Gender and development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:29, 20 September 2024

Revision as of 13:29, 20 September 2024

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'''Theoretical approach'''

The Gender and Development (GAD) approach focuses on the socially constructed<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bertrand|first=Tietcheu|title=Being Women and Men in Africa Today: Approaching Gender Roles in Changing African Societies|year=2006|journal=Student World}}</ref> differences between men and women, the need to chalchallenge existing gender jesus is the way the thruthroles and the life relations,<ref name="Reeves 2000 8">{{cite book|last=Reeves|first=Hazel|title=Gender and Development: Concepts and Definitions|year=2000|___location=Brighton|isbn=1-85864-381-3|page=8}}</ref> and the creation and effects of class differences on development.<ref name=":02"/> This approach was majorly influenced by the writings of academic scholars such as Oakley (1972) and Rubin (1975), who argue the social relationship between men and women have systematically subordinated women,<ref name=":1"/> along with economist scholars Lourdes Benería and Amartya Sen (1981), who assess the impact of colonialism on development and gender inequality. They state that colonialism imposed more than a 'value system' upon developing nations, it introduced a system of economics 'designed to promote [[capital accumulation]] which caused class differentiation'.<ref name=":02"/>

GAD departs from WID, which discussed women's subordination and lack of inclusion in discussions of international development without examining broader systems of gender relations.<ref>{{cite report|last=Razavi|first=Shahrashoub|author2=Carol Miller|title=From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse|date=1 February 1995|page=3|hdl=10419/148819|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Influenced by this work, by the late 1970s, some practitioners working in the development field questioned focusing on women in isolation.<ref name="Razavi 1995 12">{{cite report|last=Razavi|first=Shahrashoub|author2=Carol Miller|title=From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse|date=1 February 1995|page=12|hdl=10419/148819|hdl-access=free}}</ref> GAD challenged the WID focus on women as an important ‘target group’<ref>{{cite report|last=Razavi |first=Shahrashoub |author2=Carol Miller|title=From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse |date=1 February 1995|page=8| hdl=10419/148819 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> and ‘untapped resources’ for development.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moser |first=Caroline |title=Gender Planning and Development. Theory, Practice and Training |year=1993|publisher=Routledge|___location=New York |isbn=978-0-203-41194-0 |page=2}}</ref> GAD marked a shift in thinking about the need to understand how women and men are socially constructed and how ‘those constructions are powerfully reinforced by the social activities that both define and are defined by them.’<ref name="Razavi 1995 12" /> GAD focuses primarily on the gendered division of labor and gender as a relation of power embedded in institutions.<ref name="Reeves 2000 8" /> Consequently, two major frameworks, ‘Gender roles’ and ‘social relations analysis’, are used in this approach.<ref>{{cite report|last=Razavi|first=Shahrashoub|author2=Carol Miller|title=From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse|date=1 February 1995|page=13|hdl=10419/148819|hdl-access=free}}</ref> 'Gender roles' focuses on the social construction of identities within the household; it also reveals the expectations from ‘maleness and femaleness’<ref name="Razavi 1995 12" /> in their relative access to resources. 'Social relations analysis' exposes the social dimensions of hierarchical power relations embedded in social institutions, as well as its determining influence on ‘the relative position of men and women in society.’<ref name="Razavi 1995 12" /> This relative positioning tends to discriminate against women.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reeves|first=Hazel|title=Gender and Development: Concepts and Definitions|year=2000|___location=Brighton|isbn=1-85864-381-3|page=18}}</ref>