Women and Development: A Critique
Critically discusses Gita Sen & Caren Grown's Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions (1987), a theoretical explication of an alternative to the prevailing ideology of the women in development project, focusing on (1) their deployment of the sexual division of labor category as a way of understanding women's oppression; (2) the relation of sexual division of labor to emancipatory forms of knowledge; & (3) the representation of Third World women as victims in narratives of Northern feminists. It is argued that Sen & Grown have failed to provide an acceptable alternative framework for the development enterprise. More specifically, they are criticized for privileging a production-reproduction grid, which has the effect of importing into their discourse & practice the very presuppositions they wish to oppose, ie, capitalism & patriarchy. Further, by incorporating all women's experience under the category of labor, Sen & Grown are accused of erasing differences in women's organizations & political affiliations & class, race, & gender barriers. D. M. Smith