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The Nexus of Livelihoods and SGBVUN-CSW Side Event, March 12,2013, Mara Russell of Land O’Lakes International Development
Livelihoods are Impacted by SGBV
• Reduction of women’s self-esteem and agency needed to make independent decisions
• Loss of essential assets (capital), which are the “building blocks” of livelihoods: Human Capital: health, education, skills Productive Capital: tools and owned/managed resources
that enable livelihoods Social Capital: relationships within a community or society
that enable commerce Financial Capital: monetary wealth that enables investment
in other types of capital (human capital, productivity) Natural Capital: natural resources that support lives and
livelihoods
Asset Stripping: Essential to SGBV
• “Asset Stripping” (In the context of disasters and conflicts): Unsustainable sale of assets at a loss Depletion of natural resources or assets due to high
degree of exposure to a shock or disaster
• SGBV in a woman’s life can be equivalent to the impact of a disaster!
• It doesn’t just impact a woman’s life, but an entire household (and may have community impacts)
• May underlie chronic poverty
Human Capital
Productive Capital
Social Capital
Financial Capital
What is lost with SGBV: Assets needed for livelihoods
Natural Capital
• Loss of Human Capital: Negative impacts on women’s and children’s physical
and mental health; handicaps - women’s inability to care for children, illness, depression in women reduces agency and self-esteem
• Loss of Productive Capital: Theft of land, livestock from widows(Izumi, 2007),
access to land (sometimes children) removed due to divorce, return of bride price by parents of SGBV accusers (ACFODE, LVCT, 2012)
Asset Stripping: Essential to SGBV
• Social Capital: Both intimate partner and public violence against women requires
impunity, acceptance and protection of perpetrator, divorce may result in isolation and loss of social connections
• Financial Capital: SGBV has been found to be positively correlated to women’s
employment (Morrison and Orlando, 2004) Uptick in SGBV at harvest in Zambia – arguments over use of
funds from crop sales Women who travel for business are vulnerable SGBV increased with promotion of savings & loan groups in
Bangladesh (Kelkar, 2005) SGBV did not automatically decrease with microcredit
interventions (Kim, et. al., 2007) Sexual harassment continues in work places throughout the world
Asset Stripping: Essential to SGBV
• Natural Capital: Conflicts over grazing rights, water, and depletion of
natural resources due to unsustainable activities impact women’s ability to engage in livelihoods and care for their families
Asset Stripping: Essential to SGBV
Cause: Rights, Roles, Responsibilities
“Unequal gender relations distribute the burden of poverty disproportionately on women. They can also be the cause of poverty among women and girls in non-poor families. These unequal relations…need to be addressed both as a cause and as a factor in the intensification of poverty.” (Kelkar, 2005)
Ensuring Sustainability Requires a Shift in Underlying
Power Relations
• Providing credit, assets and training to women will not matter if they continue to be victims of SGBV: Essential: build women’s agency and self-esteem Essential: build respect among intimate partners, male
community members and leaders Essential: women in leadership roles, act as role-models
for girls
How to Bring About the Shift
• Ensure women have a support group: A “women’s group” they can work and grow with: Care Groups, Coops or Production & Marketing Groups, Saving & Loan Groups
• Foster education, training and attainment for girls and women on par with men’s & boy’s: Train men and women together
• Ensure women’s participation in decision-making: in communities, coops, businesses, and government
• Shift ownership patterns so that “his” and “hers” become “ours”
• Build access to justice and redress