodology. Annex 1 provides a comprehen- sive overview of the research methodology, including details on sampling and fieldwork. Research questions • Agency effects of women’s participation: How have the gender related activities incorporated into the rural The study aimed to assess whether and how women’s agency transportation project affected agency? Has the inclusion was affected by women’s participation in rural roads construc- of women in activities that are traditionally carried out by tion maintenance and ancillary rural productive activities in men and the access to income generation led to effects areas where roads have been rehabilitated. on aspirations and life plans, perceptions of gender roles, decision-making capacity within the household, and de- The main questions analyzed in the study were: cision-making capacity, voice and representation outside their household. • Enablers and barriers for women’s participation: What have been barriers/constraints and facilitators of Research instruments involving women into such activities at the individual, household, and community level? A guiding principle of this research was to learn from indi- • Positive and negative effects of women’s partici- viduals’ experiences and interpretations of their own reality. pation: What have been potential positive and negative Thus, the study relied on qualitative data collection which effects of such involvement at the individual, household, allows for capturing individual experiences in terms of aspi- and community level? rations, self-esteem, behaviors, beliefs, opinions, emotions, Roads to Agency 33 Table 8. Questions and topics in interviews and focus groups Data collection Themes method Semi structured • Identify the factors that facilitated the participation of women in rural roads works and ancillary interviews with livelihood activities. women rural • Find out about the social, cultural, physical, economic barriers that women experienced during their roads project participation in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities; i.e. conflict in the home, gender participants based violence, domestic violence, negative view of community of women working. • Identify the positive contribution of the inclusion of women in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities; i.e. income, control over income, increase in knowledge and know-how, improved self-esteem, networking with other women redistribution of household chores, strengthening capacity for action and decision-making, increased empowerment, enhanced aspirations for personal development, strengthened marital relationship, strengthened bargaining power within the household, and decision-making power in the community, • Find out about women’s aspirations and how they are taking action over their goals. How did women take advantage of the learning opportunities during the work experience? How have their aspirations/ dreams changed since they began participating? Semi structured • Explore thoughts/feelings about wife’s/ mother’s participation in roads works and ancillary livelihoods interviews with activities. partners and • Identify enabling factors for wife’s/mother’s participation in roads works and ancillary livelihoods other family activities. members of • Understand decision-making process around participation. women rural • Find out about perception of problems arising during wife’s/ mother’s engagement (reaction of other roads project community members, difficulties faced during work etc.) participants • Identify positive or negative changes in the household due to her participation in rural roads and ancillary livelihood activities from the perspective of other household members (changes in their partner/mother, changes in the marital relations, redistribution of household chores, increased income, conflicts etc.) • Explore process after completion of wife’s/ mother’s participation in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities (approval of other household members for future similar engagements etc.) Semi structured • Find out why women did not participate in rural works or ancillary activities (e.g. lack of information, with women caring for children, husband did not let her, not interested, work is too far away, etc.) non-participants • Find out whether women would be interested in participating in similar work, activities. • Find out about women’s aspirations. • Understand gender roles and stereotypes shared by informants and prevalent in the community • What are the effects of the roads newly constructed or rehabilitated for herself, her family, the community? Key informant • Understand the context of the communities where women who participated live: interviews - What are the social and economic conditions in the community and in the households and how do they influence/condition the participation of women? - What are the opportunities (jobs, income, other, offered to women that integrated in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities? • Listen to the opinion of key local actors of the factors that enables or constrained the participation of women in project activities. - What are the reasons why women participated in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities? - What factors influenced positively for women to participate in rural roads works and ancillary livelihoods activities? - What changes have women participants experienced as a result of their participation in rural roads works and ancillary livelihoods activities? - What suggestions and recommendations do the informants have to improve women’s experience? - What are the impacts of the rural roads rehabilitation/ construction? 34 Roads to Agency intra-household and community-level dynamics, contextual from other more isolated communities in terms of gen- factors and their interactions with women’s and men’s de- der norms and socio economic status and consequently cisions. the effects of the intervention could differ. • Focus on gender-targeted interventions in project The following instruments were applied for this study (Table 8): implementation activities: The study is not a system- atic review of gender issues in the project. It is focused • Semi structured interviews were conducted with only around project implementation activities related to women participants in the specific intervention, their women’s participation in actual road works or ancillary partners, their children, women who did not participate activities related to revitalizing the local economy. The as well as their partners. assessment thus excludes gender issues in project de- • Focus group discussions were also conducted to val- sign and monitoring and evaluation. idate the findings from the semi-structured individual • Quantification of findings is not the scope of this interviews. study: The study used qualitative methods to uncov- • Key informant interviews with community leaders. er the effects of interventions on women’s agency, i.e. self-esteem, confidence, decision-making power, control Communities selection over own income, etc. Qualitative analysis allows identi- fying key issues but does not allow quantifying the extent In each country, the research team jointly with the local proj- to which any of the identified issues applies to the larger ect teams identified the communities to conduct data col- population. lection, based on the overall goal to include communities that were ‘different’ one from the other in terms of socio- economic situations, stage at which they had been included into the roads project, level of female engagement within the communities roads works in order to represent a possi- bly wide range of realities. In Argentina, three women com- munity centers were selected in three communities, Pampa Grande, El Espinillo and Fortín Lavalle. In Nicaragua, three road sections communities were selected: Granada – Mala- catoya, Rivas – Veracruz and Moyogalpa – La Flor. In Peru, the project had a national scope, intervening in 21 out of the 27 departments. The selected communities are located in three departmental areas, Cajamarca in the northern high- land, Arequipa in coastal southern highlands and Puno in the southern highland. Limitations of the study The methodology used in the country studies has the fol- lowing main limitations that should be accounted for when interpreting the findings: • Potential selection bias: Program participants select- ed for interviews and focus group were not randomly assigned. This was a reasonable procedure as imple- menting agencies had access to workers’ contacts and facilitated access to communities. In addition, commu- nities that benefited from the project might be different Roads to Agency 35 36 Roads to Agency 4 Findings This section describes the findings from the qualitative research that is mainly based on individual interviews and a smaller number of focus groups with women program participants and family members, women that did not participate in rural roads schemes and key community informants. The findings are structured in three groups: (i) effects of women’s participation in rural schemes at the individual, household and community level; (ii) enabling factors and barriers for women’s participation; and (iii) challenges faced by women participants in rural schemes. The first and second area describe some implementation-related challenges that require more gender-sensitive approaches to be taken and the third area delves more on the agency-related effects of the program, especially when describing the individual –level effects. Effects of women’s interviewees reported that the new roads brought many eco- participation on agency at nomic and social benefits and a shift in perception of gender norms (Table 9). the individual, household, and community levels Individual level Women’s participation in roads work and rural productive Increased income and control over their income. In all activities had multiple effects on agency at the individual, three case studies, participants expressed that a key benefit household, and community level that varied depending on of their participation in roads work and productive activities the project. At the individual level, women experienced in- was the increased income, which helped improve their house- creased income, building of networks of non-family peers, holds living conditions. Beyond the pure economic benefit, the the acquisition of skills and know-how, enhanced confidence majority of women also explicitly said that having their own and capacity to aspire, pride of making a contribution to the money made them happier, more independent, allowed them community, and leadership skills. At the household level, to be more assertive, and feel more secure and confident. women and family members reported a redistribution of In Argentina, income generation was the most prominently household chores from women to spouses and other family mentioned positive change referred to by women but its im- members, greater feeling of wellbeing of family members pact is yet to be realized since the revitalization of the tourism due to women participants’ increased contentment, and industry is slowly starting. Even though handicraft sales have strengthened marital relationship. At the community level, increased, women have not been able to sell the total volume Roads to Agency 37 Table 9. Effects of women’s participation on agency at the individual, household, and community levels Type Argentina Nicaragua Peru Increased income and control over their income √ √ √ Building networks and socializing with other women √ √ Acquisition of skills and know-how √ √ Individual Increased self-esteem √ √ √ Enhanced confidence, independent and capacity to aspire √ √ √ Pride of making a contribution to the community √ √ Leadership skills and participation of women in the public sphere √ √ Redistribution of house chores to other family members √ √ Household Greater wellbeing of family members √ √ Strengthened marital relationship/acquired from spouse √ Increased access to markets, services, and connectivity √ √ Community Shift in perception of gender norms √ of monthly production. However, women QCR participants In all countries, female participants stated that they had con- are very optimistic regarding the future and their businesses. trol over their income. The majority of participants said they spend their income on food, clothes and school utensils for “Yes, I worked in a group with other women. I liked that their children. At the same time, some women in Argentina we support each other. There were some problems, like in and Peru expressed interest in investing their income to start any work place, but we could solve them and we helped entrepreneurial activities and thus using this first change in each other” incomes to provide a longer-term change for themselves and Woman MCA participant, Moyogalpa-Nicaragua, 36 years their families. “I liked it very much because I used to bring my own money The interest and motivation to leave their houses and thus the to the household and I did not depend on him. I could buy domestic sphere is the first step to generate an income but what I wanted, that is what I liked the most. Feeling fulfilled has broader effects beyond just income generation. As one as a woman” woman puts it “iba a seguir estancada” (I would have stayed Woman MCA participant, Moyogalpa-Nicaragua, 36 years stuck), clearly showing the sensation of paralysis and immo- bility which she was able to overcome thanks to her affiliation “I improved my income, my children don’t lack anything to the association. The participants in all three country studies and I even bought a house. Thanks to the work in PROVIA, I refer to a multitude of non-monetary positive changes due to fulfilled my dream of owning a house” their participation in the projects. Woman MEMV participant, Azángaro, Puno, 32 years Building networks and socializing with other women. “With my first salary of 900 soles, I bought things for my In Argentina and Nicaragua, women said that another bene- son, clothes, and things for the house. Now I have to save fit of participating in handicraft associations and roads work, money so that if my son gets sick, I have where to get mon- respectively, was building networks and socializing with other ey. I am saving in the Bank, and my husband is also saving. women. In Argentina, the association opens up a ‘safe’ space We have plans to buy a house in the city of Arequipa with where women can share experiences with other women, both our income” and support each other. In Nicaragua, women rural roads Woman MEMV participant, Arequipa, 22 years participants said that a positive aspect of their participation 38 Roads to Agency in roads works was meeting other women. Some emphasize “My working has been a huge help, we’ve increased the pure pleasure of socializing. Others pointed at the learn- our income. I didn’t use to leave the house. If I wouldn’t ing process stimulated by being with other women. Women have participated in the associations, I don’t know what I said they felt more empowered by the group experience and would have done with my life, I would have stayed stuck. by the expressed solidarity with other women. In Argentina, Now, I participate. My life is different, I move. If I need QCR participants mention that they had learned a lot from something, I get out, I can obtain information, I can train the exchange with other community associations. This has other people. Because of this experience I can now do been a direct outcome of the QCR, which aims to establish things that before I wouldn’t otherwise have imagined I links, sharing of experiences, and learning between different was going to be able to do” women’s associations. Woman QCR participant, Pampa Grande, 48 years “You can grow up as a person, get more communication “I like participating to learn women’s rights. Before I was skills, learn how to listen to others and to socialize with embarrassed, but not anymore, I am encouraged to speak people, because perhaps there were people in the commu- up. When people ask questions, I answer them” nities that we did not know before, and with this project, Woman QCR participant, El Espinillo-Argentina, 42 years we met them and we socialize even more…” Woman MCA participant Malacatoya-Nicaragua, 21 years Increased self-esteem. In all three countries, women said they have higher self-esteem due to their participation “The sale of handicrafts allows me to buy school sup- in roads work and productive activities. They vividly de- plies for my some. I spend the rest of the money buying scribe how the experience to be able to doing something groceries” that they had not done before showed them they can trust Woman participant in QCR, Fortín Lavalle, Argentina, their capabilities and increased their self-confidence. In 27 years Argentina, women’s exposure through the QCR to tourists and technical staff from the government helped them over- “What I liked is that I learned many things from the coex- come their lack of confidence. Women QCR participants istence with other people. Each time we met, we had a lot also highlight overwhelmingly how the associative process of fun. I liked it because we had the opportunity to know and the access to QCR had increased their self-esteem, other places and people that are not from here to whom we their self-confidence and their expectations towards the conveyed our experience. When other people are interest- future. The participants claim to be happier, more satisfied, ed in our topics, it’s like it lifts our spirit and generates an more independent, and proud of being a member of the enthusiasm that is hard to explain. It’s something that that association. They refer to feeling more empowered and helps you move on” better equipped to face challenges and achieve goals in Woman QCR participant, Pampa Grande, 48 years life – mostly given the skills they acquired but also due to the support of the group. Acquisition of skills and know-how. In all countries, women said that one of the most significant benefits from “I feel more independent, I value myself more because participating in roads work and other productive activities what I am doing makes me so happy, it makes me so was the attainment of technical skills and know-how. Ex- happy because I know how to do it well.” posure to new tasks, learning on the job as well as technical Woman participant