Back | Programme Area: Gender and Development (2000 - 2009), Special Events (2000 - 2009) | Event: Ford Foundation Launch - UNRISD Report on Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World

Ford Foundation Launch - UNRISD Report on Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World

Date: 7 Mar 2005
Location: Auditorium, Ford Foundation Building, 320 E. 43rd St., New York, USA
Speakers: Amina Mama, Diane Elson, Anne Marie Goetz, Pregs Govender, Amrita Basu, Deniz Kandiyoti, Ching Kwan Lee, Frances Lund, Thandika Mkandawire , Shahra Razavi, Stephanie Seguino, Onalenna Doo Selolwane, Rosalba Todaro
Project Title: Policy Report on Gender and Development: 10 Years after Beijing

Speech by Rosalba Todaro

From Rosalba Todaro's speech...

"In my work on gender analysis I attempt to explain the interaction between the basic patterns that organize the functioning of the economy, and the system of gender relations, which varies in different historical contexts.

By system of gender relations, which is also often referred to as the “gender order”, I mean the set of rules, formal and informal, which regulate the position of men and women in society, and in fact, determine what men and women may and should do. Power asymmetries in our societies are the result of the combination and interrelations of these rules. This system has different interrelated dimensions: economic, social, political and cultural.

Sexual division of labor is one of the key features of these asymmetries in the economy.

Recognizing the value of studies that analyze the impact of economic change on the economic situation of women, my special interest lies in the mutual influence of gender and the economy to understand when and how their logics are contradictory or coincide.

I was therefore, especially pleased to engage in this study for UNRISD because it covers not only a long period of time in Chilean history, but also because it is a period of profound changes.

The interrelationships between gender and economic orders are more easily perceived during periods of crisis and profound economic and social changes. This is so, because within a specific economic regime, gender relations tend to be naturalized, and taken for granted even more."