Gender and Development: The Economic Basis of Women's Power

Drawing from the leading scholarship in the field, Gender and Development: The Economic Basis of Women′s Power helps students develop a foundational understanding of the significant role that gender plays in developing societies. Award-winning scholars Samuel Cohn and Rae Lesser Blumberg have carefully selected and edited a collection of readings that encourage students to think critically about the economic power (or lack thereof) of women, and apply key concepts and theory related to gender and current development issues. From women’s participation in labor markets to their financial autonomy and purchasing power, these readings enable students to explore the economic implications of female power and the importance of women’s strategic indispensability.   

Key Features:

• Distinguished scholars in the field offer students distinctive personalized points of view that extend the study of women’s power, gender, and development in new and interesting directions.
• A wide range of countries/regions, perspectives, and issues is explored to enable instructors the flexibility to introduce students to a variety of key concepts in a manner that works for their classrooms.
• Analysis of the cause and effect of women’s power offers students insights on the inter-relation between gender and development.
• "Guide to the Book" provides students with context for understanding gender and development, as well as introduces students to the key theories that they will explore throughout the book. 

Samuel Cohn is professor of sociology at Texas A&M University. He is the founder and first president of the American Sociological Association section on development. He has won the American Sociological Association’s Jessie Barnard Award for the best book on gender, his Process of Occupational Sex-Typing (Temple, 1985). Among his other works are a general book on race and gender discrimination in the United States, studies of race discrimination in American cities, a book on Brazilian economic development, and studies of development processes in 19th century Norway and the British Celtic fringe. He recently won a prize from the American Sociological Association for his service to development sociology.

Rae Lesser Blumberg is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia. Much of her academic work involves her general theory of gender stratification and theory of gender and development. In both, women’s versus men’s relative economic power (defined as control of income and other assets) is posited as the key―but not sole―factor affecting gender equality and many other development-related outcomes. She has worked in virtually all sectors of development, in 48 countries since Peace Corps in Venezuela, with the World Bank, USAID, UNESCO, UNDP and other UN agencies, the African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, various international nongovernmental organizations, and individual governments. She was president of the Sociology of Development Section of the American Sociological Association in 2014–2015. Her BS, MA, and PhD are from Northwestern University, and she is the author/coauthor of more than 100 publications, including eight books.