Gender Roles

Work and Power: The Connection Between Female Labor Force Participation and Female Political Representation

Citation:

Iversen, Torben, and Frances Rosenbluth. 2008. “Work and Power: The Connection Between Female Labor Force Participation and Female Political Representation.” Annual Review of Political Science 11 (1): 479–95.

Authors: Torben Iversen, Frances Rosenbluth

Abstract:

Mainstream political economy has tended to treat the family as a unit when examining the distributional consequences of labor market institutions and of public policy. In a world with high divorce rates, we argue that this simplification is more likely to obscure than to instruct. We find that labor market opportunities for women, which vary systematically with the position of countries in the international division of labor and with the structure of the welfare state, affect women’s bargaining power within the family and as a result, can explain much of the cross country variation in the gender division of labor as well as the gender gap in political preferences.

Topics: Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gender Balance, Governance, Elections, Households, Political Participation

Year: 2008

Factories, Forests, Fields and Family: Gender and Neoliberalism in Extractive Reserves

Citation:

Hecht, Susanna B. 2007. “Factories, Forests, Fields and Family: Gender and Neoliberalism in Extractive Reserves.” Journal of Agrarian Change 7 (3): 316–47.

Author: Susanna B. Hecht

Abstract:

This paper explores the theoretical debates on extraction and development in Amazonia, and the emergence of extractive reserves (ERs) as a tropical development alternative. It reviews the role of women in Amazonian rural economies and then analyzes the (often invisible) tasks of women within the reserves through an analysis of the gender division of labour in the collecting and processing of non-timber forest products and agriculture. It then considers how lack of attention to rural women's labour obligations played out in a development project, Projeto Castanha, that began as an urban factory, but was later recast as a neoliberal decentralized processing and outsourcing programme. The project failed to appreciate the demands on, and the opportunity costs, of women's time and thus had very limited success as women withdrew their labour. The paper argues that there may be many more options for supporting extractive economies (and the women who work in them) in more peri-urban and village projects even though extractive reserves are valuable ecologically and socially in the regional economy.

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Brazil

Year: 2007

Gendered Cultures of Conflict and Discontent: Living ‘the Crisis’ in a Newfoundland Community

Citation:

Davis, Dona. 2000. “Gendered Cultures of Conflict and Discontent: Living ‘the Crisis’ in a Newfoundland Community.” Women’s Studies International Forum 24 (3): 343-53.

Author: Dona Davis

Abstract:

Longitudinal, participant observation research in a small southwest coast fishing village in Newfoundland, Canada, shows the dramatic and profound effects that the North Atlantic fisheries crisis can have on those who have made their living from the sea, and through forces largely out of their control, find themselves no longer able to do so. Data collected during the initial stages of the crisis show how the impact of the crisis is strongly gendered. From the perspective of everyday life as lived in the local context, gender affects both worlds of meaning and interpersonal relationships. Description and analysis of changing gender ideologies, alterations in the sexual division of labor and use of community space, and the gendering of social class demonstrate that the crisis does affect men and women in significantly different ways. However, escalating levels of conflict and violence and an emergent ethos of demoralization affect all community members in ways that transcend gender. This portrayal of a community's transition from a once successful inshore fishery to an unemployment and welfare culture of conflict and discontent calls into question the supposedly rational policies and intent of government and fisheries development planners and challenges their notions of “transition” and “adjustment” costs.

Keywords: fishing community, gender role, labor division, power relations

Topics: Class, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2000

Gender, Political Ideology, and Climate Change Beliefs in an Extractive Industry Community

Citation:

Davidson, Debra J., and Michael Haan. 2012. “Gender, Political Ideology, and Climate Change Beliefs in an Extractive Industry Community.” Population and Environment 34 (2): 217–34.

