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Module details Name Affiliation
Subject Name Social Work -
Paper Name Gender and Social Work (11) -
Module Module No. 16; Gender and Development
(GAD): An Introduction
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Paper Coordinator Dr. Shewli Kumar and Dr. Swati Banerjee
Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of
Social Sciences, Mumbai E-mail: Shewli Kumar - [email protected]
Swati Banerjee – [email protected]
Module Writer Dr. Neha Research Officer, National Research Study
on Human Trafficking in India An UN-NHRC-TISS initiative, Tata
Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai E-mail:
[email protected]
Keywords Gender, Development, Gender and Development
Summary This module highlights the role of gender
in development and examines the various
concepts therein. Further, it traces the
historical evolution of the three central
critical perspectives to understand gender
and development, outlined by Eva
Rathgeber (1990): Women in
Development (WID), Women and
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mailto:[email protected]
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Development (WAD) and Gender and
Development (GAD).
Content reviewer Prof. Aruna Khasgiwala Retired Professor and
Head, MSU, Department of Social Work, Baroda
Language editor Ms Sudha Ganapathy Manager, Publications Unit,
TISS
Gender and Development: An Introduction
Introduction
This module highlights the role of gender in development. The
purpose of the module is to
introduce students to the major debates in the field of gender
and development. It examines
various developments in the concepts of gender and development
and how they have been
adopted into theory and practice of feminism and development in
general. Further, it traces the
historical evolution of the three central critical perspectives
to understand gender and
development, outlined by Eva Rathgeber (1990): Women in
Development (WID), Women and
Development (WAD) and Gender and Development (GAD). Thus, the
module fundamentally
introduces students to the main critical perspectives to study
and implement development issues
and projects from a gender lens.
Learning Outcomes
The course aims to engage the students in:
1. Understanding the role of gender in development.
2. Developing a critical understanding of the basic developments
in the field of women and
development.
3. Learning about various perspectives within the field of
gender and development from a
historical perspective.
4. Developing a connecting link between theories of development
and feminism.
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5. Developing an understanding of how to engage with these
approaches while studying or
implementing development programs from a gender lens.
Topic 1. Gender and Development: An Overview
1.1.Why gender?
Gender is a development issue (Momsen, 2010) and development is
a gender issue. The varied
modes of and efforts at development across the society pre and
post globalization and
liberalization have affected women and men differently.
Increasingly, with betterment in
technology and modernization of agriculture, traditional
livelihood forms have further
exacerbated the status of women in the processes of development
today. With restricted (and
many times denied) access to and control over productive
resources and increasing exclusion
from newer modes of production, women are being left out of the
positive impacts of
development. Unequal gender relations are thus facing newer
pressures which are playing crucial
role in the results of development.
Gender relations as the socially constructed form of relations
between women and men are
unequal and usually favor men in terms of access to power,
resources and status. Scholars, for
long, have been examining the ways in which development
processes affect and are affected by
the particular gender relations in a society. And it’s been long
established that there is a strong
and significant relationship between women’s status and the
level of development in any society.
UN in its Sustainable Development Goals and earlier millennium
development goals also
consider improvement of women’s status as a top priority (See
box no.1). UN WOMEN has
consistently asserting why gender equality matters for social
progress and development of any
society (See
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-it-
Matters_GenderEquality_2p.pdf). With such recognition, since
many decades, to enhance
women’s participation in the developmental processes of the
society and to achieve social justice
with gender equality; various approaches have been and are being
used by various stakeholders
3
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-it-Matters_GenderEquality_2p.pdfhttp://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-it-Matters_GenderEquality_2p.pdf
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of development. These include: welfare, efficiency,
anti-poverty, mainstreaming, empowerment,
etc.
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Box-1.
Sustainable Development Goal 5
Goal:
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Target:
1. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls
everywhere. 2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women
and girls in the public and private
spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of
exploitation. 3. Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child,
early and forced marriage and female
genital mutilation. 4. Recognize and value unpaid care and
domestic work through the provision of public
services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the
promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the
family as nationally appropriate.
5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal
opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in
political, economic and public life.
6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and
reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of
Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome
documents of their review conferences.
7. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic
resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and
other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and
natural resources, in accordance with national laws.
8. Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular
information and communications technology, to promote the
empowerment of women.
9. Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable
legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the
empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
See more:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality#sthash.XYCG5XzF.dpuf
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-it-Matters_GenderEquality_2p.pdf
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http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality%23sthash.XYCG5XzF.dpufhttp://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality%23sthash.XYCG5XzF.dpufhttp://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-it-Matters_GenderEquality_2p.pdfhttp://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/5_Why-it-Matters_GenderEquality_2p.pdf
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1.2. Women’s World Conferences:
The focus on women’s education, legal rights, health, economic
independence and political
participation in the SDGs is a result of various efforts by
women activists and organizations over
decades. Women’s organizations, groups and conferences organized
at international levels like in
Mexico, Beijing, Nairobi and Copenhagen have been fairly
successful in putting gender as a
crucial agenda in development globally (See box 2). Development
officials and professionals
have been made to recognize that women and men have different
needs, concerns, opportunities,
vulnerabilities and aspirations with respect to their
development. The development process thus
must be cognizant of these differences. It has been well
stressed that gender blind development
causes a loss of half the human capital and potential; and does
not have costs only for women but
also men, ultimately hindering the development of the society as
a whole. It’s been well
recognized that the fast economic growth is not enough. In
countries of the global North as well
as the South, though it has certainly reduced economic disparity
among women and men, the
gaps in the political and social domain continue to be wide and
persistent.
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1.3.Current responses and status
Addressing the gender-based inequities and inequalities of
opportunities and resources in
development processes requires addressing women’s particular
issues as these inequities result
out of women’s restricted or no access to and control over
livelihood resources and various other
socio-political and cultural factors that affect such
restrictions. Any effort to reduce poverty;
enhance employment opportunities; provide health and education
access for all and ensure access
to land and technology in the way of achieving development
requires addressal of gender
inequities (UNWOMEN, 2014). In response to various studies
arguing that development is not
benefitting women in their situations, the 1995 Beijing Platform
for Action mandated gender
mainstreaming as a smart and sensible strategy to achieve
women’s empowerment and gender
justice at all levels of development. – Read more at
http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-
library/publications/2015/02/gender-mainstreaming-issues#sthash.QZg819gC.dpuf
. Presently,
Box-2.
Women’s World Conferences: Beijing and its Follow-up
The Commission on the Status of Women has been responsible for
organizing and following up the world conferences on women in
Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing
(1995). The last conference is being followed by five year
reviews.
Read more at:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-women
Read full reports on the four major conferences at links
below:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/mexico.html
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/copenhagen.html
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/nairobi.html
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/fwcwn.html
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http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/02/gender-mainstreaming-issues%23sthash.QZg819gC.dpufhttp://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/02/gender-mainstreaming-issues%23sthash.QZg819gC.dpufhttp://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-womenhttp://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-womenhttp://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/mexico.htmlhttp://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/copenhagen.htmlhttp://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/nairobi.htmlhttp://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/fwcwn.html
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most state governments (India included) include gender as a
crucial component while framing
and implementing its mainstream development policies. However,
apart from co-opting, this has
meant little socio-political transformation for gender relations
and roles.
Topic 2. Gender and Development: Theoretical Evolution and
Intersection
This section outlines a number of frameworks within feminism and
development; and
intersection between these. Over decades, scholars have
attempted to understand development
and women’s status through various lenses and have suggested
solutions for development and
women’s empowerment in different ways. This section sets the
historical context to understand
the origin and evolution of development and feminist frameworks.
It significantly explains how
feminist frameworks intersected with existing development
frameworks to develop newer
frameworks that offer solutions to the problems of women within
the totality of development
paradigm. In particular, the section establishes how these
intersections culminated to originate
three major feminist development frameworks: WID, WAD and
GAD.
Going back as far as 1930s, development efforts ignored women’s
existence and their concerns.
Soon, Western development professionals followed the tenets of
the theory of modernization
wherein development was thought to be a linear path to progress.
