The Women, Gender and Development Reader - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1856491420 ISBN 13: 9781856491426

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd, 1997

Synopsis

Third World women were long the undervalued and ignored actors in the development process but are now recognized as playing a critical role. This book has been designed as a comprehensive reader presenting the best of the now vast body of literature that has grown up alongside this acknowledgement. The book is divided into five parts, incorporating readings from the leading experts and authorities in each field. The first part acts as an introduction to the field, examining the key theoretical debates and discourses surrounding women and development from a historical perspective. Distinguished practitioners explore the ideas and concepts fundamental for understanding the area: class, ‘race’ and ethnicity, religion, reproduction, persistent inequalities, colonialism, modernization, economic exclusion and patriarchy. Part two goes on to look at the household as a unit of analysis; exploring sexuality, single-parent families, agricultural production, and environmental relationships while the third part locates women within the global economy, addressing issues such as industrialization, multi-national companies, Free Trade Zones , the informal sector and the feminization of labour. Part four views the social transformation of women as a consequence of Structural Adjustment Policies and intrusive state policies into women’s health, reproductive rights and sexuality. Next, the volume poses the fundamental questions around women and ideology; do national liberation struggles contradict with feminist movements? What is the impact of religious fundamentalism? Are socialist development processes similar or dissimilar to capitalist processes? How has the transition to capitalism affected women? The final section of the book shows how women from the ground up are organizing themselves for change.

About this title

About the Author

Nalini Visvanathan teaches courses on women, health and development at the School for International Training, Vermont, USA. Lynn Duggan is currently consulting for unions and teaching Labor Studies at Indiana University Northwest. Laurie Nisonoff is Professor of Economics at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. She is an editor of the Review of Radical Political Economics. Nan Wiegersma is Professor of Economics at Fitchburg State College, Fitchburg, Massachusetts. She is the author of Vietnam: Peasant Land, Peasant Revolution (1988).

Edition details

• Publisher: Zed Books Ltd
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1856491420
• ISBN 13: 9781856491426
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416
• Editor: Visvanathan Nalini, Duggan Lynn, Wiegersma Nan, Nisonoff Laurie