The ongoing BRICS summit in New Delhi has reaffirmed the significance of the grouping for Global South cooperation, and its impact on development, finance, infrastructure, energy and global governance. One of the aspects to which it should pay more attention than it has done so far is to evolve into a platform that will alter unequal economic relations, extractive development models and asymmetries of power that western institutions have historically reproduced. The greater representation of women and gender diverse persons and increased development investments have always been on the BRICS agenda, but fundamental issues need addressing: Who shapes economic priorities and controls resources? Who bears the social and ecological costs, and whose knowledge determines the development path?

A feminist political-economy perspective brings these questions to the front and centre of BRICS cooperation, treating gender inequality as a structural outcome shaped by the organisation of production, social reproduction, ownership and power. Priti Darooka, global coordinator, BRICS Feminist Watch........

© hindustantimes