According to this theory,
countries and societies could become developed by adopting
westernization and modernization
of techniques. It was thought that traditional societies like
those in the third world could surpass
their historic impediments by embracing modern, Western-like
values, institutions and
technologies. During the 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s,
modernization framework (main
proponents include Walter Rostow, W.A. Lewis, Talcott Parsons,
and Daniel Lerner.) was
widely adopted to understand and develop societies. Many
colonized countries got independence
in 1940s and the new development experts of the newly
independent nations primarily adopted
modernization paradigm to achieve economic development. During
this period, the US emerged
as the hegemonic power and a model for modernization channeled
development. Until this
period, women were largely absent from development plans and
practices of all nations.
Women were visiblized for the first time in development debates
with the arrival of Boserup’s
1970 book. Ester Boserup in Women’s Role in Development, for the
first time, examined the role
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of women in development and the impact of development projects
on Third World women.
Before this, very few questioned the impact of economic
prosperity across classes, races and
gender groups. Boserup highlighted that modern development
projects undermined women’s
economic roles, opportunities and autonomy. New technological
trainings ignored women and
reduced women’s access to technology and paid work. During the
period, it was asserted that
benefits from technology oriented modern development projects
will trickle down to women and
other marginalized groups of the society. The book brought to
the fore that it was not happening.
Women in the US also challenged this idea of trickle down and
took up this gender issue in
development. They started using the term women in development
and tried to influence US
policies. They pushed United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) to make
dedicated strategies to include women in national economies and
development plans and
processes. Simultaneously, liberal feminism emerged which called
for equal opportunity and
gender equality, primarily in public sphere. Liberal feminists
aimed at equal access to education,
jobs, equal pay and good working conditions for women. Their
target was legal changes to
achieve such goals of equal opportunities for women in
development. The merging of the tenets
of liberal feminism and modernization development theory is
represented in WID approach to
gender and development. The main characteristic of this period
was a call for inclusion and
integration of women in paid work and economies.
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Picture 1: Picture suggesting women uprising in the United
States.
Source:
https://www.cliohistory.org/fileadmin/files/click/Politics_Social_Movements/1970-
Bettye-Lane-BL3_04448c-web.jpg
Planners were forced to plan with women in mind and to enhance
women’s participation in
development. For the first time, there were dedicated researches
done to understand women’s
lives. There was increased evidence for the need for improvement
in women’s access to training,
education, productive resources and employment. To ensure such
improvement, women’s active
integration in development designs, policies and implementation
was needed. It was
acknowledged that women-sensitive policies would ultimately
enhance economic development.
Women were seen as needed for the overall development of
societies.
However, soon the limitations of WID became apparent. As the
approach relies on
modernization theory, it ignored the potential of indigenous
knowledge systems. It also ignored
women’s other identities and their significance in shaping
women’s lived experiences. Also, in
most cases, women’s integration was merely co-opted into
development plans. Their integration
was also not matched with adequate funds or political leverage.
Most significantly, WID projects
relied mostly on State support and saw State only as solution to
women’s problems. They
ignored the fact that state may also be a potential problem in
the advancement of women.
Recognizing such role of the male dominated institution of the
State, The Third World feminists
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worked at grassroots level by organizing themselves and did not
work with state sanctioned WID
projects. Within a decade, grassroots work gained momentum and
NGO activity also became
prominent. Much of the work in women’s issues began to be done
in ways that were anti of
liberal-feminist and WID approaches.
Seeking to address the loopholes in liberal modernization
theory, activists moved towards
Marxism. However, this approach also had little to say about
women as the focus of their attack
is largely capitalist system. Still, many influential feminists
adopted Marxist paradigm and
examined women’s lives by recognizing the role of reproductive
labor, productive labor and role
of class in women’s lives. Simultaneously dependency theory of
development was developed
under the influence of Marxism and it turned the modernization
theory upside down. Departing
from the notion that underdevelopment is an internal issue of
countries, the proponents (mainly,
Paul Prebisch, Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin, etc) argued that
the capitalist center metropolis
exploited and gained from peripheral Third World and the
capitalist system functioned in a
manner that perpetuated this dependency. The development of
dependency theory was
paralleled by the development of Radical Feminism. Both these
frameworks challenged the state
and major sources of authority or power. They argued for
alternative social institutions for
development. Radical feminists separated themselves from men and
pointed towards possible
challenges and dangers of integrating women into patriarchal
development projects. They called
for and created ‘women-only’ projects for women’s development.
