Gender, Faith, and Development

Faith-based organizations have long been involved in charitable and development activities. However, the emerging openness to thinking about and engaging with religion in development raises some important questions. Does religious engagement in development policy and practice risk harming already fragile gender relations? What are the challenges and opportunities in negotiating the relationships between religion, gender, and development? Gender, Faith, and Development presents ten chapters which explore in different ways the relationships between religion, gender, and development. Subjects covered include attitudes towards sexual behaviour in areas with a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS; household disputes over the control of export crop income in Kenya; constraints on women's time among tourist lodge owners in Nepal; the difficulties of introducing Western models of gender equity to those in Muslim societies who see feminism as a threat; and changes in abortion legislation in Latin American countries. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, lecturers, and researchers working in development studies, gender studies, political science, sociology, and religious studies. It will also be of interest to development policy makers and practitioners, voluntary sector workers, and social movement activists.