in QCR, El Espinillo, 21 years. assistance was very much valued by all women participants. Women in Pampa Grande Argentina said that their participa- “When I started, my mind open up, and it helped me to re- tion in the handicraft association had sparked their interest alize that I could continue my studies. That is why I finished in getting more training. Some women said they had even secondary education and I am moving on to tertiary” gone back to school to obtain teaching and nursing licens- Woman participant in QCR, Pampa Grande, 48 years es. The women’s handicraft association in Pampa Grande is the most well-established of the ones along the QCR. It “I feel strengthened; I am capable of some things. That is has trained women in handicrafts production, awareness on what I was looking for. Before we thought we weren’t capa- health, indigenous law, and women’s rights. ble, but now we are after so many things that we’ve done. Roads to Agency 39 We felt capable of doing things by ourselves” them to feel capable and prepared to engage in new learning. Woman participant in QCR, Pampa Grande, 33 years This new confidence helped them engage with other people and authorities as mentioned by several key informants. Enhanced confidence and capacity to aspire. In all countries, women said they felt happier, more confidence, Pride of making a contribution to the community. In Ar- independent, better equipped to face challenges, and achieve gentina and Nicaragua, women said they felt pride of making goals in their life. In Nicaragua, many women said they felt a contribution to their community in terms of cultural revital- proud of their work in MCAs. This feeling partially results ization and rural connectivity. from their conviction that the job performed was meaning- ful and important to their community. Women said they felt Leadership skills. In Argentina and Peru, women said that greater respect by community members as a result. their involvement in handicraft associations and roads work, respectively, helped them attain leadership skills and more “I felt more confidence because I saw the results of my work confidence to speak in public. In Argentina, women QCR par- as chief and received the praise of engineers” ticipants showed enthusiasm in increased political participa- Woman MEMV participant, Arequipa-Peru, 46 years tion and many said they were planning to actively participate in the October 2014 municipal elections. The life skills training “The experience helped me to value myself. It also helped to around citizenship and rights awareness seems to have con- know that women can work in men’s jobs earning a salary” tributed to this newly-found interest. In Puno-Peru women in- Woman MEMV participant, Chucuito-Peru, 25 years terviewed for the study expressed increased interest in getting involved in local politics based on their positive MEMV work “This works really strengthened my self-esteem, I can now experience. The effect of rural roads program participation on move on, not only in that job, but also in other tasks” political participation was also raised in an impact evaluation Woman MCA participant, El Ñámbaro-Nicaragua, 43 years of the Peru Rural Roads II project (Remy 2008). Furthermore, the study showed that women’s exposure to “I would like to participate in politics, I would like to be city work opportunities, new skills, and the realization that “they councilor or an advisor to support the population, request can do it” had a positive impact on their aspirations. In Nicara- for computers, school supplies, to find support for the poor gua, for instance, participants said they had a new found belief that have more children and elderly people” of their capacity of achieving their goals. Women also said that Woman MEMV participant, Chucuito-Peru, 47 years seeing female engineers leading roads works inspired them to continue learning new skills. In Peru, women roads work par- Household ticipants said that the technical and soft skills training, as well as their work experience in the MEMV had a significant impact Redistribution of house chores to other family mem- on their self-esteem and confidence. In addition, women said bers. In Argentina and Nicaragua, women said their spous- they felt more confident in relating to other people including es and other family members were helping out more with authorities. In Peru, women reported gaining more respect households chores. However, a gender division in the types from family members, particularly their children. of tasks still remains in both cases. In Argentina, women and men already share a lot of the household work burden. While In Argentina, in the community of Pampa Grande, women re- a gender division between housework remains, men now are ferred strongly to the association which has incentivized them assuming some new roles to facilitate the work of women: to search for more training and capacity building opportuni- childcare, shopping and preparing meals are typically male ties. Thus, several of them decided to go back to school so occupation duties in the absence of women. Other tasks like nowadays some of them are serving as indigenous teachers washing clothes or taking care of the sick remain an exclusive- and nurses. These women are now able to rely on a stable in- ly female domain and are sometimes taken on by daughters, come. Participants from the more recent associations in El Es- mothers or mothers in law. pinillo and Fortín Lavalle, expressed interest in learning more and growing intellectually and referred to the associative ex- Enhanced wellbeing of family members. In Argentina perience as helping them to overcome their shyness and for and Nicaragua, spouses and other family members reported 40 Roads to Agency feeling happier as a result of their wives feeling happier, more Community confident, and empowered. In Nicaragua, husbands reported that they felt inspired by seeing their wives face new challeng- Increased access to markets, services, and connectivi- es and perform well. Beyond the changes at the emotional ty. In Argentina and Nicaragua interviewees said that the new level, most partners also appreciated the increased house- roads had greatly facilitated increased access to markets and hold income as a result of their wives’ work. services and improved connectivity to other towns. In Argenti- na, women said that the Route 3 had facilitated the commer- Strengthened marital relationship. In Nicaragua, women cialization of the handicraft products because of an increase in and their spouses said that women’s participation in roads tourism. Even though the changes perceived are still not that work had contributed to a stronger marital relationship. The strong given that the intervention started a few years ago, a lot interviewees attributed this to the fact that husbands are valu- of optimism is shared by participants that very positive chang- ing their wives more for what they achieved. Additionally, es will come. Route 3 has also greatly improved accessibility they realized that jointly contributing to the well-being of the of health services where now patients can be much easier and household strengthens their sense of unity as a family. Sev- better treated, and extremely critical medical cases can receive eral other interviewees highlight mutual support and a joint quicker attention. Furthermore, both students and teachers vision for their family as results of the involvement of women can mobilize themselves easier, which increases school at- in roads work. tendance. On the downside, several interviewees mentioned an increase in accidents despite the provision of roads safety “Our relationship became stronger; we were more con- training. In Nicaragua, men interviewed mentioned that the nected than ever, sharing new experiences. I told her my rehabilitated roads had contributed to an improvement in the stories from work and she told me hers”. commercialization of the community’s agricultural products MCA woman participant, Moyogalpa-Nicaragua, 29 years and increased tourism. Women, on the other hand, appreciat- Roads to Agency 41 ed the improved access to health and education services. The the vehicles with people that go to the hospital. The health road ensures that emergency cases can be transported now, care center here does not have any doctor available 24 and that 24 hour services which are often only available in near- hours, I think just at 8am and they did not have a lot of by larger towns, can be accessed if need be. In Nicaragua par- capacity, for example if someone wants to have a child ticipants also stated that children’s school attendance had im- here, they simply cannot. They just fix some injuries, only proved and communities had greater access to health services. basic nursery stuff” Woman MCA participant, Malacatoya- Nicaragua, 20 years “[The road] was a huge benefit because before, when I studied in Villa Bermejito y had to travel from Fortin Lavalle. Connectivity to information and other communities. In rainy days the route was covered in mud, buses or Interviewees in Nicaragua and Argentina also shared their motorcycles couldn’t go through because of the bad condi- positive perception of the end to previous isolation. With the tions. When my grandparents would go to sell handicrafts new and improved roads other communities and information sometime it would take them 3 hours to arrive to Castelli” can be better reached. Tourism is another potential source of Woman QCR participant, Fortin Lavalle, 21 years income generation that is leveraged by the new road accord- ing to several participants. “Health is one of the most important things, because in the winter it´s very difficult to go to Granada. If someone Shift in perception of gender norms. In Nicaragua, wom- gets sick, the situation becomes complicated. And if any en’s involvement has shown some effect on a shift of per- pregnant woman is about to give birth it was even more ceptions of gender roles and stereotypes. Women working complicated. About 3 years ago, the lake overflowed and in MCAs reported feeling greater respect, recognition and ac- if a vehicle passed by there the engine was going to be ceptance by others. On the other hand, it has to be empha- damaged, therefore they did not take that way, and they sized that gender roles and stereotypes are a product formed even used motor boats in the streets. (…) It is easier for by history and culture and an incredible amount of individual 42 Roads to Agency and social experiences contribute to forming those. In that commercialize their handicraft products, the main economic context, one should not have overly ambitious expectations activity among women before joining the QCR, which often- towards the change potentially provoked by such short term times they exercised since very early ages. In Nicaragua, interventions. given the short nature of employment, women participants framed their interest in earning money in terms of address- A key informant, trainer for the weavers in Puno and mem- ing a specific family need including the improvements in ber of the NGO MMR confirms this mechanism of how the housing, paying debts or buying clothes or other necessities participants overcame their own doubts and hesitations: for their children. In Peru, roads work under the MEMV was “Before they were afraid to attend any training space, first much better remunerated than comparable work women because of their own culture, on the other because their could find. Farm work paid approximately 300 soles (USD partners prevented them from doing so, because they were 100) per month, while the road work paid a minimum of living in remote areas. But they were able to overcome all 900 soles (USD 300) per month. Particularly in communities these barriers and today they are quite empowered, they that were poorer and where wage labor opportunities were have experienced personal growth and they have contrib- scarce, such as Chucuito and Azángaro, road maintenance uted economically to their households.” work was perceived to be a great opportunity for both men and women. Box 8 describes the challenges as well as the effects on wom- en’s agency resulting from women’s participation in the Rural “Working at the farm as day laborer is similar to the type Development Windows as part of the Peru rural roads project. of work in the MEMV because in the farm, we shovel, we sweep, etc. In the MEMV, they pay monthly and it’s a secure job but in the farm sometimes there is no work.” Enabling factors and Woman MEMV participant, Arequipa-Peru, 46 years barriers for women’s participation in the selected “I had never worked earning a salary. I was poor, my project gender intervention husband had abandoned me. I am mother and father to my kids. Before, women were marginalized and humiliated. Women participants reported the factors that prompted They didn’t know how to go anywhere, so they stayed at them to participate in roads work and/or livelihoods activities home raising children and taking care of animals. I never connected to the rehabilitated roads, which included: eco- had any training nor participated in any social organization nomic necessity; support from family, peers, and community nor attended talks. Before my life was sad, I didn’t know members; their motivation of making a contribution to their how to properly talk, I didn’t know about money.” community, and having been exposed to comparable work Woman MEMV participant, Puno-Peru, 45 years experience and social organizations. Women interviewed that did not participate in the program said that the key de- In Peru, women MEMV participants also expressed their mo- terring factors included: lack of information/ not having been tivation to improve and change their living conditions in the invited, lack of confidence, and inability of finding childcare medium or long term, to be able to manage income, and (Table 10). make future investments. Several women in the high jun- gle of Cajamarca talked about their plans to acquire land for Enabling factors for participating growing coffee and cacao or to be able to contract workers to work on their crops. Also, several women in communities Economic necessity and prospective income. One of of Islay, Caylloma, Arequipa and Puno were saving to buy the most important factors that prompted women in project a home, particularly one in the capital of the province so areas to participate in rural roads and productive activities this housing option could be used by their children while was economic necessity and the prospective income. This studying there. Many women in Peru refer to the MEMV ex- proved to be a strong if not the central motivating factor in perience as having created the necessary motivation to in- all three countries. In Argentina, women and their partners vest their money. In all country studies, women participants reported that a key motivator behind women’s participa- said that their work provided an opportunity to invest in their tion to join the QCR project activities was the potential to children’s future. Roads to Agency 43 Table 10. Enabling factors and barriers for women’s participation in the selected project gender intervention Type Argentina Nicaragua Peru Economic necessity and prospective income √ √ √ Support from family members/spouse √ √ Enabling Community support and peer admiration √ √ √ factors Making a contribution to their community √ √ Comparable previous work experience and √ √ Participation in social organizations √ √ Feeling unprepared for the tasks √ √ Lack of capacity (and self-esteem) to communicate in Spanish √ Barriers Inability to find childcare √ √ Lack of information about the opportunity/not having been √ √ invited Note: The country check marks reflect the main themes that emerged from the individual interviews in each of the country case studies. Support from husbands and from other family mem- Like every Nicaraguan, I was very machista. I thought that bers. A key enabler of women’s participation in productive the wife should stay at home, even if I met my wife when activities was the support from husbands and family mem- we worked together. I thought that she should stay at bers. Oftentimes such support is linked to the absence of home. Now my viewpoint has changed 180 degrees. Now, alternative income generating opportunities in the commu- I think it is something positive for her to have a job and nities. Particularly in Argentina and Nicaragua - and to some generate income for the household” extent in Peru - men regarded participation of their partners Nicaragua, husband of MCA woman participant in roads work as a rare and precious opportunity, which women should take advantage of. “I am very proud of my mom. Not only is she President of the organization but she also works in the women’s group, In Nicaragua both women MCA participants and their partners leads it and motivates women. I admire my mom. Without said candidly that husbands had initial hesitation about their being a professional, she works earning income and in that wives joining MCA roads work. These concerns were linked to way, she helps us, her children. She is always supporting us traditional gender roles, i.e. the conviction that men should be the in anything. That makes me very happy” sole providers for the family. Furthermore, women’s care duties Daughter of MEMV worker, Puno at home were a major argument against participation for quite a few women participants who shared their initial convictions “What I like about this experience is that she earns 900 regarding ‘good’ care of a child – which they were convinced soles, which is more than minimum wage, and with this should not be provided by a person other than the mother her- money she supports me in my studies, she gives me money self. Others also express their discontent with the heavy tasks to live here in the city of San Ignacio, and with that money to be performed by their wives, reiterating concepts of female she also supports herself.” fragility which their wives were able to proof wrong by their par- Son of MEMV worker, San Ignacio, Cajamarca ticipation. Finally, hesitation about women’s presence in public spaces was raised and specifically the fear of other men ap- Overall, the economic needs were the reason mentioned proaching their partners inappropriately while at work. However, by partners as the main factor that triggered a change in despite their initial