GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA’S OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE: GAPS BETWEEN THEORY, POLICY AND PRACTICE 1970-2019

Abstract

The main argument of this thesis is that the gaps in the practice of equality have limited Canada’s capability to transform inequality. The research is What are the policy gaps and problems weakening Canada’s transformative gender and development policies/strategies when translated into practice? In this analysis, the development bodies to be analyzed are Canada International Development Agency (CIDA)and Global Affairs Canada (GAC)-CIDA was created in 1968, was renamed GAC in 2015 (Tiessen & Baranyi 2017; Brown 2016; Rempel 2006). Chapter one provides a brief history on how Canada has integrated gender perspectives into its development policies and the second chapter will analyze the Gender and Development (GAD) theoretical framework. In the thesis, I make it clear that the GAD perspectives such as gender equality and empowerment are commonly reflected in Canadian Foreign Policies (CFP)-what is missing are the proper tools to translate them into action. Given the fact that the thesis is analyzing the policy gaps and problems in the way Canada has put gender and development strategies into practice, I believe the GAD framework is the most suitable for identifying the issues in Canada’s gender and development policy practice. In the third chapter I analyze the practical steps taken by CIDA and GAC to implement gender and development strategies. The fourth and last chapter is a detailed discussion of the policy concerns that FAC should be aware about, recommendations. In the the final thesis conclusion, I call upon GAC to shift from integrationist, essentialist, reductionist approaches to gender and development into non-essentialist practice by rethinking its fundamental themes in an intersectional and transformative policy