The Gender and Development research group is concerned with social change, specifically the social and gendered dimensions of poverty reduction, inequality and social injustice.
We conduct original theoretical work on gender and development epistemologies, covering relational and subjective approaches to well-being, intra-household relations, inter-generational relationships and shifts in subjective notions of well-being, plus examining linkages between gendered social relations, reproductive rights and wellbeing. There are also several overlapping sub-themes, which comprise land, health, education, ageing, governance and corruption. Apart from research, we have been active in engaging with policy, on the one hand, and training and capacity-building.
Recent research has seen very exciting interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological innovation. Anthropologists and economists have developed innovative research in Uganda using experimental games combined with survey and ethnography, to test underlying assumptions of intra-household models and Sen's theory of cooperative conflicts. This has been extended to research on gendered fairness norms using experimental economics and ethnography in four developing countries.
We are also conducting work on land use and rights that methodologically combines historical, ethnographic, participatory and quantitative studies. Other projects on land have similarly used a combination of methodologies. Policy-oriented analyses of gendered vulnerability and exclusion represent another dimension of our work, while we are also recognised for work on gendered vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS and the gendered impacts of its treatment.
Inter-school networking, such as between DEV and the School of Education and Lifelong Learning (EDU), has further strengthened our expertise in research, policy and capacity building on Gender, Women's Empowerment, and Education. The different aspects of DEV's work on gender and development are also reflected in our recent publications.