hesitation, the vast majority of male partners their attitudes towards their wives’ engagement in roads ended up supporting their wives’ participation in roads work. works. The economic situation of the family was perceived 44 Roads to Agency to be so hard that convictions about traditional gender who had worked in roads’ maintenance to get a better idea of roles – reflected in all the different arguments against working conditions and tasks. women’s participation – suddenly lost their fundamental power in organizing family life. This shows how traditional “I knew women that worked in roads maintenance and I gender roles do not hold as strongly when there is strong admired them for being fighters, to prosper and get ahead” economic need. Woman MEMV participant, Arequipa, 22 years old The experience showed that once such a change in gender Making a contribution to their community. In all three roles was initiated, partners were open to the learning ex- country case studies, a key motivating factor to participate in perience. They very extensively elaborated on the positive rural roads projects was that they were making a contribution changes they perceived due to the work experience of their to their community. In the case of Nicaragua and Peru, wom- wives: Besides the expected and much needed increase en felt gratified by their work in building and rehabilitating in income, partners refer to their wives’ increased self-es- roads. In Argentina, some women who participated indicated teem, confidence, decision-making capacity, knowledge as main objective of their participation the desire to keep the and technical skills. Interestingly, family support and ties Qom traditions and culture alive and to teach the younger also seemed to be strengthened given the experience. generation in those. Handicraft production is an essential part of the overall recovery and rescue of the Qom tradition Furthermore, the support of the immediate family (beyond and culture. At the same time, other activities related to the the partner) emerges very prominently in interviews of language and indigenous cosmology also contribute to this women who participate in rural roads work and productive rescue. One of the groups interviewed for the case study (the activities. In Nicaragua, female family members, such as one of Pampa Grande), for example, has focused mainly on participants’ mothers, mothers-in-law, and older daughters, generating work in the areas of traditional dances, songs and helped to take care of children. In Argentina, participants’ Qom cosmology. husbands also took on child care responsibilities in addi- tion to other family members. In the Qom culture, rais- “My motivation is that I always liked to contribute – be it ing children is a duty of the extended family system, thus with or without salary – to the progress of the community. shared among the group, composed of several couples and And it is something very beautiful to be saying: ‘ I participat- their children. In Peru, children interviewed for this study ed in this’” expressed admiration for their mothers and the work they Woman MCA participant, Malacatoya -Nicaragua, 49 years were taking on. MEMV women workers also expressed how important such support was to them and that the future of “When we started last year in November, my objective was their children was at the core of their engagement. to learn more and to teach the younger to not lose the traditions” Community support and peer admiration. Women in Nic- Woman QCR participant, Fortín Lavalle, Argentina, 31 years aragua and Peru said they received community and peer sup- port to participate in paid work. In Nicaragua, women report- Prior work experience. In Peru, several MEMV women ed that they experienced emotional and moral support from workers emphasized that their previous work experience neighbors and relatives. Some women also mentioned that they prepared them well and gave them confidence to partici- received help by community members in household tasks to pate in roads maintenance work. They refer specifically to alleviate some of the double burden resulting from simultane- the heavy tasks they had to take on prior to the MEMVs – ous care and paid work. Community members also expressed mostly working in the farm, which made working condition their gratitude to women engaged in road works because of the in the MEMV manageable and gave them confidence. In the significant contribution they were making to the community. Argentina case, the involvement in the QCR was a natural extension of the work women had been doing previously. In Peru, women MEMV participants said that a key motivator to applying to MEMV roads work was that they knew and ad- “Since I was a little girl, I worked in the farm, pushing carts. mired other women who participated in roads maintenance For me roads work was easy” work. Several women reported they had consulted women Woman MEMV participant, Arequipa-Peru, 26 years Roads to Agency 45 “Having worked in the farm, helped me a lot since I already been for them – even before their group joined the QCR. knew how to use the shovel, the pickax, and the machete” In Peru, women MEMV workers also indicated that their Woman MEMV participant, Cajamarca-Peru, 26 years prior participation in social organizations was an important enabling factor for women to feel confident in participating “I form part of a ronda campesina, the majority of women in the MEMVs. In Arequipa and Puno women were involved that work in MEMVs are members of the rondas. I was in three types of organizations: mothers’ clubs (group of influenced by members of the rondas to participate in the community women), Vaso de Leche (committees sponsored MEMV and they also advised and guided me to work and by municipalities to receive, prepare and distribute milk and be honest people” oats to the vulnerable population) as well as APAFAS (Aso- Woman MEMV participant, Cajamarca-Peru, 23 years ciaciones de Padres de Familia de la Escuela Pública - Asso- ciations of Parents of public school, to improve the quality “I was part of the APAFA. This influenced my decision to of education). In Cajamarca, women were members of the work in roads maintenance because it also benefits the Rondas Femeninas (Women’s groups that emerged in rural community” areas in the late 80’s for self-defense against guerilla groups Woman MEMV participant, Caylloma, Arequipa, 37 years old and to fill a void in the administration of justice). Participation in social organizations. In Argentina and Barriers to participation Peru, women’s participation and exposure to other social or- ganizations motivated women to join the QCR and MEMV, Feeling unprepared for the tasks. In Nicaragua and Peru, respectively. In Argentina, most women were already part of some women participants in roads works said they had fears the women’s associations before the association joined the and doubts about engaging in road works because they felt QCR initiative. The interviewees expressed how important unprepared and unqualified for the new tasks ahead. For most the learning process in a safe space with other women has of the participants in these two country case studies, this was 46 Roads to Agency the first paid job in their lives – and furthermore, the tasks they more women into handicraft associations is related to insuf- were going to perform to some seemed intimidating initially. ficient market potential to absorb more products. Handicraft However, these hesitations did not keep them from applying associations plan to slowly incorporate new members as to roads maintenance jobs. This was not true for Argentina, they have more options to commercialize their products. At as here, the women continued exercising the tasks they were present, more young women are becoming members to sup- used to doing before the intervention (producing handicrafts). port the renovation process after the departure of some key At the same time, it is worth noting that the only interviewees members. Key informants also indicated that political issues that expressed doubts and fears of failure in Argentina were sometimes divided the communities, which posed problems women coordinators as this task required a bigger responsi- for new members to participate in handicraft associations. bility and the capacity of managing people and administering financial resources. Therefore, specific technical assistance for Inability to find childcare. In Nicaragua and Peru, wom- these more administrative tasks is important. en reported that the inability of finding child care was the main constraint for not applying to roads work jobs. While “When I found out about the roads work job opportunity, – as mentioned before – this had posed challenges to many I got nervous of being surrounded by men, I was afraid of women that ended up joining the roads works, in some cases making mistakes of being scolded and telling me ‘this is women were simply not able to resolve this issue with the not how it is’. I was afraid that they would tell me that it is help of family members or neighbors. better for me to leave” Woman MCA participant, Los Ángeles- Nicaragua, 43 years. Overall, it is noteworthy that women from the three country case studies who had not participated in the rural roads initia- Language barriers. In the case of Argentina, a few women tives highlighted how much they had wished they could have referred to the difficulty to communicate in Spanish as the also benefited from such opportunities. main barrier for their participation, especially when asked to communicate in public. It should be noted that 19 out of 24 Challenges faced by women women QCR participants interviewed in the study had not participants finished primary education, so some of the participants are basically functional illiterates. At the same time, one of the Women that participated in roads work and other productive main achievements resulting from their participation in the activities reported experiencing a variety of challenges aris- association is the improvement in communicating in Spanish ing from their own low self-confidence, from managing the according to a large group of participants. The issue of the double work load, resistance from husbands harsh working language barrier and low level of education of Qom women conditions, and gender discrimination in the types of tasks highlights the cumulative disadvantages of gender and eth- assigned to them (Table 11). This section describes in greater nicity, which poses stronger constraints on women’s agency. detail the challenges faced by women participants. Lack of information and perception of bias in selec- At the individual level tion process. An important barrier for participation in Ar- gentina and Nicaragua was the lack of information about the Lack of confidence and fears of working alongside job opportunity and selection criteria. In Nicaragua, women men. In Peru, female MEMV participants reported feeling interviewed that had not applied to the MCA said that they apprehensive of working alongside men. Particularly in Caja- had not applied because they were unaware of the job op- marca, women said they feared being criticized by men. Also portunity. Other women also said that they had not applied in the other departments, women referred to feeling intimi- to MCA roads work jobs because they felt they had little dated, which shows how much gender stereotypes and ma- chances in being recruited as they felt they were not ‘well chismo have been internalized by women themselves and the connected’. Similarly, in Argentina, two-thirds of women in- mechanisms of how these affect their self-esteem and trust in terviewed that did not participate in the QCR women associ- their own capabilities. However, after being exposed to roads ations, said that the key reason for not joining was that they work and working alongside men, women MEM participants had not received information about joining nor were they realized they were able to fulfill their job responsibilities and invited to join. In Argentina, the problem of incorporating tasks and gained self-confidence. Roads to Agency 47 Table 11. Difficulties encountered in women’s participation Type Argentina Nicaragua Peru At the individual level Lack of confidence and fears of working alongside men √ Double burden, managing work and family care responsibilities √ √ In the household Resistance from husbands, domestic violence √* √ Hard work conditions √ √ At the workplace Short length of work opportunity √ Gender-specific segregation of tasks √ In the community Tension and resistance from community members √ √ *Not mentioned by participant or spouses. Finding comes from key informant interviews. “I thought that perhaps male co-workers would think that “Sometimes my husband would yell at me for arriving as a woman, I couldn’t perform like them. I also thought home at 7pm. He would say ‘What are you doing coming that I could be fired because I couldn’t perform like male after dark, you need to arrive home before sunset.” workers. I had this fear for one month” Woman MEMV participant, Chucuito- Puno, 32 years Woman MEMV participant, Arequipa-Peru, 28 years “Before, when I participated [in roads work] he would In the household mistreat me, he would yell at me and hit me, all because he was jealous of not knowing what I was up to, but now Resistance from husbands, domestic violence. Peru he doesn’t do that because I just disregard him and I just was the only case study where several women engaged in continue. I tell him that I have to go to work. Now there are roads work reported experiencing harsh treatment from their no beatings. My children are also older and they don’t let husband. While some husbands highlight the positive ben- him hit me, they tell him: ‘Dad, let mom go to work so that efits of their wives’ participation, others heavily complained she can help since you are not working” about their wives’ extended time outside the home, neglect Woman MEMV participant, Chucuito- Puno, 47 years of the children and about them not being able to perform housework as before. “All the house work that she was no longer able to do because she had to go out to work, I had to shoulder it, Some men also said they felt envious of their wives’ higher which caused a lot of problems. Yes, there were strong earnings. In Argentina, key informants highlighted that hus- quarrels because she made the decision of going out to bands actually did show some resistance to women’s involve- work for a number of days without coming to an agree- ment in the associations, while this was not mentioned by ment beforehand and there is a responsibility of watching participants themselves. The main critique raised by these the children” men —according to key informants— relates to women having Husband of woman MEMV participant, Caylloma-Arequi- to leave their houses to engage in the associations and gen- pa-Peru, 38 years erally their increased mobility and travel activity to other com- munities. In any case, this resistance did not seem to pose a “I think it’s good that my wife works because it is an easy barrier to women’s participation nor cause serious problems work (as a watch guard). I see her motivated, happy, she for the participants according to their own accounts7. feels useful in life, that she is doing something well, and it 7  This does not come up in the responses of partners themselves as men- also helps our marital relationship.” tioned earlier – neither in women participants’ interviews. Possibly, the cases interviewed have either resolved or never experienced such tensions (and Husband of woman MEMV participant, Arequipa- Peru, they are limited to other households) – or interviewees might simply not 29 years. have wanted to share such traditional and limiting attitudes about family-in- ternal distribution of tasks and responsibilities with outsiders. 