Women Pay the Price: Structural Adjustment in Africa and the Caribbean

In this scholarly compilation, a group of Third World researchers argue that IMF/World Bank structural adjustment policies have wreaked havoc on a large percentage of humanity. These studies further show that IMF/World Bank policies have induced or intensified the finalization of poverty and have reversed a great deal of the socioeconomic gains of the post-colonial era of the last thirty years. These studies embrace the research of a multi-disciplinary range of scholars from three continents. The area of focus is Africa and the Caribbean. Among the programs included are the removal of subsidies for health and education, privatization and the various forms of shock therapy with which currency devaluations have been associated. Female-headed households are the most affected by the IMF/World Bank policies. It is pointed out that in terms of land ownership, access to hired labor and services, women find themselves in a vulnerable position. This tendency is clearly manifested in regions as geographically diverse as Nigeria, Zambia, and Trinidad and Tobago.