Gender, Faith, and Development

Faith-based organizations have long been involved in charitable and development activities, and it is often through their membership of these organizations that women engage in grassroots development. However, the emerging openness to thinking about and engaging with religion in development offers both challenges and opportunities for working in gender and development. Is there a tension between the rush to find the religious in development policy and practice, and the observation that a reliance on religious solutions and faith-based organizations runs the risk of exacerbating already fragile gender regimes? What are the challenges and opportunities that are likely to be encountered by development research, policy and practice in negotiating the relationships between religion, gender and development? Where do we need to direct future research so that engagement between development and religion can result in positive outcomes for women and gender equality? Gender, Faith and Developmentpresents a selection of all ten articles previously published in the journal Gender and Development-- which explores in different ways the relationships between religion, gender and development.

Dr Emma Tomalin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds, UK.