Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equailty and Jusice

In Women, Development, and the UN, internationally noted development economist and activist Devaki Jain traces the ways in which women have enriched the work of the United Nations from the time of its founding in 1945, Synthesizing insights from the extensive literature on women and development and from her own broad experience, Jain reviews the evolution of the UN’s programs aimed at benefiting the women of developing nations and the impact of women’s ideas about rights, equality, and social justice on UN thinking and practice regarding development. Jain presents this history from the perspective of the southern hemisphere, which recognizes that development issues often look different from the standpoint of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  The history that Jain chronicles reveals both the partnership with the UN and the urgent work remaining to bring equality and justice to the world and its women.