Conclusion

Abstract

This book has examined how the policy solution of gender training of public employees relates to the problem of gender inequality in the public sector of Pakistan. Social, economic, and political theories of gender inequality in the labor market identify the problems of low representation, limited access to economic resources, and patriarchy, respectively, as the basis of gender inequality. The development approaches of WID and WAD consider integration of women as a solution to the problem of gender inequality, while GAD and gender mainstreaming challenge those development approaches and argue that it is the transformation in patriarchal institutions that is the solution to the problem of gender inequality in the labor market. However, in practice, GAD and gender mainstreaming too often rely on gender training as the path to institutional transformation, with donors, governments of developing countries, and development feminists all emphasizing gender training as a solution to gender inequality in the public sector, NGOs, and international organizations, so much so that gender training has become an industry (Kusakabe 2005; Dasgupta 2007; Mukhopadhyay 2007b; UNDP 2007). There is an inherent belief that the problem is due to socially embedded perceptions of gender role conflict that can be changed through gender training (Woodford-Berger 2004).