International Institute for Environment and Development - Gender

Challenging inequality is at the heart of climate change adaptation

suzanne.fisher@iied.org (Suzanne Fisher) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:59:25 +0100

People won’t become more resilient to the impacts of climate change unless the underlying causes of their vulnerability are analysed and addressed.

After the Asian tsunami in 2004 hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the destroyed houses needed to be rebuilt. But they weren’t just rebuilt with better materials. The rebuilt houses and assets became jointly owned by women.

“When that woman faces the next disaster, she has more power to negotiate with her brother or her husband and is far less vulnerable,” said Harjeet Singh, International Coordinator of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptation for Action Aid, who oversaw the project in the Andoman and Nicobar Islands.

Challenging power relations and inequality and upholding human rights might seem a long way off from adapting to climate change. But the logic is that people are vulnerable to climate change because of the unequal power structures in their society. When a disaster hits their communities they are more vulnerable, and it generally takes them longer to recover from the loss.

Speaking at the 7^th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation in Dhaka, Singh tied people’s vulnerability to shocks and stresses to three key factors: social exclusion, lack of access to resources and lack of assets and economic opportunities. If people’s social exclusion, due to race, sex or a number of other factors, was tackled, said Singh, as well as looking at building up their assets and resources, people would be far less vulnerable when the next disaster hits.

Similarly Christine Hunter, the Bangladesh country representative for UN Women said that if work focussed more on tackling the obstacles that stop women or indigenous groups from achieving their rights then they would be less vulnerable when the next disaster hit.

“Inequality can create vulnerability,” Hunter said. And women in Bangladesh generally live in a very unequal society. Most women in Bangladesh are employed in agriculture, although they generally don’t own the land they farm. As agriculture becomes increasingly affected by heavier seasonal rains or rising sea levels, women have fewer resources to draw on to adapt to the changes, compared to their husbands or brothers. “A man is more likely to own land, he may have a say over other resources that could earn him a living, or he might have better access to credit,” said Hunter.

The irony of writing this in a five star hotel just after listening to a formal inauguration by the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, the most powerful woman in Bangladesh, doesn’t escape me.

Much of the literature on climate change and gender isn’t helping according to Hunter. She felt the discourse often set out women as victims vulnerable to climate change, or focussed on women’s instrumental role to support their families, but not on their own rights.

“If their ability to support their families is strengthened, according to the discourse, it helps everybody – especially households,” she said. “When we stay with those kinds of narratives we reinforce inequality. How can we on (the) one hand be painting them as victims and then on the other hand be saying that women have an equal right to shape decision at national or international levels? Those pictures don’t go very well together,” said Hunter.

Instead Hunter advocated a rights-based approach: “Rights focus on people as citizens and as people who can drive their own development and have the right to do that.”

Doesn’t this approach on rights and addressing inequalities require seismic shifts in power dynamics in most societies to succeed, I asked. Singh responded with a question: “Have other approaches worked? I don’t see any other approach having a lasting solution.”

Find out more about the 7th conference on community-based adaptation to climate change (CBA7). Read highlights from the first and second day of the conference.

Urbanization: A double-edged sword for women

mike.shanahan@iied.org (Mike Shanahan) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:25:27 +0100

Urbanization is often associated with greater independence and opportunity for women – but also with high risks of violence and constraints on employment, mobility and leadership that reflect deep gender-based inequalities.

These issues – along with climate change, waste, water and other topics -- are explored in the April 2013 issue of the IIED journal Environment and Urbanization, published today.

"Urbanization is among the defining features of current times, but it can mean very different things for men and women," says the journal's guest editor Cecilia Tacoli of the International Institute for Environment and Development. "Unless policymakers, urban planners and development agencies understand these differences, urbanization will fail to meet its potential to improve the lives of all urban citizens."

The journal’s editorial – available online here – highlights the key points from each paper. These include papers on the following topics under this edition’s main theme of ‘Gender and Urban Change’:

where and when urban women enjoy advantages over their rural counterparts;
community savings schemes that build women’s leadership and support upgrading;
how transport planning still fails to respond to women’s travel needs;
how urban contexts can reduce gender based violence, although often they can increase it;
how income and ideology influence women’s decision making in rural and urban areas in Nicaragua;
the changes in women’s participation in labour markets in Dhaka, Bangladesh and the tensions this can generate within households;
what was learnt from a project working with girls and boys with disabilities in Mumbai, India;
and, the particular roles of women in seeking to get better services for their low-income/informal neighbourhoods in Bengalaru, India.