Such perspective departed
from WID’s idea of women’s integration of women and gave rise to
WAD approach which
primarily argues that women have always been integral part of
development. It stresses on the
distinctiveness of women’s role, work, knowledge and
responsibilities. Drawing along the
similar lines as dependency theory and radical feminism, this
approach argued against the
integration and for woman focused organizing. WAD approach,
however, also was soon
criticized for being too small scale as mainstream development
structures were not involved to
affect women’s development. With focus on woman only projects,
WAD has also been criticized
for treating women as a class and for ignoring differences among
women.
Thus, by 1980s, some feminists became unconvinced with WID and
WAD and sought an
approach that addresses structural factors creating and
maintaining gender inequalities. GAD in
the 1980s came as an answer to those concerns. This approach
covered empowerment and
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gender aware planning approaches. Originating in the experiences
and writings of the Third
World feminists and articulated by Development Alternatives with
Women for a New Era
(DAWN) (launched at 1985 Nairobi conference), this approach to
women’s development
recognized the importance of gender and global inequities (Sen
and Grown, 1987). This
approach also has its basis in the analysis of socialist
feminists (Young, 1996; Moser, 1989).
Drawing from socialist feminism, GAD recognizes the role of
material and the cultural, the
patriarchal structures and the economic and capitalist systems
that women are a part of. The
distinguishing aspect of GAD is its focus on gender relations as
key determinants of women’s
subordinate position in the society. Significantly, GAD also
concerns itself with the intersection
of gender, class, race, ethnicity etc in women’s experiences of
their cultural and economic lives.
By the 1990s and later, all the approaches are being used to
address women and development
issues at different places, times and scales. While WID
continues to be the working approach in
most govt policies and programs, many NGOs are continuing with
WAD approach. GAD
approach is also increasingly shaping the activities of NGOs
today and is being shaped by their
experiences in return. However, the last approach is usually
being adopted by agencies only to
assure men that it is not only about women and their interests
are not being ignored. Mostly,
GAD is being used as a fancy label until the co-option of the
term gender and to please the
donors, rather than actually challenging the patriarchal
structures.
Thus, one can see how different frameworks of development and
feminism emerged and
intersected to offer three major gender and development
approaches: WID, WAD and GAD.
These three perspectives are separately discussed in detail in
subsequent modules of the present
course on Gender and Development. The strengths, relevance and
weaknesses of these
frameworks should be measured by their usefulness in making a
better society (Connelly, et.al,
2000). By the end of 20th century, most of the approaches to
addressing women and development
converged into GAD approach (Rathgeber, 1990). The labels of
WID, WAD and GAD do not
give a clear guide for policies and programs today. One project
may use the language of one
approach while be based in the ideology of another approach. The
approaches are being
simultaneously used for various objectives.
Topic 3. Policy and Practice of Gender and Development in
India
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Following the development of debates and perspectives on women’s
development outside India;
and in response to the push from feminist organizations, women’s
groups and international
agencies aiming at women’s empowerment; development measures for
women have shifted
shapes over decades. While social welfare was a significant
component of India’s planned
development since independence, for last half century, women’s
development moved beyond
welfaristic measures and the component of gender was recently
dedicatedly adopted in the
development plans and policies in India.
The 6th plan marks significant beginning for women’s role in
development. From this plan
onwards, women secured a dedicated space in the national plans
and planning processes
primarily with thrusts on health, education and employment.
Until the 6th plan, segmented
welfaristic efforts were made to provide better work
opportunities, health facilities and education
to women. N. Lalitha (1995) says that under the 6th Five Year
Plan, the programmes and policies
relating to women were given a shift in approach from welfare to
developmental and curative to
preventive. The approach followed was essentially WID as
economic development of women
through income generating activities was stressed. The strategy
was threefold with focus on
improvement of women’s education, employment and health status.
The 7TH Five Year Plan
moved towards generating awareness among women about their
rights. The long term objectives
of developmental programmes in this plan were to raise women’s
economic and social status in
order to bring them into the mainstream of national development.