48 Roads to Agency In Peru, situations of domestic violence also emerged during “I wake up at 3 or 4am. I start cooking, take care of the interviews, most strongly in Arequipa and Puno. The majority animals, get my daughter ready for school. I leave home at of women who suffered such abuse chose to endure it and 6:30am and return from work at 5 or sometimes at 6pm. I convince their husbands of the importance of the addition- don’t rest. I feed my animals, prepare dinner, and that is the al income received through their work. Domestic violence routine every day” is a significant problem in Peru – according to DHS data, MEMV woman participant, Puno-Peru, 45 years 39.5 percent of women ever married or in union aged 15-49 suffered physical or sexual violence within their lifetime and At the workplace 14.9 percent during the past 12 months (DHS 2007). Hard work conditions. In Nicaragua and Peru, women Nicaragua was the only case study where the issue of hus- roads work participants said they perceived the working con- bands’ resistance was barely mentioned and only with re- ditions to be harsh, mostly due to the exposure to the sun. In gards to initial hesitations which was quickly overcome by the Peru, road maintenance work is mainly done during the dry understanding that an additional income would be extremely season, with long hours of sunshine and only very little rain- beneficial to the family. fall. Distances can be long between the women’s residences and location of work. Sometimes they have to walk a few However, it is worth mentioning that even here – while infor- hours, leaving their houses at 4 o’clock in the morning to be mants express overall support - it becomes obvious that there able to get to work on time. At work, the conditions involve are certain power dynamics in place according to which the heavy work; loading trucks, sometimes at a distance and car- husbands play a significant role in taking decisions for their rying construction/maintenance materials such as stones etc. wives and for the family. The concept of male ‘permission’ Similarly, in Nicaragua, almost all participants emphasize that to women’s engagement in work outside the home is very they perceived the working conditions as rather hard, mostly present and should be taken into account in terms of pro- due to the exposure to the sun. However, participants also gram design. underline that they were willing to take that burden and that they did not bother too much about it. Double burden, managing work and family care re- sponsibilities. In Nicaragua and Peru, women roads work “Right now we are working in the road section Cami- participants reported that they found it difficult to manage naca-Achaya. The work is very heavy and hard. Sometimes the double burden resulting from work outside the home and we need to fill up 10 wheelbarrows. My hands are bursted household work. Women said they woke up very early in the and blistered” morning and went to bed late at night to ensure food was MEMV woman participant, Puno Peru, 45 years prepared, the school tasks of their children completed, sick family members taken care of and laundry done as well as the Short length of work opportunity. An issue that was only house cleaned. Even though women said they received some raised in Nicaragua by the majority of women MCA partici- support from female family members (mothers, daughters, pants interviewed for the study, was their feeling of frustration mothers-in-law) and neighbors, child care, in particular, was about the roads work opportunity being such short-term (6 an issue that presented difficult to reconcile with work, espe- months). The workers, after their 6 months of engagement, cially when children got sick. need to revert to previous levels of income. Former roads workers either work in agriculture again, or just at home, “We had to be at 7am in the road. I used to get up in or in informal and irregular jobs such as cleaning or wash- general at 4.30am to leave the food ready for my kids and ing clothes for others. Several participants expressed strong leave them to my mother. We spent the whole day in the interest in being called again for roads maintenance work. road, diverting cars. Then, we used to leave at 5.30pm and Generally, the participants are appreciative of the roads work we had to walk to our community for about 2km. I arrived opportunity and said they hoped similar opportunities will at home and I had to prepare the meal to my children and open to them. take care of them during the rest of the day. The next day I had to go through the same process” Gender-specific segregation of tasks. Another negative MCA woman participant, La Flor-Nicaragua, 27 years issue that emerged only in the Nicaragua study, was the feel- Roads to Agency 49 Box 8. Findings from women’s participation in VDLs As mentioned in section 3, the field work in Peru also included individual interviews with female beneficiaries of the Rural Development Windows (Ventanas de Desarrollo Local – VDL). Given the very limited number of VDL women participants interviewed, the findings of this intervention is presented separately in the form of a brief overview. The women interviewed as members of the productive projects promoted by the VDLs, were rural and poor, mostly Quechua and Aymara women from communities in the departments of Arequipa and Puno. Ten were interviewed in total, out of which four belonged to an association of organic farmers and six to a group of women weavers. Both groups received technical assistance and training to develop business plans, as well as targeted support offered by the project. Motivators to participation Previous work experience significantly contributed to women’s participation in the VDL. The concept of the VDL was building on prior work engagement as the main purpose was not to establish completely new jobs but rather improving ongoing efforts. The group of agricultural producers was motivated to engage in the VDLs to improve their health situation, learn about and improve their nutrition and produce healthier food. On the other hand, for the group of weavers, the main motivation was to learn about design and weaving techniques, as well as issues related to the marketing and commercialization of their products in new markets such as Arequipa and Lima. In both groups, training was possibly the main interest of women before joining, related to improving their products for sale and achieving higher revenue. As in all other beneficiary groups interviewed for this study, the potential to increase their income was also a major motivator for VDL participants. Their first additional income encouraged the VDL women to an even more active participation according to their testimonies. The weavers reported an increase in their income of up to 40 percent from before the VDL intervention. The agricultural producers said they achieved an increase between 10 percent and 15 percent after having participated in VDLs. Challenges encountered While working in this initiative, women were exposed to similar difficulties as MEMV participants. The group of weavers referred to their partners not supporting them in their activities. This resistance seemed to be due to husbands’ opposition to women leaving their house and attend meetings with other women. This again, is another expression of the controlling be- havior which is central to machismo culture and which in some cases was exacerbated by physical and psychological violence against women according to the testimonies shared by key informants. Interestingly though, a very different situation was described by the second group, the women farmers of organic products. These women reported no conflicts with their husbands or situations of domestic violence. Agricultural production was rather viewed as extending the family activities and was not understood as a challenge to men’s dominating role within the house- hold. Women farmers reported that they worked jointly with their husbands and even resorted to their older children to help in the cultivation of vegetables. On the other hand, the organization of weavers was introduced as a women’s organization, and therefore was perceived as a challenge to the ‘order in place’ in the eyes of partners. However, the problems faced by agricultural producers were related to criticism from some of the residents of the community, specifically from those farmers using pesticides in agriculture. These negative comments seem to be routed much more in market competition issues than in questioning women’s role in farming or productive activities. The groups of weavers were also criticized by community members – but in that case, the criticism focused around women becoming members of an organization and taking on more public roles and responsibilities, while public space was understood to be exclusively male. 50 Roads to Agency Box 8. Findings from women’s participation in VDLs (cont.) Finally, similar to the MEMV members, VDL participants also reported that they had to fulfill extremely long work days as they could not delegate the care and domestic work to anyone else, thus the work hours in VDLs were being added to their regular work day. “I suffered a lot of abuse from my ex –husband. He told me, ‘you’re a vagabond, a slut, I am sure you go to see your lovers’ ... At the time I was hurt, but not anymore. For me, a new life began and I’m fine now.” Woman participant of VDL, Puno Positive effects of the VDLs Women participants emphasized that their increased ability to manage their own income and their enhanced leadership skills were key positive outcomes of their participation in VDLs. They also referred to changes at the personal level such as increased self-confidence, ability to express their ideas, and interact with people including local authorities. Besides social barriers, women VDL participants had to overcome their own fears of not being sufficiently prepared and general doubts in their own capacities. The VDL suddenly placed them in the public sphere and required them to take on new challenges and confront new and unfamiliar situations. The work-related challenges led to insecurity with respect to their abilities. However, women interviewed emphasized that with the group effort and the support of other women, they were able to overcome this fear. Some of the women interviewed referred to political aspirations as a result from their increasingly public role experienced through the VDLs. The group of weavers in particular showed enthusiasm in political participation and several of their mem- bers are planning to actively participate in the upcoming October 2014 municipal elections. They referred directly to trainings and workshops around citizenship and rights awareness as having contributed to this projection. Similar to MEMV participants, the importance of meetings and ‘safe spaces’ provided for learning and sharing from other women producers and professionals has shown to be a very significant factor for the participants. VDL participants appreci- ated learning from other women. ing of exclusion from certain types of jobs perceived to be mothers, and we have to show to men, to the husbands, men’s jobs, especially from placing cobblestones. Women that we can also do the work they do” are given tasks that are considered ‘lighter’ work such as ad- Woman MCA participant, La Flor-Nicaragua, 20 years ministrative tasks or roads signaling etc. Several women ex- press their willingness to be given heavier tasks and the right In the community to choose the types of tasks they do. Women’s discontent with this situation is due to the fact that they are convinced Criticism and resistance from community members. In that given adequate training opportunities they would be Argentina and Peru, women participants in handicraft associ- well-prepared to handle this work since it is requires com- ations and roads works, respectively, experienced resistance parable physical strength to the agricultural work they have from community members. In Peru, women participants done before. were openly criticized by community members for engag- ing in what they considered to be men’s work and for taking “I would like to see more opportunities available for women on managerial positions in the MEMV. In Argentina, women to be able to further develop themselves as women. have not only entered more and more the formal education Because we have been assigned the role of housewives and sphere, but have also been leading the process around the Roads to Agency 51 recognition of the indigenous language and culture – partic- ularly in one of the selected communities, Pampa Grande. While men have actively participated in these processes, the main impulses came from the association of women. Women have played a key role in occupying this public space that in- volves negotiating with the government and public servants. Male community members were at odds with women taking on roles related to their leadership within women’s associa- tion around the recognition of the indigenous language and culture. This has caused some tensions in the community as women have entered traditionally male public spheres. Tradi- tionally, it was the male domain to protect the group against the “whites” and act as messengers. Men were responsible for communication with state representatives. Interestingly, this shows that while women’s economic empowerment does not necessarily lead to male resistance in a context of economic necessity, women’s greater voice and civic partic- ipation has not been welcomed by men in the community. “My husband’s family felt my participation in roads work was bad. They said I was wasting my time and not doing the things I need to do in the house. My neighbors were very jealous of my work, and male community authorities were also spiteful of my participation as President of the MEMV. I responded ‘if you want to participate, go on and participate, I will do the same, and we will see who wins the bidding process. Let’s participate because we are all free” MEMV woman participate, Chucuito, Puno-Peru, 45 years “Some men are envious and they tell me ‘you will have an affair with the engineers’ But I don’t pay attention to those evil comments, I work legally” MEMV woman participant, Azángaro, Puno-Peru, 45 years 52 Roads to Agency 5 Lesson Learned and Recommendations Reflecting on the study findings, this section identifies key lessons learned and strategies (Figure 4) to address: • barriers to participation; • address challenges in program participation; • enhance women’s agency during program participation; and • increase sustainability and scale-up gender approaches. Strategies to address with husbands or fathers if needed or to re-organize their barriers to participation household tasks (Dejardin 1996). Lesson learned #1: It takes multiple strategies For this reason it is important that the recruitment strategy to recruit women participants is gender-sensitive. This is a lesson learned particularly in the case of Nicaragua, where women interviewed that did The recruitment strategy adopted in rural roads projects itself not participate said they had not done so because of lack can aid or inhibit women’s participation. Recruitment pro- of information or the perception of bias in selection of new cedures which claim to be gender neutral (favoring neither recruits. There are a variety of recruitment tactics—including male nor female workers) assume that men and women through community leaders, using fliers, radio, and informa- would respond in the same way. Yet, women are usually not tion seminars. Each tactic has pros and cons in terms of time as physically mobile as men, do not frequent administrative and costs and ability to reach the most women. There are also centers equally, and thus are unlikely to obtain information important implications about which women will be reached made available only at village or district centers or at con- and who will not be reached with each strategy. For example, struction sites. They cannot rely solely on their husbands, fa- if recruitment is done through fliers, illiterate women may not thers or other male relatives to pass on information because be reached. Women with low self-esteem may be able to read those may not be in favor of women taking up paid work or a flier but not feel that they themselves are eligible for such a working alongside men in construction. Recruitment that is program. If recruitment is done through community leaders done on the same day as the start of construction work does important leadership buy-in may be gained, but women who not give women the chance to negotiate their participation are unknown or seen as unfit by the leaders may be excluded, Roads to Agency 53 Figure 2: Strategies to foster women’s participation and agency in rural roads work and productive activities Strategies to enhance Strategies to Strategies to address Strategies to increase women's agency address barriers challenges in program sustainability and scale-up during program to participation participation of gender approaches participation • Deploy a variety of • Alleviate harshness of • Combine technical and • Introduce measures to recruitment strategies working conditions life skills/language institutionalize gender in • Child care provision and • Sensitize construction training roads projects, e.g. part-time/flexible work unit staff and contractors • Leadership training and changes in operational • Community outreach • Change operational open opportunities to manuals and gender and awareness/ manual to enhance women to exercise quotas sensitization campaigns gender equality in leadership • Introduce a long-term • Affirmative action assignment of tasks • Development group perspective in initiatives measures • Incorporate domestic formation and mentorship to empower women violence sensitivity up interventions • Develop graduation front when incorporating • Disseminate role models. strategies to improve women in roads works • Disseminate the participants’ chances of community benefits of obtaining employment participating in roads after they exit from the work and associative rural roads program activities • Evidence-based advocac y • Open savings account even if these women would match the profile searched for. ods. The mayor initially resisted but was finally persuaded to Including women in social mobilization teams and informa- adopt the new recruitment methods, which involved: massive tion campaigns could also be devised. Women who currently publicity, involving multiple channels of communication, on participate in roads work or other productive activities can the recruitment procedures and a clear message that women share their experience with potential new recruits. Therefore, are welcome a multi-pronged recruitment strategy is needed to recruit women in work and rural productive activities. Lesson learned #2: Consider child care provi- sion and part-time/flexible work to address key In making recruitment more gender sensitive, a program binding constraints of women’s participation in usually has to deal with local administrative structures and productive activities practices, and with local norms and traditions. The Rwanda Special Public Works Program - Prefecture of Gitarama (1980- One of the main negative effects reviewed in this study is 1986) provides a good example of gender mainstreaming in the overly strong burdens that work outside the home put recruitment practices. For years, recruitment was undertak- on women – particularly those with child care duties. Their en by the mayor who preferred men, those who paid taxes work days increase significantly and it shows that while other and members of the political party. The project team com- female family members were supporting them by temporarily missioned a study by a local sociologist that provided rec- caring for their children, many of their domestic tasks could ommendations to improve women’s employment in public not be delegated to anyone - and men were not ready to works project in Rwanda (Correze 1989). The study led to reshuffle tasks within the household given the new family-re- the design and experimentation of new recruitment meth- spective assignments of remunerated work. Thus, for future 54 Roads to Agency implementation of similar projects it should be kept in mind to effectively address one of the main barriers to women’s that child care is an issue that might need to be addressed. involvement according to that research. Project activities can include the provision of on-site child care facilities, preferably run by senior women experienced in child Lesson learned #4: Develop and implement care and paid as workers under the program. India’s Maha- affirmative action measures rashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) imple- mented such a measure, and evidence suggests that women’s A key lesson learned was that affirmative action measures and participation in the program was as high as 40 