Week 6 Definititions by Audrey Gould https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p Instructions: Work as a group to define the following five terms from this week's readings. You may start a new definition, add comments, or build on a definition by adding a second note. Please color coordinate definition contributions by each word (ex. Posting "gender parity" as green notes, "WID" as purple notes, etc.). Words to define: Gender parity - Women in Development (WID) - Women in Development - Human Capital Theory (WIC-HCT) - Gender and Development (GAD) - Post-structural feminism en-us 2022-10-10 01:34:29 UTC 2022-10-16 19:27:45 UTC hello@padlet.com Gender Parity lderksen3 https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2334548046 Gender parity refers to the proportion of males to females in a given area. It ignores quality of engagement in the given area, focusing only on numeric representations. Gender is used to refer to assigned biological sex.]]> 2022-10-11 03:30:32 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2334548046 Gender Parity (and the mainstream tendency to lump or confuse it with gender equality & gender equity) by Hunter-drawing from Baily https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2336070773 Because of gender parity's primary manifestation as a statistical measure, it remains a highly preferred (and often referenced) unit of quantitative analysis amongst dominant development actors. Though missing a commitment to fair and equal access to/experience of education that "gender equality" (as a concept in this context) claims as well as lacking a thorough structural examination of differentiated personal experiences that "gender equity" (again as a concept in this context) entails which even elucidates the limitations and/or illusions of seeking to attain singular, universal mold of 'equality' or 'fairness,' ..."gender parity" becomes embraced in development orthodoxy as a 'catch-all' encapsulation of gender, gender dynamics, etc. within development actors' promotion(s) and/or evaluation(s) of their (varied) education-centric interventions, initiatives, projects, etc. As Brehm states in his introduction to Baily's interview, an (overtly numerical) preoccupation with gender parity "misses important issues of education quality" (Brehm). Around 12 minutes into the podcast, Baily links this preoccupation with gender parity to the longstanding (but also narrow and numeric in scope) preoccupation with educational access (Beijing Platform for Action, EFA, MDGs, etc) in the international development community. Baily elaborates, "we've seen movements of people saying we need to get them into school because how they've been measuring success has been to measure enrollment figures...benchmarking success that way...allowed us to not focus on structural issues that affect girls in school. It has not addressed things like gendered violence and quality" (Baily).

Interestingly enough, when I typed in "gender parity" into Google, the first result that popped up was an automated Google overview/Wikipedia definition of the term "gender equality" (I will try to attach the screenshot to this post)--I guess in a sense proving the phenomenon of the mainstream lumping of/confusion amongst the three terms. The link to the Wikipedia page for the term "gender parity" itself actually populated as the third result of the search, instead the first or second. Maybe this was done intentionally by the algorithm of the search engine so as to engineer an instant, primary association between "gender parity" and the rhetorically coded idyllic, 'just' aims of the word "equality," a very recognizable word within the phrase "gender equality"--in other words, Google benefits from the lumping of the terms and slightly obscures by way of pushing further down the search result list websites that more clearly state the statistic/numeric component inherent to understanding gender parity. 

Lastly, the 5th result of my Google search of the term "gender parity" is the United Nations: United for Gender Parity webpage. In their blurb describing the "United Nations-wide Strategy on Gender Parity," they have this part that I find so funny because it sounds like they are trying to cover their tracks or track record/silence the critics of their approach/lump parity and aspects of equity for optics...it reads, "It is not simply about achieving quantitative goals, but about changing the institutional culture so that the Organization can fully deliver on its promises." 

