WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT.

Women in development pushes the issue of gender inequality into centre stage of the international development regime.  Women were being left out and being criticized based on their class or ethnic background.  Emphasis on women productive capacity is criticized for failing to recognize women's reproductive responsibilities and subsequent miscalculations about responsibilities, elasticity of women time and labour.  Moreover, because the women in development approach was firmly grounded in modernization theory, it is assumed that adopting western strategies would lead to the solution to the problems.

Women and Development

The ‘Women and Development’ approach doesn’t consider the class, racial and ethnic differences among women. WAD focused on international relations of power and neglected relations between genders and classes. It ignored differences between men and women, rich and poor in the global south. The WAD position equally downplays the role of patriarchy. It does not adequately explain gender power relations and their impact on development. Furthermore, the advocacy for separate projects for women did not produce the desired transformational impact. The ‘Women and Development’ model has only tended to focus its intervention strategies on the promotion of income-generating activities. It didn’t consider the competing time demands such strategies place on women who also have a reproductive role to perform.