Since the early 1990s, mainstream policy institutions have shifted from their preoccupation with stabilization and growth to a renewed focus on global poverty. Multilateral development agencies now follow their “New Poverty Agenda,” with its focus on “labor-intensive growth.” Meanwhile, discussions of “social exclusion” have been incorporated into analyses of poverty and social disadvantage. While much attention has been paid to women and poverty, the relationship between the two has not received careful study. This article, which is the introduction to a special issue of Development and Change, examines some of the shortcomings in the prevailing approaches, including the “New Poverty Agenda.”
