INVESTING IN AFRICA’S FUTURE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Name: Chupical Shollah Manuel

Reg Number: R 086305 HU

Lecturer: Musvosvi, E (Ms)

Course: Gender and Development (HSO 306)

Question: Briefly discuss the following theories and show the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to Gender Development; WID, WAD and GAD.

Gender relates to the social constructions and relations between men and women and it does not simply look at maleness or femaleness. Development is a multidimensional concept but in general it entails social upward mobility and empowerment but not limited to this. In studying gender relations and development it is of great importance to look at …show more content…

However, the projects did not solve even the efficiency the approach agitated for. Gaidzanwa(1992) argued that WID was a theory of rich women which to some extent did not suit some contexts ( Bandarage, 1984:500). For instance, women’s experiences were not the same and hence WID approach treated women’s problems as homogenous. Gaidzanwa (1992) also argued that WID did not look at the problems of men and the global economic system which subordinated both men and women. Advancement of credit to women alone had devastating results. It also further widened the gap between men and women hence, more gender disparities transpired. All the above short-comings of WID led to its incompetency and consequently, to the development of women and development (WAD).

Positive strides can be enumerated from the WID. It managed to draw attention to women from UNDP and consider women in development. The level of literacy in women slightly improved as more attention was given to girl child education (Baserup, 1970).

Women and development (WAD) succeeded WID. This came from the critique of dependency theory and bonds it to Marxist feminist theory. It also came into being as a critique to the deficiencies of WID approach. Momsen (2005) argued that women were not excluded in development but were already integrated into development. In fact, Momsen (2005) added that the study of the political, social and economic structure would redress