West Africa

Impact of a Rural Solar Electrification Project on the Level and Structure of Women's Empowerment

Citation:

Burney, Jennifer, Halimatou Alaofè, Rosamond Naylor, and Douglas Taren. 2017. “Impact of a Rural Solar Electrification Project on the Level and Structure of Women's Empowerment.” Environmental Research Letters 12 (9). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa7f38.

Authors: Jennifer Burney, Halimatou Alaofè, Rosamond Naylor, Douglas Taren

Abstract:

Although development organizations agree that reliable access to energy and energy services—one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals—is likely to have profound and perhaps disproportionate impacts on women, few studies have directly empirically estimated the impact of energy access on women's empowerment. This is a result of both a relative dearth of energy access evaluations in general and a lack of clarity on how to quantify gender impacts of development projects. Here we present an evaluation of the impacts of the Solar Market Garden—a distributed photovoltaic irrigation project—on the level and structure of women's empowerment in Benin, West Africa. We use a quasi-experimental design (matched-pair villages) to estimate changes in empowerment for project beneficiaries after one year of Solar Market Garden production relative to non-beneficiaries in both treatment and comparison villages (n = 771). To create an empowerment metric, we constructed a set of general questions based on existing theories of empowerment, and then used latent variable analysis to understand the underlying structure of empowerment locally. We repeated this analysis at follow-up to understand whether the structure of empowerment had changed over time, and then measured changes in both the levels and likelihood of empowerment over time. We show that the Solar Market Garden significantly positively impacted women's empowerment, particularly through the domain of economic independence. In addition to providing rigorous evidence for the impact of a rural renewable energy project on women's empowerment, our work lays out a methodology that can be used in the future to benchmark the gender impacts of energy projects.

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Benin

Year: 2017

Engaging with Gender and Other Social Inequalities in Renewable Energy Projects

Citation:

Baruah, Bipasha, and Mini Govindan. 2015. “Engaging with Gender and Other Social Inequalities in Renewable Energy Projects.” In Sustainable Access to Energy in the Global South: Essential Technologies and Implementation Approaches, edited by Silvia Hostettler, Ashok Gadgil, and Eileen Hazboun, 189-92. Cham: Springer.

Authors: Bipasha Baruah, Mini Govindan

Abstract:

The scholarship and discourse on climate change has been dominated by natural scientists. Social scientists have only recently become involved in the debate, while natural scientists have been researching the topic for much longer. Consequently, the mainstream discourse on climate change continues to be about large-scale economic instruments and complex computer models. More recently, social scientists have pointed out the limitations of techno-centric approaches and put forward alternative frameworks such as sustainable development, climate justice, human rights, and environmental ethics for conceptualizing and operationalizing the sociocultural dimensions of climate change. They have also explored and documented some of the positive and negative consequences of adopting “green” technologies to respond to the climate crisis. However, issues related to gender equity have remained under-studied even in the work of social scientists. This chapter and the three chapters that follow (Chaps.  17– 19) are a modest contribution toward addressing this knowledge gap through empirical research conducted in Peru, South Sudan, and Nigeria to understand the gendered implications and outcomes of the development and expansion of renewable energy technologies. We hope that this research will highlight the need to engage more critically and proactively with gender and other social inequalities while designing and disseminating such technologies.

Keywords: social inequality, gender equity, green economy, climate justice, gender inequity

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Americas, South America Countries: Nigeria, Peru, South Sudan

Year: 2015

Differentiations in Women’s Land Tenure Experiences: Implications for Women’s Land Access and Tenure Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Citation:

Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene, Gaynor Paradza, and Walter Dachaga. 2019. “Differentiations in Women’s Land Tenure Experiences: Implications for Women’s Land Access and Tenure Security in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Land 8 (2). https://doi.org/10.3390/land8020022

Authors: Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Gaynor Paradza, Walter Dachaga

Abstract:

Most literature on land tenure in sub-Saharan Africa has presented women as a homogenous group. This study uses evidence from Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe to show that women have differentiated problems, needs, and statuses in their quest for land access and tenure security. It illustrates how women-to-women differences influence women’s access to land. By investigating differentiations in women’s land tenure in the three countries, the study identifies multiple and somewhat interlinked ways in which differentiations exist in women’s land tenure. It achieved some key outcomes. The findings include a matrix of factors that differentiate women’s land access and tenure security, a visualisation of women’s differentiation in land tenure showing possible modes for actions, and an adaptable approach for operationalising women’s differentiation in land tenure policies (among others). Using these as evidence, it argues that women are a highly differentiated gender group, and the only thing homogenous in the three cases is that women are heterogeneous in their land tenure experiences. It concludes that an emphasis on how the differentiation among women allows for significant insight to emerge into how they experience tenure access differently is essential in improving the tenure security of women. Finally, it makes policy recommendations. 

