ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the gender impacts of the economic reforms in developing countries. Restructuring was designed to reduce the twin deficits-government budget deficits and deficits in the balance of payments accounts and to promote the growth of per-capita income though not necessarily the equality of its distribution. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank frequently set a package of reforms, called structural-adjustment program (SAPs), as a condition for obtaining loans. The formation and growth of women in development as a field of study in the 1970s are due, at least partly, to the often adverse effects of economic development on women. Women in Latin America have played a key role in protecting their families from the negative impacts of reforms by shouldering the extra burdens. Women in sub-Saharan Africa have long had relatively high rates of labor-force participation compared to women in other developing countries.
