Gender Analysis: Engaging with Rural Development and Agricultural Policy Processes

One of the great ironies of the last 40 years is that sub-Saharan Africa, a continent of ‘female farming par excellence’ (Boserup 1970), became populated, at least within much development discourse, by rural women represented as either ‘cardboard victims or heroines’ (Cornwall et al. 2004:1). How did this disjuncture come about? What have been its implications for agricultural development policy and practice? How can more nuanced understandings of gender and social relations be fruitfully brought into agricultural research and policy processes?DfI

Young People, Agriculture, and Transformation in Rural Africa: An “Opportunity Space” Approach

Over the last decade, both agriculture and young people have become increasingly prominent on African development agendas. Politicians, policymakers, and development professionals have confronted food price volatility, food insecurity, and the phenomenon of large-scale land grabs on the one hand, and the entrenched under- and unemployment among young people—the (youthful) human face of the phenomenon of jobless growth—on the other. It is perhaps not surprising that many have put two and two together, concluding that engagement in production agriculture (including crops, livestock, and fisheries) is an obvious (if not the obvious) opportunity through which to address the problem of limited economic opportunity for young people in rural areas. Associated with this view is the assumption that rural young people would be better off if they did not migrate to urban areas, thus avoiding exposure to risky and illegal behavior (sex, HIV/AIDS, drugs, crime) and potential entanglement in dangerous political activity

Quick Money and Power: Tomatoes and Livelihood Building in Rural Brong Ahafo, Ghana

This article uses the example of small?scale, labour?intensive tomato production in Brong Ahafo, Ghana to explore some prospects of young people's engagement with the agri?food sector in Africa. Although tomatoes were produced by men and women of all ages, a significant proportion of young men specialised entirely in tomato production, growing three crops per year. Tomato production met short?term capital needs for home?building, marriage, business development and adventure. Young women also engaged in tomato production, although rarely as ‘3?croppers’. A return visit examined the role agriculture played in enabling young people to achieve their earlier life and work objectives. A social?relational approach was adopted, focusing on interdependency and linked lives. Life course analysis highlights shifts that have implications for the changing way people engage in agriculture, rather than assuming that ‘one size fits all at all times’

Searching for new pathways towards achieving gender equity: Beyond Boserup and 'Women's role in economic development

Ester Boserup's book Women's role in economic development marked an important step in understanding the position of women in developing economies. Her book, along with the work of feminists writing at the same time, marked the start of a range of activities, such as projects focused on women, that aimed at removing the economic exclusion of women. These activities were named Women in Development. These activities came to be seen as too narrowly focused on women and the focus started shifting towards Gender and Development and then to gender mainstreaming in 1995. In this paper first discusses the activities that were promoted by WID, GAD and gender mainstreaming following Boserup's book. The paper also focuses on the foundations of gender planning tools and on conceptual issues that are integral to understanding of gender issues today. The paper aims to provide some answers to questions being asked and suggests ways forward. In particular it advocates that more attention be given to gender analysis and its analytical frameworks and to the meaning of gender equity and empowerment in analyses in which gender is not an isolated category and investments in women are not justified solely on economic grounds

Empoderamiento de las mujeres a través de su participación en proyectos productivos: experiencias no exitosas

La presente investigación se sitúa entre el debate sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer a través de la obtención de ingresos y la discusión de la importancia de los programas de microcrédito para alcanzar la equidad de género. El estudio analizó tres grupos de mujeres de una comunidad rural del norte del estado de Veracruz involucrados en proyectos productivos con animales y financiados por diferentes dependencias gubernamentales. Se trabajó con 23 grupos domésticos, en 14 de éstos había mujeres y hombres que pertenecían o pertenecieron a un proyecto productivo. Los hallazgos mostraron que como resultado de su participación en proyectos, las mujeres no desarrollaron procesos hacia su empoderamiento personal o colectivo ni en sus relaciones cercanas. Además, los proyectos generaron ingresos esporádicos e irregulares y sólo muy escasos empleos