This issue also has two papers on climate change:

a detailed benefit-cost analysis applied to Durban, South Africa;
the different responses of low-income tenants and squatters to adaptation to climate change in Khulna, Bangladesh;

The subjects of other papers include:

the limitations in the Indian government’s Basic Services for the Urban Poor Programme;
the politics of non-payment for water in low-income communities in Manila, the Philippines;
community-managed reconstruction in Old Fadama (Accra, Ghana) after a fire;
developing a solid waste collection service in informal settlements in Managua, Nicaragua;
how well-connected individuals control land allocations and water supply in an informal settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh;
and an assessment of provision for water, sanitation and waste collection in two informal settlements in Kumasi, Kenya.

Full table of contents for the April 2013 edition of Environment and Urbanization.

To request any of the papers please email the journal’s editor Dr David Satterthwaite – david.satterthwaite@iied.org

Agricultural development: business as usual is not an option

nicole.kenton@iied.org (Nicole Kenton) — Thu, 5 Apr 2012 17:41:49 +0100

Following the 2008 global food price hikes and riots, national governments and transnational corporations are increasingly interested in investing in large-scale African agricultural projects. While these land acquisitions gather pace, 925 million people remain undernourished worldwide, with 239 million living in sub-Saharan Africa. In this new context, the question is not only how sustainable large-scale industrial agriculture is, but also what model of food production and farming is most effective in addressing the question of hunger – and for whom.

Those people most at risk of going hungry are ironically often directly involved in producing food. Many of them are small-scale African farmers. What needs to be done at micro, meso and macro levels to improve their food security? This question and ways forward were discussed at the Food we want – Sustainable, Local, Fair event held at IIED last week.

Food security is defined as existing when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs” (World Food Summit, 1996 PDF). It’s a complex issue, interlinked with health, sustainable economic development, environment and trade.

The majority of farmers in Africa are women – they contribute 70% of food production and account for nearly half of all farm labour (such as cultivation, weeding, harvesting), and 80–90% of food processing, storage and transport. Yet they receive less than 10% of small farm credit and own just 1% of land because they often lack rights to the land they till. Land rights tend to be held by men or kinship groups controlled by men, and women have access mainly through a male relative, usually a father or husband. Even then, women are routinely obliged to hand over the proceeds of any farm sales to a male and have little say over how those earnings are used.

Giving women farmers more secure access to the land they farm and improving their access to appropriate resources – such as seeds, fertilizers, credit – and to technologies, markets, land and decision making processes – would pay multiple dividends in the form of increased agricultural productivity. It would also be the first step to achieving food sovereignty and ultimately, improve household nutrition.

But how to improve access to agricultural information, services, training and opportunities so that women farmers become better integrated into wider commercial markets? According to panelist Micheline Ravololonarisoa, formerly with UN Women, there is increasing female participation in decision making relating to agricultural practises emerging from grassroots organisations in many regions of Africa.

Changing mind sets is the first step. Agri-businesses must significantly shift their thinking about women in the global marketplace and secure the notion of women as economic agents in agriculture. For this shift in mindset to be effective and sustainable, it must extend beyond the global food trade to the male-dominated arena of politics.

Promising focus: African family farming

A promising focus for reinvestment would be African family farming combined with modern agroecological approaches. One solution put forward by one of the panelists, Michel Pimbert, is an agricultural system that combines modern science with indigenous knowledge systems. These agroecological models would mimic biological processes found in nature, while being supported by cutting edge scientific research. These options would yield income, fulfil cultural and spiritual functions and be more sustainable long term as shown by Jules Pretty in his report. Pimbert emphasises the need to scale up in order to viably produce food for populations who lack access to agricultural land or the means to produce their own food. According to Pimbert, the framework of food sovereignty creates the conditions needed to shape agricultural investments and policies to facilitate more biodiverse, resilient and equitable models of production in Africa.