percent even related measures were critical to increase women’s employ- without a quota (Subbarao 2003). Other program measures ment in rural roads projects as seen in the case of the MEMVs that can be considered are flexible scheduling, piece-rate in Peru. Given the context and specific project arrangements, wages, and part-time work to allow women to combine work the following are some affirmative action measures that can and family care/household responsibilities. These options are be included in rural roads projects: ideally explored through consultations with female beneficia- ries, for example, as part of community outreach efforts. The • Set a quota at the recruitment stage for a minimum per- works/tasks under the public works components under Ken- centage of women in the program. Monitor them regu- ya’s Youth Empowerment Project (2010-2016) are scheduled larly and apply sanctions to contractors who fail to deliver in a flexible manner so that women can still tend their daily these contracted “social deliverables”. However, it must domestic duties. Specifically, tasks were scheduled to be com- not be assumed that the existence of a quota will of itself pleted in 5 hours’ time (from 7 to 12 am) which allows for necessarily encourage women’s participation in the ab- other activities in the afternoon (Subbarao and others 2010, sence of other measures undertaken simultaneously. Government of Kenya 2010). • Integrate a gender component in the training of contrac- tors, and stress the principles of gender equality in access Lesson learned #3: Develop community out- to jobs and in wage levels. reach, awareness and sensitization campaigns • Ensure that productivity norms in the contracts recognize to reduce spouses and community resistance women’s capabilities, such as women’s experience in and women’s double burden participating in social organizations, and managing their household. In Nicaragua and Peru, women experienced a lot of criticism • Encourage women entrepreneurs to participate in train- and resistance from husbands, family and community mem- ing and tendering. bers for participating in roads work. Thus, a lesson learned • Include requirements in performance contract for activities from the study is the need to develop community outreach, that promote women empowerment (increasing number awareness and sensitization campaigns directed towards men of women in roads work staff and managerial` positions). aimed to change gender norms regarding women’s participa- tion in roads work and to alleviate women’s double burden. Community outreach activities can encompass a range of in- Strategies to address terventions and approaches, including: community meetings; challenges in program training or sensitization sessions with traditional authorities, participation community or religious leaders; street theatre and other cultural activities and demonstrations (see Lesson Learned Lesson learned #5: Find ways to alleviate #7 for other approaches targeting violence against women working conditions (VAW). It would be interesting to build on the finding from Nicaragua, where partners elaborated on their initial hesita- In Nicaragua and Peru, participants commented about the tions which they then overcame to fully support their wives harsh working conditions in roads work, mostly due to the in their participation. While the argument of economic needs exposure to the sun. The project team needs to devise ways seems to be the main factor behind that change in attitudes, to alleviate the harshness of work conditions through, for ex- additional research to dig deeper in such changes of attitudes ample, covered rest areas (for protection against the sun), the towards gender roles and division of labor within the house- provision of large straw hats, drinking water to ensure work- hold, would be important to inform program design on how ers are not dehydrated on the job, and include rest periods Roads to Agency 55 during the work day and separate toilet facilities for men and prevailing norms and values are such that wife beating is ac- women at worksites. These initiatives would benefit both men cepted. The husband sees his role as the family’s breadwin- and women workers in the projects. ner undermined and husbands seek to counteract women’s increase bargaining power. In these bargaining models, when Lessons learned #6: Address gender-segrega- violence is either instrumental and used to control the victim’s tion of tasks by sensitizing construction unit staff behavior or allocation of resources within the household (Es- and changing operational manual to expand waran and Malhotra 2011; Tauchen, Witte, and Long 1991), options for women to perform a variety of tasks or extractive and used to extract monetary transfers from the victim or her family (Bloch and Rao 2002), an increase in her In Nicaragua, women roads works participants complained income may increase domestic violence. that they were excluded from performing tasks that were deemed not appropriate – or ‘too heavy’ - for women. In the While the empirical evidence on the relationship between view of the project’s task team this explained the low rate of economic empowerment and domestic violence is mixed women’s participation in rural roads maintenance. This issue and economic empowerment can actually be essential in in- highlights some important lessons. First, the project should creasing women’s exit options out of abusive relationships maximize women´s employment in jobs that are deemed (Perova, Reynolds, Muller 2013), the qualitative findings of more appropriate for women, but without precluding future the Peru rural roads project emphasize the importance of un- entry into new areas of work. Second, program implement- derstanding local culture and social norms in implementing ers and technicians often set limits to women’s operations development policies. Without such understanding, policies on the basis of their own perceptions and reservations which to empower women might end up disempowering them. It women themselves do not hold or would readily put aside. is thus crucial that programs and policies that generate wom- Project staff should therefore leave to women the choice of en’s employment or transfer cash or other in-kind assets or which operation to undertake. In this regard, the roads project assistance understand how their programs could affect in- operations manual should be carefully reviewed and modi- tra-household dynamics. In contexts where women empow- fied in order to open up opportunities for women to perform erment programs may increase domestic violence, project a variety of tasks. In addition, gender sensitization training design could incorporate the following interventions that are can be provided to roads construction management and staff. suggested by the recently published Violence Against Wom- Third, social norms concerning the gender division of labor en’s Resource Guide8: are not as rigid as one might assume. The numbers of women in non-traditional, male-dominated operations are not always Interventions targeting women’s participants impressive. However, it is a fact that there are women in tasks never before imagined and that some projects have made • Include modules on VAW prevention, conflict resolution considerable progress, the first step being the most difficult strategies, negotiation skills, empowerment training, etc., to achieve. within life skills training. Raise women’s awareness about their rights, including the right to a life free of violence. Lesson learned #7: Understand and incorpo- Ensure the information is delivered in a format that is rate domestic violence sensitivity up front when easy to understand and culturally appropriate. At project designing programs that generate women’s check-in sites, after checking whether it is safe for par- employment and/or income ticipants, provide women and girls with information on available services and resources for survivors of VAWG. In some contexts, projects that increase female labor force • Promote mentorship and strategies to raise women’s participation or promote women’s empowerment have been self-esteem and self-confidence through peer networks, found to increase spousal violence such as may be the case as improved self-esteem and social support can protect of the rural transport project in Peru (Heath 2014, Chin 2012, against intimate partner violence. Ahmed 2011, Hjort and Villanger 2011, Cools and Kotsadam • Establish feedback and grievance mechanisms for project 2014, Hidrobo and Fernald 2013). Some bargaining model 8  Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University, Inter-Amer- theorists argue that increase in women’s economic resources ican Development Bank, and World Bank, 2014. Violence Against Women And Girls Resource Guide, 2014, Social Protection Brief and Finance and En- may lead to higher risk of domestic violence in settings where terprise Development Brief available in vawg.resourceguide.org 56 Roads to Agency participants. This helps to ensure that participants have a • Engage with men to garner community support for pro- voice in the ongoing implementation of the project, rath- grams targeting women. Involving men, particularly er than just being passive beneficiaries. Such an avenue community leaders, in programming can help to avoid is important for learning about what works well, but is potential negative repercussions in household dynam- especially key for documenting any “backlash” effects. A ics. In certain patriarchal societies where women require common approach is to provide a point of contact, such as permission from husbands or fathers, involving men will a social worker, who is trained to manage grievances and likely improve their participation. who can also support survivors through referrals for shel- ters, legal action, and other services. If these services are In addition, projects staff concerns with sexual harassment not available, supporting and coordinating with partners and VAW in the workplace, it is recommended that projects who can mobilize to put said services in place is essential. include VAW training and sensitization to key project staff and • Explore secure methods of transferring cash to women volunteers, particularly those who come into direct contact such as directly transferring funds to women’s personal with project beneficiaries. Establish codes of conduct for proj- bank accounts. If possible, assist women with acquiring ect personnel that include prevention of all forms of VAWG in the proper identification required for opening an account the workplace and within the project. In addition to receiving and work with banks to facilitate the process. Make use of training on preventing and responding to VAWG and on the mobile banking and other technology-based options that expected behavior, staff should be required to formally sign are often more accessible for women living in remote or the code of conduct and abide by its rules during the course rural areas. of their engagement with the project. Interventions targeting community members and male partners Strategies to enhance women’s agency during • Explain the program to community leaders and key mem- program participation bers of the community (both men and women) in order to garner their support, and be sensitive to cultural norms Lesson learned #8: Combine technical and life to avoid negative repercussions of women’s employment skills training and training (Box 9). For example in a World Bank-fund- ed Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) program In Argentina and Peru, women participants reported bene- implemented by the International Rescue Committee fiting from technical and life skills training opportunities as it project included a prevention of VAW component. This enabled them to take on more challenging and better paid consisted of Gender Dialogue Groups (GDG), in which functions, achieve greater self-confidence and self-esteem, participants discussed the characteristics of successful and in some cases establish their own construction enterpris- households and learned about healthy relationships and es and become sub-contractors for maintenance works. Proj- conflict resolution. Both men and women were randomly ect activities should therefore provide both types of training selected into two groups: the VSLA alone or the VSLA opportunities for women workers so that increased take-up of with an eight-session Gender Dialogue Group. Although opportunities can be granted. not statistically significant, an impact evaluation found that the combination of GDGs and VSLAs reduced the Lesson learned #9: Provide leadership training incidence of VAW. Women also experienced increased and open opportunities for women to exercise empowerment, financial autonomy, and reported more leadership equitable gender attitudes and household decision-mak- ing. Overall, GDGs were found to be an acceptable meth- All projects reviewed in this study opened up opportunities for od for involving men and women to improve shared women to exercise their management and leadership skills. In decision-making, communication, mutual respect, and the case of Nicaragua and Peru, the projects provided rural gender norms, while simultaneously offering economic women with training and skills to take on supervisory and benefits to the woman and her household (Hossain and managerial functions. In the case of Peru, women were able others 2010). to establish their own roads maintenance micro-enterprises Roads to Agency 57 and become sub-contractors for maintenance works. In the Mentoring may be an effective program component within ru- case of Argentina, women were able to exercise their leader- ral roads projects. Buvinic and others (2013) considers mento- ship skills within their community through their membership ring to be high potential intervention in projects that enhance in QCR associations. These are invaluable experiences that women’s empowerment although there is little rigorous infor- expand women’s agency and have the potential to change mation in their impact. Mentors can fulfill a variety of roles: community gender norms as women have more presence in Mentors can act as advisors by sharing their knowledge and the public sphere and decision-making fora. experience with mentees, and provide advice on employment, business start-up, as well as other issues affecting women’s Lesson learned #10: Develop group formation development. Mentors can be role models by demonstrating and mentorship activities to enhance agency appropriate and positive behavioral choices. Mentors can fol- low-up with women in their daily lives to motivate and guide In rural context, women are often more socially isolated than them in making good choices. Mentors can also be resource men, which is why mobilizing women into groups, such as in helpers; they can refer mentees to services (e.g. business ad- the case of the QCR in Argentina, proved to be the cornerstone visory services, education and training opportunities, health of enhancing agency. The QCR women handicraft associations services, etc). Equipped with the appropriate training and provided pathways for women to connect and organize, and capacity-building, mentors can serve as educators. together marshal the courage to try out new ways to better their lives. Associations have helped raise women’s awareness, Lesson learned #11: Disseminate examples of aspirations and interest in investing in their assets and capa- women role models in roads work and other bilities. Therefore, rural transport projects should consider traditionally male jobs creating a ‘safe space’, or providing a place where woman can gather regularly (at least weakly) to meet peers, consult with Women need female models to follow, notably in tradition- mentors, acquire skills, and deal with personal problems. ally male dominated jobs, and women´s talents need to be 58 Roads to Agency disseminated so that other women can see them. This is one Strategies to address of the lessons of the Peru case study. Peer admiration was a sustainability and scale-up key enabling factor for women’s participation in MEMV roads work. In addition, MEMV female workers felt inspired by fe- of gender approaches male engineers leading road works to continue learning new Lessons learned #14: Introduce measures to skills. Implementation agencies could make more visible institutionalize the participation of women experiences of those women already working in rural road in roads staffing and in managerial positions projects –for example: collecting and sharing their successful through for example changes in operational stories, displaying photos of women performing roads work, manual introduction of female quotas and highlighting the number and percentage of women work- ing in the sector. Projects should introduce measures to institutionalize the par- ticipation of women in roads staffing and managerial gender Lesson learned #12: Disseminate the communi- in managerial positions aimed to counter the risks affecting ty benefits of labor participation in roads work continuity of women’s increased participation in roads work, and associative activities once the project ends. The Peru Decentralized Rural Trans- port Project (DRTP) (2007-2013) offers an example of how Besides the common benefits of having a job, like a sala- gender approaches can be tried, tested, and institutionalized ry, the Argentina and Nicaragua case studies revealed that into rural roads operations. The lessons learned of gender women seem to value jobs in which they can contribute inclusion in Peru Rural Roads I and II where incorporated into to their community. This was a key enabling factor for par- a gender action plan for subsequent rural roads operations, ticipating in the handicraft associations and roads work, in which also resulted in modifying the projects’ operational Argentina and Nicaragua, respectively. By emphasizing the manual to enhance women’s participation in the rural roads community benefits of rural road projects, women might scheme. Also, if legally feasible, female quotas in roads work find those type of jobs even more attractive given the staffing and managerial positions can be introduced as more changes their contribution can bring to their communities. long-term incentive to increase women’s participation in con- Moreover, in the case of indigenous women in Argentina, struction, rehabilitation, maintenance, and