For these women in India, household supplies donated after the 2004 tsunami helped rebuild the most central of all community building blocks: the home.

Equal Opportunity
Men,women carry different loads in terms of community development.

By Rebekah Daniel

'Give a man a fish; he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish; he'll eat for a lifetime." In a September interview with The New York Times, Bono, internationally known rock star and advocate for the poor, added a twist to the oft-cited proverb: "Maybe the mantra

should be, 'Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Give a woman microcredit, she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime.'"

When it comes to community projects in developing countries, women are the demographic of choice. A seemingly infinite number of programs seek to do everything from improve women's access to health care to facilitate the gathering of clean water, coach women on starting and maintaining small businesses, teach them to fertilize their crops efficiently and keep girls in school longer--or at least get them there to start with. Two-thirds of the 3.7 million micro-entrepreneurs reached by USAID's microenterprise program in 2002 were women.

	Many community development programs aim to increase food security and improve nutrition. In Kasulu, Tanzania, women harvest cassava, a plant with edible roots that yield a nutritious starch.

But it is not just as program beneficiaries that women pop up on the radar screen of nongovernmental aid organizations; they are tapped as leaders, too. The United Nations Population Fund asserts in its "State of the World's Population 2005" report that, "Women are the backbones of their families, pillars of community life, caregivers for the sick and elderly and primary caretakers of the next generation."Women's concerns center on food security, health care, education and safety-topics strongly geared toward improving the quality of life for a broad spectrum of the population.

Yet if the goal of women-focused community development programs is to develop healthy communities-- defined in Habitat's mission statement as "communities in which every person can experience God's love and can live and grow into all that God intends"--half the community's population is currently being left to fend for themselves.

Gender warfare

Some men are part of the problem. Stories of fathers who have sold their daughters into prostitution and philandering husbands who have knowingly infected their wives with HIV are too common, and too true. Last year, a World Health Organization study in Vietnam showed that HIV infection rates among women in Asia jumped 10 percent in two years. "The biggest HIV risk for many women is marriage," said Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, warning that the bulk of new HIV infections will indeed "occur through marital sex, usually from husband to wife....Women who are married and monogamous now account for the majority of new HIV infections in some countries, such as Cambodia and Thailand."

Programs that address only women's needs fail to acknowledge the necessary cultural role men play. . .

But for many men, the problem is not callous disregard for women; it is simply a mark of how times have changed. Farming and animal husbandry, traditional male occupations in the developing world, have been turned upside down by environmental mismanagement, expanding urban development and, according to many, flawed aid and trade policies imposed by the developed world. The loss of occupation can be devastating to both individuals and their communities; men are able to work but unable to find a job, and the lack of a dignified way to provide for their families encourages too many to while away the time with others in the same boat, susceptible to the temporary relief of alcohol or gambling. Others flee to urban areas, seeking employment and cash to send back home. It is a lifestyle often fraught with loneliness and danger as men, cut off from their support networks at home, face fierce competition for scarce jobs. Many turn to prostitutes--then carry disease back to their rural villages.

Despite their good intentions, many of the current aid and self-help programs exacerbate the divide between men and women. Programs that address only women's needs fail to acknowledge the necessary cultural role men play in leadership and can upset traditional divisions of labor. Bulelwa Ngcetani, credit controller for a Habitat affiliate in Cape Town, South Africa, has seen men become displaced and lose self-dignity as their wives get involved in successful community development programs. "[Females] can work to earn a living--they no longer need men to be self sufficent."

Yet programs that address only men's needs fail to acknowledge the very real disadvantages women face in achieving even rudimentary quality-of-life standards in education and health care.

Division of labor

With thorny disadvantages to choosing sides in the "who needs more help" debate, Habitat has come to a thoughtful verdict: Neither. And both. Men need productive employment toward a worthwhile goal; women need to contribute meaningfully to the welfare and security of their families. Building a simple, decent house satisfies both.

It is not only the finished product--an improved, affordable place to live--that develops the community, however. The process itself becomes an experience in which all who participate bring a uniquely flavored dish to the table to share.

"When Habitat Kyrgyzstan started to build its first 10 houses five years ago, we had our first Global Village team that consisted of both men and women," Habitat Kyrgyzstan public relations manager Nadya Plahutina says. "Women from the team did absolutely the same jobs as men without any discrimination, and for them, it was strange, maybe, to hear from local men words like,'Don't lift this, it is too heavy' or 'You are a woman--you shouldn't do this, let men do this.'

"But as the construction lasted, women from partner families became more skilled and confident, and they were working harder and harder. Men also started to get used to working together with women and sharing the work with them more equally."

In Cluj, Romania, the Habitat for Humanity affiliate has recognized that men and women can be equally involved in community transformation without necessarily doing the same jobs. Men may be more likely to invest their time on the work site, but promoting the affiliate in the community, participating on radio and TV shows, preparing for special events and making church presentations are highly valued contributions that allow women to participate meaningfully. Because the tasks are divided, men and women both have opportunities to excel in ways their culture appreciates.

"[The men] are proud that their wives have become involved with Habitat, and they encourage them to keep going," says communications manager Maria Cinar.

Ultimately, the Habitat message is one of family partnership. If communities are to successfully address the daunting poverty issues facing them, it will take everyone's unique contribution.

Close ties to one another, through family and friendship, help women step out on new ventures to improve their environments.