We have seen how gender equality is regarded as cross-cutting within development issues. Besides constituting
a development objective on its own, gender equality is also regarded as binding and necessary to the
achievement of other development objectives. This is the case for both wider development goals such as
poverty reduction, and more specific goals, such as the achievement of Decent Work for all women and men,
universal primary education, or the containment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The conceptualization of gender is the outcome of an ongoing evolution
in the international debate on development and its underlying issues.
Within this evolution process, it is possible to recognize different phases in the way the international
community has attempted to address the issue of gender inequalities up to this date. Even though the
distinction is not always clear-cut and different approaches are regarded as equally valid according to the
context, it is worthwhile to provide a brief account of how the role of women has changed within the
development discourse.
The general trend has been marked by an important shift from the focus on 'women' as
a separate category to the focus on 'gender' as a multidimensional
concept. Such shift, on its turn, has had a strong impact on the conceptualization of
issues like poverty, human rights and, more generally, of the development discourse.
What is the multidimensional concept of 'gender'?
In the document beside, we are going to outline the shift from the 'Women in Development' (WID) approach to
the 'Gender and Development' (GAD) approach which is the basis for "gender mainstreaming":
