| The centrality of women in the development process has given rise to Women in Development (WID), a concept that, though somewhat elusive, continues to be central to the development discourse. WID is associated with the wide range of activities concerning women in the development domain and has resulted in a number of development programs, projects, and policies all over the developing world to address women's issues, the impact of which has not been satisfactory.;The following study is a critique that seeks to facilitate the reflective examination of WID in order to illuminate the main trends, explicate and analyze how women's issues have been conceptualized, operationalized and institutionalized within the African development context, search for and examine aspects of contradictions and distortions. In the process, the study will also explicate and analyze the underlying assumptions of WID and the different perspectives held on development as the development theories and strategies form the philosophical as well as the theoretical foundations for interventions and actions affecting WID.;The purpose is not to prescribe a way or how to act, but to facilitate in the readers (both as theorists and practitioners) a new reflective understanding of WID, development theories, and their (the practitioners) practices with the hope that this understanding will lead to their engagement in new practices that will create better social realities and in turn contribute to improving the lives of African women. |
