Nigeria and Us Women and Development

Women as a group make up an enormous portion of the world’s population. Thus the development of women, the changes implemented that affect them both positively and negatively are integral in study the world. Introduction to the field of women and development can be traced back to the 1950’s post World War II., specifically the period of reconstruction. Due to focus on external issues rather than internal issues, programs like the United States Marshall Plan were created, emphasizing the need to bridge the gap between developing and developed nations. The study of women and development gives an overall perspective of women’s development in comparison to other areas. Women’s development shapes many things including our perspectives and our public policies. I will assess the contributions of the three major theoretical debates applied to the field of women and development and explain how they shaped the field.

The first and perhaps the most dominant perspective, Women in Development (WID) stresses western values and targets individuals as catalysts for social change. The origins of this perspective came about after the release of Esther Boserup’s book entitled Women’s Role in Economic Development. The theory points out that modernization had somehow bypassed women and that some segments