Gender and Inequalities (Working in Gender & Development)

As many countries experience increased economic growth they also undergo widening inequalities between classes, castes and sexes. Inequalities of any kind threaten to destabilize the fabric of society, and affect the rich and the poor, exacerbating tensions and crime as well as creating injustice and indignity for the extremely poor. Inequalities between men and women lead to lower wages, gender-based violence, unequal workloads within the household and unequal access to food and resources. A focus on inequalities should mean the adoption of a gendered perspective on poverty and a renewed focus on the relationship between social justice and economic wellbeing. This book surveys economic growth and gender inequality around the world, discusses how livelihoods projects have focused on economic empowerment alone, without measuring the relative impacts on men and women, and describes how women activists in the global South are working to get change for women.

Caroline Sweetman is Editor of the international journal Gender & Development and works for Oxfam GB.