Gender and Development

Question 1

what are ‘missing women’

Answer 1

sen (1990) term for shortfall in number of women relative to expected number of women

Question 2

evolution of the field - 1950s and 1960s

Answer 2

development dominated by modernisation theory
- countries would pass through set of predetermined stages of growth propelled by capital accumulation
- no consideration to women as a distinctive group

Question 3

evolution of the field - 1970s

Answer 3

two international concerns

1) womens movement for equal rights
- legal rights
- access to jobs
- voice in politics
- shared responsibility for housework/childcare

2) criticisms of development processes
- development defined in terms of traditional measures/degree of industrialisation
- even when GDP increased, many remained poor and gaps between urban/rural and men/women widened

Question 4

ester boserup (1970)

Answer 4

womens role in economic development argued women had been marginalised in modernisation process

Question 5

women in development advocates argue…

Answer 5

• benefits of development not reached women
• in some economic sectors, womens position undermined
• women should be integrated into design and implementation of development programs through legal and administrative changes

Question 6

emphasis in incorporating women into development processes succeeded in…

Answer 6

1) focusing attention on shortcomings of development policies practiced in 1950s/1960s

2) expanding documentation
- including sex disaggregated data, on womens roles in economic and social systems

3) establishing goals and plans for improving womens status around globe

4) increasing representation of women in official government positions

5) changing many inequitable laws that discriminated against women

6) mobilising women at grassroots level around the world

Question 7

critiques and limits of women in development

Answer 7

1) accepted traditional liberal economic theory about nature of development

2) assumed women not already integrated into economic production

3) influenced by american feminism
- accepted existing social and political structures

4) assumed women all had common problems and interests

5) de-emphasised family and community contexts affecting womens activities

6) often resulted in separate projects for women apart from broad development programs

7) non-confrontational
- therefore failed to transform fundamental status of women

Question 8

describe women and development

Answer 8

• argued women would never get equal share of development benefits unless patriarchy and global inequality addressed
• assumed womens position would improve if and when international structures became more equitable
• overcoming poverty and addressing effects of colonialism as important as promoting gender equality in development process

Question 9

describe Development Alternatives with Women for New Era Network (DAWN)

Answer 9

aimed to make view of developing countries known
- women not a neglected resource but overburdened and undervalued
- needed re-evaluation of womens contribution to development and redistribution of benefits and burdens

Question 10

describe gender and development

Answer 10

1) development processes influenced by inequitable structures of international economic system

2) women been integrated into flawed development processes

3) men also hurt by development programs
- the ones that don’t alter repressive class, ethnicity and racial structures

4) can’t assume womens solidarity across class and racial lines

5) development policies shouldn’t isolate womens productive or reproductive roles

Question 11

women in development summary - origins

Answer 11

• early 1970s
• critiques of industrialisation as leaving women out of modern economic development
• 1980s
• incorporates neoclassical/free market arguments

Question 12

women in development summary - key arguments

Answer 12

integrating women into development is economically efficient, contributing to both growth and development

Question 13

women in development summary - policy implications

Answer 13

• promote womens economic participation by creating conditions for markets to work
• key areas for intervention include education, changing formal rules, and countering cultural stereotypes

Question 14

women in development summary - critiques

Answer 14

1) overreliance on market mechanism as solution to womens development problems

2) women treated merely as conduit for development and economic growth

3) doesn’t fundamentally challenge gender stereotypes

4) tends to focus on women in isolation of social, economic, and political institutions that marginalise them

Question 15

women and development (WAD) summary - origins

Answer 15

late 1970s
- marxist/socialist and third world critiques of capitalist development and modernisation theory

Question 16

women and development summary - key arguments

Answer 16

women aren’t marginalised from development, but integrated on unequal terms that reflect hierarchical relations between first and third worlds

Question 17

women and development summary - policy implications

Answer 17

promotion of income
- generating projects for women that are locally orientated industrial development, inclusive of women, that’s sheltered from global economic volatility

Question 18

women and development summary - critiques

Answer 18

1) overly focused on international relations of production

2) tends to leave out reproductive sector in analysis and policy

3) excludes consideration of intraclass or intraethnic relations between women and men

Question 19

gender and development summary - origins

Answer 19

early 1980s
- combining work on gender from psychology, sociology and critical studies with WAD critiques of capitalist development paradigm

Question 20

gender and development summary - key arguments

Answer 20

• womens economic problems based on gender
• social relations of production and reproduction
• prevailing social, political and economic models and institutions must be critically evaluated and challenged to effect transformative changes

Question 21

gender and development summary - policy implications

Answer 21

• advocacy of womens empowerment as goal in and of itself
• focus on equality and social justice rather than economic growth
• inclusion of men in policies and programs
• mainstream gender into all aspects of development policy

Question 22

gender and development summary - critiques

Answer 22

1) development institutions have widely adopted language of gender, but little policy change

2) in turning to gender, risks diversion of development funding away from women-specific issues

3) emphasis of differences among women by class or ethnicity obscures commonalities as women

4) no strategy for institutional transformation necessary to effect real change