The unhappy marriage between gender and globalisation

Abstract

This article examines the rather awkward relationship between gender and globalisation. In particular, within development studies, doubts and confusion with respect to the coherence and interpretation of gender as a concept underlie this uneasy relationship. We demonstrate how persistent orthodoxies and dichotomous thinking characterise the unhappy marriage between gender and globalisation. Instead of doing away with gender, we elaborate a multidimensional gender approach, which is much needed from a scientific perspective as well as to enhance the political potential of feminist positions and analyses. Our approach situates gender within the global/local nexus; this is illustrated by a case study of gender and political representation in Mexico.