Introduction: the future of teaching gender and development

<p dir="ltr">Gender and development (GAD), as an interdisciplinary field of study, has existed since the 1950s. Within the discipline, there have been many theoretical shifts, beginning with Women in Development – an approach to contesting existing theories of economic development as having identical impact on men and women (Boserup 1970; Reeves and Baden 2000) – shifting to Women and Development – which arose out of seeking to understand women’s issues through the lens of dependency theory and the argument that women should be actively involved in development projects (Lourdes2014). Many also note the significance of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 as an event which marked a significant turning point for the global agenda for gender equality. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted unanimously by 189 countries, provided an agenda for women’s empowerment.</p>