ABSTRACT

Thought to derive from the French word gai meaning high-spirited, the term gay has also been used since the sixteenth century to describe those addicted to social pleasures. Devised by feminists interested in overcoming women's economic, social and political marginalisation in both the North and the South, gender impact analysis aims to provide policy-makers and planners with the requisite information for gender-neutral or, at best, pro-women policies. The concept of a gender order was introduced by Bob Connell, an Australian sociologist who has written widely about gender and especially about masculinity. Development planners have been at the forefront of gender impact analysis, in order to put gender inequality at the heart of development concerns. Some analyses of gentrification take seriously the mutual constitution of identities through social and spatial practices and in the creation, contestation and circulation of meaning. Some feminist commentators have remarked on the lack of women in geopolitics and international relations.