Keywords: differentiation, gender, land, land access, land rights, land tenure, tenure security, social tenure, Sub-Saharan Africa, women, women's differentiation

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe

Year: 2019

Using a Gender-Responsive Land Rights Framework to Assess Youth Land Rights in Rural Liberia

Citation:

Louis, Elizabeth, Tizai Mauto, My-Lan Dodd, Tasha Heidenrich, Peter Dolo and Emmanuel Urey. 2020. “Using a Gender-Responsive Land Rights Framework to Assess Youth Land Rights in Rural Liberia.” Land 9 (8): 247–68.

Authors: Elizabeth Louis, Tizai Mauto, My-Lan Dodd, Tasha Heidenrich, Peter Dolo, Emmanuel Urey

Abstract:

This article summarizes the evidence on youth land rights in Liberia from a literature review combined with primary research from two separate studies: (1) A qualitative assessment conducted as formative research to inform the design of the Land Rights and Sustainable Development (LRSD) project for Landesa and its partners’ community level interventions; and (2) a quantitative baseline survey of program beneficiaries as part of an evaluation of the LRSD project. The findings are presented using a Gender-Responsive Land Rights Framework that examines youth land rights through a gender lens. The evidence highlights that female and male youth in Liberia face significant but different barriers to long-term access to land, as well as to participation in decisions related to land. Our suggested recommendations offer insights for the implementation of Liberia’s recently passed Land Rights Act as well as for community-level interventions focused on increasing youth land tenure security in Liberia.

Keywords: youth land rights, gender-responsive land rights framework, Liberia Land Rights Act, land governance, tenure security

Topics: Age, Youth, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2020

Gender and Land Dispossession: A Comparative Analysis

Citation:

Levien, Michael. 2017. “Gender and Land Dispossession: A Comparative Analysis.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 44 (6): 1111–34.  

Author: Michael Levien

Abstract:

This paper seeks to advance our understanding of the gendered implications of rural land dispossession. It does so through a comparative analysis of five cases of dispossession that were driven by different economic purposes in diverse agrarian contexts: the English enclosures; colonial and post-colonial rice irrigation projects in the Gambia; large dams in India; oil palm cultivation in Indonesia; and Special Economic Zones in India. The paper identifies some of the common gendered effects of land dispossession, showing in each case how this reproduced women’s lack of independent land rights or reversed them where they existed, intensified household reproductive work and occurred without meaningful consultation with—much less decision-making by—rural women. The paper also demonstrates ways in which the gendered consequences of land dispossession vary across forms of dispossession and agrarian milieu. The most important dimension of this variation is the effect of land loss on the gendered division of labour, which is often deleterious but varies qualitatively across the cases examined. In addition, the paper illustrates further variations within dispossessed populations as gender intersects with class, caste and other inequalities. The paper concludes that land dispossession consistently contributes to gender inequality, albeit in socially and historically specific ways. So while defensive struggles against land dispossession will not in themselves transform patriarchal social relations, they may be a pre-condition for more offensive struggles for gender equality.

Keywords: land grabs, gender, dispossession, displacement, enclosure

Topics: Agriculture, Caste, Class, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Households, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa, Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Gambia, India, Indonesia

Year: 2017

Legal Establishments and Gendered Access to Land in Patriarchal Societies of North-Western Ghana

Citation:

Doghle, Kizito, Rudith Sylvana King, and Paul Bniface Akaabre. 2018. “Legal Establishments and Gendered Access to Land in Patriarchal Societies of North-Western Ghana.” African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences 2: 77–99.

Authors: Kizito Doghle, Rudith Sylvana King, Paul Bniface Akaabre

Abstract:

Denial of women in land entitlements especially in patriarchal societies has been a major development concern in Ghana, resulting in promulgation of legal establishments that seek to enhance equality in access to land. This paper examines the underlying factors for gender inequality in land access and usage despite laws established to bridge the gap. Interviews with land custodians and households in North-Western Ghana revealed the desire to preserve cultural heritage as the primary reason for non-inclusion of women in access rights. The interpretation of these laws also tend to look at all other things except access to land. Further, limited knowledge about the existence of legal establishments that seek to ensure gender equality accounts for the persisting exclusion of women in access to land. Consequently, legal establishments need not only strict enforcement but also sensitization programs if the persisting gender inequality gap in patriarchal societies is to be bridged.

Keywords: land, gender, ownership and access, patriarchal societies, rights and interests, legal establishments, Nandom District, North-Western Ghana

Topics: Development, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Households, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2018

Changing Gender Roles in Agriculture? Evidence from 20 Years of Data in Ghana

Citation:

Lambrecht, Isabel, Monica Schuster, Sarah Asare Samwini, and Laura Pelleriaux. 2018. “Changing Gender Roles in Agriculture? Evidence from 20 Years of Data in Ghana.” Agricultural Economics 49 (6): 691–710.

