ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reasons why women in development (WID) focused so intensely on women's work, and reviews the implications of economic development policies in order to indicate why women's lives were fragmented for program purposes. Shelter was listed as one of the primary basic human needs by development planners as they shifted their emphasis on infrastructure projects so dominant in the 1950s and 1960s. The chapter analyses the evolution of housing policies, both urban and rural, in terms of the differential impact of housing approaches on women and men. In typical compartmentalized fashion, development agencies assigned housing programs to urban areas and have only recently realized the vast need in rural areas. The chapter considers the gender ramifications of two major aspects of shelter policy: provision of services and the use of space in and around the house for income activities or food production.
