The UN Conference of Women, held in Beijing in 1995, provided a high-profile forum for exploring current gender issues. This volume presents the most important papers from that conference. Key issues in gender studies and development today are explored in detail, from rural and urban poverty to population and family planning. Taken together, the papers help to illustrate how factors such as famine, sweat-shops, environmental degradation and religion influence the lives of women in different countries. Crucially, given that women's work tends to be underestimated because it is often unquantifiable, the research methodology for analyzing and bringing attention to gender issues presented in this volume will help open the way for further research in this important area.