Developing Contradictions: Women's Participation as a Site of Struggle Within an Indian NGO* Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Women are being hired in increasing numbers by development projects to facilitate women's participation components. Once employed, however, women often find themselves marginalized within their organizations. In this paper, I find that the women's participation component of an Indian drinking water project has enabled the exclusion of women fieldworkers employed by the project. Drawing on the work of Bakhtin, I show participatory approaches as multiple, partial, and contentious. Moves to thwart women fieldworkers and women's participation give rise to struggles over development geography. Analysis of project records, interviews with staff, and observation of staff activities provide evidence for results. 2004, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

published proceedings

  • The Professional Geographer

author list (cited authors)

  • O'Reilly, K.

citation count

  • 38

complete list of authors

  • O'Reilly, Kathleen

publication date

  • January 2004