management of the benefits of participating in an association appear as a transport infrastructure. definitive self-esteem booster. Lessons learned #15: Gender interventions that Lesson learned #13: Provide support for wom- seek to enhance women’s agency and empow- en to open savings accounts erment should have a long-term perspective The study findings make clear that women’s income gen- Rural infrastructure projects that have a gender-focused in- eration as a result of their participation in rural roads em- tervention designed to enhance women’s agency and em- ployment, and their control over their income, contributed to powerment should be designed in such a manner that brings increased agency. To bolster the effects of increased control in the long term perspective, as part of how you design that of income on women’s agency, the projects should provide intervention in and of itself. Instead of focusing on women’s support for women to open savings account, which has been participation during project implementation only, equipping identified as a proven intervention to increase women’s em- women with tools to develop longer term initiatives (eco- powerment in the recent flagship report A Roadmap For nomic, political etc.) will sustain changes in terms of em- Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment (Buvinic and powerment and agency in a much more effective way. That others 2013). In India’s Maharashtra Employment Guarantee is a lesson from the QCR Initiative in Argentina. The project Scheme (MGNREGS) positive changes in women’s status investment in the handicraft centers and capacity building of appear to be especially linked to women’s access to MGN- women handicraft associations aims to contribute to long- REGS income through their own bank accounts (Holmes and term economic opportunities for women, and thus benefits Jones 2011). will go beyond the life of the project. In Peru too, the MEMV model (as explained in Box 4) was designed to create job Roads to Agency 59 opportunities with a long-term and self-sustaining perspec- tive. An important feature of the MEMV program is that the program provides incentives for the micro-entrepreneurs to keep some of the profits and invest them in other economic activities diversifying their potential sources of income. Thus, MEMVs not only manage the routine maintenance activities but also use the training opportunities to create new econom- ic activities for themselves. Lessons learned #16: Develop graduation strategies to improve participants’ chances of obtaining employment after exiting from the rural roads program Projects can also devise graduation strategies for participants such as providing women with training on financial literacy, job search, and business development skills and access to credit to improve participants’ chances of obtaining perma- nent employment or of becoming self-employed once they exit the program. This is a lesson learned from the rural roads project in Nicaragua where women workers said they were frustrated that the roads maintenance and construction job was short term and temporary. The interviews with Nicara- gua MCA participants revealed that women use their salary to pay back debt, repair or improve their house, buy specific things for their kids – but not for longer term investments. Supporting women in making longer-term, potentially pro- ductive investments could be one option to extend the posi- tive effect from their participation further. The new pilot that will be implemented under the Additional Financing of the 5th Rural Roads Improvement Project plans to expand wom- en’s work opportunities beyond only roads maintenance and construction by incorporating women into micro-enterprises to enhance long-term job prospects of women. Lesson learned #17: Build the evidence base on the benefits of women’s participation in rural roads and rural development schemes for advocacy with key stakeholders Finally, studies like this help to build the evidence base for advocacy with key stakeholders. Rural transport projects can include light quantitative and/or qualitative studies as part of project activities to assess the impact of women’s participation in roads works and productive activities linked to rural econ- omy revitalization. This evidence would inform government and development institutions to scale-up or replicate wom- en’s agency enhancing strategies in rural transport projects. 60 Roads to Agency 6 Discussion and conclusion The overarching conclusion from the study is that women’s integration into rural roads projects enhances their agency, thus projects should capitalize on that. We apply the WDR 2012 framework to understand how project activities to integrate women in ru- ral roads works and ancillary activities had an impact on key determinants of gender outcomes ( functioning of markets, formal and informal institutions, and households), which in turn affected the three dimensions of gender equality: endowments, economic opportunities, and agency (Figure 3). With regards to markets, the projects opened up new em- increased incidence of domestic violence, which demands ployment and income generating opportunities for women up-front attention when designing programs that increase through quotas, targets, recruiting strategies, and formation women’s economic empowerment especially in countries of handicraft associations. In Nicaragua and Peru the strong that already have a high incidence of domestic violence. economic need of household and the substantial higher wage of roads work jobs compared to similar local jobs, provided In turn, these determinants had the three dimensions of a strong incentive for women to participate in roads work. gender equality outcomes, as follows: Women’s entry into non-traditional market work in Nicaragua and Peru, and women’s participation in handicraft association • Technical, soft and job training increased women’s educa- in Argentina challenges prevailing social norms (informal tional endowments. institutions) on women’s roles, abilities and participation in • Access to jobs and income, increased women’s econom- public spheres. The projects were also instrumental in broad- ic opportunities, and ening women’s networks through their participation in the • A combination of project interventions increased wom- formal labor market, in community-run roads work organiza- en’s agency, which we analyze below using Perova and tions (Nicaragua) and microenterprises (Peru) and handicraft Vakis framework. associations (Argentina), and participants’ greater physical mobility. Social network give women increased access to Perova and Vakis (2013) identify two aspects of agency: the peers, social support and information. In addition, wom- internal aspect (i.e. the internal motivation to make a choice en’s income and control over their income had an impact or the willingness to act upon one’s desires) and the external on their bargaining power within the household, especially aspect (measures to overcome exogenous constraints (ex- in Argentina and Nicaragua. Husbands felt more respect for ternal, or context-related). Figure 4 presents the key exter- their wives and valued them more when they became income nal and internal aspects or enablers of agency that emerged earners. In Peru, women roads works participants reported from the qualitative research for this study. Women par- Roads to Agency 61 Figure 3: Drivers of changes in agency Key entry points to enhance women’s agency: • Non-traditional jobs and income (influence markets, informal institutions, households) economic opportunities, agency • Technical and soft skills, on the job-training (all countries) greater endowments, agency • Networking and group formation, e.g. Argentina QCR handicraft associations (informal institutions) agency (greater voice and participation) • Opportunity to exercise leadership, e.g. Argentina QCR, Peru MEMV, Nicaragua MCAs) (informal institutions) agency (greater voice and participation) Pol INFORMAL icie s INSTITUTIONS Change in social norms on women’s roles and abilities; build social MARKETS networks Opening new ENDOWMENTS HOUSEHOLDS employment Allocation of ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES opportunities for resources and women; female care/house work AGENCY autonomous earnings INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS DETERMINANTS OF GENDER EQUALITY DIMENSIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY OUTCOMES ticipants in roads work and rural productive activities re- that women’s increased income and their control over their ported increased self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-confidence, own income enhanced women’s agency, which had impacts decision-making capacity, leadership and assertiveness, as on intra-household gender power relations. a result of conquering new skills and know-how, and par- ticipating in public spheres of community engagement. The The study shows how external barriers limiting women’s opportunity to venture into new spheres and non-traditional agency can (slowly) be deconstructed by proactive mea- roles and performing new tasks, gave them confidence in sures focused on increasing women’s participation in the their own capacities helped them envision a better future public sphere (work or community participation) and their for themselves (and their families) and take control over taking on non-traditional roles, such as working in roads their own future. Networking, socialization, and group for- construction and maintenance. While husbands and com- mation activities increased learning and boosted women’s munity members might have had initial doubts, concerns, morale and self-assurance. Furthermore, the study shows or even resistance to these new roles, the projects offered 62 Roads to Agency Figure 4: External and internal enablers of agency EXTERNAL INTERNAL • Non-traditional job opportunity • Increased control over income, and income autonomy, and independence. • Technical and soft skills and on • Increased sense of self-efficacy, the job training self-esteem, ‘can do feeling’ • Change of social norms on women’s • Increased decision-making power roles, capacities all countries. within the household • Networking, socialization, group • Increased voice in public spheres formation, mentorship • Increased aspirations for personal • Opportunity to exercise leadership development a scenario where women stepped into non-traditional roles grams, e.g. agricultural extension, rural financial services, and such as workers in roads maintenance and public sphere business development skills. such as members of (handicraft) associations. Seeing wom- en perform and perform well, challenged traditional gender While this study has helped to uncover some of the agen- stereotypes. While everyone might not have immediately cy-enhancing effects of women’s participation in roads work agreed to such new roles, initiatives such as the ones studied and ancillary activities, quantitative data collection and analy- in this report are a small step in changing gender norms and sis is recommended to uncover the magnitude of changes in increasing gender equality. women’s agency using proxy measures of agency. On the other hand, community and husbands’ resistance – sometimes expressed in the form of violence as in some cases in Peru – also highlights how external constraints to women’s agency have to be addressed with additional and complimentary interventions. Project design should include measures to address women-specific barriers to participate, such as villagers and husbands’ resistance to women’s work in male-dominated trades through community outreach and sensitization, as well as gender-specific lifecycle demands such as providing child care facilities that are culturally sensi- tive and offering flexible working hours to help balance do- mestic responsibilities and employment activities. Lastly, given the time-bound nature of rural roads employ- ment, project design should at the outset include activities that capitalize on women’s enhanced agency through pro- moting cross-institutional linkages to complementary pro- Roads to Agency 63 References Abidemi, Asiyambola, 2002. 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Methodology of case studies 1 Research questions • Existence of ongoing and pipeline operations in the coun- try on rural transport that could directly incorporate study The study aimed to assess whether and how women’s agency recommendations; and was affected by women’s participation in rural roads construc- • Different approaches taken in incorporating women’s tion maintenance and ancillary rural productive activities in participation in roads work and rural productive activities areas where roads have been rehabilitated. linked to rural roads built and rehabilitated. The main questions analyzed in the study were: Research instruments • Enablers and barriers for women’s participation: What A guiding principle of this research was to learn from indi- have been barriers/constraints and facilitators of involv- viduals’ experiences and interpretations of their own reality. ing women into such activities at the individual, house- Thus, the study relied on qualitative data collection which hold, and community level? allows for capturing individual experiences in terms of aspi- • Positive and negative effects of women’s participation: rations, self-esteem, behaviors, beliefs, opinions, emotions, What have been potential positive and negative effects intra-household and community-level dynamics, contextual of such involvement at the individual, household, and factors and their interactions with women’s and men’s deci- community level? sions (Table 2). • Agency effects of women’s participation: How have the gender related activities incorporated into the rural roads The following instruments were applied for this study: project affected agency? Has the inclusion of women in activities that are traditionally carried out by men and • Semi structured interviews were conducted with women the access to income generation led to effects on as- participants in the specific intervention, their partners, pirations and life plans, perceptions of gender roles, their children, women who did not participate as well as decision-making capacity within the household, and de- their partners. Individual interviews were the predomi- cision-making capacity, voice and representation outside nant research instrument given that those allow for in- their household. formants to very openly share benefits and difficulties encountered during the experience from a personal Research methodology perspective in a secure environment. This instrument seems particularly appropriate when collecting sensitive information and personal histories. Selection of case studies • Focus group discussions were also conducted to vali- date the findings from the semi-structured individual Three rural transport projects were selected in Argentina, Nic- interviews .Key informant interviews with community aragua, and Peru, whose combined characteristics can gener- members. ate a representative mix of recommendations that can help to improve targeted activities to promote women’s agency The research instruments for each informant group were de- and economic empowerment. The criteria for selecting the veloped for Nicaragua first,. Following that, the Nicaragua in- projects included: struments were adapted, piloted and adjusted for both other settings (Peru and Argentina). This way, consistency as well as • Explicit demand and support conveyed by the Bank’s contextual meaningfulness could be established. Country Management Unit in each country and imple- menting agency; Roads to Agency 67 Table 12. Questions and topics in interviews and focus groups Data collection Themes method Semi structured • Identify the factors that facilitated the participation of women in rural roads works and ancillary interviews with livelihood activities. women rural • Find out about the social, cultural, physical, economic barriers that women experienced during their roads project participation in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities; i.e. conflict in the home, gender participants based violence, domestic violence, negative view of community of women working. • Identify the positive contribution of the inclusion of women in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities; i.e. income, control over income, increase in knowledge and know-how, improved self-esteem, networking with other women redistribution of household chores, strengthening capacity for action and decision-making, increased empowerment, enhanced aspirations for personal development, strengthened marital relationship, strengthened bargaining power within the household, and decision-making power in the community, • Find out about women’s aspirations and how they are taking action over their goals. How did women take advantage of the learning opportunities during the work experience? How have their aspirations/ dreams changed since they began participating? Semi structured • Explore thoughts/feelings about wife’s/ mother’s participation in roads works and ancillary livelihoods interviews with activities. partners and • Identify enabling factors for wife’s/mother’s participation in roads works and ancillary livelihoods other family activities. members of • Understand decision-making process around participation. women rural • Find out about perception of problems arising during wife’s/ mother’s engagement (reaction of other roads project community members, difficulties faced during work etc.) participants • Identify positive or negative changes in the household due to her participation in rural roads and ancillary livelihood activities from the perspective of other household members (changes in their partner/mother, changes in the marital relations, redistribution of household chores, increased income, conflicts etc.), . • Explore process after completion of wife’s/ mother’s participation in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities (approval of other household members for future similar engagements etc.) Semi structured • Find out why women did not participate in rural works or ancillary activities (e.g. lack of information, with women caring for children, husband did not let her, not interested, work is too far away, etc). non-participants • Find out whether women would be interested in participating in similar work, activities. • Find out about women’s aspirations. • Understand gender roles and stereotypes shared by informants and prevalent in the community • What are the effects of the roads newly constructed or rehabilitated for herself, her family, the community? Key informant • Understand the context of the communities where women who participated live: interviews - What are the social and economic conditions in the community and in the households and how do they influence/condition the participation of women? - What are the opportunities (jobs, income, other, offered to women that integrated in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities? • Listen to the opinion of key local actors of the factors that enables or constrained the participation of women in project activities. - What are the reasons why women participated in rural roads works and ancillary livelihood activities? - What factors influenced positively for women to participate in rural roads works and ancillary livelihoods activities? - What changes have women participants experienced as a result of their participation in rural roads works and ancillary livelihoods activities? - What suggestions and recommendations do the informants have to improve women’s experience? - What are the impacts of the rural roads rehabilitation/ construction? 