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5. Gender and Development

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Notes first, full answer below: Open a numbered topic for short revision bullets, a formal definition, a simple example and a sentence to remember. Detailed notes follow; the exam-ready prose answer is below those notes. Use this chapter table for recall, then practise adapting the answer to the actual question. Memory cues are study aids; no template guarantees marks.

Chapter 5 — quick revision and self-test

TopicMemory cueExplain without looking
5.1 Colonial and Capitalistic Perspectives of GenderLAND → LAW → LABOUR → LEVERAGE.How can a property record affect access to credit generations later?
5.2 Gender Analysis of Development TheoriesGROWTH, DEPENDENCE, SYSTEM, ROLES—then ask 'whose work?'Compare two theories using the same factory instead of giving two unrelated summaries.
5.3 WID, WAD and GAD ApproachesINCLUDE → EXAMINE THE SYSTEM → CHANGE RELATIONS.A woman receives a loan: what further evidence would establish increased agency?
5.4 Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs)PRICE + JOBS + SERVICES + TIME.How can a policy reduce government spending while shifting costs to households?
5.5 Globalization and GenderCONNECT: Contracts, Opportunities, Networks, Earnings/control, Care, Technology.Give one opportunity and one risk arising from the same cross-border activity.

Revision loop: Read the topic; close it; explain the definition and example aloud; check what you missed; write a paragraph. Revisit weak topics the next day and later in the week. Mix similar concepts so you practise distinguishing them.


Topic pages

Lecture notes


CSS quick-revision structure

  • Topic: gender and development. What to explain: compare WID, WAD and GAD.
  • Example to develop: women's access to agricultural credit — explain the mechanism and link it to the topic.
  • Critical evaluation: at least one limitation or competing explanation; avoid treating all Pakistani communities as identical.
  • 20-mark framework: define in 2–3 lines → theoretical background → headed arguments (definition, explanation, example) → Pakistan application → limitation and conclusion.

20-mark plan — "Trace the evolution of WID, WAD and GAD and evaluate their relevance for Pakistan."

  1. Intro: development is never gender-neutral (Boserup's challenge).
  2. Theories of development and their gender blind spots (table in 5.2).
  3. WID → WAD → GAD (problem, solution, critique for each).
  4. Tools: Moser, Molyneux's practical vs strategic needs, mainstreaming.
  5. SAPs and globalisation (gendered impacts; Elson).
  6. Pakistan: BISP, LHW programme and girls' stipends. Verified LFPR ages 10+, 19th ICLS: female 22.7%, male 68.7% (PBS LFS 2024–25). WEF 2026 economic parity score: 36.4%—not an employment rate. PBS; WEF.
  7. Critique: GAD's implementation gap; risk of "tick-box gender".
  8. Conclusion: GAD is the most comprehensive but requires resources, data and institutional change.

FPSC practice

  • Question: compare modernization, dependency, world-systems and structural-functional approaches; evaluate WID, WAD, GAD and structural adjustment.
  • Method: define central terms → separate headings with one concrete example each → Pakistan application → compare / critique → direct conclusion. Verify current laws and statistics separately. Syllabus reference: FPSC, CE-2016 onwards (Gender Studies, 100 marks).

Suggested exam questions

  • Trace the evolution of development approaches to gender from WID to WAD to GAD.
  • Critically examine the gendered impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes in Pakistan.
  • "Globalization is a double-edged sword for women." Discuss.
  • Compare modernization, dependency and world-systems theories from a gender perspective.

Twelve rapid MCQ facts

  • WID origin text: Boserup, 1970. Percy Amendment: 1973.
  • GAD planning: Moser's triple role; practical vs strategic needs: Molyneux, 1985.
  • DAWN: founded 1984.
  • Modernization theory: Rostow (1960). Dependency: Frank (1966). World-systems: Wallerstein.
  • Structural functionalism gender roles: Parsons and Bales (instrumental / expressive).
  • "Nimble fingers make cheap workers": Elson and Pearson, 1981.
  • "Housewifization": Maria Mies.
  • BISP launched 2008.
  • GDI and GEM: 1995 HDR; GII: 2010.
  • Beijing Platform endorsed gender mainstreaming: 1995.
  • UN Decade for Women: 1976–85.
  • Sen's "missing women": 1990.

Revision checklist

  • WID → WAD → GAD — era, focus and critique of each memorized from the table
  • 4 development theories — gender critique of each ready
  • SAPs defined + 2 gendered effects on Pakistan named
  • "Feminization of labour" and "feminization of migration" defined
  • One example of Pakistan's Five-Year Plans addressing women's development

📚 Exam-ready enrichment — WID, WAD and GAD through a single project

Suppose a district launches an agricultural-credit programme

  • WID — Women in Development: add women beneficiaries to an existing scheme.
    • Strength: makes women's exclusion visible; may increase access to loans or training.
    • Limit: adding women to a programme does not automatically change household control of assets.
  • WAD — Women and Development: ask how women already contribute to the economy and how unequal global/national economic structures exploit that contribution.
    • Strength: recognises women's productive contribution and links it to wider development.
    • Limit: can give less attention to changing household power relations.
  • GAD — Gender and Development: analyse control over land, credit, mobility, unpaid care and household decision-making across gender relations.
    • Strength: targets relations and institutions rather than treating women as a supplementary category.
    • Implementation challenge: needs budgets, local consultation and reliable data.

Distinguish practical from strategic gender needs

  • Practical needs (Molyneux): immediate needs within existing arrangements, e.g. convenient drinking water or safer transport.
  • Strategic interests: changes in unequal power and rights, e.g. effective inheritance access or participation in decisions.
  • Key insight: one project can address both; they are analytical categories, not two separate populations.

Moser's triple role

  • Productive: earning or producing goods, including farming and business.
  • Reproductive: unpaid childcare, household maintenance and care.
  • Community-management: organising local support and services.
  • Pakistan application: an agricultural extension course scheduled during childcare hours may appear gender-neutral but exclude some participants.

Structural adjustment — explain the causal channel

  • Policy bundle: fiscal restraint, market liberalisation, privatisation and related reforms; actual packages differ by country.
  • Possible pathway: reduced public services → more unpaid care; job restructuring → uneven employment effects.
  • Critical test: distinguish an observed impact from the assumption that any reform always harms all women.

Exam-ready conclusion

  • The progression from WID through WAD to GAD reflects a shift from including women in programmes to analysing the economic structures and gender relations that shape development outcomes.

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