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IntroductIon u nDEr what conditions does economic development improve gender equality? We argue that the effects of economic development on gender equality are contingent on the particular developmental phase. Drawing on simon Kuznets's thesis regarding a curvilinear relationship between economic growth and income inequality, we suggest that economic development and gender inequality also exhibit a nonmonotonic relationship, marked by three phases. 1 in the first phase, economic development should improve gender equality; in the second phase, equality should plateau or even decline slightly; and in the third phase, it should rise again. our thesis has important policy implications because scholars and practitioners tend to assume that development alone will improve gender equality. the evidence we present suggests that in each developmental phase, particularly in the second phase, measures to respond to gender issues should accompany policies to promote economic development.our article builds on an extensive world politics literature on the consequences of economic development for women's status. 2 critical and feminist scholars suggest that contemporary development strate-* a previous version of this article was presented at the 2009 annual conference of the international studies association. We thank susan sell, rebecca szper, and mike Ward for comments. Brad Epperly and Kristan seibel provided invaluable technical assistance. Joshua Eastin acknowledges financial support from the harry Bridges center for labor studies, university of Washington. aseem prakash acknowledges financial support from the center for international Business Education and research, university of Washington. e co n o m I c d ev el o p m en t & g en d er e q ua lI t y 157 3 tinker 1976.

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