Why do women in most developing countries lag behind men in literacy? Why do women get less schooling than men? This anthology examines the educational decisions that deprive women of an equal education. It assembles the most up-to-date data, organized by region. Each paper links the data with other measures of economic and social development. This approach helps explain the effects different levels of education have on womens' fertility, mortality rates, life expectancy, and income. Also described are the effects of women's education on family welfare. The authors look at family size and women's labor status and earnings. They examine child and maternal health, as well as investments in children's education. Their investigation demonstrates that women with a better education enjoy greater economic growth and provide a more nurturing family life. It suggests that when a country denies women an equal education, the nation's welfare suffers. Current strategies used to improve schooling for girls and women are examined in detail. The authors suggest an ambitious agenda for educating women. It seeks to close the gender gap by the next century. Published for The World Bank by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Based on focus groups and interviews with nearly 4,000 women, men, girls, and boys from 20 countries, this book explores areas that are less often studied in gender and development: gender norms and agency. It reveals how little gender norms have changed, how similar they are across countries, and how they are being challenged and contested.
Ideal for researching the status and activities of Third World women For quick, reliable coverage of women's issues in developing countries, here is a concise reference work written by a team of more than 80 international experts. The Encyclopedia comprises 68 essays that cover the entire Third World, from Africa to Asia, from the Near East to South and Central America, from the South Pacific to the Caribbean. The women authors are acknowledged experts from Harvard University, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the University of Nairobi, the International Labor Organization, and other institutions, who summarize the most recent scholarship on a wide range of important subjects. Thoroughly indexed and cross-referenced, the Encyclopedia is an ideal starting point for in-depth research in such areas as: recent developments in the prevention of violence against women * the conditions of women's lives across regions and countries * women's participation in government, science, and technology * hidden curriculum issues in higher education * an overview of women's experiences as small-scale entrepreneurs A feminist viewpoint enhances the coverage Informed throughout by a feminist perspective, the Encyclopedia focuses on traditional women's concerns, such as political participation, human rights, nutrition, housework, the family, equality, health, and more. But the coverage also extends to such issues as domestic and sexual violence, creation of women-friendly cities, patriarchal ideologies as religious beliefs, the needs of older women, new jobs and exploitation in industrial production, AIDS, the gender consequences of ecological devastation, movements for change, and other areas of increasing awareness. Geographical entries cover all the major regions and countries and discuss conditions and issues in each area. Spotlights the newest and best sources The Encyclopedia brings together information that has been widely scattered in sources from many disciplines. An introduction by the editor illuminates the most important issues faced by Third World women today and analyzes the drastically changed global situation and how the changes impacted on the material presented in the Encyclopedia. Reference aids make information retrieval easy An annotated bibliography of the latest and most important sources, as well as a reference list at the end of each chapter, provide quick access to current literature. A thorough name and subject index makes it easy to pinpoint information. Special Features Offers articles by recognized scholars and activists on gender and developmental issues * Presents a variety of perspectives by women from both industrialized and developing countries * Summarizes the literature of established disciplines, bringing together important material scattered in many sources * Identifies new areas for research affecting gender and development in emerging fields, such as legal rights * Outlines strategies for action in such critical areas as ecology and urban issues * An annotated bibliography and list of references at end of each chapter make it easy to expand your research
Trade can dramatically improve women’s lives, creating new jobs, enhancing consumer choices, and increasing women’s bargaining power in society. It can also lead to job losses and a concentration of work in low-skilled employment. Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between trade and gender, it is essential to assess the potential impact of trade policy on both women and men and to develop appropriate, evidence-based policies to ensure that trade helps to enhance opportunities for all. Research on gender equality and trade has been constrained by limited data and a lack of understanding of the connections among the economic roles that women play as workers, consumers, and decision makers. Building on new analyses and new sex-disaggregated data, Women and Trade: The Role of Trade in Promoting Gender Equality aims to advance the understanding of the relationship between trade and gender equality and to identify a series of opportunities through which trade can improve the lives of women.
