Gender Mainstreaming the Rural Development Programme: Updating a case study of Northern Ireland

这项研究将更新以前关于如何更有效地使妇女参与北爱尔兰农村发展方案的研究。欧盟致力于通过性别主流化实现性别平等。各会员国提供的发展方案包括对性别主流化的承诺。《2007-2013年农村发展条例》第8条规定了这一点。我们的项目将更新关于如何增加农村发展方案对农村妇女的影响的研究。我们将更新案头研究、定性访谈和焦点小组。在区域和欧盟一级，人们关切的是，农村发展方案对妇女没有产生足够的影响。虽然我们将特别关注北爱尔兰，但经验教训将与欧盟其他地区相关。这项研究也将有助于性别主流化的理论文献，特别是通过批判性地反思性别主流化RDP的概念，被视为欧盟最男性化的政策之一。这项研究将考虑如何将RDP主流化，以及欧盟对性别主流化的承诺与可行的农业产业之间是否存在紧张关系。在努力使发展中国家发展方案性别主流化方面存在固有的困难。在整个欧洲，一般来说，男人继承土地。虽然妇女很少是农场主，但她们是农场家庭劳动力的主要贡献者，她们的非农劳动往往对家庭农场的生存至关重要。性别主流化如何适用于一个本质上以剥削家庭劳动力为前提的行业尚不清楚。我们还将审查RDP是否以反映现有性别不平衡的方式获得通过。可能的情况是，性别主流化受到文化规范和既定做法模式的阻碍，而这种规范性知识决定了方案的执行方式。这对农村发展方案中针对农村地区而非农场妇女的部分尤其重要。这些妇女不像从事农业的妇女那样受到同样的文化和历史限制，但妇女在监测委员会和执行机构中的代表性仍然不足。欧洲委员会和议会对RDP在整个欧洲的不同性别影响表示关切。在全国范围内，2000年委托撰写了一份政策报告，就如何增加农村发展计划对妇女的影响提出建议（Shortall和Kelly， 2001年）。虽然人们认识到需要两性平等，但目前方案的中期评价报告特别指出，迄今为止几乎没有证据表明目前方案积极以妇女为目标，并建议开发署积极与有关组织接触，利用其专门知识接触这一目标群体，以促进方案。报告多次指出需要这样做，但没有提出如何实现这一目标。研究过程将积极吸引决策者、民间社会部门和政治领域的参与。它的设计将与DARD、执行该方案的地方行动小组、妇女网络、主要农村发展和农业组织以及政治行动者密切协商。这项研究将为参与该项目的有关部门编写一份最后报告和简报。它将为学术观众提供学术期刊文章和会议报告。在整个项目中，将有合作，将一所大学、一个政府部门、民间社会团体和北爱尔兰议会聚集在一起，以一种创新的四方知识转移。届时将有一个最终的项目启动，媒体采访，并将在女王大学的网站上公布。

This research will update former research on how to more effectively engage women in the Rural Development Programme (RDP) for Northern Ireland. The EU is committed to gender equality through gender mainstreaming. RDPs delivered across Member States incorporate a commitment to gender mainstreaming. This is enshrined in Article 8 of the Rural Development Regulation 2007-2013.Our project will update research on how to increase the impact of the RDP on rural women. We will update desk research, qualitative interviews, and focus groups. There is concern at a regional and EU level that the RDP is not having a sufficient impact on women. While we will specifically focus on Northern Ireland, lessons will be relevant to other regions in the EU. This research will also contribute to the theoretical literature on gender mainstreaming, specifically by critically reflecting on the notion of gender mainstreaming the RDP, seen as one of the most male policies in the EU. This research will consider how the RDP might be mainstreamed, and whether there are tensions between the EU's commitments to gender mainstreaming and a viable agricultural industry. There are inherent difficulties in trying to gender mainstream RDPs. In general across Europe, men inherit land. While women are rarely the holder, they are key contributors to the farm family labour force, and frequently their off-farm labour is essential to the viability of the family farm. It is unclear how gender mainstreaming can apply to an industry that is intrinsically premised on the exploitation of family labour. We will also examine if the RDP is adopted in ways that reflect existing gender imbalances. It may be the case that gender mainstreaming is circumvented by cultural norms and established patterns of practice, and this normative knowledge shapes how the programme is implemented. This is particularly relevant for those elements of the RDP aimed at women in rural areas not on farms. These women are not bound by the same cultural and historical constraints as those involved in agriculture, yet women continue to be under-represented in monitoring boards and implementing bodies. The European Commission and Parliament have expressed concern about the differential gender impact of the RDP across Europe. In the NI context, a policy report was commissioned in 2000 to make recommendations on how to increase the impact of the RDP on women (Shortall and Kelly, 2001). While there is awareness of the need for gender equality, the Mid-Term Evaluation Report of the current programme specifically notes that there is little evidence to date of active targeting of women in the current programme, and recommends that DARD actively engages with relevant organisations to use their expertise to reach this target group to promote the programme. It states the need to do this many times but it does not suggest how this might be achieved. The research process will actively engage with policy makers, civil society sectors, and the political sphere. It will be designed in close consultation with DARD, the Local Action Groups who deliver the programme, women's networks, key rural development and agricultural organisations, and political actors. The research will produce a final report and briefing notes for the relevant sectors engaged with the project. It will produce academic journal articles and conference presentations for academic audiences. There will be collaboration throughout the project, bringing together a university, a government department, civil society groups and the Northern Ireland Assembly, in an innovative four way transfer of knowledge. There will be a final project launch, media interviews will be given and it will be publicised on Queen's University's website.