Gender Matters: Climate Change, Gender Bias, and Women’s Farming in the Global South and North

Tricia Glazebrook, Samantha Noll and Emmanuela Opoku
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Tricia Glazebrook: School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
Samantha Noll: School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
Emmanuela Opoku: Department of Environmental Science, University for Development Studies, Navrongo, Ghana

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-25

Abstract: Can investing in women’s agriculture increase productivity? This paper argues that it can. We assess climate and gender bias impacts on women’s production in the global South and North and challenge the male model of agricultural development to argue further that women’s farming approaches can be more sustainable. Level-based analysis (global, regional, local) draws on a literature review, including the authors’ published longitudinal field research in Ghana and the United States. Women farmers are shown to be undervalued and to work harder, with fewer resources, for less compensation; gender bias challenges are shared globally while economic disparities differentiate; breaches of distributive, gender, and intergenerational justices as well as compromise of food sovereignty affect women everywhere. We conclude that investing in women’s agriculture needs more than standard approaches of capital and technology investment. Effective ‘investment’ would include systemic interventions into agricultural policy, governance, education, and industry; be directed at men as well as women; and use gender metrics, for example, quotas, budgets, vulnerability and impacts assessments, to generate assessment reports and track gender parity in agriculture. Increasing women’s access, capacity, and productivity cannot succeed without men’s awareness and proactivity. Systemic change can increase productivity and sustainability.

Keywords: Africa/Ghana; climate change; farming/farmers; food security; gender inequality; global South/North; hunger; justice; land (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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