Gender and Development Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of Gender and Development distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

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Quick Reference

Gender Mainstreaming

The process of assessing the implications for women, men, and gender-diverse people of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or programs, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the concerns and experiences of all genders an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies.

Women's Economic Empowerment

The capacity of women to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from growth processes in ways that recognize the value of their contributions, respect their dignity, and make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of growth.

Intersectionality

A framework originally articulated by Kimberle Crenshaw that analyzes how overlapping social identities such as gender, race, class, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality create compounding systems of discrimination or privilege, rather than operating independently.

Care Economy

The sector of economic activity involving the provision of services that care for the physical and emotional needs of people, including childcare, eldercare, and domestic work. This work is disproportionately performed by women and is largely unpaid or undervalued in national accounts.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

Harmful acts directed at an individual or group based on their gender. It encompasses physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm and is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power, and harmful norms. GBV affects all genders but disproportionately impacts women and girls.

Gender-Responsive Budgeting

An approach to public budgeting that uses fiscal policy and public financial management to promote gender equality by analyzing the differential impacts of revenue and expenditure policies on women, men, and gender-diverse people.

Practical vs. Strategic Gender Needs

Practical gender needs are immediate necessities arising from women's existing roles within the gender division of labor (such as access to water, healthcare, and food). Strategic gender needs challenge the subordinate position of women and include demands for legal rights, equal pay, and political representation.

Capability Approach

Developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, this framework evaluates well-being and development not merely by income or GDP but by the substantive freedoms (capabilities) people have to live lives they value. It highlights how gender discrimination restricts women's capabilities in areas such as education, health, and political participation.

Feminist Political Ecology

A subfield that examines how gender relations intersect with environmental management, resource access, and ecological change. It highlights how women's knowledge, labor, and rights related to natural resources are shaped by gendered power structures.

Masculinities and Development

An analytical lens that examines how socially constructed ideals of manhood and male identity influence development outcomes, including men's health, violence, economic behavior, and engagement with gender equality initiatives.

Key Terms at a Glance

Gender:Socially constructed roles, behaviors, and attributes that a society considers appropriate for men, women, and other identities, as distinct from biological sex.

Gender Mainstreaming:The strategy of integrating gender perspectives into the design, implementation, and evaluation of all policies, programs, and activities.

Intersectionality:A framework for understanding how multiple social identities such as gender, race, class, and sexuality intersect to create overlapping systems of advantage and disadvantage.

Empowerment:The process of expanding people's ability to make strategic life choices, particularly in contexts where this ability has been denied. In gender studies, it emphasizes women's agency and autonomy.

Patriarchy:A social system in which men hold primary power and authority in political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and control over property, with implications for gender inequality.

Care Economy:The economic sector encompassing all paid and unpaid activities related to the care of persons, including childcare, eldercare, healthcare, and domestic work.

Gender-Based Violence:Violence directed against a person because of their gender, encompassing physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm. Disproportionately affects women and girls.

Sex-Disaggregated Data:Data collected and tabulated separately for males and females, enabling analysis of gender differences in outcomes, access, and participation.

Gender Parity:A numerical measure indicating equal representation or participation of males and females in a given area, typically expressed as a ratio.

Reproductive Rights:The rights of individuals to decide freely and responsibly on the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and to have access to reproductive healthcare.

CEDAW:The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by the UN in 1979, establishing an international standard for women's rights.

Gender Quota:A mechanism that sets a minimum threshold for the representation of a particular gender in political bodies, corporate boards, or other institutions.

Capability Approach:A normative framework developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum evaluating well-being by the substantive freedoms individuals have to achieve valued functionings.

Gender Division of Labor:The allocation of different tasks, roles, and responsibilities to men and women based on socially constructed gender norms rather than biological necessity.

Feminization of Poverty:The trend in which women represent a disproportionate share of the world's poor, linked to unequal access to resources, education, and employment.

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