Gender has been one of the main focuses in third world development. When referring to gender we usually think of male and female, but in fact gender deals with the social roles that the people are born into. We are born into our biological sex but the way in which we become masculine or feminine are a combination of our biology and the interpretation of our biology by our culture and the social class that we are born into. Once we are born we are already set into our gender roles without a choice, although we tend to believe that we a large degree of freedom in which we can choose who we want to be. Our gender affects our appearance (masculine or feminine), the way we dress (skirt, pants, ...), attitudes (arrogant, snobby, ...), personalities (friendly, self-centred, ...) and other behaviours.

This explains why we will analyse gender development not women development, because not all the women in the world has the same interest and discu

...Peasant women are the most affected by the economic situation because they do not have the financial means to study...As far as peasant women are concerned nothing has changed in the last 30 years. They don't have hospital, for example, or a health post. They have no light, water, farming tools, none of that. They still do everything by hand...Their lack of education holds them back they can't make any progress. The little that they earn from what they sow and harvest buys a little sugar and rice to subsist on...The crisis affects women because wages are so low. Of course there's plenty of food you can get it anywhere. But there is not any money, the wages are not enough to buy anything...Women have to devote more energy to finding money whenever they can. Women have to support their homes on their own when the husband is not working...They make their small children join in too...Women here in Bolivia try to meet their needs in the crisis as best they can, in desperation. !

...This crisis is a result of both colonial and post-colonial export-oriented agricultural policies, which failed to address the issue of national and regional food self-sufficiency. A concrete result of this policy is the total neglect of local methods of production and food crops that are mostly produced by women... (Mosse 78)

As some of the women living in the third world countries wrote about the lives they live under these circumstances, we can see how capitalism has hurt their lives even more than before. The Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD) released a manifesto in 1985 stating their analysis on the present crisis of Africa:

In the second issue, we will be analysing how the lack of recognition of the reproductive and productive role that woman takes within the household in developing countries hinders the gender equity that these women should receive. Part of the problem with the development plan of the Third World countries is that they fail to recognize the roles that women take that does not directly generates capita. Work like child bearing, house cleaning, food gathering, fuel gathering, farming, and other task that does not generate income for the family but still plays a vital part in the survival of their family members. Being a housewife or mother for instance is an occupation that produces no capita but still possesses a vital role in the human survival.

But the majority of the women in Third World countries don't get the luxury of just being a housewife, because usually their men are too poor or have left the household and they would have to find labour to support her family. As the country gets poorer the pressure on women to earn intensifies. With time and mobility as their constraints, they are forced to work for the cheapest rates . The sexual difference causes them to be look upon as secondary income regardless of their family situation. With household and children responsibilities women are not able to work in the formal sector with wages, pensions, regulated conditions and an organized labour force. They usually have to sett

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Approximate Word count = 2079
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)