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Transforming Gender and Food Security in the Global South

 
Editor(s)
Jemimah Njuki, John R. Parkins, and Amy Kaler
Publisher(s)
Routledge, IDRC
ISBN
9781138680418
e-ISBN
9781552505908

Available formats

Drawing on studies from Africa, Asia, and South America, this book provides empirical evidence and conceptual explorations of the gendered dimensions of food security. It investigates how food security and gender inequity are conceptualized within interventions, assesses the impacts and outcomes of gender-responsive programs on food security and gender equity, and addresses diverse approaches to gender research and practice that range from descriptive and analytical to strategic and transformative. The chapters draw on diverse theoretical perspectives, including transformative learning, feminist theory, deliberative democracy, and technology adoption. As a result, they add important conceptual and empirical material to a growing literature on the challenges of gender equity in food production.

A unique feature of this book is the integration of both analytic and transformative approaches to understanding gender and food security. The analytic material shows how food security interventions enable women and men to meet the long-term nutritional needs of their households, and to enhance their economic position. The transformative chapters also document efforts to build durable and equitable relationships between men and women, addressing underlying social, cultural, and economic causes of gender inequality. Taken together, these combined approaches enable women and men to reflect on gendered divisions of labour and resources related to food, and to reshape these divisions in ways which benefit families and communities.

The editors

Jemimah Njuki is a senior program officer in the Agriculture and Food Security program at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), based in Nairobi, Kenya.

John R. Parkins is a professor in the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada.

Amy Kaler is a professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada.