Gender

Gender inequalities have emerged from and continue to be perpetuated in development theories and processes that assume and then utilize gender norms to delineate women’s proper roles, duties, and activities. This chapter begins with an examination of theoretical frameworks in development literature that have been used to address gender inequalities. These frameworks have moved from providing analysis of “women in development” to that of “women and development” to that of “gender and development.” These theories, including those by Western feminists, were challenged from within feminism itself and by women’s movements and activism in a global context. Contemporary work is also discussed, including the World Bank’s 2012 report, on what remains to be done to understand and address gender inequalities in theory and in practice. Throughout the chapter, attention is drawn to two factors relevant to an analysis of gender: gender inequalities are affected by factors such as colonialism, race, class, ethnicity, age, ability, and so on. Gender inequalities are often magnified in a global context in which women are vulnerable to forces of economic globalization that keep them in particular kinds of jobs or exploit them for profit.