Chpt. 11 Feminism/Postmodernism/Development

It struck me in the overview of this book that the main premise was "attempting a workable communication between Western theory and Third World practice." Hmmmmm well we'll see how that pans out with Rathgeber's writing:




The move to replace the word "women" with "gender" constituted the Women in Development (WID) approach led to the Gender and Development (GAD) approach.

An example of a policy can be found at the Australian Agency for International Development... obviously since 1997 this type of policy has undergone many changes, hence the turn toward the GAD approach. We can see this evidenced by NGOs such as the International Center for Research on Women.

Needless to say, this was a really boring read. I was hoping to gain a better perspective about the movements toward ACTION, but the chapter sort of lacked that emphasis. Anyway, here are a few pertinent concepts that I gathered:

projects undertaken from a GAD perspective will allow for more indigenous voices to be heard (p. 220)

the condition (practical gender interests) and position (strategic gender interests) of women (p. 206)

the situation of women is that of many power relations (p. 207)

gender and technology issues are the locus of many GAD opportunities (p. 216-217)

So, from a postmodern feminist perspective, why is this turn significant? Where is the "action" implicated?

Ok, gotta go. Can't wait to briefly address this Tuesday.