Gendering the World Bank provides an unusual, wide-ranging and accessible account of the constitution and effects of discourses of neoliberal governance. Paying particular attention to how gender matters in and to contemporary global governance, the author focuses in particular on the development discourse of the World Bank.

Recognizing that governance is practiced and studied in a variety of ways and through diverse forms, the author examines the reproduction of tacitly, but crucially, gendered assumptions of economic endeavour, meaning and behaviour, assumptions that are presented as universal and neutral but that are highly ethnocentric, sexed and gendered."--BOOK JACKET.

This publication focuses on the gender dimensions of intrastate conflicts (civil wars), organised around eight key themes of gender and warfare, sexual violence, formal and informal peace processes, post-conflict legal frameworks, work issues, rehabilitation of social services and community-driven development. For each theme, the authors examine the impact on gender roles of conflict situations, the development challenges involved, and the policy options available to help build more inclusive and gender balanced post-conflict societies.

This book is an attempt to bring the gender and development debate full circle-from a much-needed focus on empowering women to a more comprehensive gender framework that considers gender as a system that affects both women and men. The chapters in this book explore definitions of masculinity and male identities in a variety of social contexts, drawing from experiences in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on a slowly emerging realization that attaining the vision of gender equality will be difficult, if not impossible, without changing the ways in which masculinities are defined and acted upon. Although changing male gender norms will be a difficult and slow process, we must begin by understanding how versions of masculinities are defined and acted upon.

Conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs)—cash grants to poor families that are conditional on their participation in education, health, and nutrition services—have become a vital part of poverty reduction strategies in many countries, particularly in Latin America. In Conditional Cash Transfers in Latin America, the contributors analyze and synthesize evidence from case studies of CCTs in Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The studies examine many aspects of CCTs, including the trends in development and political economy that fostered interest in them; their costs; their impacts on education, health, nutrition, and food consumption; and how CCT programs affect social relations shaped by gender, culture, and community. Throughout, the authors identify the strengths and weaknesses of CCTs and offer guidelines to those who design them.

This paper reviews how women in the developing world access and use information and communication technology (ICT). It examines the discourse and controversies surrounding the digital gender divide, including links to poverty and illiteracy. Major themes concerning women and ICTs are explored, such as women in the ICT workforce, how girls and women relate differently to ICT, and opportunities and barriers for women in science and technology in general. Current research relating to gender and ICT is often country-specific and is more prevalent in developed countries than in developing countries. This paper suggests where additional research is needed on barriers to women s entry and access to ICT. The overall objective of this paper is to influence policy dialogue around women and ICT for development by raising awareness of the digital gender divide. Economic opportunity for women in ICT will not be realized until policies address gender considerations and ensure that ICT investment contributes to more sustainable and equitable development.

Women perform 66% of the world's work, produce 50% of the food, but earn 10% of the income and own 1% of the property. To shed light on why this grim statistic still holds true, Women, Business and the Law aims to examine legal differentiations on the basis of gender in 143 of the world's economies. Women, Business and the Law tracks governments' actions to expand economic opportunities for women across six key areas: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit and going to court. The report uncovers legal differentiations for women and married versus unmarried women such as being able to register a business, open a bank account and work at night. These issues are of fundamental importance. When, because of tradition, social taboos or simple prejudice, half of the world's population is prevented from making its contribution to the life of a nation, the economy will suffer. The empirical evidence does suggest that, slowly but surely, governments are making progress in expanding opportunities for women. It is our hope that data presented in Women, Business and the Law will both facilitate research on linkages between legal differentiation and outcomes for women, and promote better informed policy choices on what governments can do to expand opportunities for women.