Targeting Gender Equality through Foreign Aid

• In Event: Foreign Aid, Democracy and Human Rights

Abstract

Although the rhetoric of gender equality is now ubiquitous within the international development community, the practice of prioritizing women's rights in assistance programs varies considerably across recipient countries. We theorize how political considerations, related to regime survival and policy cues in recipient states, shape the inclusion of gender equality as a policy goal in Western aid projects. Drawing information from the OECD’s Gender Equality Policy Marker (GEPM), we divide projects according to whether policy goals are more or less threatening to regime survival. Our analysis reveals differences in how Western donors engage with democracies and autocracies on women's rights. In autocracies, donors adopt a more cautious approach: tailoring their gender-related goals toward social sector projects rather than politically-sensitive projects related to democracy and governance. Donors also respond more to policy cues in autocracies, avoiding targeting gender in regimes with low female representation and low de jure rights. By uncovering the recipient-level conditions under which donors prioritize gender equality, our inquiry sheds new light onto debates about the domestic effects of aid, as well as how Western donors interact with autocrats.

Authors

• Simone Dietrich, University of Geneva

• Daniela Donno, University of Oklahoma

• Alice Iannantuoni, University of Geneva

• Katharina Fleiner, University of Geneva