“Food can only be secure in your own stomach,” said the third panelist, William Lume, Director of the Centre for Inter-African Relations (CEFIAR), who warned that the pursuit of national and international food security was misguided, without first addressing the food and nutritional needs of the individual. Food insecurity in the developing world is a structural issue underpinned by centuries of unfair trade policies and prevalent power structures with transnational corporations and governments at the top and smallholder farmers and food consumers at the bottom. Most of the infrastructure in Africa today has been designed so that each country competes in a race to export, and not to facilitate intra-community trade.

Tracing the history of food production back to colonial times, he described how local sources of nutrition have often been bypassed in favour of international trading priorities. Post-independence political thinkers, such as Kwame Nkrumah, having been educated by Christian missionaries, followed the European/Roman model of food production and consumption: “…wine and cheese and the like, and if you grow food, narrow it to the grains that are fast maturing….anything that takes a long period of time and is sustainable to the locals, do not include it in scientific research.” This thinking was reemphasised by post-independence governments, with the exception of some, such as the African liberator, Amílcar Cabral, who considered agricultural production by individuals to be a political tool.

Complementary to the approach outlined by Michel Pimbert, Dr Lume advocated a focus on “technique rather than technology,” emphasising the importance of indigenous agricultural knowledge, but allowing for affordable technology to be introduced. Lume emphasised that research and interventions to improve food security should remain at the local level and community level, with a focus on improving farmers’ knowledge of nutrition. The nutritional needs of young people and older people are not the same – diverse and sustainable food sources would ensure everyone gets the food they need. In response to a question regarding how to reduce the “food miles” needed to get food onto the average UK dinner table, Lume suggested widespread household “microplanting” of vegetables in homes here in the UK and in Africa would reduce food miles and the market demand for those foods.

Summing up, Ethel del Pozo-Vergnes, a researcher from IIED’s Sustainable Markets Group, highlighted ways forward for a food secure future:

With the majority of food in Africa being produced by small scale farmers, it is vital to recognise the importance of local, informal markets as a key method for selling their produce.
Creating resilient, sustainable agricultural systems that can withstand stresses such as climate change requires linking agricultural and ecological practices more closely.
Food insecurity is often driven by inequitable export policies and trade agreements – farmers need to be considered and involved in policy making in the future.
Women’s crucial contribution to food production and the economy needs to be recognised and their visibility raised, particularly at national level.
The nutritional needs of individuals and households must be better understood and considered when developing food security interventions.
With urban migration, there are fewer young people left in rural areas, leaving mainly older women and children running the farm. Understanding the drivers and innovations that could engage youth in agriculture might help keep them farming in the future.

Sustainable farming systems using indigenous and modern farming techniques can be built on the foundations of the family household and farm. Increasingly involving women and smallholder farmers in agricultural and food trade policy creation is also crucial for addressing hunger, poverty and the effects of climate change, and can begin to build a more food secure future for farmers in Africa.

Find out more

Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

What works for women: Proven approaches for empowering women smallholders and achieving food security

Written jointly by Anthony Stonehouse, a consultant with IIED, and Nicole Kenton, co-editor of Participatory Learning and Action.

Urban poverty’s hidden dimensions threaten development, new research reveals

webmaster@iied.org (drupmaster) — Wed, 7 Mar 2012 18:13:12 +0000

Residents of low-income and informal urban settlements suffer hugely from inadequate living conditions and limited access to services, which puts a disproportionate burden on women’s unpaid time and results in far-reaching consequences for their well-being, according to a new research.

The study, which was conducted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) with support from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, shows that although urbanization presents women with more job opportunities, greater independence and fewer economic and cultural constraints, it does not always result in a fairer distribution of wealth and other advantages, including rights, political representation and their ability to secure assets.

UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, said this research synthesizes a new and emerging area of work that is of critical importance to reduce poverty and promote gender equality.

“Responding effectively to rapid urbanization—which is occurring in many countries—requires empowering women and young people and improving their access to education, health and employment,” said Dr. Osotimehin. “Addressing the issues of changing family relationships and sharing of domestic work are closely linked to promoting gender equality and ending violence against women. These efforts are indispensable for making progress towards sustainable development.”

