WID, WAD, GAD :

WID: Women in Development

The WID approach was introduced primarily by “American liberal feminists” and focuses on

egalitarianism, especially in terms of economic participation and access (Rathgeber, 1990, p.490).

This economic focus led WID activists to address the disparity of employment opportunities

between men and women in the majority world. The WID model did not question modernization,

and placed the onus of development and growth on women’s economic capacity (T. Ulicki,

personal communication, January 15).

What is most striking about the WID model is that it does not deal with the disparities and power

relations between men and women. In my opinion, the roots of inequality are the most critical

thing to address when discussing women and poverty. However, the WID model is known as

being the “non-confrontational approach” as it does not confront these issues (Rathgeber, 1990,

p.491).

WAD: Women and Development

The WAD approach is not as frequently discussed, however it was an important bridge between

WID and GAD. WAD is a “neo-Marxist feminist approach” and it grew out of the “limitations of

modernization theory” that was foundational in the WID approach (Rathgeber, 1990, p.492). The

WAD approach comes from the perspective that equality will be essential to improving women’s
positions, but still frames change in terms of providing women access to the productive sector

(p.493). WAD, while perhaps more critical than WID, also fails to dig deeper into the systemic

problems associated with the relationship between men and women (p.493).

GAD: Gender and Development

The GAD approach, which was developed in the 1980s, stepped away from both WID and WAD

and was founded in socialist-feminist ideology (Rathgeber, 1990, p.493). The GAD approach

holds that the oppression of women stems largely from a neoliberal focus on improving women’s

reproductive and productive capacities (p.494). According to Rathgeber, the focus of GAD has

been to examine “why women systematically have been assigned to inferior and/or secondary

roles” and also to confront questions of power and agency (p.494). The GAD approach is

exceptionally difficult for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to implement, as it seeks to

confront the root causes of gender inequality, rather than implement short-term augmentations to

the existing system.

An interesting shift that happened between WID/WAD and GAD was the change in language

from dealing with ‘women’ in the context of development, to ‘gender’. Nighat Said Khan,

founder of the Women’s Action Forum, argues that this shift to a focus on gender rather than

women became “counter-productive” because the discussion shifted from “women, to women and

men and, finally, back to men” (as cited in Baden & Goetz, 1997, p.6).