68 Roads to Agency Table 13. Individual interviews and focus groups conducted Argentina Nicaragua Peru PERU Type QCR Initiative MCA MEMV VDL Semi-structured For each community (3 For each community (3 For each community (3 • 6 women participants interviews communities in total): communities in total): communities in total): of VDL in Puno • 8 women participants • 7 women participants • 7 women participants • 4 women participants of the women of MCAs of MEMVs in VDL Arequipa centers • 3 women not • 6 women not • 2 women not participants of MCAs participants of participants of • 3 men, partners of MEMVs women centers women participants • 3 men, partners of • 2 men, partners of in MCAs women participants women participants • 2 men not partners of in MEMVs of women centers women participants • 4 men not partners of • 2 men not partners of in MCAs women participants women participants • 3 children of women in MEMVs of women centers working in MCAs • 3 children of women working in MEMVs TOTAL: 42 TOTAL: 54 TOTAL: 69 Focus groups For each community (3 For each community (3 For each community (3 communities in total): communities in total): communities in total): • 1 women • 1 women • 1 women participants of participants of MCAs participants of women centers • 1 women not MEMVs participants of MCAs • 1 women not participants of MEMVs TOTAL: 3 TOTAL: 6 TOTAL: 6 (6-10 participants each) (4-6 participants each) (4-6 participants each) Key informant • 6 key informants • 17 key informants • 15 key informants • 4 key informants, interviews Puno intervention • 2 key informants, Arequipa intervention Name of • Pampa Grande • Malacatoya, Granada • Arequipa • Arequipa communities • El Espinillo • Moyogalpa, La Flor • Cajamarca • Puno • Fortín Lavalle • Rivas, Veracruz • Puno Roads to Agency 69 Communities selection In Peru, the project had a national scope, intervening in 21 out of the 27 departments. The selected communities are located In each country, the research teams jointly with the local proj- in three departmental areas, Cajamarca in the northern high- ect teams identified the communities to conduct data collec- land, Arequipa in coastal southern highlands and Puno in the tion, based on the overall goal to include communities that southern highland. Within these three departments, seven were ‘different’ one from the other in terms of socioeconomic provinces were chosen for the study; two in Cajamarca and situations, stage at which they had been included into the Puno and three in Arequipa. These departments were also roads project, level of female engagement within the com- selected based on the percentage of women’s participation munities roads works in order to represent a possibly wide in the MEMVs. Arequipa and Puno are the second and third range of realities. departments with the highest percentage of women (45 and 44 percent respectively); while Cajamarca was the only one In Argentina, three women community centers that are part with the exact minimum percentage as indicated per quota11. of the Qom Culture Route (QCR) initiative were selected in three communities, Pampa Grande, El Espinillo and Fortín Sampling and participants’ recruitment Lavalle. The rationale for the sample selection takes into ac- count the existing organizational process of each center in or- The study relied on relatively small samples selected purpose- der to establish good comparisons that capture the different fully. The sample size was determined by aiming at a realis- experiences and problems encountered: the Pampa Grande tic number of participants given the total potential number association, formed 20 years ago, has actively participated in of informants for each community and aimed at ensuring the design and implementation of the Indigenous Peoples comparability between the three case studies. In typical case Plan (IPP) prepared for the works carried out under the Norte sampling participants are recruited according to preselected Grande Road Infrastructure Project in Provincial Route N° 3 in criteria relevant to a particular research question. Typical cas- the Province of Chaco (Route N° 3); a second group of El Es- es are those close to the issue who possess characteristics of pinillo, formed 3 years ago from a crafts development project interest and are likely to share what they know (Patton 2002). in the municipality; and the last group of Fortín Lavalle, with less than a year of creation is the ones which most benefited Participant groups were defined by the need to complement of the road construction intervention. information from beneficiaries, those that are not beneficia- ries, as well as their partners given the strong focus on gender In Nicaragua, three road sections communities were selected: norms and intra-household dynamics potentially affected by Granada – Malacatoya, Rivas – Veracruz and Moyogalpa – La the intervention involved in the study. Within groups, efforts Flor. These communities were selected taking into account were made to include a range of different type of informants, the percentage of women participating and the round of fi- due to the extent possible given the small sample to choose nancing/project that each road section belonged to. For the from and given the need to adapt to recruitment support by study, only road segments from the Fourth Roads Rehabil- intermediates such as for instance the project implementing itation and Maintenance Project (referred as the 4th Roads agency in the case of Nicaragua and Peru or the women’s Project) and Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project associations themselves in Argentina. (referred as the 5th Roads Project) were considered9. The rea- son for this was that during the Fourth Project only indirect Research teams and ensuring methodological consistency encouragement took place to incentive women’s participation The research was conducted in three different countries, us- in roads works, while under the 5th Roads Project the Minis- pating has been achieved (50 percent). On the other hand, Rivas – Veracruz try of Transport and Industry started to explicitly encourage (also from the 5th roads project) was selected because the percentage of women’s participation. The selection of the different seg- women participating (27 percent) was around the average of all the roads sections under the 5th project. Finally, Moyogalpa –La Flor was selected as a ments aimed at representing a wide share of levels of wom- representative case from the 4th roads project with a percentage of women en’s participation in roads works.10 participation of 14 percent (very close to the average women participation). 11  The Gender Action Plan included a 10 percent gender quota in the 9  Under the 4th Roads Project and its Additional Financing 25 road sec- routine maintenance microenterprises, measures to promote women’s par- tions (11 and 14 respectively) were financed. Under the 5th Roads Project 5 ticipation in the Local Development Window (Ventanas de Desarrollo - VDL), roads sections were financed. and training sessions and workshops for the women and men benefiting 10  The road segment of Granada – Malacatoya from the 5th roads project from these two programs in order to facilitate women’s inclusion and ensure was selected because this is where the highest percentage of women partici- the respectful interaction between genders. (DRTP ICR, 2014) 70 Roads to Agency ing the same data collection instruments and the same set collection team comprised of a research coordinator, one of questions for the respective categories of informants. This field work coordinator, two research assistants that conducted permitted a multi-country assessment of similarities, differ- the qualitative interviews and three research assistants for the ences and emerging patterns. quantitative survey12. In total, the team visited 44 communi- ties for a total of 93 semi structured interviews. The local research teams in each country consisted of lead researchers with extensive country knowledge and experi- Data processing and analysis ence in collecting and analyzing qualitative data. The central research team organized workshops with each individual All interviews were recorded, transcribed and then organized country team to ensure understanding of the overall research in an excel sheet which has been organized prior to data purpose, qualitative instruments, as well as quality criteria collection according to a deductive definition of key themes to ensure trustworthiness in qualitative data collection. Fur- and categories. This aimed to ensure better confidence thermore, the workshops aimed to facilitate a discussion of and trustworthiness of the data. Particularly in the case of a research instruments with the local team conducting the qual- multi-country study, proper and reproducible data organi- itative data collection to ensure local appropriateness in terms zation is extremely important so that anyone using the data of language, context, and project specificity. at any point could follow or validate the analysis process. In addition to the pre-defined deductive themes and categories, Fieldwork each country team added themes that had emerged from their particular data. The analysis was done based on these In Nicaragua, fieldwork started early March 2014 and was organized data sheets with key themes and categories. completed by end April 2014 for the communities Malacatoya too much details for the main text - Granada, Moyogalpa - La Flor and Veracruz Rivas- Veracruz. The program for the fieldwork was arranged with the support Key characteristics of female project partici- of technical staff from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastruc- pants interviewed for the study ture who advised on the communities to be included in the study, facilitated access to the study participants, and support- Figures 5 and 6 and Table 13 present some key characteristics ed the logistics and organization of focus groups. Qualitative of the female project participants interviewed in this study. In data collection was carried out by a team comprised by a terms of education level, Figure 1 shows that women QCR research coordinator, a senior researcher, and two research participants in Argentina have lower education level than assistants. female rural roads participants in Nicaragua and Peru. Two thirds of QCR participants interviewed had completed or had In Argentina, fieldwork started in May 2014 and was complet- some primary education. In contrast, in Peru and Nicaragua ed by the end of June 2014 in the departments of General the majority of women rural roads participants had secondary Güemes and Libertador General San Martín in the Province of and even tertiary education as in Nicaragua MCA participants. Chaco. The selection process was participatory, several meet- In terms of marital status, two thirds of Argentina QCR partic- ings were held to explain the research objectives. Women ipants interviewed are married, whereas half of women MCA from the selected communities proposed themselves to be participants in Nicaragua and Peru are married and the rest part of the study and advised and informed other women of are single mothers or widowed. Argentina QCR participants the community that were not part of the women centers to had on average four children, while Nicaragua MCA and Peru participate as well. MEMV participants had on average two and three children, respectively. In Peru, fieldwork started early June 2014 and was completed by early July 2014 in the departments of Arequipa, Cajamar- 12  Peru was the only country study that conducted a quantitative survey ca, and Puno. The communities that were visited within each that attempted to display various aspects of agency of women MEMV par- province were selected with the help of the Provincial Roads ticipants and non-participants (60 women surveyed each. The survey was conducted in Arequipa (Caylloma Valley and Islay), Cajamarca (Jaen and Institutes (Institutos Viales Provinciales), who also provided San Ignacio) and Puno (Azángaro and Chucuito-Juli). Results of the quanti- information on where to locate the board members of the tative survey are not presented in this report because they were not deemed to provide sound conclusions in terms of the effect of the intervention on microenterprises and the VDLs in each community. The data women’s agency. Roads to Agency 71 Table 14. Personal characteristics of women project participants inter- viewed Women participants Average Children per Women Average Age Argentina QCR participants 4 39 Nicaragua MCA participants 2 34 Peru MEMV participant 3 35 Peru VDL participants 2 48 Figure 5: Education level of woman participants 25 3 None - N/A 20 1 4 Complete Tertiary 3 1 3 8 1 Incomplete Tertiary 15 7 Complete Secondary 10 6 3 Incomplete Secondary 15 4 1 2 5 2 Complete Primary 1 1 3 5 3 Incomplete Primary 0 Argentina QCR Nicaragua MCAs Peru MEMV Peru VDL participants participants participants participants Figure 6: Marital Status of Woman Participants Interviewed 25 2 1 3 20 2 6 15 7 9 Widow 10 1 Single 15 3 5 12 10 Single Mother 6 Married/ Domestic Part. 0 Argentina QCR Nicaragua MCAs Peru MEMV Peru VDL participants participants participants participants 72 Roads to Agency Annex 2. Methodology of case studies 2 Argentina: 2011 (97.4 percent). This puts Argentina now slightly above Status of Gender Issues14 the average for upper-middle-income (UMC) countries (96.6 percent, 2010) and significantly above LAC average (89 per- cent). Similarly, the maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live Argentina has made great strides toward gender equality over births) suffered a significant increase in the 2000s but has the past three decades. Although it is among the leaders in now dropped again to a level significantly below the LAC Latin America in some gender indicators, such as political par- average (69 versus 85, 2013). The nature and severity of ticipation at the national level, and basic education in terms of problems facing Argentine women vary substantially in dif- literacy and primary school enrollment, the country compares ferent geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic groups, less favorably to its upper-middle-income countries cohort in especially with respect to maternal mortality. For example, in key areas, including teenage pregnancy and maternal mor- Jujuy, there are 165 deaths per 100,000 live births because of tality rates. This annex examines the status of gender issues maternal-related causes, while the count for the city of Bue- in Argentina from the framework of the World Development nos Aires is only 18.4. Report (WDR) 2012: Gender Equality and Development. That report identified three key dimensions of gender equality Male health outcomes. Compared to women, men face outcomes: (a) endowments (education and health); (b) eco- less positive health outcomes, especially for life expectancy, nomic opportunities, and (c) agency that are closely related and mutually reinforcing. Gender equality across all three of non-communicable diseases, accidents, and injuries (includ- these dimensions is important for reducing poverty, promot- ing suicide and violence)15. ing equity, and enhancing overall growth and productivity of current as well as future generations. Gender equality in economic opportunities Labor force participation. Female labor force participation Gender equality in endowments 2003-2013 declined slightly, from 64.6 percent to 63.9 per- cent.6 Women are more likely to be engaged in informal7 work Education. Consistent with most Latin American and Carib- compared to men (40.2 versus 34.5 percent, 2013). The gen- bean (LAC) countries, the gender gap in education increases der gap in unemployment is particularly large for youth (24.0 as the level of education rises. Where there is virtual gender percent for girls compared to 18.0 percent for boys, 2013). parity in terms of primary school enrollment rates (female-to- male ratio: 0.98, 2011)3 boys face challenges in post-primary Gender wage gap. The gender wage gap has been closing education retention. The ratio of female-to-male enrollment over the past decade (females made only 78 percent of the in secondary and education shows a gap favoring girls (1.11 average male’s earnings in 2010, up from 2000, when females and 1.56 respectively, 2011). made 72 percent of male earnings). At the same time, wom- en comprise the majority of the Argentine adult population Sexual and reproductive health. There has been some having no income of their own (22.8 percent of women ver- backsliding in maternal health indicators over the last decade, sus 9.7 percent of men)16. but most recent data show again a positive trend. Contra- ceptive use in Argentina is above the LAC average (78.3 percent versus 75 percent, 2005). While the percentage of Gender equality in agency births attended by skilled health staff has dropped from 99.4 Political participation. Women in Argentina hold 37.4 per- percent in 2007 to 94.9 percent in 2010, it improved again in 13  If not mentioned