Toward a greater integration of gender in economics

Abstract

This paper argues that feminist analysis is finally making an impact in the field of economics. It begins with an historical overview of the alternative theoretical approaches that have discussed women's issues, particularly since the 1950s and 1960s, and it argues that, during the 1980s and 1990s, these approaches have tended to converge, at least partially, through the use of gender as a central category of analysis. The influence of postmodernism and the development of feminist theory have laid the basis for the task of transforming economics and engendering theory and policy. At the same time, feminist analysis has shifted from its main concentration on microeconomics to the discussion of macroeconomics. More specifically, the paper discusses two areas in which progress toward engendering economic analysis has been made since the late 1970s: (a) the visibility of women's work and its inclusion in labor force and national accounting statistics, and (b) macroeconomic issues, with focus on the area of gender and development and of structural adjustment policies, with particular reference to alternative models to the orthodox structural adjustment packages.