Gender issues that were identified in successive international conferences still continue to resonate, while new issues have emerged to challenge the women’s movement and policy makers. This publication discusses macro economic trends and the global economic crises that have shaped the contours of women’s lives in Sri Lanka, and in many other economically developing countries. Other issues discussed are women’s land rights, and the failure of education to assist in effectively transforming gender roles and relations in the family, economy and society. Assumptions of both the gender and development debate and feminist debates over the years that are reconstructing gender and other social power relations, underpin these discussions. Gender related issues on conflict and conflict resolution from both mainstream and feminist perspectives, the impact of the 2004 tsunami, the Information and Communication Technology ‘revolution’, and the increasing number of women among the ageing population draw attention to the more recent events and trends in women’s history.