Link to UN Gender Parity Webpage: https://www.un.org/gender/


]]> 2022-10-11 23:22:20 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2336070773 Women In Development (WID)-less of a general definition and moreso specifically addressing its failure to disrupt the hegemonic racial order by Hunter-drawing from McGrath and Wilson https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2336163183 WID is an approach to development, inspired by Danish economist Ester Boserup's 1970 study revealing "extension officers and rural development projects' " subordination of women and women's (intensive & extensive) work on African farms, which relegated them to the role of "helpers"--a title we know from elsewhere in Black-African history to be deeply racialized, gendered, and classed (McGrath 141). In theory, WID urges the acknowledgement and inclusion of women as key development actors within the scope of development planning. Wilson, on the other hand, exposes the shortcomings of advocating for the broad inclusion of women into the strata of key development actors, noting, "The failure of Women in Development and subsequently Gender and Development (GAD) approaches to challenge the racialized power relations inherent within the project of development" (Wilson 58). This reminded me of the broader phenomenon Wilson drew attention to in her article "Re-centring 'Race' in Development" we read a few weeks back, where she outlined how race has been historically decentered by predominantly Global North, Western development 'experts,' who've shaped hegemonic development discourse, writing, "Since race is understood solely as a discursive strategy of power in the critiques of the development/security paradigm, its apparent absence from development discourse appears to render race unworthy of serious consideration in the context of development" (Wilson 437).]]> 2022-10-12 00:56:56 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2336163183 Post-Structuralist Feminism (In reference to Desai/Kirchglasler Podcast) ctheodory https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2340905555 In various disciplines of the humanities, structuralists read and interpreted historic texts from the viewpoint that human elements have to be seen in the relationship to the broader system/structures they exist in, rather than observing the element/object itself. So it was systems and structures over qualities. Post-structuralists rejected this, arguing that to understand historic texts they have to be seen both objectively and in the context they originated from. 
Post-structuralist feminism aims to interpret and analyse historic texts about gender and women/girls in relationship to the discourse, and as the name suggests, something that goes beyond structure and systems. It contains the elements of intersectionality, historic context, power relations, sociology, and most importantly language and semiotics. ]]> 2022-10-14 19:17:48 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2340905555 Gender and Development (GAD) brendenpicar https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2341039356 GAD looks at how gender equality can aid in social and instituional change; later leading to sustainable development. In the context of the world of work, equality between women and men includes equality in obtaining meaningful career development, the balance between work and home life that is fair to both women and men, among others. 

However, as Baily stated, the social construction of gender emerges from our notions that have been developed over centuries, defining how we are to act in this world based on our sex. Should we trully want GAD to function, we must first break this social construction of gender in order to trully work on development, sustainable development. 

We are all categorized, "labeled", influencing our careers, influencing on how we participate in sustainable development. So, should we want development I feel that we must first break this social construction of gender to start. ]]> 2022-10-14 23:50:05 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2341039356 Women in Development - Human Capital Theory (WIC-HCT) - Veronica Hardy https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2341570744 The Human Capital Theory connects to women in development because it can be argued that the push to get women involved in the workplace is less about breaking gender boundaries and more about including women in the workforce to raise GDP. This can be seen most clearly in the push to get women involved in the field of STEM, as much of the recent research on gender equity in the field still devalues, and at times underestimates, the intellectual abilities of women. It seems to be assumed that women do not possess the mental capacity for STEM without intense intervention and specialized programs to facilitate their involvement in the field. 
 
The recent STEM push highlights systemic issues inherent to how capable we view women to be. In STEM the contributions by women are largely ignored or brushed over, for example Heidi Lamar's frequency jumping technology patented by the military for use in WWII without her mention on the patent (fun fact, this technology eventually served as the basis of WiFi). The oversexulization of women, a deeply rooted societal view that they are viewed as either smart or sexy, is at the core of this issue. This sexualization by men allows them to devalue a woman's academic pursuits to both other women and other men.


]]> 2022-10-15 23:30:39 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2341570744 Gender and Development (GAD), by Ciera cdesilva8 https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2342092709 From Wilson, page 58: Under modern interpretations of GAD, from the 1980s onwards, the term 'agency' was understood in limited terms, as the "reinstatement of liberal theory's rational individual exercising 'free will' and maximising self-interest". This is a very economic way of looking at things; economists tend to believe that people make rational decisions. 
Furthermore, "It is the tendency to ‘relabel’ the effects of hegemony and inequality as ‘choice’ which has made discourses of agency in gender and development thinking so prone to neoliberal appropriation." As such, women are compelled to work harder than their male counterparts and to spend more of their resources on their children and thus celebrated for being 'efficient' (also loved by economists).]]> 2022-10-16 19:20:50 UTC https://padlet.com/algould1/t70nxsobrhpnhh6p/wish/2342092709