Salam ABUKHADRAH

Unemployment is a major and persistent social issue. It contributes to poverty, criminal behaviours, and social inequality. Moreover, not only does unemployment expose women the most to poverty, but it also deepens the existing patriarchal society and hence deepens the issue of gender inequality. This implies the need to create more jobs for women that would allow them to challenge the patriarchal structure of their countries. Therefore, a public policy that aims for the elimination of unemployment could also mean the solution to other social issues. As a result, this research seeks to examine the Employer of Last Resort (ELR) programs as means of fighting unemployment and empowering women. The main objective of this research is to test the premises of ELR with regard to changing gender relations through the development of a gender transformative evaluation system. First, this research develops a feminist framework that demonstrate how change intervention should look like and what is the best way to track it based on the feminist literature and the critical analysis of various ELR programs with regard to gender. Secondly, this research identify the most important elements to measure in the evaluation that can show whether or not there is a realisation of transformation. Thirdly, this research outlines the technical tools to perform the evaluation that can result in data and policy recommendations. Fourthly, this research implements the resulted evaluation system on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in south Africa, particularly the social sector of the program, and specifically the case of community based care work in Cape Town. This research acknowledges that for true transformation of gender relations not only the policy implemented has to be engendered but also its evaluation.