Since the early 1980s Ecuador has experienced a series of events unparalleled in its history. Its “free market” strategies exacerbated the debt crisis, and in response new forms of social movement organizing arose among the country’s poor, including women’s groups. Gendered Paradoxes focuses on women’s participation in the political and economic restructuring process of the past twenty-five years, showing how in their daily struggle for survival Ecuadorian women have both reinforced and embraced the neoliberal model yet also challenged its exclusionary nature. Drawing on her extensive ethnographic fieldwork and employing an approach combining political economy and cultural politics, Amy Lind charts the growth of several strands of women’s activism and identifies how they have helped redefine, often in contradictory ways, the real and imagined boundaries of neoliberal development discourse and practice. In her analysis of this ambivalent and “unfinished” cultural project of modernity in the Andes, she examines state policies and their effects on women of various social sectors; women’s community development initiatives and responses to the debt crisis; and the roles played by feminist “issue networks” in reshaping national and international policy agendas in Ecuador and in developing a transnationally influenced, locally based feminist movement.
For all societies, the common denominator of gender is female subordination. For women of the Third World the effects of this position are worsened by economic crisis, the legacy of colonialism, as well as patriarchal attitudes and economic crises. Feminist critique has introduced the gender factor to development theory, arguing that the equal distribution of the benefits of economic development can only be achieved through a radical restructuring of the process of development. This important new book reviews both policy and practice in Latin America, Africa and Asia and raises thought-provoking questions concerning the role of development planning and the empowerment of women.
This book investigates the barriers to women’s economic empowerment in the Global South. Drawing on evidence from a wide range of countries, the book outlines important lessons and practical solutions for promoting gender equality. Despite global progress in closing gender gaps in education and health, women’s economic empowerment has lagged behind, with little evidence that economic growth promotes gender equality. International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) programme was set up to provide policy lessons, insights, and concrete solutions that could lead to advances in gender equality, particularly on the role of institutions and macroeconomic growth, barriers to labour market access for women, and the impact of women’s care responsibilities. This book showcases rigorous and multi-disciplinary research emerging from this ground-breaking programme, covering topics such as the school-to-work transition, child marriage, unpaid domestic work and childcare, labour market segregation, and the power of social and cultural norms that prevent women from fully participating in better paid sectors of the economy. With a range of rich case studies from Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Uganda, this book is perfect for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working on women’s economic empowerment and gender equality in the Global South.
"Devaki Jain opens the doors of the United Nations and shows how it has changed the female half of the world -- and vice versa. Women, Development, and the UN is a book that every global citizen, government leader, journalist, academic, and self-respecting woman should read." -- Gloria Steinem "Devaki Jain's book nurtures your optimism in this terrible war-torn decade by describing how women succeeded in empowering both themselves and the United Nations to work toward a global leadership inspired by human dignity." -- Fatema Mernissi In Women, Development, and the UN, internationally noted development economist and activist Devaki Jain traces the ways in which women have enriched the work of the United Nations from the time of its founding in 1945. Synthesizing insights from the extensive literature on women and development and from her own broad experience, Jain reviews the evolution of the UN's programs aimed at benefiting the women of developing nations and the impact of women's ideas about rights, equality, and social justice on UN thinking and practice regarding development. Jain presents this history from the perspective of the southern hemisphere, which recognizes that development issues often look different when viewed from the standpoint of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The book highlights the contributions of the four global women's conferences in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing in raising awareness, building confidence, spreading ideas, and creating alliances. The history that Jain chronicles reveals both the achievements of committed networks of women in partnership with the UN and the urgent work remaining to bring equality and justice to the world and its women.
For twenty-five years, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World has been an essential primer on the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history of women's movements in Asia and the Middle East. In this engaging and well-researched survey, Kumari Jayawardena presents feminism as it originated in the Third World, erupting from the specific struggles of women fighting against colonial power, for education or the vote, for safety, and against poverty and inequality. Journalist and human rights activist Rafia Zakaria's foreword to this new edition is an impassioned letter in two parts: the first to Western feminists; the second to feminists in the Global South, entreating them to use this "compendium of female courage" as a bridge between women of different nations. Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World was chosen as one of the top twenty Feminist Classics of this Wave, 1970-1990, by Ms. magazine, and won the Feminist Fortnight Award in the UK.
