HISTORY OF GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

WISDOMTOKNOW

21 Sept 202403:01

Summary

TLDRThe history of Gender and Development (GAD) traces its evolution through various phases, beginning with the welfare approach (1950s-1970s) focused on women's reproductive roles. The Women in Development (WID) phase (1970s-1980s) integrated women into economic development but treated them as a homogeneous group. GAD emerged in the 1980s, emphasizing gender relationships and power structures. The 1990s saw feminist theories pushing for empowerment and structural change. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since 2015 continue to highlight gender equality as essential for global progress, addressing issues like gender-based violence and economic disparities.

Takeaways

📈 Early development efforts (1950s-1970s) focused on economic growth with little attention to gender, viewing women primarily in reproductive roles.
💡 Women in Development (WID) approach (1970s-1980s) critiqued the welfare model, emphasizing women's role in economic development and their integration into development processes.
📊 The WID approach often treated women as a homogeneous group, without recognizing diversity among women.
📚 Gender and Development (GAD) emerged in the 1980s, focusing on the social and power structures that create gender inequalities and the relationships between genders.
👩‍🔬 GAD highlights the systemic nature of discrimination and incorporates feminist theories and intersectionality, addressing the ways gender intersects with other identities.
💪 The 1990s saw a shift towards empowerment, participation, and structural change, with the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action calling for comprehensive strategies for gender equality.
🌍 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since 2015 have emphasized gender equality (SDG 5) as essential for achieving all other global goals.
🔍 Key themes in GAD include empowerment of marginalized groups, recognition of intersectionality, and linking gender equality with sustainability.
👊 GAD continues to evolve, addressing issues such as gender-based violence, economic disparities, and women's rights across various contexts.
🌀 GAD remains a dynamic and evolving field, adapting to contemporary challenges and aiming for more inclusive development practices.

Q & A

What is the 'Welfare Approach' in the context of gender and development (1950s-1970s)?
-The Welfare Approach primarily focused on economic growth with little attention to gender. Women were viewed in terms of their reproductive roles, and development policies emphasized welfare services like healthcare and education to improve maternal and child health.
What led to the emergence of the 'Women in Development' (WID) approach in the 1970s-1980s?
-The WID approach emerged as a critique of the Welfare Approach. It recognized that women could contribute to economic development and should be integrated into development processes, advocating for better access to resources like education and employment.
How does 'Gender and Development' (GAD) differ from WID?
-GAD, developed in the 1980s, goes beyond WID by emphasizing the need to understand the social and power structures that create gender inequalities. It focuses on the relationships between genders and the systemic nature of discrimination.
What role did feminist theories play in shaping the GAD approach?
-Feminist theories influenced GAD by introducing ideas like intersectionality, which highlights how gender intersects with other identities and systems of oppression, promoting a more nuanced understanding of inequality.
What was a significant outcome of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing?
-The conference produced The Beijing Platform for Action, which called for comprehensive strategies to achieve gender equality and empower women globally. It was a key moment for addressing structural change in gender dynamics.
How do the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2015 relate to gender and development?
-The SDGs include a dedicated goal (SDG 5) for gender equality, emphasizing that gender equality is essential for achieving all other goals. It integrates gender issues like economic disparities, gender-based violence, and women’s rights into the broader development agenda.
What are the key themes that have shaped the evolution of gender and development?
-Key themes include empowerment (participation of marginalized groups in decision-making), intersectionality (understanding how various identities and oppressions intersect), and sustainability (linking gender equality with broader social, economic, and environmental goals).
What is the significance of intersectionality in GAD?
-Intersectionality in GAD acknowledges that gender inequality cannot be understood in isolation. It considers how various identities, such as race, class, and ethnicity, intersect and shape experiences of oppression and development outcomes.
How did the GAD approach respond to the limitations of the WID model?
-GAD responded to WID’s limitations by addressing not just women's inclusion but the broader social structures and relationships that create inequality. It aimed to transform these structures rather than just integrating women into existing frameworks.
In what ways is the field of gender and development still evolving?
-The field is continuously evolving to address contemporary challenges, such as gender-based violence, economic disparities, and sustainability. It remains dynamic, incorporating new frameworks like the SDGs and expanding its focus to include broader global issues.

Outlines

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📜 The Early Approach: Welfare and Development (1950s-1970s)

This section discusses the early phase of development, where economic growth was prioritized, with little attention to gender. Women were primarily seen through their reproductive roles, and policies focused on improving welfare services like healthcare and education, primarily for maternal and child health. This period is marked by the lack of emphasis on gender-specific roles in development efforts.

👩‍💼 Women in Development (1970s-1980s)

The emergence of the Women in Development (WID) approach marked a shift in understanding women’s contributions to economic development. This approach critiqued the previous welfare model by emphasizing women's roles in economic growth. Key events include the 1975 World Plan of Action for the Integration of Women in Development, which arose from the first UN Conference on Women. This era focused on enhancing women’s access to resources like education and employment, though it often generalized women as a homogeneous group.

⚖️ Gender and Development (GAD) (1980s-Present)

Gender and Development (GAD) emerged in the 1980s as a response to the limitations of the WID approach. GAD focuses on the social and power structures that perpetuate gender inequalities and aims to understand the relationships between genders. This period saw the integration of feminist theories and intersectionality, recognizing that gender intersects with other forms of oppression, such as race and class. GAD also highlights the systemic nature of discrimination and the need for structural changes.

🌍 Post-Structuralist and Feminist Theories (1990s)

In the 1990s, development thinking shifted towards empowerment, participation, and the need for structural change. The Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 produced the Beijing Platform for Action, which called for comprehensive strategies to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment globally. This era emphasized the importance of women's participation in decision-making and the empowerment of marginalized groups.

🌱 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Gender Equality (2015-Present)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a dedicated goal (SDG 5) for gender equality, recognizing it as essential for achieving all other development goals. Within this framework, GAD continues to evolve, addressing challenges such as gender-based violence, economic disparities, and women's rights in diverse contexts. Key themes include empowerment, intersectionality, and linking gender equality with sustainability.

🔑 Key Themes in GAD's Evolution

This final section highlights major themes in GAD's evolution: empowerment, intersectionality, and sustainability. Empowerment focuses on enabling marginalized groups to participate in decision-making processes. Intersectionality explores how various identities, such as gender and race, intersect to influence development outcomes. Sustainability connects gender equality with broader social, economic, and environmental goals. GAD remains a dynamic field, adapting to contemporary challenges and the need for inclusive development practices.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Welfare Approach (1950s-1970s)

The Welfare Approach was an early development framework focusing on economic growth, with little attention to gender issues. Women were seen primarily in their reproductive roles, and development policies emphasized providing services like healthcare and education, particularly to improve maternal and child health. This approach treated women as passive recipients of welfare rather than active contributors to development.

💡Women in Development (WID, 1970s-1980s)

WID emerged in response to the limitations of the Welfare Approach, advocating for women's integration into development processes. It recognized that women could actively contribute to economic development and aimed to improve their access to education, employment, and resources. The 1975 World Plan of Action for the Integration of Women in Development is a key milestone in this phase, but the approach often treated women as a homogenous group, overlooking differences in their experiences.

💡Gender and Development (GAD, 1980s-present)

GAD arose as a critique of WID, focusing on the social and power structures that perpetuate gender inequality. It emphasizes the relationships between genders and the systemic nature of discrimination. GAD advocates for understanding how these power dynamics shape development outcomes, incorporating frameworks like feminist theory and intersectionality to address the complexities of gender discrimination.

💡Intersectionality

Intersectionality refers to the concept that multiple identities, such as gender, race, class, and sexuality, intersect to create unique experiences of oppression or privilege. In the context of GAD, it highlights that gender inequality cannot be understood in isolation but must be examined alongside other systems of oppression. This approach ensures a more nuanced understanding of how various factors influence women's experiences in development.

💡Empowerment

Empowerment is a key focus of GAD, emphasizing the need for women and marginalized groups to actively participate in decision-making processes. Rather than just providing resources, empowerment involves challenging and changing the structural barriers that limit women's agency and control over their lives. It plays a central role in fostering gender equality and inclusive development.

💡Post-structuralist and Feminist Theories (1990s)

Post-structuralist and feminist theories gained prominence in the 1990s, emphasizing the need for empowerment, participation, and structural change to achieve gender equality. These theories questioned traditional power structures and advocated for a deeper understanding of how social norms and systems contribute to gender inequality. The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which set comprehensive strategies for women's empowerment, is a key event from this era.

💡Beijing Platform for Action (1995)

The Beijing Platform for Action was a landmark outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. It called for comprehensive strategies to promote gender equality and empower women globally, focusing on areas like education, healthcare, and economic participation. The platform remains a significant framework for gender equality efforts worldwide.

💡Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2015-present)

The SDGs, particularly Goal 5, emphasize that gender equality is essential for achieving sustainable development. The agenda for 2030 incorporates gender equality into all aspects of development, addressing issues such as gender-based violence, economic disparities, and women's rights. GAD's evolution within this framework highlights the importance of gender as a cross-cutting issue in global development efforts.

💡Gender-based Violence

Gender-based violence refers to harmful acts directed at individuals based on their gender and is a critical issue addressed within GAD. This includes domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of abuse that disproportionately affect women. In development contexts, addressing gender-based violence is essential for promoting gender equality and ensuring women's safety and empowerment.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability, in the context of GAD, links gender equality with broader social, economic, and environmental sustainability goals. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without addressing gender disparities, as these issues are interwoven with the well-being of societies and economies. GAD’s focus on sustainability ensures that development practices are inclusive, equitable, and long-lasting.

Highlights

Early development efforts (1950s-1970s) focused on economic growth with little attention to gender, emphasizing welfare, and services like healthcare to improve maternal and child health.

The Women in Development (WID) approach emerged in the 1970s-1980s, critiquing the welfare model and integrating women into development processes.

Influential reports, such as the 1975 World Plan of Action, highlighted the need to include women in development through access to resources like education and employment.

Gender and Development (GAD) emerged in the 1980s, focusing on gender inequalities and the power structures that create them.

GAD highlights the relationships between genders and systemic discrimination, influenced by feminist theories and intersectionality.

The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the Beijing Platform for Action called for comprehensive strategies to empower women globally.

Post-structuralist and feminist theories in the 1990s emphasized the need for empowerment, participation, and structural change in development practices.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a dedicated goal on gender equality (SDG 5), emphasizing its importance for achieving other development goals.

Gender and Development (GAD) continues to address contemporary challenges such as gender-based violence, economic disparities, and women's rights.

Empowerment has been a key theme in GAD, focusing on marginalized groups' participation in decision-making processes.

Intersectionality is central to GAD, recognizing how various forms of identity and oppression impact development outcomes.

Sustainability is a critical aspect of GAD, linking gender equality with broader social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

The GAD approach promotes the need for structural changes to address gender inequalities within development frameworks.

Feminist theories and intersectionality have shaped GAD's understanding of how gender intersects with other forms of oppression.

GAD remains a dynamic and evolving field, responding to ongoing development challenges and striving for more inclusive practices.