# The development nexus  
From the crisis of the 1970s onwards, the persisting oppression and marginalization of women came to be identified as a significant factor in Africa's underdevelopment. ${ }^{6}$ The disproportionate burdening and impoverishment of women provided the material conditions for an escalation of feminist consciousness. This was the context in which the Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD) convened in Dakar at the end of the 1970s, with the specific agenda of challenging the gendered effects of development (AAWORD, 1982). The imposition of structural adjustment programmes through the 1980s, and the accompanying divestment of the public sector gave even more salience to the class and gender exploitation at the heart of African economies, as the conditionalities of structural adjustment increased the burdens on the poorest strata across African societies in gendered ways, exacerbating the feminization of poverty. ${ }^{7}$ The 1980s also saw the establishment of the Women's Research and Documentation Project at the University of Dar es Salaam, ${ }^{8}$ and the Women's Research and Documentation Centre founded by historian Bolanle Awe at the University of Ibadan in 1988. By conducting research and advocacy work on the situation of women in the surrounding communities, these early interventions marked a departure from ivory-tower conventions, and faced resistance from colleagues. However, feminists working on women and gender were able to draw modest amounts of development funding into resource-starved universities, so that by the mid 2000s, there were as many as 40 gender and women's studies departments in African Universities. Academic networks were pressured to include women and take on gender analysis by women in their ranks, as well as by external donors. ${ }^{9}$  
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