Issues such as gender and population become central to our programs in most contexts, when science is not just about satisfying academic curiosity, but about achieving developmental outcomes and impacts. I appreciate Jennifer’s comments that this is not an either/or situation. Both are important issues and as others have highlighted they are closely linked. One cannot avoid talking about gender and associated social norms while dealing with population growth.
As it has rightly been pointed out, gender has come to be equated with women. There have been significant conceptual shifts from Women In Development (WID) to Gender and Development (GAD) but the agricultural research and development practice has not kept pace with this thinking.
However, the focus on women is not completely misplaced. Even if we prefer to focus on equity, it is women who are disproportionately represented among the poorest and most marginalised. Women account for two thirds of the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty. Women make up 64 percent of the 774 million illiterate adults in the world (https://www.womendeliver.org/knowledge-center/facts-figures/gender-equity/). Achieving the developmental goals we aspire to is not possible if gender inequalities persist.
Gender is not about men vs women, but it is about women and men, boys and girls and the social relations that govern their interactions. Multiple social relations exist between people and these are shaped by the social norms and they result in positioning individuals and groups relative to each other. Gender relations, are a subset of such social relations and are influenced by gender roles and responsibilities and claims over resources and rights; they define men’s and women’s relative social positions and therefore gender inequality in a specific time and place (Kabeer 1994).
Poverty arises out of unequal social relations. The poor, especially poor women, are often excluded from access and ownership of resources, and depend upon relationships of patronage or dependency for resources. Gender analysis is not just about understanding women’s issues or their roles, it involves looking at how institutions create and reproduce inequalities.
Experience shows that agricultural, environmental and related policies and programmes (including population) do not differentiate between men and women. They often fail to recognize the differences between men’s and women’s work, knowledge, contributions and needs. Only 20% of young women in both rural and urban areas said that the decision on how many children to have was in their hands (World Bank, 2013. On norms and agency: Conversations about gender equality. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/current-work/celebrating-i... ; https://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSDNET/0,,contentMDK:2... ). This has significant consequences for environmental sustainability, poverty as well as for gender equality.
Equality of opportunities does not always lead to equality of outcomes, where the starting points are widely different. As Carol pointed out, if we subsume the focus on gender under equity this will transmit wrong signals that we have achieved equality or that it is less of a concern and might result in lesser allocation of resources and commitment. So, we need both. Indeed, the focus should be on the poorest and most marginalised women and girls.
Issues such as gender and population become central to our programs in most contexts, when science is not just about satisfying academic curiosity, but about achieving developmental outcomes and impacts. I appreciate Jennifer’s comments that this is not an either/or situation. Both are important issues and as others have highlighted they are closely linked. One cannot avoid talking about gender and associated social norms while dealing with population growth.
As it has rightly been pointed out, gender has come to be equated with women. There have been significant conceptual shifts from Women In Development (WID) to Gender and Development (GAD) but the agricultural research and development practice has not kept pace with this thinking.
However, the focus on women is not completely misplaced. Even if we prefer to focus on equity, it is women who are disproportionately represented among the poorest and most marginalised. Women account for two thirds of the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty. Women make up 64 percent of the 774 million illiterate adults in the world (https://www.womendeliver.org/knowledge-center/facts-figures/gender-equity/). Achieving the developmental goals we aspire to is not possible if gender inequalities persist.
Gender is not about men vs women, but it is about women and men, boys and girls and the social relations that govern their interactions. Multiple social relations exist between people and these are shaped by the social norms and they result in positioning individuals and groups relative to each other. Gender relations, are a subset of such social relations and are influenced by gender roles and responsibilities and claims over resources and rights; they define men’s and women’s relative social positions and therefore gender inequality in a specific time and place (Kabeer 1994).
Poverty arises out of unequal social relations. The poor, especially poor women, are often excluded from access and ownership of resources, and depend upon relationships of patronage or dependency for resources. Gender analysis is not just about understanding women’s issues or their roles, it involves looking at how institutions create and reproduce inequalities.
Experience shows that agricultural, environmental and related policies and programmes (including population) do not differentiate between men and women. They often fail to recognize the differences between men’s and women’s work, knowledge, contributions and needs. Only 20% of young women in both rural and urban areas said that the decision on how many children to have was in their hands (World Bank, 2013. On norms and agency: Conversations about gender equality. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/current-work/celebrating-i... ; https://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSDNET/0,,contentMDK:2... ). This has significant consequences for environmental sustainability, poverty as well as for gender equality.
Equality of opportunities does not always lead to equality of outcomes, where the starting points are widely different. As Carol pointed out, if we subsume the focus on gender under equity this will transmit wrong signals that we have achieved equality or that it is less of a concern and might result in lesser allocation of resources and commitment. So, we need both. Indeed, the focus should be on the poorest and most marginalised women and girls.