Critical discussion of women in development and development approaches.

WID(Women in Development) is an approach that calls for gender attention to women in development policy and practice, and emphasizes the need to integrate them into the development process. It was established in the early 1970s by a Washington-based network of female development professionals. The first important statement of the position of women in development was made by Esther Boserup, who advanced a critique against modernization that only economic efficiency would emancipate women in the third world. According to the WID approach, modernization was impacting differently on men and women. Women were being left out the development practices, they were not benefiting fully and in some cases their status was made worse by development.

WAD approach

The WAD approach asserted that equality will be essential to improving women’s positions. Although they were more concerned about the social relations between women and men rather than integrating women into the development. They focused on the  social relations existing between women and men with women always playing roles in their societies as productive and reproductive actors. They saw both genders not benefiting from the global economic structures because of unequal dispensed resources. It elicited the sense hat patriarchy is essential for women’s reproductive roles to be acknowledged for meaning development.

The most useful approach used in SA

The WID approach is most useful because during apartheid, women had no right to work, vote or do anything that will result to them getting paid more money or end up in higher positions because it was considered a mans job. Women were derived the rights to education, work and anything that included them working for their families. But presently women can do anything they want, they have the right to education and work at any industry they want to work in.