Gender Issues in Development (DEVT90040)

As a fundamental cross-cutting theme in development theory and practice today, gender discourse and practices have gone beyond the exclusive focus on feminist activism in the 1970s. What began as a preoccupation with women's discrimination and disadvantage and the lack of their visibility in development initiatives became a broader concern in the nature of relations between men and women. The subject will review shifts in gender theories and practices since the 1950s with a focus on contemporary debates and the embedding of gender in practices of development agencies, international organisations, and state level actors. Drawing on the scholarship in development studies, political science, sociology and anthropology, the subject will examine key gender concepts and tools through case studies in the developing world. We will also discuss important themes in the gender and development literature such as power and inequalities, economic development and poverty, resources allocations and entitlements, marriage and family, sexualities, masculinities, childhood and HIV/AIDS.