• Reading and class participation. This is one of the most important requirements. In order to facilitate your participation, you will be asked on a regular basis to write a summary memo (no more than 2 pages). This memo will be emailed to course participants and briefly summarizes the reading, putting forth questions and critiques derived from the reading (and as the course progresses incorporating previous readings and class discussions). Assignment of these memos will be made at least two weeks prior to the week they are due. They will be due and emailed to course participants on the Monday of the week they are discussed. You will also be asked to provide a response memo to at least one of these summary memos in the form of an email to the course participants. This response memo should be a thoughtful reply to the summary memo. You may debate points in the summary memo, offer alternative critiques, and suggest other important points that the authors of the summary memo may have missed (no more than 2 pages). This response memo is due the Wednesday before the class meeting on Thursday. These two memos provide the basis for class discussion. The person(s) writing the summary memo will be responsible for taking the initiative to lead the class discussion. The fact that these memos are being done by others in the course does not alleviate non-memo writers' responsibility for engaging the literature. You are expected to participate each week.
• Memos to the professor. You will be responsible for writing three research memos to the professor, each 5 pages in length (double-spaced). In the first, due in class on February 19, you will address the utility of "women's status" as an organizing concept for the study of women in development and how your structural position (your gender, class, ethnicity, and nationality) influences your ability to understand the realities of others' lives. In the second research memo, due in class on March 12, you will address whether the two trends in development practice, i.e. 1) sustainable development and 2) women and development are compatible and why. In the third research memo, due in class on April 2, you will set forth your term paper proposal.

• Term paper. This is your major assignment, due on Dean's Day (May 12). This term paper is 10-15 pages long (double spaced). The paper could be 1) an analysis and evaluation of the gender component of a development project (that you are familiar with) or 2) it could be an evaluation of a world policy conference and a critique of its gender component (for example: the series of population conferences - the most recent in Cairo; or, the Environment conference in Rio de Janeiro; or, the UN Women's conference in Beijing; or, the World Health Organization's AIDS conferences) or 3) it could be an analysis of secondary data regarding women's status. In the 2^nd type of paper, you want to pick out specific policy directives that were agreed upon by the delegates. With any of the three topics, the paper should draw upon both the readings in the course and readings related to the topic outside the course. You may work in groups in so far as the collection of material and conducting of key informant interviews. The analysis and written work should be your own. In the last week of course meetings, you will be expected to present a summary of your findings. With the professor's permission you may suggest alternative topics for your term paper but these must be decided upon by March 12.

• Books and Articles. Books are available through the University Bookstore. Required and recommended articles and books are located on reserve in the Woodrow Wilson School library.

PART 3: GENDER, DEVELOPMENT AND WORK

March 26 - Globalization, "Urban" Work, and "Informal" Work

Part 1

• Scott, Alison MacEwen. 1991. "Informal sector or female sector? Gender bias in urban labor market models." In: Male Bias in the Development Process. Manchester.
• Ward, Kathryn, Women Workers and Global Restructuring. Chapter 3, 4

• A Home Divided. 120-142, 173-194, 229-247

April 2 - Rural Development (Agriculture and the Environment)

Part 1

• A Home Divided. Pp. 216-228
• Argawal, Bina. 1994. "Gender and Command Over Property: A Critical Gap in Economic Analysis and Policy in South Asia." World Development 22 (10): 1455-1478.
• Collins, Jane. 1993. "Gender, Contracts and Wage Work: Agricultural Restructuring in Brazil's Sao Francisco Valley." Development and Change 24:Pp.53-82.
• World Development 25(8): 1299-1302, 1303-1316, 1317-1333.

