Measuring progress on gender and agriculture in the 1982 and 2008 World Development Reports

Abstract

More than two decades separate two World Development Reports (WDRs) on agriculture: the first was published in 1982, the second in 2008. In this article, we ask what these documents can tell us about the evolution of gender analysis of the agriculture sector in those 25 years, and find that at the heart of the question is a far more difficult debate: what should we realistically expect the WDR to deliver on in terms of specific policy on gender issues? Whilst WDR 2008, as expected, provides a significantly improved analysis and understanding of gender inequality and uses it as a mechanism for understanding impediments to growth, at the same time, it lacks gender analysis of some fundamental concerns, which are key to reducing poverty and promoting agricultural growth for development.

Notes

1. Overviews of WDR 2008 in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese are available at: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTWDRS/EXTWDR2008/0,,contentMDK:21410054∼menuPK:2795178∼pagePK:64167689∼piPK:64167673∼theSitePK:2795143,00.html

2. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced within a nation in a given year.

3. The MDGs are a set of measurable goals and targets developed by the United Nations for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women by 2015.

4. The continued importance of Boserup's work is demonstrated in the recent publication of a revised edition of Boserup's book (see References).

5. Kabeer (2003) highlights that Boserup's equity-based argument had limited success in the 1970s because the types of programmes needed to improve women's opportunities for economic activity implied a change in gender relations that would have affected the cultural fabric of society, as well as a required change within development agencies. The argument that women were the poorest of the poor made greater headway, but faced similar challenges in the implementation of programmes which, in order to address women's marginalised status, not only requires change in gender relations, but also significant disbursements for women.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Holmes

Rebecca Holmes, Research Officer and Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute, London. Postal address: ODI, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD, UK

Rachel Slater

Rachel Slater, Research Officer and Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute, London. Postal address: ODI, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD, UK