The Impact of Structural Adjustment on Women: A Governance and Human Rights Agenda

The author argues that Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) violate women's right to development and are unsustainable in the long term. The author presents feminist critiques of SAPs to illustrate their disproportionate impact on women and considers responses to these criticisms by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The author discusses the add-on approach of the World Bank, which appends social programs to existing economic policies. She argues instead that social concerns should be considered throughout policy development and challenges the Bank's hands-off attitude towards human rights. The author concludes with recommendations on how to make the World Bank, the IMF and governments more gender-aware, stressing that women must transform both the state and the market to be responsive to their needs.