Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a critical assessment of key theoretical frameworks and ideologies which have posed the most significant challenges to the concept of gender equality in International Development Assistance (IDA). It proceeds to analyse the implication of these challenges on the key concepts underlying the notion of gender equality such as IDA, Women in Development, and Gender and Development. The book analyses varying political interpretations of gender equality through policy cases illustrating both neoliberal and social democratic trends amongst bilateral and multilateral donor policies, and the use of political ideologies in interpretations of gender equality at the country policy level. It assesses whether it is possible to distinguish the universal from the particular in key examples of specific violations of women's human rights at the field level.