User:Quentin.Ncs/sandbox

21 October 2013

Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

This proposal aims to outline a plan to comprehensively improve the existing section of the Gender and Economic Development in Wikipedia article Gender. We identify three key fallacies and omissions that the current version of the section suffers utterly and use them as a basis to develop our proposal.

Existing Omissions

First, although the current section elaborates on various approaches including WID, WAD, and GAD, it explains only vaguely a relationship between gender and development and does not locate its argument within a broader theoretical framework of contemporary economics. So far, the only theorist mentioned is Ester Boserup, an author of monumental “Women’s Role in Economic Development.”[1] While discussing gender and economic development, we argue it is indeed imperative to explore different ideas posed by key thinkers such as Amartya Sen,[2] Jeffery Sachs,[3] and Joseph Stiglitz[4] whose prime concern is a complex nexus between globalization and development that provides a useful insight in looking at issues of gender and development. In addition, the section must mention economic models and theories (such as Marxian theory, Harrod-Domar model,[5] Solow Model,[6]endogenous development thesis)[7] and located itself in a wider argument developed from these theoretical perspectives.

Second, the current section entirely lacks considerations of different dynamics that drive globalization. For example, the section fails to analyze a perspective of gender and development in concepts of human capital, labor, capital, and trade. Particularly, the failure is evident in that the entry omits an examination of the impact of financial crises in gender and development.[8] Whilst financial crises became a norm rather than exception in an increasingly liberalized global economy, any attempt to explain gender and development without considering these monumental phenomena discredits its validity and invites us to make a serious revision.

Third, the current section fails to present a balanced mix of empirical evidence, policy analyses and linkage to other related concepts. Therefore, in creating new subsections Human Capital, Labor, Capital, and Trade, each of subsection will begin with a brief overview of statistics and empirical evidence. Then the argument moves on to an analysis of related policies. Finally, each subsection is to be completed by presenting inter-linkages. To illustrate, a subsection of human capital summarizes empirical evidence concerning education, health, and demography that are important indicators of human and economic development. Educational and health policies are analyzed to add practical dimension to the analysis. In the end, we will add brief explanations of inter-linkage, such as correlation between female educational achievements and quality of labor force.

Proposed Editions

A newly edited section of Gender and Economic Development will consists of five subsections while preserving and integrating existent instrumental descriptions (such as MDGs and its indicators that have been already mentioned).

1. The first subsection, Gender and Economic Theories, explores how gender perspective is incorporated, or ignored, while examining classical, neoclassical, neoliberal and other contemporary economic theories. Concepts and perspectives from Feminist Economics,[9] an internationally recognized journal on gender and economics, will be cited to present gendered theories of economic development. Within our group, Kazushige leads in developing the section with interaction with other members.

2. The second subsection, Human Capital examines relationships among gender, education, health and demographic transition that constitute vital components of human and economic development. The purpose of this section will be to provide an overview of the differences in human capital, namely through education gaps, and its contribution to segregation in employment. Within our group, Quentin leads in developing the section with interaction with other members.

3. The third section of Labor examines women's role in formal and informal economy (for example, women's role as business executives on the one hand and as careworker and domestic worker, on the other hand). Our focus will be how widening career opportunities for women affect economic development in different ways, as well as how women are functioning as a backbone of economy as those who engage in reproductive works. Within our group, Simon leads in developing the section with interaction with other members.

4. The fourth subsection of Capital elaborates on women’s roles in an increasingly liberalized world economy. Specific attention will be given to financial crises, financial liberalization, microfinance that define women’s engagement and participation in today’s globalized economy. Within our group, Samuel leads in developing the section with interaction with other members.

5. The fifth section of Trade provides a gendered analysis of today’s global economic interdependence. A focus is to include different aspects of manufacturing, service, and agricultural sectors and their relationship to women’s traditional and changing responsibilities in their evolving participation in international trade through their works. Within our group, Samuel Obe leads in developing the section with interaction with other members.

Structural Issues

In our opinion, the general Gender article on Wikipedia is not well structured. We suggest that to create an article on its own on gender and economic development and only leave an overview on the topic in the general Gender article referring to our sub-article (analogously to the section on Gender identity and gender roles). We will also announce that on the Gender talk page. There is no talk about this section of the article yet, although there are comments about microfinance in the Gender and Poverty section.

Tentative References

[1]Boserup, Ester. Womans role in economic development.Earthscan, 2007.

[2]Sen, Amartya. Development as freedom.Oxford University Press, 1999.

[3]Sachs, Jeffrey. The end of poverty: economic possibilities for our time. Penguin.com, 2006.

[4]Stiglitz, Joseph E. Globalization and its Discontents. 2002; Stiglitz, Joseph E. Making globalization work. WW Norton & Company, 2007.

[5]Sato, Ryuzo. "The Harrod-Domar Model vs the Neo-Classical Growth Model."The Economic Journal 74.294 (1964): 380-387.

[6]Solow, Robert M. "A contribution to the theory of economic growth." The quarterly journal of economics 70.1 (1956): 65-94.

[7]Van der Ploeg, Jan Douwe, and Ann Long, eds. Born Fron Within: Practice and Perspectives of Endogenous Rural Development. Uitgeverij Van Gorcum, 1994.

[8] Bedford, Kate. Gender WDR: Limits, Gaps, and Fudges. The Bretton Woods Project.Online at http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/art-569646.

[9] For example, Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko, James Heintz, and Stephanie Seguino, Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics. Feminist Economics 19, 3 (2013): 4-31. ]