ABSTRACT
There has been a growing awareness in recent years that Third World women have not only been excluded from development programmes, but also, in many cases, have been adversely affected by the process of capitalist development. A number of studies have argued convincingly that development policy should be responsible to women’s needs, as the burdens of poverty and attendant exploitation fall disproportionately upon Third World women. However, the proposition that sexual inequality as well as poverty can be alleviated by reforms which attempt to incorporate women into the development process has not been adequately examined. In our view, analysis of the effects of development policy on women’s socio-economic position requires a comprehensive theoretical and analytical framework based largely on the relationship between the sexual division of labour and the overall process of social change. The objective of this chapter is to propose such a comprehensive framework for the study of women in the Third World.