specifically otherwise – data used in this paragraph 15  Fernando Lavadenz, Julie Ruel-Bergeron, and Alejandra Leytón. Health stem from The World Bank: World Development Indicators Promotion: Talking About Gender Equality, What Can We Do For Men in 14  World Bank Country Partnership Strategy For The Argentine Republic Argentina? (En Breve, forthcoming). for the Period FY15-18 16  CEPAL Gender Observatory 2012, data for urban areas only Roads to Agency 73 cent (2012) of the seats in Parliament, far above the LAC and citizens and prohibits gender-based discrimination. Electoral UMC averages (24.5 percent, 2012 and 21.9 percent, 2012, laws call for a gender-balanced representation in Parliament. respectively). However, female representation is much lower Nicaragua scores well on laws and regulations affecting wom- at the local level, as only 10.2 percent of mayors are female en’s prospects as entrepreneurs and employees. There are no (CEPAL 2012). legal inequalities in terms of accessing institutions and prop- erty and Nicaragua has laws mandating equal pay and pro- Gender-based violence. In Argentina, 20 percent of cou- tecting maternity benefits, and provides publically-financed, ples experience violence within the home (2008). Disturbing- mandatory primary education19.20 Interestingly, the mini- ly, 42 percent of female murder victims were killed by their mum legal age for marriage (with parental authorization) is intimate partners and 37 percent of women that have been only 14 years for women and 15 years for men. Most recently, beaten by their partners endure this situation for 20 years or Nicaragua passed a new Law on Violence against Women more.17 (February 22, 2012) that mandates punishment for different types of violence, defines habitual abuse as a separate of- Teenage pregnancy. The adolescent fertility rate for females fense and makes mediation inadmissible in cases of violence. ages 15-19 has declined slowly but steadily: while in 2000 it The Government has a strong gender policy which has been stood at 64.3 births per 1,000 women, it declined to 54.3 in internalized in most ministries striving to ensure women’s 2012, far below the LAC average (68.01) but still far above access to public and private services. Nevertheless, the insti- the UMC average (31.2). Substantial disparities can be ob- tutional framework needs further strengthening, in particular served across socioeconomic groups and provinces: While on on the judicial side, to ensure that women’s rights are fully average 16 percent of all live births occur to females under protected in practice. the age of 20, Chaco has the highest rate of all provinces for 15-19-year-old mothers, at 22.8 percent of all live births, and Political and economic representation. Political partici- the northeast region has the highest rate overall (22 percent) pation of women is very high in Nicaragua when compared (OPS 2011). to the region, same income level countries and the world. At the National Assembly, 20.7 percent of parliamentarians Nicaragua: are women (2010), compared to 17.6 percent on average in Status of Gender Issues18 the world and 13.9 percent for same income level countries. Today, Nicaragua has the highest number of women holding Nicaragua has good legal foundations for the various levers of ministerial positions in its history (55 percent, 2010) and at gender equality – building human capital, access to economic the same time the country has the highest share of female resources, participation in society and protection. Public pol- Ministers in the region (ECLAC). At the local level, women’s icies are helping to raise girls’ and women’s access to educa- voice and political participation is notably lower though: Only tion, health care, credit, land and other productive resources. 24% of city councilors are female (CEPAL. 2011). The the However, in terms of outcomes, results are mixed. On the share of women in managerial positions in firms at 41 percent one hand, significant progress has been made on education in 2006 was relatively high compared with other low-income and incomes. While on the other hand, Nicaragua remains countries (27 percent), while in 2010 Nicaraguan women par- challenged by very high levels of gender-based violence and ticipated in the ownership of 62 percent of all firms, also very teenage pregnancy, combined with exceptionally low levels high when compared to other countries in Latin America. Fi- of female labor force participation and high levels of unem- nally, according to recent market information provided by the ployment among the most vulnerable – young, uneducated industry (Mix Market, 2011), the majority – 65 percent – of women. microcredit recipients are women. Legal foundations for gender equality. The Constitution Education, employment and incomes. Over the last de- of the Republic of Nicaragua grants equal civil rights to all cade, women in Central America have not only closed the 17  All data in this paragraph derive from Fundación para Estudio e Inves- 19  Women, Business and the Law: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclu- tigación de la Mujer (FEIM). 2008. “Violencia contra las mujeres y VIH en el sion, the Doing Business review which MERCOSUR La Situación en Argentina.” presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women’s pros- 18  Taken from the Country Partnership Strategy (FY2013-2017) For The pects as entrepreneurs and employees. Republic Of Nicaragua October 3, 2012 Latest data for Nicaragua is 2011. 74 Roads to Agency Table 15. Nicaragua: Level of Education, by gender and location, 2009 Rural Urban Women Men Women Men Incomplete primary or less 59% 61% 28% 25% Complete primary or incomplete secondary 23% 24% 30% 35% Secondary complete or incomplete tertiary 6% 5% 18% 16% Still in school 10% 10% 16% 16% Tertiary complete 1% 1% 9% 9% * Sample: 15 years old or older. Source: Nicaragua Living Standards Measurement Survey 2009 Figure 7: Labor force Figure 8: Population 15+years old participation by education, 2009 in the labor force by gender and location, 2009 100 100% 91% Men 79% Labor force pareticipation 80 80% Women 60 60% 51% 40 40% 32% 20 20% 0 0% 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rural Urban Rural Urban Years of education Women Men Source: Nicaragua Living Standards Measurement Survey 2009. education gap, but in the case of Nicaragua, they are also While girls outperform boys at all levels of education, women ahead of men. In 200920, Nicaraguan women had achieved continue to face difficulties in translating these better educa- 20 percent higher educational attainments than men. These tion outcomes into labor market outcomes. Women’s labor improvements have been driven by rising attendance and force participation still remains as low – at 49 percent in 2011 higher primary completion rates for girls. The latter was 82 – as a decade ago. As shown in Figure 7, education is an im- percent in 2010 for women, compared to 68 percent for boys. portant driver, with participation flat for women with less than There are stark differences in levels of education between 6 years of education but rising sharply thereafter. Further rural and urban settings for both men and women. In rural there are sharp differences in female labor force participation areas 59 percent of women and 61 percent of men had in- between rural and urban areas, 32 and 51 percent, respec- complete primary education, compared to 28 percent and 25 tively (Figure 8). percent, respectively for urban areas (Table 15). Meanwhile, recent reductions in poverty in Nicaragua be- tween 2005 and 2009 have been concentrated in low-in- 20  The most recent living standards measurement survey in Nicaragua was 2009. come, informal work in which women are even more likely Roads to Agency 75 to be employed. Consumption in the growing number of en, Children and Young Persons for which the Nicaraguan female-headed households still remains around 10 percent Institute for Women serves as executive secretariat was estab- lower than that for households headed by men. While un- lished, to address that problem. employment rates are similar by gender, they are 20 percent higher for younger, less educated women than the national Given the gradual progress on other fronts, the Government rate. Finally, Chart 8 shows that just 32 percent of women has identified three key challenges for the future: adolescent living in rural areas are in the labor force, in comparison to 51 fertility, early childhood education and gender-based vio- percent of women in urban areas and 91 percent of women lence. Given the correlations between teenage pregnancy in rural areas. and maternal mortality, lower education achievement and poor labor market outcomes, improving early reproductive Health and civil protection. Among Nicaraguan women, health among women in Nicaragua has the potential to be a fertility levels have been falling, while progress in reducing key driver in gender outcomes. Meanwhile, the Government’s the comparatively very high levels of maternal mortality has new strategy on early childhood education has the potential been moderate. Institutional advances have been broadening to provide childcare solutions to more rural families for whom access to maternal health services, including the Government this service is scarce. Finally gender-based violence remains a 2007 policy of free public healthcare, development of the problem as evidenced by comparatively high homicide rates family and community health services model and public sup- for women. The authorities have just passed a new law with port for Nicaragua’s famous casas maternas21. broad public support that should provide a boost to ongoing efforts by civil society and the security forces to address this Contraceptive prevalence rate is moderately high, at 72 per- issue. cent, well above the average for countries with similar income levels, 43 percent. The fraction of births attended by skilled Peru: health staff at 73.7% in 2007 was below the regional average Status of Gender Issues of 85.75% (2000). . However, this coverage shows a strong variation by income quintiles: while 95 percent of all deliver- Institutional framework for gender equality. The gov- ies in the richest quintile areattended by a trained doctor, the ernment of Peru has taken steps to strengthen the legal and percentage drops to 56 percent among poor women. Related institutional framework aiming to protect and promote wom- to that, at 100 deaths per 100,000 live births (2013), mater- en’s rights and gender equality. The Constitution of Peru up- nal mortality continues higher than regional averages of 80. holds the principle of equality between men and women, and Meanwhile, teenage pregnancy is very high in Nicaragua. At the law prohibits discrimination against women with regard 100.8 (births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19) in 2012, the to marriage, divorce, inheritance and property rights. Gender adolescent fertility rate remains nearly twice as high as the equality is also included in the national development plan - LMI countries’ average of 46.8. Also, gender-based violence is Plan Bicentenario: El Peru hacia 2021. a serious problem in Nicaragua. Two ministries have a special focus on gender equality: Min- Gender-based violence is still a serious problem in Nicara- isterio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables (MIMPV) and gua. The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS 1997/98) re- Ministerio and Ministerio de Desarrollo e Inclusión Social vealed that 28 percent of women who were or had been once (MIDES). MIMPV focuses on promoting gender equality, married had been physically abused by their partner at least supporting gender mainstreaming in other governmental once, and 10 percent had been sexually abused (DHS Report structures and programs aimed at reducing violence against 2002). In 2011, there were at least 82 deaths from gender women. MIDIS strategy, Incluir para Crecer, approved in 2013 violence and 25,600 complaints of violations against women. includes gender equality as a cross-cutting element. In 2007, the National Commission on Violence against Wom- Education and labor market participation. In education, 21  From these casa maternas, networks of community volunteers identify pregnant women in remote areas and bring them an array of services, includ- levels for women and girls have increased to the point that ing pre-natal checkups, birthing plans, and post-natal follow-up. Around the girls and boys have almost equal enrollment rates in primary time of delivery, the women stay in the casas maternas, usually located near health units, and receive additional support, such as help with breast feeding, and secondary education (98.7 and 96.4 respectively, 2012). early parenting skills and family planning. 76 Roads to Agency Table 16. Peru: Level of Education, by gender and location, 2012 Rural Urban Women Men Women Men Incomplete primary or less 46% 14% 14% 7% Complete primary or incomplete secondary 27% 20% 20% 19% Secondary complete or incomplete tertiary 14% 35% 35% 41% Still in school 11% 14% 14% 15% Tertiary complete 3% 18% 18% 18% * Sample: 15 years old or older. Source: Peru Living Standards Measurement Survey 2012. In tertiary education, a slight gap in favor of girls can be Peru lags behind if compared to regional averages. Peru has observed (1.09 female to male education enrollment ratio, relatively higher rates of maternal deaths, 89 of 100.000 live 2010). Even though the gender-gap in adult literacy rates has births, compared to the LAC average of 85 of 100,000 births narrowed over the last three decades - women still lag be- in 2013). Rural women who live in poverty conditions and hind: While 97 percent of adult men are literate, only 90 per- with a low educational level have a much higher risk of ma- cent of adult women are (2012). However, the returns to edu- ternal death. cation seem to be low and the opportunity costs of education seem relatively high for women22. Thus, girls’ advancements Political participation. Women´s political participation in education don’t translate into the labor market where men and representation has increased over the last decades to the still predominate clearly. Even though women’s labor force point that now it is slightly higher than the average in LAC participation has increased to 64.5 percent (in 2012, which with women holding 21.5 percent of the seats in the national compares to 82.2 percent for men), women still face a high- parliament (as compared to 24.8 percent in the LAC average er probability than men of being unemployed (4.0 percent in 2012). At the local level political representation of women vs. 3.0 percent, 2012) especially when they are young: be- is much lower though with only 3.9 percent of mayors being tween 15 and 24 years of age, women’s unemployment in female (2013, CEPAL Gender Observatory). 2008 was 10.7 percent vs. 7.7 percent for men. Women are also much more likely to be engaged in informal23 work (66.7 Violence against women. One of the most serious con- versus 52.7 percent, 2012)24 and they continue to earn less cerns in terms of the gender situation in the country is the on average than men. Even when controlling for differences high rates of violence against women. Data from a WHO in educational levels and age, men’s wages in Peru are 18.3 multi-country study on violence against women (2005) show percent higher than women’s (19.4 if controlling for age and that 51 percent of ever-partnered women in Lima and 69 per- education). Gender wage gaps are highest among the most cent in Cusco had experienced physical or sexual violence educated groups25. by a partner. According to the same study, one in 10 women over 15 years of age had experienced sexual violence by a Health. In terms of health, key indicators for sexual and re- non-partner. In 2012, the law 26260 on domestic violence productive health have improved over the last two decades: was modified to widen the definition of violencia familiar to For instance, the percentage of births attended by skilled include direct and indirect violent actions, also patrimonial health staff increased from 83.8% in 2010 percent to 85% in and economic violence. 2011, remaining below the UMI average of 95.5%. Gender intersections with rural and indigenous vari- 22  World Bank 2005. 23  Informal=salaried workers in small firms, non-professional self-em- ables. Rural and indigenous In Peru, gender intersects with ployed and zero-income workers other social variables. Outcomes for Peruvian women and 24  All labor related data in this box stem from SEDLAC Database. 25  Ñopo, Hugo 2009. men in terms of labor markets, education and health are Roads to Agency 77 heavily influenced by their ethnic as well as geographic back- ground. Thus, when analyzing the status of gender issues in Peru, considering ethnicity and location (in addition to age, Figure 9: Peru population life-cycle and family status) is very important. As observed in 15+years old in the labor force other Latin American countries with large indigenous popu- by gender and location, 2009 lations, there are remarkable differences between rural and 100% 89% urban areas and between indigenous26 and non-indigenous 80% populations in Peru, with rural indigenous women being gen- 80% 73% 62% erally more disadvantaged in all dimensions. Being indige- 60% nous increases the probability of being poor, even controlling for other observable characteristics (World Bank Peru Poverty 40% Assessment 2005). Generally, indigenous households are underrepresented in the richest strata and have less access 20% to public and private goods and services (Hall and Patrinos 0% 2005). Rural Urban Rural Urban Women Men Besides ethnicity, rural or urban background has a decisive influence on women’s and men’s opportunities in Peru. As Table 16 shows, women in rural areas face enormous dis- advantages in terms of education as opposed to women in urban areas and men. Women in rural areas have slightly higher labor force participation (73 percent) than women in urban areas (62 percent) primarily engaged in farm work and informal activities (Figure 9). 26  In Peru in 2001, while 32 percent of the population had an indigenous mother tongue, 41 percent self-identified as indigenous (Hall and Patrinos 2005). 78 Roads to Agency The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA. www.worldbank.org