Feminist Theories of Development
(of the WID type) were ineffective unless they were combined with long-term strategies to reestablish people's (and especially women's) control over economic decisions shaping their lives: "Women's voices must enter the definition of development and the making of policy choices" (Sen and Grown 1987: 82). The idea was to strengthen the voices of Third World women in an "empowerment approach" to women's development. So, at the fourth World Conference on Women, held in 1995 in Beijing, the Platform for Action highlighted the human rights of women—rights to education, food, health, greater political power, and freedom from violence (Bunch, Dutt, and Fried 1995).