CSS Gender Studies Gender and Development Syllabus

Gender and Development syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Gender and Development in CSS Gender Studies, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Perspectives and Development Theories

   2 topics

   • Colonial and Capitalistic Perspectives of Gender
   • Gender Analysis of Development Theories
2. 2

   Approaches and Critiques

   3 topics

   • Gender Approaches to Development
   • Gender Critique of Structural Adjustment Policies
   • Globalization and Gender

Gender and Development flashcards for CSS Gender Studies

22 of 51 cards from the Gender and Development deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In the colonial perspective of gender, how did colonialism reshape pre-existing gender relations in colonized societies?

   Colonialism imposed European patriarchal and Victorian gender norms, displacing women from productive and political roles, privatizing land into male hands, and recasting women as dependents, thereby intensifying gender hierarchies that often had been more fluid before colonization.

2. What is the central argument of the capitalist perspective on gender regarding women's labor?

   Capitalism relies on women's unpaid domestic and reproductive labor to reproduce the labor force at no cost, while also using women as a cheap, flexible 'reserve army of labor' in production, embedding gender inequality in the economic system.

3. What does the term 'feminization of labor' mean?

   The increasing incorporation of women into the paid workforce, especially in low-wage, insecure, informal, and export-oriented jobs, often accompanied by deteriorating labor conditions for all workers (a 'race to the bottom').

4. How did colonial cash-crop economies affect women's economic position in Africa, according to feminist analysis?

   By directing new technology, credit, and cash income from cash crops to men, colonial economies marginalized women into subsistence food production, reducing their economic autonomy and bargaining power.

5. Who wrote the landmark 1970 book that founded the field of Women in Development, and what was its title?

   Ester Boserup, in 'Woman's Role in Economic Development' (1970).

6. What was Ester Boserup's key finding about modernization and women?

   That economic development and modernization often worsened women's status by excluding them from new technologies, training, and waged employment, channeling resources and skills to men instead.

7. In Marxist-feminist analysis, what is meant by 'social reproduction'?

   The unpaid work (childbearing, child-rearing, caregiving, housework) that reproduces and maintains the labor force daily and generationally, which capitalism depends on but does not pay for.

8. What is the 'reserve army of labor' concept as applied to gender?

   The idea that women form a flexible pool of workers drawn into employment when labor is needed (e.g., wartime) and pushed back into the home when not, helping capital regulate wages and labor supply.

9. What does 'the public/private dichotomy' refer to in gender analysis?

   The ideological separation of the 'public' sphere of production, politics, and waged work (coded male) from the 'private' sphere of the home and reproduction (coded female), which devalues women's domestic labor.

10. What are the three main approaches/frameworks in the evolution of gender and development policy?

    WID (Women in Development), WAD (Women and Development), and GAD (Gender and Development).

11. What is the core premise of the WID (Women in Development) approach?

    That women had been left out of development; the solution is to integrate women into existing development processes through better access to resources, education, and employment, working within the modernization framework.

12. In what decade did the WID approach emerge, and what intellectual influence shaped it?

    The early 1970s, influenced by liberal feminism and Ester Boserup's work, gaining momentum after the 1975 UN International Women's Year and Decade for Women (1976-1985).

13. What is the main critique of the WID approach?

    It treats women in isolation, ignores power relations between men and women, accepts existing patriarchal and capitalist structures, and focuses on women's productive roles while neglecting reproductive roles and structural causes of inequality.

14. What is the WAD (Women and Development) approach and its theoretical basis?

    Emerging in the late 1970s from Marxist/dependency theory, WAD argues women have always been part of development but on unequal terms; it focuses on the relationship between women and development processes within unjust global capitalist structures.

15. What is a key limitation of the WAD approach?

    It emphasizes class and global economic structures while underplaying gender relations within the household and patriarchy, and tends to group all women together without examining men's role in subordination.

16. What is the GAD (Gender and Development) approach?

    An approach developed in the 1980s that focuses on socially constructed relations between men and women, analyzing power, patriarchy, and the gendered division of labor, and aiming to transform unequal structures rather than just integrate women.

17. How does GAD differ fundamentally from WID?

    WID focuses on women alone and integrating them into development; GAD focuses on gender relations (both men and women), challenges patriarchy and existing power structures, and seeks transformation rather than integration.

18. What theoretical/feminist tradition underpins the GAD approach?

    Socialist feminism, which combines analysis of patriarchy and capitalism to explain women's subordination.

19. What are the three roles in Caroline Moser's 'triple role' framework?

    Productive role (income-generating work), reproductive role (childbearing, domestic, and care work), and community managing/community politics role.

20. What is the distinction between 'practical gender needs' and 'strategic gender needs' (Moser)?

    Practical gender needs address immediate conditions (water, food, healthcare, income) without challenging gender roles; strategic gender needs challenge women's subordinate position (legal rights, equal pay, control over resources, ending violence) to transform gender relations.

21. What is the difference between the 'condition' and the 'position' of women?

    'Condition' refers to women's immediate material state (workload, lack of resources); 'position' refers to women's social and economic standing relative to men. Meeting practical needs improves condition; meeting strategic needs improves position.

22. What are the five WID/GAD policy approaches identified by Caroline Moser?

    Welfare, Equity, Anti-poverty, Efficiency, and Empowerment.

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