As from the moment when the analysis of human progress ceased to be limited exclusively to economic growth, and came to include factors that enrich the lives of all people, humanity began to become aware of the scale of the obstacles which, despite the spectacular advances of the 20th century, it still had to remove in order to achieve full development, as well as the social transformation required in order to meet this challenge. It is no accident that the inequality in living conditions between women and men figures at the top of the agenda of contemporary development.

The marginalisation of women in all spheres of life, despite the fact that they constitute the majority of the planet's population, is an embarrassment for the human race. It is also the most eloquent proof of how futile is the argument that development rests on economic growth and that technological advance eventually benefits all people equally (UNDP, 1995).

The great unknown is how to ensure that the positive performance of the economy, with technological advance as its driving force, translates into a broadening of the range of choices for all the people of a given nation on a basis of equality. This question applies to many countries, and Mozambique is no exception.