The Money of Qaroon and the Patience of Ayoub: Women and Land in Egypt\u27s Mubarak Resettlement Scheme

This dissertation addresses the challenge of achieving increased empowerment and equality for Egyptian women. The dissertation tests the assumption that land access (through both joint and full titles) increases empowerment and equality for women in two desert resettlements of Sa’yda and Intilaq, part of the massive Mubarak Resettlement Scheme (MRS). In particular, the dissertation identifies: 1) how land access could empower Egyptian women and 2) women’s experiences with land access in the MRS. Findings reveal that land access is indeed the most promising route for women’s advancement in life, but the desert land required patience and financial assets. Land access, however, is not ubiquitously empowering as has been argued by many scholars. The dissertation showed, for example, that joint titles did not increase women’s ability to overcome inequalities. Women landholders of both title types experienced resistance from government officials and family members to capture opportunities provided to them through land access. The dissertation asserts that inequalities and injustices are reproduced in the MRS. Women landholders and other poor settlers were provided with the most marginal lands in the MRS and had to endure inadequate planning, limited access to basic services, and empty promises. Settlers, including women, resisted government’s weak policies by covert (rumours, gossip, and passive non-compliance) and overt ways (open protest and defiance), increasingly after the Revolution of January 25. In response, the state participated in settlers’ resistance, turned a blind eye to it, or legalized it to generate profit and please the angry crowds. The study confirms an interdependent household model for Egyptian families. Women did not aspire to opt outside their households, as has been advocated for by many scholars; rather, women landholders aimed to provide for their husbands and children. Long term sustainability of women’s access to land is seriously challenged by women landholders’ plans to bequest property mostly to their sons. The study also highlights the importance of relying on site-specific and locally relevant scientific knowledge for farming marginal lands, which is common to many parts of the world due to population pressures. Provision of land to women has the potential to be empowering, provided that policymakers also consider gender relations, land subjectivities, micro-credit, marketing, scientific research in desert conditions, adherence to promised policies, and patriarchy. In analyzing planners’ agendas and officials’ implementation through the lens of local women’s experiences, this study opens up new ways to systemically understand the links among empowerment, gender, and land access in the Middle East

FR2.3: Even the Goats Feel the Heat: Gender, Livestock Rearing, Rangeland Cultivation, and Climate Change Adaptation in Tunisia

Women's contributions to rangeland cultivation in Tunisia and the effects of climate change upon their livelihoods are both policy blind spots. To make women's contributions to rangeland cultivation more visible and to provide policy inputs based on women's needs and priorities into the reforms currently being made in Tunisia, we conducted fieldwork in three governorates. We conducted focus groups and interviews with a total of 289 individuals. We found that men and women are negatively affected by rangeland degradation and water scarcity, but women are additionally disadvantaged by their inability to own land and access credit, and by drought-mitigation and rangeland rehabilitation training that only target men. Our findings reveal that women are involved in livestock grazing and rearing activities to a greater extent than is widely assumed, but in different ways than the men in the same households and communities. Understanding how women use rangelands is a necessary first step to ensuring that they benefit from rangeland management at par with men. Women's feedback and priorities should be considered critical for the sustainable and equitable use and management of rangelands. Women's growing involvement in livestock rearing and agricultural production must be supported with commensurate social and economic policy interventions. As an example, it is crucial that women gain access to drought management and adaptation training at par with men. Providing male and female farmers with appropriate supports to optimize rangeland cultivation and productivity is particularly urgent and important in the context of resource degradation accelerated by climate change

Product Profiles, Traits, and Adoption: Towards a Multi-stakeholder Approach

A presentation on trait Preferences and lentil varietal adoption in Central Ethiopi

Gender Equality, Climate Change and Agriculture in the MENA region: Priorities and Possibilities

