Political and Ideological Institutional Effects on Gender and Environment
Susan Madodo Tutor: Heleen
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to give an account of institutions within the political and ideological structures of the dynamic model. Furthermore I shall explain how these institutions interact with different classes in my situation. In my analysis I shall especially give attention to the institutions’ effect on gender and the environment (the ecosystem) as key elements of the economic base. “The paradox of development arises from mistaken identification of the growth of commodity production as a better satisfaction of basic needs. In actual fact there is less water, less fertile soil, less genetic wealth as a result of the development process. Since these natural resources are the basis of nature’s economy, and women’s survival economy, their scarcity is impoverishing women and marginalized people in an unprecedented manner. Their new impoverishment lies in the fact that resources which supported their survival were absorbed into the market economy while they themselves were excluded and displaced by it” Shiva (1988 p.11). To echo on the same line of thought with Vandana Shiva, I find it important to mention that the analysis in this paper will take the view point of the base and the superstructure in which the superstructure cannot be formed without the base and how the various institutions and organs in the superstructure depend upon, take advantage of and then exploit the base and forget about it when the superstructure is well structured and “looking good”. In this paper I will give an account of the functions of councils and courts (law) as political structures, and the media and cultural groups as ideological structures, their relationships with different classes and their effect on the environment and gender.
Councils
The councils I am going to discuss in this section of the paper are the Urban Councils and specifically the Harare City Council. The functions of the councils range from the provision of
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to give an account of institutions within the political and ideological structures of the dynamic model. Furthermore I shall explain how these institutions interact with different classes in my situation. In my analysis I shall especially give attention to the institutions’ effect on gender and the environment (the ecosystem) as key elements of the economic base. “The paradox of development arises from mistaken identification of the growth of commodity production as a better satisfaction of basic needs. In actual fact there is less water, less fertile soil, less genetic wealth as a result of the development process. Since these natural resources are the basis of nature’s economy, and women’s survival economy, their scarcity is impoverishing women and marginalized people in an unprecedented manner. Their new impoverishment lies in the fact that resources which supported their survival were absorbed into the market economy while they themselves were excluded and displaced by it” Shiva (1988 p.11). To echo on the same line of thought with Vandana Shiva, I find it important to mention that the analysis in this paper will take the view point of the base and the superstructure in which the superstructure cannot be formed without the base and how the various institutions and organs in the superstructure depend upon, take advantage of and then exploit the base and forget about it when the superstructure is well structured and “looking good”. In this paper I will give an account of the functions of councils and courts (law) as political structures, and the media and cultural groups as ideological structures, their relationships with different classes and their effect on the environment and gender.
Councils
The councils I am going to discuss in this section of the paper are the Urban Councils and specifically the Harare City Council. The functions of the councils range from the provision of
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