ABSTRACT
The two preceding chapters, by Zafiris Tzannatos and Carolyn M. Long respectively, seem to be broadly in agreement over the assessment that the priorities of the first four decades of the Bank’s operations were not merely gender-blind but actually caused the feminization of poverty (increasing the percentage of women among those living below the poverty line), leaving women worse off and further marginalized. Both chapters also concede that in recent years (and specifically, after the Beijing conference of women in 1995) the organization has declared its commitment to a more gender-sensitive perspective, and that a number of initiatives, ranging from policy guidelines to setting up gender consultative groups, have been taken.