Authors: Isabel Lambrecht, Monica Schuster, Sarah Asare Samwini, Laura Pelleriaux

Abstract:

Many stylized facts about women in agriculture have been repeated for decades. Did nothing really change? Is some of this conventional wisdom simply maintained over time, or has it always been inaccurate? We use four rounds of cross-sectional data from Ghana to assess some of the facts and to evaluate whether gender patterns have changed over time. We focus on five main themes: land, cropping patterns, market participation, agricultural inputs, and employment. We add to the literature by showing new facts and evidence for more than 20 years. Results show that stylized facts do not always hold, and that some of these “facts” change over time. We find significant variation in the extent of (changes in) gender discrepancies across themes, different agro-ecological zones, ethnicities, household types, and women’s role in the household.

Keywords: gender, common wisdoms, longitudinal data, feminization of agriculture and resource development process, Ghana

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Gender, Gender Roles, Households, Land Tenure Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2018

Can Integrated Agriculture-Nutrition Programmes Change Gender Norms on Land and Asset Ownership? Evidence from Burkina Faso

Citation:

Van den Bold, Mara, Andrew Dillon, Deanna Olney, Marcellin Ouedraogo, Abdoulaye Pedehombga, and Agnes Quisumbing. 2015. “Can Integrated Agriculture-Nutrition Programmes Change Gender Norms on Land and Asset Ownership? Evidence from Burkina Faso.” The Journal of Development Studies 51 (9): 1155–74.

Authors: Mara Van den Bold, Andrew Dillon, Deanna Olne, Marcellin Ouedraogo, Abdoulaye Pedehombga, Agnes Quisumbing

Abstract:

This article uses a mixed-methods approach to analyse the impact of an integrated agriculture and nutrition programme in Burkina Faso on women’s and men’s assets, and norms regarding ownership, use and control of assets. We use a cluster-randomised controlled trial to determine whether productive asset transfers and increased income-generating opportunities for women increase women’s assets over time. Qualitative work on gender norms finds that although men still own and control most assets, women have greater decision-making power and control over home gardens and their produce, and attitudes towards women owning property have become more favourable in treatment areas.

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Burkina Faso

Year: 2015

Limits of the New Green Revolution for Africa: Reconceptualising Gendered Agricultural Value Chains

Citation:

Gengenbach, Heidi, Rachel Schurman, Thomas Bassett, William Munro, and William Moseley. 2018. “Limits of the New Green Revolution for Africa: Reconceptualising Gendered Agricultural Value Chains.” The Geographical Journal 184 (2): 208–14.

Authors: Heidi Gengenbach, Rachel Schurman, Thomas Bassett, William Munro, William Moseley

Abstract:

In order to address food insecurity, the New Green Revolution for Africa (GR4A) promotes tighter integration of African smallholder farmers, especially women, into formal markets via value chains to improve farmers’ input access and to encourage the sale of crop surpluses. This commentary offers a theoretical and practical critique of the GR4A model, drawing on early findings from a five‐year study of value chain initiatives in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Mozambique. It highlights the limitations of a model that views heightened market interactions as uniformly beneficial for smallholder farmers. We challenge the notion that there is a broadly similar and replicable process for the construction of markets and the development of gender‐sensitive value chains in all recipient countries. Instead we build upon the feminist network political ecology and coproduction literatures to conceptualise value chains as complex assemblages co‐produced by a broad set of actors, including socially differentiated farmers.

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Burkina Faso, Côte D'Ivoire, Mozambique

Year: 2018

Understanding Women's Needs for Weather and Climate Information in Agrarian Settings: The Case of Ngetou Maleck, Senegal

Citation:

Carr, Edward R., Grant Fleming, and Tshibangu Kalala. 2016. “Understanding Women's Needs for Weather and Climate Information in Agrarian Settings: The Case of Ngetou Maleck, Senegal.” Weather, Climate, and Society 8 (3): 247–64.

Authors: Edward R. Carr, Grant Fleming, Tshibangu Kalala

Abstract:

While climate services have the potential to reduce precipitation- and temperature-related risks to agrarian livelihoods, such outcomes are possible only when they deliver information that is salient, legitimate, and credible to end users. This is particularly true of climate services intended to address the needs of women in agrarian contexts. The design of such gender-sensitive services is hampered by oversimplified framings of women as a group in both the adaptation and climate services literatures. This paper demonstrates that even at the village level, women have different climate and weather information needs, and differing abilities to act on that information. Therefore, starting with preconceived connections between identities and vulnerability is likely to result in overgeneralizations that hinder the ability to address the climate-related development and adaptation needs of the most vulnerable. Instead, as is demonstrated in this paper, the design and implementation of effective gender-sensitive climate services must start with the relevant social differences that shape people’s livelihoods decisions and outcomes, including but not limited to gender.

Keywords: geographic location/entity, Africa, forecasting, seasonal forecasting, variability, climate variability, applications, agriculture, local effects, societal impacts

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Senegal

Year: 2016

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