THE GENDER-DIFFERENTIATED IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT ON POLITICAL EXPRESSION AND EMPLOYMENT IN ZIMBABWE

A new consideration has developed in recent years that women are the key to develop-ment. The supposition now is that the poorest nations will never grow out of poverty unless women become a more active part of civil society. No country can develop where half its human resources are undervalued or repressed. Without this, a country cannot succeed at population control, the eradication of epidemic diseases, or the conservation of its natural re-sources. Women and Development: Methodological Evolution Methodology on the role of women in development has evolved over the last two decades. In the late 1970s, researchers began to recognize and document the effects of development projects on women. In an attempt to integrate women into development and to make development projects more effective in assisting women, the women in development (WID) approach emerged. Another integra-tionist view, the women and development (WAD) position appeared in the sec-ond half of the 1970s as a more critical and discriminating version of the WID concept. This perspective recognizes the contribution women already make to development and their important role in the process. Womens productive contri-bution, however, needs to be acknowledged rather than downplayed or ignored and any inequalities questioned. According to this view, women are disadvan-taged because they have been forgotten or left out. When women have been added or integrated to a program or policy, their situations will improve. This approach often analyzes women as a homogeneous group, frequently overlook-ing important differences of class, race or ethnicity and the significance of the reproductive side of womens lives. Seeking to address the underlying problems of class and gender inequality, the Gender and Development (GAD) framework arose in the 1980s. This school of thought emphasizes that the basis of the cultural and social assignment o