Gender equality is gaining global recognition as a catalyst for sustainable development, and a proven stratagem for alleviating poverty and enhancing food security in developing countries of Africa, where agriculture is the main economic stay. The book Gender and Rural Development: Volume 1 introduces gender discussions into key topics in the curriculum for Nigerian university agricultural undergraduate studies, with the purpose of enhancing gender responsive agricultural and rural development programs, projects, policies and budgets required for sustainable development. (Series: Spektrum. Berliner Reihe zu Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik in Entwicklungsl�¤ndern/Berlin Series on Society, Economy and Politics in Developing Countries - Vol. 106)

This book explores how rural gender relations are changing in a globalizing world that fundamentally impacts on the structure of agricultural life in rural areas and urban-rural relations. It analyses the development of rural gender relations in specific places around the world and looks into the effects of the increasing connectivity and mobility of people across places. The themes covered are: gender and mobility, gender and agriculture, Gender and rural politics, rurality and Gender identity and women and international development. Each theme has an overview of the state of the art in that specific thematic area and integrates the case-studies that follow.

The failure to include gender in the economic history of rural development has severely limited our understanding of privatizing, collectivist and colonial economic policies that disrupted and transformed the lives of rural women and men in the modern world. This book is unique in its focus on female economic agency, and in its exploration of the latter virtue in comparative historical perspective. It presents the apparently disparate cases of 17th-century England, 20th-century Russia and the Soviet Union, and 20th-century Kenya, as their top-down modernization projects were implemented in similar fashion --particularly in the case of women. The female half of the population was largely absent from contemporary economic databases, but nevertheless stereotyped as obstacles to rational economic decision-making. Introducing rural women and their innovations into male-centered narratives of economic history lays the foundation for a more demographically balanced and realistic understanding of rural behavior and rural development. In this study, women’s labor and land claims are the lens through which both female agency and the delegitimizing of women’s land claims become more visible. Both policy-makers and their leading critics deployed virtually identical language to describe backward, unruly and invariably “unsightly” peasant women.

The 'Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook' provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. It is serves as a tool for: guidance; showcasing key principles in integrating gender into projects; stimulating the imagination of practitioners to apply lessons learned, experiences, and innovations to the design of future support and investment in the agriculture sector. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development. The Sourcebook looks at: access to and control of assets; access to markets, information and organization; and capacity to manage risk and vulnerability through a gender lens. There are 16 modules covering themes of cross-cutting importance for agriculture with strong gender dimensions (Policy, Public Administration and Governance; Agricultural Innovation and Education; Food Security; Markets; Rural Finance; Rural Infrastructure; Water; Land; Labor; Natural Resource Management; and Disaster and Post-Conflict Management) and specific subsectors in agriculture (Crops, Livestock, Forestry, and Fisheries). A separate module on Monitoring and Evaluation is included, responding to the need to track implementation and development impact. Each module contains three different sub-units: (1) A Module Overview gives a broad introduction to the topic and provides a summary of major development issues in the sector and rationale of looking at gender dimension; (2) Thematic Notes provide a brief and technically sound guide in gender integration in selected themes with lessons learned, guidelines, checklists, organizing principles, key questions, and key performance indicators; and (3) Innovative Activity Profiles describe the design and innovative features of recent and exciting projects and activities that have been implemented or are ongoing.

As India strives to improve overall social and economic conditions and gender relations through policies such as the abolishment of dowry, increasing the legal age at marriage, and promoting educational opportunities for girls, serious challenges remain, especially in rural areas. Gender Equality and Inequality in Rural India focuses on the extent to which economic development has resulted in positive changes in women's empowerment and reproductive health, as well as in sex preference. Based on a study from a village in Maharashtra where impressive gains in economic development have occurred in recent decades, Carol Vlassoff examines the impact of son preference on fertility and rural women's economic empowerment and other aspects of reproductive behavior. She provides evidence of the added value of their employment beyond the traditional wage labor and domestic spheres, and argues that policies aimed at closing gender gaps in social inequalities must be complemented by policies fostering employment opportunities for women. While many studies have demonstrated the importance of social empowerment for improved reproductive health, this is the first to separate out the differential effects of social and economic factors. This work goes even further than economic arguments by demonstrating, on the basis of a robust statistical analysis, that women's education and their professional labor force participation contribute to better health and wellbeing of rural society, including through reductions in fertility, son preference, and infant and child mortality.

Extrait de la couverture : "Since the classic'Women and development in the Third World' was published over a decade ago, a new awareness of the importance of gender roles in development has grown. Globalization, international migration, refugees and conditions of war have brought these issues of gender and development to the public attention. At the same time, gender perspectives have become central to the many United Nations meetings on development, including the Beiing Women's Conference. [This book] focuses on these new challenges and the efforts to overcome them though the empowerment of women and men. ... This accessible textbook provides an introduction to the topic that is based on the author's wide field experience. Topical and up-to-date information and analysis are used throughout. It contains a wealth of student-friendly features, including boxed case studies drawn from around the world ..."

With China’s rapid advancements in urbanization and industrialization, there has been significant labor movement away from agriculture in the rural regions. Using four village case studies, Song examines how this restructuring process affects the rural population. Much of her research is centered on their various perceptions and reactions towards the market reforms. How are their lives reshaped through the employment transition? Along with the changes of family life and the diversification of development models, how do an individual’s gender and background play a role in determining employment? These are the broad questions that Song addresses through detailed analysis of four different villages, in light of China’s move towards decentralization of its rural economy.