ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses strategies which are aimed at advancing women into more productive lives as part of the development mainstream. The irony in attempting to discern alternatives for women in the development process is that many potential options are closed off in the very early years of a woman's life. The chapter presents the important role played by women in agriculture, food production, family income, and child and family health. Katherine McKee breaks Judith Tendler's measures of significance into three broad strategic approaches. These are: programming strategies; sector-focused strategies; and function-based strategies. Within the function-based credit strategy, there is a growing school of purists who would limit external involvement to the barest minimum. Genuine productive female job creation and meaningful income generation remains an extremely difficult proposition. Socio-cultural constraints can be an important factor in the success or failure of new approaches for women.