The MENA region is both disproportionately vulnerable to compound climate fragility risks and among the most gender unequal regions in the world. Although we must be wary of over-generalizing about women’s needs and experiences across such a diverse set of geographic, ecological, cultural, socio-economic, political, and institutional contexts, the existing body of research on gender and climate change in MENA does enable us to comment reasonably certainly on what we know and what we do not know about the opportunities and challenges women experience in agriculture, the gendered effects and outcomes of climate change upon agriculture, and the roles women have played and could play in the future in adapting and building resilience to climate effects. Based on this existing scientific literature, we also identify gaps in evidence and knowledge, and make practical recommendations for future research and public policy

أولويات البحث حول المساواة بين الجنسين وتغير المناخ والزراعة في منطقة الشرق األوسط وشمال إفريقيا: موجز السياسة

تعتبر منطقة الشرق الاوسط وشمال إفريقيا شديدة التأثر بتغير المناخ وتعد أيضا من أكثر ًالمناطق في العالم التي تتسم بمستويات غير متكافئة بين الجنسين وفقاً للتقرير العالمي للفجوة بين الجنسين، فإن الفجوة بين الجنسين هي األعلى في منطقة الشرق الاوسط وشمال إفريقيا )9.60 %من التقدم نحو تحقيق التكافؤ(، و"سيستغرق إغالقها بالوتيرة النسبية الحالية ما يقدر بنحو 4.142 ً عاما" )المحفل االقتصادي العالمي، 2021 :2

Priorities for Research on Gender Equality, Climate Change, and Agriculture in the MENA Region: A Policy Brief

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is extremely vulnerable to climate change and is also the most gender unequal region in the world. According to the Global Gender Gap report, the gender gap is highest in the MENA region (60.9 percent progress toward parity), and “at the current relative pace, it would take an estimated 142.4 years to close” (World Economic Forum, 2021: 26). Agriculture in the MENA region is becoming increasingly feminized, with women representing more than 50 percent of agricultural workers in some countries (Abdelali-Martini and de Pryck 2015; Najjar et al. 2018). Reducing gender inequality has been identified as an important response area requiring strengthening to enable the MENA region to adapt and build resilience toward climate change. Since women are participating out of choice and necessity in such large numbers in the agricultural workforce of the MENA region, they must be enabled and empowered to serve as active agents in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience

“Even the goats feel the heat:” gender, livestock rearing, rangeland cultivation, and climate change adaptation in Tunisia

Women's contributions to rangeland cultivation in Tunisia and the effects of climate change upon their livelihoods are both policy blind spots. To make women's contributions to rangeland cultivation visible and to provide policy inputs based on women's needs and priorities into the reforms currently being made in the pastoral code in Tunisia, we conducted fieldwork in three governorates. We conducted focus groups and interviews with 289 individuals. We found that men and women are negatively affected by rangeland degradation and water scarcity, but women are additionally disadvantaged by their inability to own land and access credit and by drought mitigation and rangeland rehabilitation training that only target men. Women are involved in livestock grazing and rearing activities to a greater extent than is assumed in policy circles but in different ways than the men from the same households and communities. Understanding how women use rangelands is a necessary first step to ensuring that they benefit from rangeland management. Women's growing involvement in livestock rearing and agricultural production must be supported with commensurate social and economic policy interventions. Providing all farmers with appropriate support to optimize rangeland use is particularly urgent in the context of resource degradation accelerated by climate change

Priorités de recherche sur l’égalité de genre, le changement climatique et l’agriculture dans la région MENA : note de politique

ICARDA a mené cette recherche dans le cadre de la plateforme GENDER (Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results, en français : Produire des données probantes et concevoir de nouvelles directions en vue de résultats équitables) et de l’initiative du CGIAR De la fragilité à la résilience en Asie centrale et occidentale et en Afrique du Nord. Nous aimerions remercier tous les bailleurs de fonds qui ont soutenu cette recherche par le biais de contributions au Fonds fiduciaire du CGIA