of the items being informative and capable of practical interpretation and therefore
import. Obscure discourses have been excluded, and the treatment of all items selected
for annotation has been such as to render information to the reader rather than deep
criticism. Given the vast range of locations and cultures involved it would have been
improper to do otherwise.
While taking full responsibility for the selection, we have been significantly constrained
by the nature of the literature that is readily available in the sense described above. The
global and regional material, as well as a fair proportion of the country specific items,
focus on gender or gender and development. Publications that focus on education in
relation to issues of gender constitute a minority, albeit for us a significant one. This is
an interesting issue in itself. Does the virtual absence of educational discourse in
relation to gender and development books and articles represent a calculated decision
on the part of the authors, editors and publishers involved, or is it simply a function of
intellectual and academic specialisation? Most such publications are edited, and
contributed to, by social scientists of one hue or another. Perhaps their analysis of the
situation includes the realisation that the role of formal education in the development
process is a second order issue, following the satisfaction of certain cultural and
infrastructural imperatives? This may well be a fair position to take in respect of the
formal mode, but while non-formal dimensions of education and training are more
visible in the global and regional literature especially, they are still at the margins of the
discussion. It would seem that international and comparative educators still have a great
deal to do to effect interaction and dialogue with their social science counterparts
involved in issues of gender and development.
Be that as it may, the outcome in respect of this bibliography is that we have decided to
divide the lists relating to global regional and national categories into two sections:
gender, and gender and education. The relative incidence of each in terms of individual
cases varies considerably, but as this would appear to reflect current and recent attitudes
and approaches we have not attempted to adjust this imbalance to any significant
degree. Rather, we hope that inter alia this will interest the social scientists and the
educationists in each other's literature on an important issue of mutual concern that is
central to. the development process.
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