Discuss Women Culture and Development Paradigm Paper (Essay Sample)

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Women Culture and Development Paradigm
In the article "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses", Chandra Mohanty critiques western feminists who construct a single historical image of the oppressed third world woman instead of interrogating the social, economic and historical conditions that affect various women. Western feminists represent African females and those from the third world as objects. Mohanty strongly emphasizes the need to make a historical analysis of the women’s oppressions with the hope of identifying alternative ideas upon which to base international women confederations. The study offers a powerful critique of the pseudo-universalizing tendencies of hegemonic Western feminist discourse and proposes new techniques for a cross-border understanding of women's lives. Her review nonetheless undermines the conviction of international feminist practice held hitherto.
The colonial discourse often threatens the diversity of non-westerns and perceives Africans as objects. As Mohanty points out, feminist discourse picked up on this trend in its "production of the 'third world woman' as a singular monolithic subject." (Mohanty, 51) In this delineation, "third world women" are depicted as "sexually constrained… ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, domestic, family-oriented, victimized, etc." (Mohanty, 56). She argues that the stereotypical image of non-Western women is a reflexive exercise intended to affirm the identity of supposedly more liberated Western feminists. By disputing the idea of an innate all-inclusive womanhood that occurs beyond social relations, Mohanty distorts the assertion on which international feminism is established. She emphasizes that no overall patriarchal structure colludes against all women generally as a group (Mohanty, 54). However, social-cultural, political and economic factors can cut across different historical moments resulting in instances that cause women oppression.
Sen and Grown examine the depth impact of why strategies used to improve financial standards are inimical to women. The authors emphasize that there are fundamental conflicts between broad development plans and the welfare of women due to gender relations that oppress women and harmful long-term economic processes. Like Mohanty, they also argue that feminism can in no way be monolithic in its issues since it involves the interests of women from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds (Sen & Grown, 120). Additionally, they state that feminism cannot be established on an inflexible notion of universality that discredits the vast diversity of women’s experiences. The women, culture, and development model, enhances the author’s critiques by positively championing for the variety of feminism based on the various concerns among different women. Feminism draws its dynamism and powerful challenge to the status quo from its heterogeneity. The historical analysis of the WCD model advances Sen & Grown critique by aiding in the link between history development strategies to the systemic crises. The importance of the women’s ability to counteract the crises is also emphasized.
The practitioner’s ability to queer development demonstrates the suitability of the WCD model due to the inadequacies arising from the dualism notion in strange development. The strange development ...