It has been rather recent in the field of political science that attention has been paid to the issue of women in development.
Women represent one half of human capital in any society.
Planners have often failed to appreceiate the importance of women in these roles. The impact of colonialism one women was complex. On the one hand, there were aspects of modernization introduced. Cut off from traditional bases of support, modernization also made women more available to super-exploitation in platform industries such as maquiladoras or, even worse, exploitation in the sex industry in places like Thailand and Bombay, India. In some places, such as Bangladesh, women and female children get less food as scarce food is reserved more for boys and men in families.