Women constitute half of the population, and they are an integral part of family and the labour force. Their effective integration into the process of socioeconomic development of a society is, therefore, of paramount importance. However, the meaning and the process of “integration” have not emerged clearly in development plans. Integration into what, and by what means? How can women actively participate in shaping the future of their societies? Do women's organizations have a role in this process? The concept of development itself has been a topic of debate: should the development process give priority to welfare or to growth, to income generation or to consciousness raising, to Western-influenced urban development or to reconstruction based on indigenous cultural roots? Not only women's participation but the means thereof have been questioned. Sometimes, increased participation is considered the natural consequence of an overall development of a society. Sometimes, this is demanded by women as a separate agenda, and is often expressed through the formation of women's autonomous organizations.

Studies on economic development programmes (especially in agriculture) show that they often bypass or adversely affect women. These programmes frequently weaken women's positions in their families and communities (Boserup 1970; Tinker 1990). The adverse effect of development on women has been studied by several authors (Beneria 1985; Dauber and Cain 1981;Tinker 1976) who show that, from economic development and agricultural mechanization programmes, men derive most of the benefits while women remain in the same or deteriorating states. That is why the “Forward Looking Strategies”, the consensus document of the 1985 international meeting in Nairobi marking the end of the UN Women's Decade, defines “total development” to include political, social, cultural and other dimensions of human life. Exemplifying this new sensitivity, a new Third World women's group called DAWN, formed in 1985, has demanded an end of gender-based inequality which limits women's access to productive resources such as land, capital and labour.