Gloria Scott, the World Bank Group's first Adviser on Women in Development. The topic of the marginalization of women in developing countries was first brought to the attention of the Bank in the mid-1970s. Coinciding with the United Nations鈥 鈥淒ecade for Women鈥 (1976-1985), the Bank began investigating how the reality of women in poorer countries intersected with a variety of sectors, including education, water, maternal health, and food production and agriculture. Issues related to women鈥檚 legal rights and recognition were also explored. Research was increasingly geared towards the topic and conferences and workshops were organized and attended. Project evaluations also began to include a focus on the effect individual projects had on women.
A key development within the Bank was the creation of the Bank鈥檚 Adviser on Women in Development in 1977. The position, first held by Gloria Scott, 鈥渇ocused attention on the subject [of women in development], [and] promoted an understanding of the key issues and ways to address them in the Bank鈥檚 operational work and in countries which the Bank assists鈥 (The Bank鈥檚 World, Volume 4: Number 9, September 1985, page 11). One important result of this attention on the subject and Scott鈥檚 work in particular was the 1979 publication of the report .
"Recognizing the 'Invisible' Woman in Development: 欧美日b大片's Experience"While an increasing amount of information was being generated with regard to the plight and potential of women in developing countries, the incorporation of women鈥檚 issues into the design of Bank projects was tentative throughout the 1980s. The subject continued to grow in importance, however, and in the spring of 1987 a Women in Development Division (PHRWD) was created in the Bank鈥檚 Population and Human Resources Department. The function of supporting project development, implementation, and evaluation was primary. Division Chief Barbara Herz said at the time that 鈥淲e want to get beyond studies and training. We want to show what can actually be done to include women in development programs and how that contributes to economic performance, easing of poverty, and other development activities鈥 (鈥淭he Bank鈥檚 World鈥, Volume 6:Number 11, November 1987, page 9).
The Bank's World (Volume 4: Number 9, September 1985), special issue on women in development.But by 1989, World Bank President Barber Conable was still not satisfied with the Bank鈥檚 commitment to women in developing countries. In a letter to then Senior Vice President, Operations, Moeen Qureshi, Conable requested a more systematic and operational approach to the issue. In the letter, he tasks individual Country Departments with the preparation of an assessment of women鈥檚 role in development and, importantly, an action program which should be put in place. Conable鈥檚 letter to Qureshi, along with an attached 鈥淧roposed Bank Approach and Plan of Action鈥 template and a forwarding letter from Qureshi to Bank Regional Vice Presidents are reproduced below. Interestingly, these records form a piece of correspondence from Marianne Haug, Executive Assistant to the President, to President Conable鈥檚 wife, Mrs. Charlotte Conable who had a special interest in women in development.The records reproduced below can be found in the Subject Files series of the Records of Executive Assistant to the President, Marianne Haug second level sub-fonds () in Office of the President鈥檚 Records of President Barber B. Conable sub-fonds. Along with other Bank reports and memoranda related to the topic of women in development, the series contains the results of Conable鈥檚 request in the form of dozens of two-page summaries of the Country Departments鈥 Women in Development Country Assessments.
Records related to women in development and gender issues can be found in a variety of fonds in the World Bank Group Archives. If you are interested in this topic or others related to the World Bank Group鈥檚 history, visit our list of or visit our Access to Information page to submit a request or to communicate with an archivist. You can also search our to view research and project reports related to the topic of Women in Development. Oral histories of former Bank staff are also searchable in the Documents & Reports database or can be found at the Archives鈥 . These interviews are an especially rich resource for investigation into all sorts of Bank-related topics; for example, see Katherine Marshall鈥檚 and Catherine Gwin鈥檚 oral histories for discussion of the evolution of the women in development sector.
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