In 1980, the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP) was established as the Office of Women in International Development (WID) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It arose from the interdisciplinary efforts of the Committee on Women in Development that had been meeting on campus for a year previously. As an academic unit within the campus-wide International Programs and Studies, the WID Office was charged with "encouraging and facilitating the development of research, instructional, and service activities focused on the international aspects of women in development" (Bylaws). With funding from a Title XII Strengthening Grant of the Foreign Assistance Act, the WID Office began its official role at UI. Gradually, the program has moved to more secure state funding of its activities.

From its beginning, a multidisciplinary team approach has guided the program. This effort was instrumental in developing the graduate concentration (minor), Gender Roles in International Development (GRID) which was initially conceived in 1983 and officially established in 1987.

Barbara Yates (Educational Policy Studies) was the first Director, serving from 1980 to 1985. Frances Magrabi (Family and Consumer Economics) was Acting Director from 1985 to 1986. Kathleen Cloud (Human and Community Development and Women’s Studies) became Acting Director in 1986 and then Director from 1987 until 1998. Brenda Eheart (Sociology and Institute of Government and Public Affairs) was Associate Director from 1991 to 1997. After a national search in 1998, Gale Summerfield (Human and Community Development) became the current Director.

During its 25 years of existence, the program has certified over 100 GRID graduates from 44 countries and 34 different departments – 77 at the master’s level and 24 at the doctoral level. It has established three international research awards as well as a full fellowship for student research, organized international workshops and brought in speakers from around the world, worked with many departments on campus to co-sponsor presentations and events, sponsored international scholarly exchanges, and undertaken collaborative research here and abroad.

Major projects have included development of a series of curriculum guides in the early 1980s, funded by the US Department of Education; a group Fulbright grant to M.S. University of Baroda, India resulting in the publication of a volume on household resources and their changing relationships and a Ford-funded collaboration with M.S. University in the late 1980s, with two international workshops and a published volume on policy-relevant household research methods as well as many faculty exchanges; and gender training guides and research on employment of rural women in multinational agribusiness [GAP] funded by USAID in the 1990s. International symposia and publications in the early 2000s focus on global human security and gender equity -- transnational migration, global health, livelihood, and policy -- examining perspectives on gender and development issues.

In August 2000, the name of the WID Office was changed to Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP) to reflect the inclusion of gender in its focus while also looking at global women’s movements as active promoters of greater agency for girls and women. Global perspectives emphasizes the need for international discussion and debate on the critical issues that push the boundaries of the field, and program is a more accurate reflection of its research, teaching, and outreach activities. The GRID program name was also changed slightly to Gender Relations in International Development. The newsletter, WID Information, is now called Perspectives: Research Notes and News.

The WGGP program continues to be dedicated to teaching and mentoring students, to carrying out and supporting cutting-edge research projects, and to providing opportunities for discussion and dialogue through symposia, seminars, newsletters, and electronic networks. Stressing multidisciplinary, policy-oriented explorations of gender, development, and globalization issues, the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program serves as a center of communication and common effort for people at the University of Illinois and the larger community.