Authors: Debra J. Davidson, Michael Haan

Abstract:

This paper presents results from a survey on attitudes toward climate change in Alberta, Canada, home to just 10% of Canada's population, but the source of 35% of the country's greenhouse-gas emissions (Environment Canada 2011). Results show high levels of awareness, but much lower levels of perceived climate change impacts for one's self or region. Women expressed significantly greater awareness and sense of perceived impacts about climate change than men; however, gender differences appear predominantly associated with socioeconomic factors. Indeed, in all, political ideology had the strongest predictive value, with individuals voting for the conservative party significantly less likely to anticipate significant societal climate change impacts. This finding, in turn, is strongly associated with beliefs regarding whether climate change is human induced. Particularly notable is the finding that the gender gap in climate change beliefs and perceived impacts is not attributed to gendered social roles, as indicated by occupational and familial status. Instead, gender distinctions appear to be related to the lower tendency for women to ascribe to a conservative political ideology relative to men.

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gender Roles, Governance, Elections, Political Participation Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2012

Issues in Women’s Land Rights in Cameroon

Citation:

Fonjong, Lotsmart, ed. 2012. Issues in Women’s Land Rights in Cameroon. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group.

Author: Lotsmart Fonjong

Annotation:

"This book explores the customary, social, economic political and rights issues surrounding access, ownership and control over land from a gender perspective. It combines theory and practice from researchers, lawyers and judges, each with track records of working on women and rights concerns. The nexus between the reluctance to recognize and materialize women's right to land, and the increasing feminization of poverty is undeniable. The problem assumes special acuity in an essentially agrarian context like Cameroon, where the problem is not so much the law as its manner of application. That this book delves into investigating the principal sources and reasons for this prevalent injustice is particularly welcome. As some of the analyses reveal, denying women their right to land acquisition or inheritance is sometimes contrary to established judicial precedents and even in total dissonance with the country's constitution. Traditional and cultural shibboleths associated with land acquisition and ownership that tend to stymie women's development and fulfilment, must be quickly shirked, for such retrograde excuses can no longer find comfort in the law, morality nor in "modern" traditional thinking. The trend, albeit timid, of appointing women to Land Consultative Boards and even as traditional authorities, can only be salutary. These are some positive practical steps that can translate the notion of equal rights into "equal power" over land for both sexes; otherwise "equality" in this context will remain an unattractive slogan." -African Books Collective

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Gender, Gender Roles, Gender Balance, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, International Law, Justice, Land Grabbing, NGOs, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2012

Las mujeres y el acceso a la tierra comunal en América Latina

Citation:

Lastarria-Cornhiel, Susana. 2011. "Las mujeres y el acceso a la tierra comunal en América Latina." Revista Estudios Agrarios 18 (52): 19-38.

Author: Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel

Abstract:

El artículo se refiere a los derechos a la tierra por parte de las mujeres en los territorios comunales. Luego de hacer una reflexión regional sobre la estructura de la tenencia de tierra en América Latina, la autora realiza un análisis comparativo entre Bolivia y Guatemala. En ambos casos, analiza cómo han cambiado prácticas y normas legales y tradicionales, cómo dialogan entre sí, pero también cómo han impactado en los derechos de las mujeres en tierras comunales.

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Men, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Bolivia, Guatemala

Year: 2011

Mujeres rurales, tierra y producción: Propiedad, acceso y control de la tierra para las mujeres.

Citation:

Fuentes López, Adriana Patricia, Javier Lautaro Medina Bernal and Sergio Andrés Coronado Delgado. 1993. Mujeres rurales, tierra y producción: Propiedad, acceso y control de la tierra para las mujeres. San José, Costa Rica: Asociación para el Desarrollo de las Mujeres Negras Costarricenses.

Authors: Adriana Patricia Fuentes López, Javier Lautaro Medina Bernal , Sergio Andrés Coronado Delgado

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Girls, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua

Year: 1993

Revertir la Reforma Agraria con Exclusión de Género: Lecciones a partir de América Latina

Citation:

Deere, Carmen Diana and Magdalena León. 2004. "Revertir la Reforma Agraria con Exclusión de Género: Lecciones a partir de América Latina." El Otro Derecho, no. 31-32, 181-220.

