Gender Dimensions of Development

• Feminist Analysis of Social and Solidarity Economy Practices: Views from Latin America and India (2015 - 2017)
  Social and solidarity economic activities can be found in almost all sectors of the economy. Long ignored, social and solidarity economy (SSE) is receiving growing attention from scholars and public authorities. However, this interest remains for the most part gender blind, even though women play a major role in SSE activities. This research project aims to address these gaps in SSE research and policies from a feminist perspective. It will contribute to both the empirical evidence base and to theoretical debates on social reproduction.
• Engaging with Beijing+20 (2015 - 2015)
  UNRISD is marking 20 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which remains an ambitious agenda for women’s rights. While there have been improvements in many areas, women’s rights still have a long way to go. Beijing+20 is an opportunity to reflect on the Declaration and its impact in the context of the post-2015 agenda and to reinforce the commitment to fully and universally achieve women’s rights. 
• When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia (2013 - 2015)
  This UNRISD research project aims to contribute insights into the complex processes through which advocates for women’s rights articulate their demands, and strategize with other actors both within and outside the state realm, and transnationally, to bring about policy change; the "blind spots"— issues on which there has been little advocacy, or where advocacy does not enter policy debates, despite their centrality to women’s lives and well-being; and the proactive role of other actors, nationally and transnationally, in triggering policy change.
• Feminization, Agricultural Transition and Rural Employment (FATE) (2014 - 2016)
  The production of non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAE) such as delicate spices (ginger, cardamom) or nutritious grains (quinoa) can generate wage labour and stimulate female employment in developing countries. This project analyses the developmental impacts and gendered implications of the growth of export-led agriculture, with a focus on rural labour markets, wages and the quality of jobs; on women’s empowerment; and on responsibilities in the productive and reproductive spheres.
• Gender Dimensions of Food and Water Security in Dryland Areas (2014 - 2015)
  This activity entails a one-year scoping study, which will review international evidence, with particular reference to China and Ethiopia, on the social and gender dimensions of water and food security and livelihoods in dryland areas.
• Labour Markets and Social Policy: Gendered Connections (2011 - 2013)
  Over the past three decades, women’s labour force participation rates have increased, not only in high-income OECD countries, but also in many developing ones. Participation in the paid labour market has expanded options for some women, with empowering implications in some spheres. However, increased participation of women in the labour force is not a straightforward story of "progress".
• Religion, Politics and Gender Equality (2007 - 2009)
  This project raises two key questions: first, how can religion and politics become intertwined? Are there distinct modes of insertion in different settings? And second, what are the social and political effects, especially from a gender perspective, of this blending of religion and politics? When is it likely to pose a danger to modern normative structures associated with gender equality and democracy?
• Political and Social Economy of Care (2006 - 2009)
  This project is undertaking comparative research on the multiple institutions of care, their gender composition and dynamics, and their implications for poverty and social rights of citizenship.
• Policy Report on Gender and Development: 10 Years after Beijing (2003 - 2005)
  United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) prepared a research-based policy report on gender and development, to be launched at the March 2005 session of the CSW in New York, in order to shed light on some of the critical policy issues highlighted in the Beijing Platform for Action.
• Gender and Social Policy (2002 - 2004)
  This thematic project on Gender and Social Policy explores some of the key aspects of the gender/policy nexus through original research, with a focused concentration on developing countries.
• Agrarian Change, Gender and Land Rights (2000 - 2002)
  The past two decades have witnessed significant shifts in international development agendas and poli...
• Gender Justice, Development and Rights (2000 - 2002)
  The end of the Cold War signalled a more confident assertion of economic and political liberalism, but also a greater emphasis on human rights. In the 1990s a wave of UN Summits sought to place issues of democracy, justice and rights on the development agenda. In the context of the worldwide process of democratic consolidation that characterized the decade, a transnationalized women's movement was able to focus its attention on issues of rights and democracy and sought to take advantage of a favourable policy environment to press for a greater measure of equality between the sexes.
• Globalization, Export-Oriented Employment for Women and Social Policy (2000 - 2002)
  This project seeks to understand the relationship between increasing globalization of production, women's labour market participation, and social policy design and delivery. More specifically, it examines how far changes in a wide range of social provisions have responded to the new circumstances of women's increased labour force participation in a number of countries, and the extent to which increased employment by women has been a response to changes (negative or positive) in social policy design and delivery.
• Gender, Poverty and Well-being (1997 - 1999)
  Much had been written about gender and about poverty. It is arguable, however, that the relationship...
• Women, Environment and Population (1991 - 1994)
  The objective of this project was to investigate the impact of environmental stress on community liv...