This IDS Bulletin, and the ‘Gender Myths and Feminist Fables’ workshop on which it draws, reflects on a sense of unease among feminists in development work – a sense that gender mainstreaming has produced disappointing results, that we are as far as ever from influencing the flow of funds and the shaping of policy in development and that the burning debates in development and international politics are occurring elsewhere.
By subjecting to critical scrutiny the myths that have helped to win a feminist case in development, but that have simplified and essentialised the feminist project, we are engaging in uncomfortable self scrutiny that forces us to come to terms with two key problems: the de-politicisation that institutionalisation often breeds and the challenge of remaining relevant to the larger development agenda.
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This article comes from the IDS Bulletin 35.4 (2004) Reinvigorating Autonomous Feminist Spaces
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