Question 7:
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Gender And Development (GAD) approach for oppressed communities in the Caribbean?

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance within ones country. With a mouthful said, I can now turn my attention to the matter at hand. One could ask what is gender and development? The fact is, there is no true meaning for this, however theorist have pieced together that, the Gender and Development (GAD) approach is a way of determining how best to structure development projects and programs based on analysis of gender relationships, in other words it focuses on the socially constructed basis of difference between men and women, economic, political and cultural forces that determine how men and women participate in, benefit from, and control project resources and activities differently and it also places a great emphasis on the need to challenge existing gender roles and relations. This approach shifts the focus from women as a group to the socially determined relations between women and men. With the birth of this approach it is constantly being compared with the WID, they both have perspectives that are theoretically distinct; although in practice it is less clear, with a program possibly involving elements of both. It was developed in the 1980s as an alternative to the Women in Development (WID) approach that was in common use until then. It is not a new approach it but builds on the efforts and experience gained over the last three decades in development work to understand and improve the position of women and disadvantaged of groups in the community. This theory was developed by Caroline Moser. Her framework includes; gender roles identification, gender needs assessment,