Gender and Development

Watch this space! The new UNRISD Gender Justice and Development programme will be rolled out in early 2021 as part of wider changes aligned with UNRISD's new Institutional Strategy for 2021-2025. For a preview of what's coming in the gender programme, read the blog and meet the new programme lead.

UNRISD research has both led and continually challenged the field of gender and development, contributing to feminist scholarship and activism, and bringing evidence to bear on the practice of development. Recent analysis of the gendered structure of social welfare regimes, and of the social and political economy of care, have shed light on how the unequal distribution of care work in the economy shapes gender and other inequalities. This work has elevated the issue of unpaid care on the global policy agenda, leading to its inclusion in the SDGs.

Gender equality is now a legitimate political claim at local, national and global levels. But despite progress and greater attention to some issues, such as violence against women, advances remain limited in others and reversals are frequent. Where women have gained voice through activism and increased political representation, this does not necessarily translate into substantive equality, or social and economic gains. Gender inequalities in resources, opportunities and power continue to be a persistent and integral feature of the modern world and its institutions.

For these reasons the UNRISD Gender and Development Programme focuses on the structures and relations that underpin gendered outcomes (and structure other inequalities), including the linkages between production and social reproduction, between economic and social policies, and between women’s movements and state institutions. The programme also focuses on the intersectionality of gender with factors such as age, class and ethnicity, leveraging its pioneering contributions and expanding the analysis of care policies in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Projects

VoiceIt: Strengthening LGBTQI+ Voices in Politics

When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia

Feminization, Agricultural Transition and Rural Employment (FATE)

Innovations and Challenges in Care

Feminist Analysis of Social and Solidarity Economy Practices: Views from Latin America and India

Engaging with Beijing+20

Gender Dimensions of Food and Water Security in Dryland Areas

Labour Markets and Social Policy: Gendered Connections

Photo credit: Asia Development Bank (CC BY-NC 2.0) via Flickr.