“When people talk of poverty they focus on income, but poverty has other aspects that affect men and women, old and young people in different ways,” said researcher Cecilia Tacoli, of IIED. For Dr. Tacoli, gender inequalities in free time, working and living conditions, as well as exposure to violence, are some of the hidden aspects of poverty that affect women more disproportionately and that policymakers should recognize and address.

Overall, urbanization leads to lower fertility rates, but women living in poor areas may have as many children as rural women because their access to reproductive health services can be just as bad, if not worse, the new research points out.

In addition, among the urban poor, women often have the lowest-paid, least-secure jobs, while men retain much of the decision making power within households and take on only a small share of domestic tasks. This leaves women both cash and time-poor, and means that their workload—both paid and unpaid—is generally much heavier than men’s.

The research also notes the potential for urbanization to deliver sustainable development and better quality of life for all individuals, highlighting that society as a whole should recognize the important role of unpaid female care work in ensuring that children, older people and those who are sick or disabled are looked after, especially where communities lack adequate services and infrastructure.

“Urban growth is inevitable but urban poverty is not. Policymakers should look beyond income and material wealth in their planning so they can tackle all forms of gender inequality and seize the potential of urbanisation to improve people’s lives,” according to IIED’s Director, Dr. Camilla Toulmin.

Download the working paper
Urbanization, gender and urban poverty: paid work and unpaid carework in the city

Download the briefing paper
Urbanization, gender and poverty

Making Gender and Generation Matter

nicole.kenton@iied.org (Nicole Kenton) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:37:26 +0100

Gender is still largely considered to be about women rather than about a vital dynamic in society. And often gender issues are seen as a concern of the global north. The interlocking of production and social reproduction, the formal and informal sectors, and the constantly evolving relations between men and women, and between younger and older generations, are at the heart of this dynamic. A strong analysis of gender and generation is crucial to understanding power imbalances and being able to influence them.

This activity reflects the perspectives and work of our southern partners and of local organisations in the south, and contributes to the emerging debates on poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Gender land and decentralisation

nicole.kenton@iied.org (Nicole Kenton) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:42:51 +0100

A key element to ensuring that decision-making at the local level is carried out equitably and sustainably is to build understanding of the interests and concerns of marginalised groups and local level capacity to discuss and analysis these concerns. As a result, this strand of action research specifically studies the challenges posed by gender disparities with regard to access to land and natural resources.

Gatekeeper about

nick.turner@iied.org (nickt) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:03:56 +0100

"We have found the Gatekeeper series to be of significant relevance because of the subjects treated and the condensed and incisive nature of the documents"
Robert Brinkman

The Gatekeeper Series highlights emerging issues and new perspectives in natural resource management, livelihoods and sustainable agriculture.

Each Gatekeeper paper provides a succinct review of an issue of contemporary importance and makes preliminary recommendations for policy makers, researchers and planners. The series presents a diversity of perspectives, both from within and outside IIED, and with a special focus on work by Southern authors. All geographic regions are covered, although the main focus is on Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Since the Series was established in 1987, papers have covered a huge range of topics from global restructuring and agri-food systems to participatory plant breeding. Gatekeeper papers have dealt with equity, gender, research methods, ‘ways of knowing’, institutions, participatory methods, wildlife, and many dimensions of sustainable agriculture and the health of the natural resource base.

The interactions of the macro-level (national to global) with micro-environments, in both natural and human terms, are another thread running through the Gatekeepers. Analyses have been centred equally on lessons from the local level for the formulation of policy, and the efficacy on the ground of policy directives.

Successes and constraints in using participatory methods in localised projects and research exercises have also formed a recurring theme over the past 15 years. The livelihoods perspective informs all of the Gatekeepers’ coverage, and some papers have dealt directly with livelihoods strategies. These broad thematic areas covered by the Series are reflected in the back issues.

The Natural Resources Group at IIED has expanded the scope of the Series, while retaining the emphasis on sustainability and equity in agri-food systems and forms of environmental interaction that have characterised the Gatekeeper Series.

The series reaches over 4000 policy makers, researchers and planners in 121 countries. The Series is published twice a year - in batches of three issues.

To obtain information on subscribing and contributing to the Series , and for abstracts and full text of the back issues, follow the links at the top of this page.

Or contact:

Editor: Nicole Kenton