Resisting, Remembering, Reclaiming: GAD in the Twenty First Century

This chapter reflects on whether the scholarship, ideas and activism that shaped Gender and Development (GAD) in its early phase, from the late 1970s, remain useful in the twenty first century. It weaves together the experiences of people living in the shadow of development in Makassar, Indonesia; a critique of the World Bank’s approach to gender and development; and the impacts of twenty first century capitalism and individualisation. I highlight the radical and transformative promise of early GAD ideas, which illuminated and challenged patterns of subordination and structural inequalities, and trace a process of depoliticisation and co-option. I put forward two arguments. First, that the stripping away of the radical elements of GAD has seen ideas of gender justice and solidarity subsumed by the unequal structures of twenty first t century capitalism. As a result, the potential for GAD to significantly improve the lives of women and girls (indeed, the lives of all), particularly in contexts of poverty, has been betrayed. Second, remembering GAD’s transformative potential is valuable in resisting co-option by agendas of twenty first century capitalism. This does not equate to being bound by ideas of the late Twentieth century, but learning from GAD in ways that challenge the commodification of all that is valued and the individualisation that characterises twenty-first century capitalism and dominant paradigms of economic development.