Women and Gender in Development Flashcards
What is the Welfare approach (1950s-1970s) in the context of gendered development?
Focused on the role of women as child bearers and mothers. It is
Linked to theories of modernization and economic growth, and sought to reduce the number of children within developing countries.
Programs were created to provide access to family planning and increase the availability of contraceptives.
What is the WID (Women in Development) approach (1970s-1980s) in the context of gendered development?
Draws on liberal feminism to focus on helping women become development actors and enhance women’s positions socially, economically and politically.
Was a response to the fact that development was disproportionally helping men over women.
What were the criticisms of the WID (Women in Development) approach? (1970s-1980s)
1) WID saw women as homogenous and did not account for cultural or geographical differences.
2) It did not take women’s role in reproduction and work in the household as legitimate work (because it did not add to the economy).
3) There was difficulty in WID units having real impact on developmental projects as units were often marginalized within development organizations.
What is the WAD (Women and Development) approach (1980s) in the context of gendered development?
Draws on socialist feminist approaches (marxism) and was concerned with production and the exploitation of women both in the market and in the household.
What is the GAD (Gender and Development) approach (1980s – present) in the context of gendered development?
Focuses on the unequal power relationships between men and
women; why have women been assigned inferior or secondary
roles; and why the power structures need to be transformed.
What were the four main points of the GAD (Gender and Development) approach (1980s – present) in the context of gendered development?
Economic change gives greater opportunities to one gender than the other.
There is a need to take into account and value women’s role in bearing and caring for children, with an emphasis on valuing the division of labor and their roles within the household.
There is a need to remove the differences and “othering” of women based on things like ethnicity, class, country of origin, etc.
Women should be seen as agents of change and focus on grassroot and social movements to achieve this.
What is gender mainstreaming?
An active attempt to ensure any action, including legislation, policies, etc. affect both women and men equally without any gain swaying too much away from women. It is a means to ensure gender equality from the actions of development organizations.
What two challenges does gender mainstreaming face?
Cost cutting which leads to the abolishment of gender-based units and bureaucracies.
Challenging the patriarchy as many of those still within power (male leaders) do not actively want to change the system as their positions would be endangered.
What is the Gender Inequality Index and the Gender Development Index? What do they track and how?
Gender Inequality Index measures inequality in terms of reproductive health, empowerment, and economic status.
Gender Development Index measures disparities between men and women based on life expectancy, years of schooling, and economic standard of living.
Who is Dr. Sellah King’oro?
She is an activist working within research, policy and planning for addressing conflict within Africa and is currently working in Kenya.
