Feminist perspectives on sustainable development

This book is based on papers given at a meeting held at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague in May 1993, which focused on women, environment and alternatives to development. The book is divided into four parts. Part one sets out the parameters of the debate by examining how the feminist position in sustainable development is currently situated and how it differs from other alternative and mainstream positions as both a methodology and a political stance. Part two explores the gendered alternatives to the explanations of dominating knowledge systems of environment and development. The chapters challenge the assumption that the Western model of economic development is universally applicable to all cultures and argue for a recognition of the importance of women's role in cultural and social production. In Part three the chapters move from theory to practice, reviewing women's contribution to the UNCED debate and the state of play in feminist research and politics in sustainable development. Part four is devoted to one of the most contentious issues in the debate: the interrelationship between population, women and environment. What emerges from the essays is that we are experiencing a shift in developing thinking on gender, a move from "WID' (women in development to "WED' (women and environment and alternatives to development). -from Editor