Part 2

• Jackson, Cecile. 1993. "Environmentalisms and Gender Interests in the Third World." Development and Change. 24: 649-677.
• Rocheleau, Dianne and David Edmunds. 1997. "Women, Men and Trees: Gender, Power and Property in Forest and Agrarian Landscapes." World Development 25 (8): 1351-1371.
• Thomas-Slayter, Barbara and Dianne E. Rocheleau. 1995. "Research frontiers at the nexus of gender, environment, and development: Linking Household Community, and Ecosystem." In Rita S. Gallin, Anne Ferguson, and Janice Harper (editors) The Women and Internation Development Annual, Volume 4. Boulder CO: Westview Press. Pp. 80-116.

• Argawal, Bina. "Gender Relations and Food Security: Coping with Seasonality, Drought, and Famine in South Asia." In Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work. Pp. 181-218.
• Carney, Judith A. 1996. "Converting the Wetlands, Engendering the Environment: The intersection of gender with agrarian change in Gambia." In Richard Peet and Michael Watts (editors), Liberation Ecologies New York: Routledge Press. Pp. 165-187.
• Hecht, Susanna. 1985. "Women and the Latin American Livestock Sector." In Jamie Monson and Marion Kalb (editors) Women as Food Producers in Developing Countries . Pp. 51-69.
• Leach, Melissa. 1992. "Women's Crops in Women's Spaces: Gender relations in Mende rice farming." In Elisabeth Croll and David Parkin (editors) Bush base: Forest farm New York: Routledge Press. Pp. 76-96.
• Zwarteveen, Margreet Z. 1997. "Water: From Basic Need to Commodity: A Discussion on Gender and Water Rights in the Context of Irrigation." World Development. 25(8): 1335-1349.

• Benaria, Lourdes and Shelley Feldman. Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work (pages to be announced)
• Haddad, Lawrence, Lynn R. Brown, Andrea Richter, and Lisa Smith. 1995. "The Gender Dimensions of Economic Adjustment Policies: Potential Interactions and Evidence to Date." World Development 23 (6): 881-896.
• Pyle, Jean. 1997. "Women, the Family and Economic Restructuring: The Singapore Model." Review of Social Economy. 55(2):215-223.
• Tanski, Janet. 1994. "The Impact of Crisis, Stabilization, and Structural Adjustment on Women in Lima, Peru." World Development 22(11):1627-1642.

• Elson, Diane. 1995. "Household responses to stabilisation and structural adjustment: Male bias at the micro level." In Male Bias in the Development Process. New York: Manchester University Press.
• Special Issue of World Development 23 (11).

PART 4: GENDER, THE "DOING" OF DEVELOPMENT, AND THE "STATE"

Part 1 - The role of the State and Supra National Organizations

April 16 - Doing Development Examples

• Goetz, A.M and R.S. Gupta. (1995) Who Takes the Credit? Gender, Power, and Control Over Loan Use in Rural Credit Programs in Bangladesh," World Development24(l): 45-63.
• Hashemi, S.M., Schuler, S.R. and A.P. Riley. (1996) "Rural Credit Programs and Women's Empowerment in Bangladesh," World Development 24(4): 635-653.
• M. Carr, M. Chen and R. Jhabvala. (1996) "Lessons Learned" Pp. 185-219 in M. Carr,M. Chen and R. Jhabvala (eds.) Speaking Out: Women's Economic Empowerment in South Asia
• McKee, K. (1989) "Microlevel Strategies for Supporting Livelihoods, Employment, and Income Generation of Poor Women in the Third World: The Challenge of Significance," World Development 17(7): 993-1006.
• Ray, N. and D.P. Vasundhara. (1996) "Like My Mother's House': Women's Thrift and Credit Co-operatives in South India" Pp. 85-102 in M. Carr, M. Chen and R. Jhabvala (eds.) Speaking Out: Women's Economic Empowerment in South Asia

April 23 - Social Change: Politics, Social Movements, and the State

• Chowdhury, Najma, et al. 1994. "Redefining Politics: Patterns of Women's Political Engagement from a Global Perspective." Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 3-24
• Gonzalez-Suarez, Mirta. 1994. "With Patience and Without Blood: The Political Struggles of Costa Rican Women." Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 175-188
• Koncz, Katalin. 1994. "Hungarian Women's Political Political Participation in the

