ABSTRACT
This chapter problematizes the state of the dominant gender and development (GAD) discourses and examines the history of conceptual and policy shifts that have brought the field to its current state. It focuses on the frameworks that have been most influential for research, policies, and action, starting with the women in development (WID) perspective and the contending GAD approach. The chapter examines two disparate developments that have shaped the research agenda of the field since the 1980s: the critique of WID framework by postmodern writers, feminists, and women's organizations in developing countries and the rise of neoliberal economic policies that continue being implemented in most countries. It reviews these developments and three counter discourses to neoliberalism, which provide the conceptual tools for transcending these policies: feminist critiques, the capabilities approach and the human development paradigm, and the more recent human rights approach that emphasizes economic and social rights.
