| Authored by Gita Sen and Caren Grown, this 1988 Spanish volume (first published in English in 1985) for the Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) network examines the impact of global economic processes on women in the Global South. Developing a Third World feminist perspective, the book argues that integrating women into existing development models is insufficient, as these frameworks often reproduce inequalities and fail to address the structural conditions shaping women’s lives. Instead, the authors call for the restructuring of macroeconomic and political processes around the priorities of equity, basic needs, and sustainable resource management. |
Linking gender subordination to class, race, and national oppression, the text critiques dominant development approaches and rejects universalising frameworks that overlook women’s diverse lived experiences. A central focus is the critique of the “integrationist” strategies promoted during the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985), arguing that prevailing economic policies frequently shifted the costs of crisis onto women. The volume also examines the interconnected effects of debt, food insecurity, environmental degradation, and militarisation, while highlighting grassroots women’s organising as a key response to these challenges. Through this analysis, the book outlines an alternative action programme for more equitable and self-reliant development.