Transition to Democracy." Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 348-360
• Okonjo, Kamene. 1994. "Reversing the Marginalization of the Invisible and Silent

Majority: Women in Politics in Nigeria." Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 513-526
• Tabak, Frank. 1994 "Women in the Struggle for Democracy and Equal Rights in Brazil." Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 128-141
• Vargas, Virginia and Victoria Villanueva. 1994. "Between Confusion and the Law: Women and Politics in Peru." Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 576-589

Part 2 - Social Change and Social Movements

• Cooper, Barbara. 1995. "The Politics of Difference and Women's Associations in Niger: Of "Prostitutes," the Public, and Politics." SIGNS 20(4):851-882.
• Gender Planning and Development. Chapter 9
• Lind, Amy. 1997. "Gender, Devleopment and Urban Social Change: Women's Community Action in Global Cities." World Development. 25(8): 1205-1223.
• MacLeod, Arlene Elowe. 1992. "Hegemonic Relations and Gender Resistance: The New Veiling as Accomodating Protest in Cairo." SIGNS 17(3): 533-557.
• Persistent Inequalities. Chapters 11-15.
• Rangan, Haripriya. 1996. "From Chipko to Uttaranchal: Development, environment, and social protest in the Garhwal Himalayas, India." In Richard Peet and Michael Watts (editors), Liberation Ecologies New York: Routledge Press. Pp. 205-226.

 

April 30 - Course Review and Paper presentations (dinner)

Other Recommended Readings

This list will grow with your contributions and suggestions and will serve as a useful reference for you in the future.

• Amin, Sajeda. 1997. "The Poverty-Purdah Trap in Rural Bangladesh: Implications for Women's Roles in the Family." Development and Change 28:213-233.
• Braidotti, Rosi, Ewa Charkiewicz, Sabine Hausler, and Saskia Wieringa. 1994. Women, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed Books.
• Buvinic, Mayra. 1986. "Projects for women in the third world: Explaining their misbehavior." World Development 14(5): 653-664.
• Charlton, Sue. 1989. "Women, the State, and Development." In Women, the State, and Development. Pp 1-19.
• Elson, Diane. 1995. Male Bias in the Development Process. New York: Manchester University Press.
• Fernandes, Leela. 1997. Producing Workers: The Politics of Gender, Class, and Culture in the Calcutta Jute Mills. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvannia Press.
• Kabeer, Naila. 1997. "Women, Wages and Intra-household Power Relations in Urban Bangladesh." Development and Change 28: 261-302.
• Mahmud, Simeen. 1997. "Women's Work in Urban Bangladesh: Is there an Economic Rationale?" Development and Change. 28:235-260.
• McIntosh, C. Alison and J. Finkle. 1995. "The Cairo Conference on Population and Development: A New Paradigm?" Population and Development Review. 21(2):223-260.
• Ortner, Sherry. 1994. "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" In Women, Culture and Society. Pp.67-87.
• Pietila, Hilkka and Jeanne Vickers. 1996. Making Women Matter: The Role of the United Nations. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed Books.
• Rogers, Barbara. 1980. "Inside the International Agencies." In Domestication of Women Pp. 48-58.
• Schenk-Sandbergen, Loes. 1995. Women and Seasonal Labor Migration. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Scott, Catherine. 1995. Gender and Development: Rethinking Modernization and Dependency Theory. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
• United Nations. 1995. Women in a Changing Global Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development. New York: United Nations.
• Watson, Carol. "Rural Women's Centers." In Women and the Development Apparatus in Chad. Pp. 399-435.
• Wolf, Diane. 1994. Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics and Rural Industrialization in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press.

 

Sources of Data

• WISTAT: women's Indicators and statistics Database available at the OPR Library.
• Abortion and Reproductive Rights - A comprehensive guide to medicine, ethics, and the law, available at the OPR Library.
• African Studies Resources

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