The period emphasized the
need to open new avenues of work for women and recognized the
importance of women in
contributing to the various socio-economic, political and
cultural activities. Another distinctive
feature of the period was the recognition for need of
organization of women. It was thought that
economically self-reliant women would participate in overall
development of the country. Thus,
the plan reflected WID as well as WAD approach to planning for
women and development.
Although this approach definitely benefited some women in some
manners, their social and
political status in the family and society did not improve
much.
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A profound shift occurred in the 8th Plan where women’s
‘empowerment’ was recognized and
adopted as a distinct strategy. The concept of ‘empowerment’ was
introduced at the International
Women’s Conference at Nairobi in 1985 by women delegates from
the global south. It calls for
redistribution of social power and control of resources in favor
of women in the development
planning and action. The introduction of Women’s Component Plan
in the 9th Plan was another
significant push towards women’s empowerment and specific
ministries were to specify the flow
of funds to the women’s programmes and schemes. This period
recognized the significance of
providing enabling gender sensitive environment. Gender
sensitization and training programs for
participants were started in development meetings in public and
private sectors. From this plan
onwards, planning in India reflects a convergence of WID, WAD
nad GAD approaches. In the
10th Plan, targets were set for key indicators of human
development, which included reduction in
gender gaps in literacy, wage rates and reduction in MMR. The
9th Plan laid emphasis on the
promotion of self-help groups. The approach was to access poor
women and to guide them to
help themselves. The next plan called for collectively aiming at
socio-economic empowerment
and gender justice. During the 10th Plan also, emphasis
continued on empowerment of women
through SHG organization. The 11th Plan significantly recognized
and aimed at reducing
disparities across regions and communities by ensuring access to
basic physical, health and
educational infrastructure and services. It was at this stage
that gender was recognized as a cross
- cutting theme across all sectors (Ministry of Women and Child
Development, 2012).
However, ongoing studies suggest that despite such objectives,
followed by segmented efforts,
‘women development’ does not go beyond providing economic
opportunities for women. Gender
bias persists in development policies despite the integration of
gender equity component at the
planning, project and academic levels. The dimensions of
structural constraints and gendered
power relations within families, communities, traditional and
new institutions are totally missing.
The development programs aimed at women are in a way based in
the patriarchal society and
thus only reinforce discrimination and social exclusion of
women. While the plans and various
policy documents reflect adoption of various critical
perspectives for women’s development,
gender justice has mostly been co-opted into the development
agenda and action. With the
pervading view that development affects women and men in the
same way and belief in the
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‘trickle down’ approach, all the efforts of development have
mainly been aimed at economic
development. However, it is well recognized now that development
affects men and women
differently.
Moreover, gender also interacts with the other multiple
identities that people have in a society
like ours. It impacts and is impacted by caste, class,
ethnicity, race, age and marital status
(Bhasin, 2003). Not all men are ‘included’ in the process and
benefits of development while not
all women are excluded from them in the same manner or to the
same extent. West born idea of
development, with little attention to the intersections of
caste, ethnicity etc, has led to the
marginalization of women and men differently based on existing
gender, caste and class
hierarchies. Development plans and programs fail to look into
these multiple identities and
related problems and have failed to help women in ameliorating
their problems.
Topic 4. Current Debates in the Field of Development and
Feminism
This section specifically traces the changing economic reality
of the global South and the new
approaches that critique the idea of development as envisaged in
Western explanations and that
stress on the particular contexts and experiences of the people
of the South. It highlights the
specific problems faced by women of the South as a result of
economic restructuring,
globalization and liberalization.
The era of 1990s and later is different than the era of the
1950s to 1980s which witnessed the
origin of the Modernization and Dependency theories of
development (Connelly et al, 2000).
The 1990s was characterized by economic restructuring,
globalization, spread of MNCs and
liberal free market ideology in policymaking. The economic
restructuring and resultant policies
of free trade, structural adjustment and rapid industrialization
have had differential impacts on
women and men. Jobs became feminized as women got insecure, low
paying jobs with little
scope for advancement as the employers sought flexible and cheap
labor. Few women find job in
the formal sector and they form the bulk of labor force in
informal sector. Contracting social
security measures and services, increased prices, enhanced need
to enter informal work and
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continuation of domestic responsibilities have affected women
adversely despite slight
improvement in economic participation for them. Wage difference;
migration of men; and
restricted control of and access to productive resources with
reproductive responsibilities
contribute towards feminization of poverty, primarily in the
South (Connelly et al., 2000).
