Introduction

Most analyses of gender in development focus on the role of women or the differentiated impact of the development on women. Recent attention of external aid programmes and the rising violence against women in a number of countries, coupled with evidence of disparity in development results when the role of men and women is differentiated, has further clarified the issue by focusing on women and girls. Furthermore, gender has come up as a central issue in the post-2015 identification of priorities following an assessment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and efforts to define a new framework for channelling policy attention on a global level, such as through the Sustainable Development Goals (UN Women, 2013).

Gender inequalities have been extensively identified as underpinning the five clusters of the MDGs, namely, poverty and sustainable development; access to services; care and care giving; voice and agency; and international partnerships and accountability (Jones et al, 2010). It has long been argued that it is important to address the structural causes of gender-based discrimination. Organisations like UN Women have been set up to tackle the obstacles that have an impact on gender equality, women's rights and women's empowerment by supporting the underlying transformation in target areas such as violence against women and girls, inclusion in distribution of capabilities, services and assets, as well as equality in decision-making power in public and private institutions (UN Women, 2013). Attention to implementation has led policy-makers to look for practical ways to address gender-based violence as well as equality in access to resources such as finance (see, for example, Kim et al, 2007).

This chapter investigates the potential or real negative effects of a focus solely on women, and identifies areas where a focus on men, and in particular young men, may be beneficial to achieving development results. Arguments are presented for a differentiated role of gender in policy design and evaluation and for gender-disaggregated data to appropriately assess the evidence of critical policies for development. Five selected issues are investigated. The first relates to the shifting perspectives on the role of gender in development. Second is consideration of the role of globalisation on the quality of life and status of women.