Institute of Development Studies

Why is Development Work so Straight?

14 May 2009 - Susie Jolly

On International Day Against Homophobia, IDS's Susan Jolly asks ‘why is development work so straight?’.

The International Day Against Homophobia was launched on 17 May 2005, on the anniversary of the day the World Health Organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental illness (May 17 1992). The day is now celebrated round the world from Lebanon to Cuba to Slovenia. For the first time IDS is celebrating the day, with a panel discussion on 'Why is development work so straight?', a display of quotes and facts about homophobia in the development industry, and a party.

Experiences from rural China

Why is development work so straight? We sometimes forget that not everyone is heterosexual, and that those who are heterosexual might not fit the relationship patterns we expect. Even in IDS we sometimes have these blind spots. A few years ago, I took part in a research project on gender and poverty in rural China which involved doing household interviews based on questionnaires. In listing family members, the questionnaires asked for a ‘head of household’, assumed to be a man, and that all other family members such as ‘wife’ would be identified in relation to this household head. Our questionnaires were a poor match for the realities of people’s family set ups. Many men had migrated, some women had migrated too. Many men were single apparently because they were too poor to attract a wife. A few young couples described themselves as ‘illegally cohabiting’, meaning that they had not registered their marriage with the local government, usually because they were younger than the official age of marriage.

We did not come across any same sex relationships, but then we never asked or mentioned the possibility. Although I was in a lesbian relationship at the time I never came out to any villagers. A leading gay activist in Beijing, Zhang Yi, describes how after a love affair with his first boyfriend, he migrated from his village to the capital city age 17 because he felt he could not face pressures to marry from fellow villagers. Were any of the villagers we met in his position? The research project was about gender, and gender is about pressures to conform to stereotypes of what a real man or woman is – including by being heterosexual. Yet we did not ask these questions.

Consequences of development research 'blind spots'

What are the consequences of these blind spots? People with same sex sexualities are already marginalised in most social contexts. When development work forgets them, we reinforce this exclusion, in direct contradiction with our purported goals.

Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) points out the links between this exclusion and poverty: ‘As a result of being marginalised and socially excluded…lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons are prevented from participating in society on equal terms, for example by having limited opportunities for earning a livelihood…This has lead to a situation of widespread poverty among LGBT persons in many countries.’ (Action plan for Swedish International Development Agency work on sexual orientation and gender identity 2007-2009, p2)

The way forward

How can development work become less straight and narrow?  We need to take a critical look at our research, programmes and policies to see who we are excluding, and start to change that. And we need to listen to and support sexual rights activists locally and internationally to make sure that our work combats marginalisation and inequality instead of the contrary.

IDS celebrates International Day Against Homophobia on Friday 15 May at 16.00 in the IDS upper common room. All welcome. You are invited to dress in drag for the day or wear pink.

Susie Jolly is Programme Convenor of the IDS Sexuality and Development Programme.

Photo: 'Gay couple Ju Jiazhong (front left) and Li ZuoLun (front right) together with their adopted son, daughter-in-law, and grandson at their home in Chengdu.' Qilai Shen / Panos.