Empowering the "Victim"? Gender, Development, and Women in China under Reform

This article examines debates in the global feminist movement through the "Victim debate" to explain why it fractured into First World and Third World constituencies. The analysis compares the two major development platforms concerning women-women in development, initiated in the U.S., and gender analysis in development, which originated with feminist leaders from the developing world-to demonstrate the evolution of priorities in gender and development planning. Assessment of the changing status of women in contemporary China reveals the importance of conducting gender and development analysis in geographically and historically specific contexts, using approaches that account for dynamic global and national political economic forces that create new labor regimes and impact women's work.