Authors: Carmen Diana Deere, Magdalena León

Abstract:

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
Este artículo analiza la trayectoria de catorce reformas agrarias latinoamericanas desde una perspectiva de género, en particular cómo se adquirió y redistribuyó la tierra, y examina la situación de las mujeres en cuanto a beneficiarias directas, poniendo énfasis en los mecanismos legales, estructurales, culturales e institucionales de su exclusión. Señala cómo todos estos factores están interrelacionados y tienen como base las ideologías
patriarcales incrustadas en los conceptos de masculinidad y feminidad, y la división del trabajo por género en las esferas pública y privada. Examina el periodo neoliberal cuya característica más sobresaliente ha sido la privatización e individualización de los derechos a la tierra, y esboza los dos caminos principales que siguieron los países latinoamericanos en los años noventa con respecto al cambio institucional del sector agrícola. En los países que adoptaron políticas de contrarreforma, la parcelación y privatización del sector reformado perjudicó en buena medida los derechos de las mujeres a la tierra; no obstante, la llegada del neoliberalismo coincidió con la consolidación del movimiento de mujeres en toda la región y con el compromiso de los estados con la igualdad de género. Aunque la legislación agraria neoliberal en varios países consignó mecanismos específicos de inclusión de las mujeres como beneficiarias potenciales de las nuevas políticas de tierras, el desafío está en cómo crear la voluntad política para la redistribución de la tierra en las nuevas circunstancias, qué tipo de reforma agraria se debe buscar y qué se puede aprender de las fallas en los proyectos pasados. En este escenario, la única certeza es que el movimiento de mujeres debe ser parte de cualquier solución de la cuestión agraria, su participación activa puede ser el peso que incline la balanza a favor de la redistribución de la tierra y la justicia social en el nuevo milenio.
 
ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This article analyzes the trajectory of 14 Latin American agrarian reforms from a gender perspective, in particular how the land was adquired and redistributed, and examines the situation of women in terms of direct beneficiaries, while emphasizing the legal, structural, cultural and institutional mechanisms of their exclusion. It notes how all of these factors are interrelated and are based in patriarchal ideologies that are encrusted in the concepts of the masculine and the feminine, and the division of labor by gender in the public and private spheres. It examines the neoliberal period and its most outstanding characteristic of privatization and individualization of land rights, and sketches the two main roads that Latin American countries followed in the 1990s with regard to the institutional change of the agrarian sector. In the countries that adopted counterreform policies, the parceling and privatizing of the reformed sector to a great measure hurt the rights of women to land. However, the arrival of neoliberalism coincided with the consolidation of the women’s movement in the whole region and with the commitment of the states to equal rights. While neoliberal agrarian legislation in several countries consigned specific mechanisms to include women as potential beneficiaries of the new land policies, the challenge is how to create the political will for the redistribution of land under these new circumstances, what kind of agrarian reform should be sought and what may be learned from the failures of past projects. In this setting, the only certainty is that the women’s movement must be a part of any solution to the agrarian question. The active participation of women may be the weight that inclines the balance to favor the redistribution of land and social justice in the new millennium.

Topics: Civil Society, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Gender Roles, Men, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America

Year: 2004

Zimbabwe's 'Fast Track' Land Reform: What about Women?

Citation:

Goebel, Allison. 2005. “Zimbabwe’s ‘Fast Track’ Land Reform: What about Women?” Gender, Place & Culture 12 (2): 145–72. doi: 10.1080/09663690500094799.

Author: Allison Goebel

Abstract:

The wave of occupations of commercial farms in Zimbabwe starting in the year 2000 captured worldwide attention. By the end of that year, the government of Zimbabwe initiated the ‘fast track’ land reform process meant to formalize the occupations, and encourage further land appropriation and redistribution. Where are women in this process? The Women and Land Lobby Group (WLLG) was formed in 1998 by Zimbabwean women activists committed to the land issue. Since 1998 they have lobbied government to include women’s interests in the design of land reform, and have made some inroads in improving women’s formal rights to land as stated in policy documents. However, the current ‘fast track’ practices continue to privilege men as primary recipients of resettlement land, and the emerging role of traditional authorities in the land reform process marginalizes women. Other legal provisions that may help women struggle for changes remain weak. The contradiction between customary law, practices and attitudes and modern individual rights represents a complex battleground for women and land in Southern Africa, and calls for new feminist conceptualizations of the state as a vehicle for gender justice.

Topics: Civil Society, Class, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, International Organizations, Justice, Land Grabbing, NGOs, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2005

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