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

Abstract

Can investing in women’s agriculture increase productivity? This paper argues that it can. We assess climate impacts and gender bias 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 literature review, including 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, e.g. 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.

The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future

“…Each of these indicators takes gridded heat data and overlays them with relevant exposure and The health impacts of climate change are both underpinned and amplified by gender norms and gender inequities, with numerous examples cited throughout this report. 29 Gender also influences who sets the agenda and drives responses to climate change. Evidence shows that greater representation of women in parliament is associated with stronger climate change policies.…”

2. Adapting agriculture to a changing climate: a social justice perspective

“…• Gender inequalities. Women play the central role in in situ agrobiodiversity conservation and development (Glazebrook et al, 2020). Seed exchange networks empower women.…”

Gender disparity in cassava farmers access to agricultural productive resources in Rongo Sub County, Migori County, Kenya

“…This implies that access to land is gendered with more male cassava farmers having paralleled unequalled easy access to land for agriculture. Glazebrook et al (2020), indicated gender disparity in access to land in the global south and north.…”

“…Women's participation in agricultural production significantly contributes to the global food security (Glazebrook et al, 2020). Their commitment to the agricultural work force is additionally higher than men's (Anderson et al, 2021;Glazebrook et al, 2020).…”