Gender Myths and Feminist Fables The Struggle for Interpretive Power in Gender and Development

This collection brings together leading feminist thinkers whoexamine the struggles for interpretive power which underliesinternational development. Questions why the insights from years of feminist gender anddevelopment research are so often turned into ‘gendermyths’ and ‘feminist fables’: women are morelikely to care for the environment; are better at working together;are less corrupt; have a seemingly infinite capacity tosurvive Explores how bowdlerized and impoverished representations ofgender relations have simultaneously come to be embedded indevelopment policy and practice Traces the ways in which language and images of development arerelated to practice and provides a nuanced account of the politicsof knowledge production Argues that struggles for interpretive power are not onlyimportant for our own sake, but also for the implications they havefor women’s lives worldwide An informed analysis of how ‘gender’ has beentransformed in its transfer into development policy and how manyauthors are now revisiting and reflecting on their earlierwork