It becomes urgent to understand how people experience these
changes in their particular
immediate contexts. While understanding such new forms of
development, it becomes important
to consider the local culture and knowledge apart from the
larger systems and structures that
affect economic changes at broader scales across the countries.
This necessitated new thinking
about development and is emphasized in recent postmodernist and
poststructuralist critiques of
socio-economic theories of development. New perspectives, thus
emerging, challenge
mainstream development discourse and call for perspectives that
acknowledge differences
among people and brings to the fore local voices and knowledges
that have been ignored in the
earlier approaches to development.
Alternative theories have emerged that emphasize on people’s
agency as creators of their own
histories and not on development as a linear progression towards
modernity. Rather than the
great knowledges and technological sciences, the post modernists
and post developmentalists
acknowledge and value indigenous knowledge systems. These
approaches focus on
deconstructing power relations in language and discourse of
development. The new visions of
development emphasize on the sensitivity to differences of race,
class, gender, etc. It is
considered that development of one may happen at the neglect of
other group. People in different
places and times have different goals with specific constraints
and opportunities affecting their
idea of development. Each group may thus have its own forms of
resistance and solutions to their
problems. Their particular concerns cannot be fully and
adequately addressed by development
agenda created by people outside of them. The post modern
perspectives (though essentially
Western approach) question the evolutionary assumptions
underlying the Marxist analyses and
modernization theory that societies follow a linear path of
progress.
Third world feminists have made major contributions to these
alternative theorizing on questions
of power and difference. Third world feminism emerged from the
experiences of feminist
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theorists and scholars of the South and departed from the
feminism of the North. It preoccupies
itself with the questions of specificities of regions, race,
impact of colonialism and global
inequalities. They focus on poverty among women and on the
global economic inequalities.
They distinguish themselves by placing the solutions of women’s
issues in their own experiences
and realities. Indian feminism flourished in the 1980s and has
seen the creation of organizations
like Center for Women’s Development Studies. The international
forum for women of the South,
DAWN also originated in Bangalore. DAWN has been particularly
concerned with implications
of development on women. The Third world feminists, like
Socialist Feminists, agree on the
significance of economic and political factors, but they focus
more on the issues of culture, race
and ethnicity. They combine socialist feminism with these
elements (Sen and Grown, 1987).
Feminist scholars from the South are skeptical about Western
solutions and seek solutions in the
complex, diverse realities and intersecting identities of women.
Thus, new approaches to
feminism and development seek development policies and projects
to be based in women’s
specific and complex realities which are usually ignored by the
development approaches born
and grown in the West for the South. The focus on difference and
identity leads to an increased
awareness of women’s multiple experiences and concerns arising
from the multiple axes at
which they live. Therefore, Third world feminists argue for
development approach that goes
beyond economic development and is sensitive to women’s local
knowledges and multiple
interacting identities. The previously silenced and ignored
voices and knowledges of the women
of the Third world find central position in their work. From
India, the contribution of Vandana
Shiva (1988) and Bina Agarwal (1991) find central significance
in Third World feminism for
asserting the relationship between women’s environmental
knowledge and sustainable
development of a society.
Thus, the current development debates in are concerned with
changing world and give central
importance to being aware of the specific historical, cultural
and economic context of women in
order to understand their problems, modes of resistance and
possible solutions that address
power local and global hierarchies.
Conclusion:
The various frameworks continue to develop to address new
socio-economic situations and
challenges. Development policies and approaches have changed
over time, from a woman-less or
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woman only focus to a focus on gender relations among women and
men. Each term has been
associated with certain assumptions and has led to evolution of
various strategies for women’s
participation in processes of development (Rathgeber, 1990).
While implementing any
development program for women in particular and people in
general, one has to be open to all
the approaches and seek specific contributions to the field of
implementation. Each framework
has its strengths and limitations and should be carefully
studied before adoption.
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