Development

Citation:

du Plessis, Gretchen Erika. 2019. “Gendered Human (In)Security in South Africa: What Can Ubuntu Feminism Offer?” Acta Academica 51 (2): 41–63.

Author: Gretchen Erika du Plessis

Abstract:

Gendered human security as a focus for protracted violence against women in a society in transition calls for urgent attention, especially in South Africa. The author summarises some tenets of ubuntu feminism and juxtaposes them with state-centric and people-centric discourses of human security and their link to development, gendered well-being and interpersonal violence. Inadequate attention paid to human interdependency as seen through an ubuntu feminist lens is linked to poor responses in addressing interpersonal and gender violence. The argument is made that an individualised, human-rights based approach is inadequate as a frame to find sustainable solutions to intractable gendered human insecurity. Looking at human insecurity and violence against women in South Africa, this article offers three arguments in favour of ubuntu feminism for renewed efforts to analyse the issue and locate adequate responses.

Keywords: South Africa, African feminism, violence

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Rights, Human Rights, Security, Human Security, Violence Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2019

Citation:

Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin. 2020. “Gender in the United Nations’ Agenda on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 22 (5): 720–41.

Author: Ann-Kathrin Rothermel

Abstract:

The United Nations (UN) policy agenda on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) promotes a “holistic” approach to counterterrorism, which includes elements traditionally found in security and development programs. Advocates of the agenda increasingly emphasize the importance of gender mainstreaming for counterterrorism goals. In this article, I scrutinize the merging of the goals of gender equality, security, and development into a global agenda for counterterrorism. A critical feminist discourse-analytical reading of gender representations in P/CVE shows how problematic imageries of women as victims, economic entrepreneurs, and peacemakers from both the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Women, Peace and Security agenda are reproduced in core UN documents advocating for a “holistic” P/CVE approach. By highlighting the tensions that are produced by efforts to merge the different gender discourses across the UN’s security and development institutions, the article underlines the relevance of considering the particular position of P/CVE at the security–development nexus for further gender-sensitive analysis and policies of counterterrorism.

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gendered Discourses, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Security, Terrorism, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS

Year: 2020

Citation:

Schofield, Daniela, and Femke Gubbels. 2019. “Informing Notions of Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study of Everyday Gendered Realities of Climate Change Adaptation in an Informal Settlement in Dar es Salaam.” Environment & Urbanization 31 (1): 93-114.

Authors: Daniela Schofield, Femke Gubbels

Abstract:

This paper examines the gendered dynamics of climate change adaptation in a rapidly urbanizing area of the global South. As climate change adaptation gains increasing prominence in global environmental policies and development strategies, there is a tendency to conceptualize adaptation as a technical process, disconnected from the everyday reality of how adaptation is practised by people facing negative climate change impacts. We present evidence from a small-scale case study of a flood-prone informal settlement in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to provide a contextually grounded contribution to a growing body of literature on gender, climate change and cities. We argue that the way climate change impacts are perceived, experienced and adapted to on an everyday level is characterized by gendered differences (among others). We demonstrate that a greater understanding of these gendered nuances highlights the disconnect between everyday gendered realities and a high-level technical notion of adaptation deployed at strategic and policy levels.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, Dar es Salaam, flooding, gender, Tanzania, urban informal settlements

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Infrastructure, Urban Planning Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2019

Citation:

Gengenbach, Heidi. 2019. “From Cradle to Chain? Gendered Struggles for Cassava Commercialisation in Mozambique.” Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement. doi:10.1080/02255189.2019.1570088.

Author: Heidi Gengenbach

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This article draws on survey data, interviews and archival research to analyse women’s mixed responses to a cassava commercialisation scheme in Zavala district, Mozambique. As an example of the “Green Revolution for Africa” (GR4A) approach to development, which holds that women farmers’ participation in “value chains” will reduce rural poverty and hunger, this initiative seeks to transform cassava from a food staple into raw material for cassava-based commercial beer. The study evaluates the contradictory claims and outcomes of the GR4A model, as the bumpy roll-out of the value chain in Zavala reveals the risks of overlooking the historical context and gendered knowledge in neoliberal development interventions.


FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Cet article s’appuie sur des données d’enquête, des entretiens et des recherches dans les archives pour analyser les réponses mitigées des femmes à un programme de commercialisation du manioc dans le district de Zavala, au Mozambique. Comme exemple de l’approche de développement « Révolution verte pour l’Afrique » (GR4A), selon laquelle la participation des agricultrices à des « chaînes de valeur » doit réduire la pauvreté et la faim en milieu rural, cette initiative vise à convertir le manioc d’un aliment de base à une matière première pour la production commerciale de la bière. L’étude évalue les prétentions et les résultats contradictoires du modèle GR4A, et illustre par la description de la mise en place chaotique de la chaîne de valeur à Zavala les risques de négliger le contexte historique et les connaissances différenciées selon le sexe dans le cadre d’interventions de développement néolibérales.

Keywords: Mozambique, cassava, smallholder agriculture, commercialisation, gender

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Environment, Gender, Women Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique

Year: 2019

Citation:

Gupta, Joyeeta, Joeri Scholtens, Leisa Perch, Irene Dankelman, Joni Seager, Fülöp Sánder, Michael Stanley-Jones, and Isabell Kempf. 2020. “Re-Imagining the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response Framework from an Equity and Inclusive Development Perspective.” Sustainability Science 15 (2): 503–20.

Authors: Joyeeta Gupta, Joeri Scholtens, Leisa Perch, Irene Dankelman, Joni Seager, Fülöp Sánder, Michael Stanley-Jones, Isabell Kempf

Abstract:

The Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework has been used by environmental agencies and others to assess environmental challenges and policy responses. However, in doing so, social justice or equity issues tend to come as an afterthought, while there is evidence that environmental challenges and policy responses are not equity (including gender-) neutral. Hence, this paper addresses the question: why should, and how can, equity issues and environmental justice be incorporated into the DPSIR framework? It presents a structure for including equity within DPSIR and applies it. It reviews the literature to bring together data that demonstrates that there is a clear equity perspective along the entire DPSIR analysis. It concludes that although individual environmental policies may succeed to achieve their specific goal in the short term; if they ignore the equity aspects, the policy strategies as a whole are likely to be environmentally unjust, and lead to exclusive and unsustainable development, which, in turn, could further exacerbate environmental challenges. This highlights the need for an integrated approach in efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable development.

Keywords: DPSIR, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BESS), equity, gender, environmental justice, inclusive development, environmental challenges, inequality

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Justice

Year: 2020

Citation:

Dankelman, Irene, and Kavita Naidu. 2020. “Introduction: Gender, Development, and the Climate Crisis.” Gender & Development 28 (3): 447–57.

Authors: Irene Dankelman, Kavita Naidu

Annotation:

Summary:
"In this Introduction, and the articles in this issue, we will illustrate the context in which the climate agenda is developing, including the increasing levels of change in our climate, deepening social inequalities, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will also recall the thinking about gender and climate change issues over the past decades, and the role that G&D has played in that respect. This issue describes some of the gendered effects of climatic changes and related policies, and also looks into systemic issues (such as debts, finances, and the economy)" (Dankelman and Naidu 2020, 447).

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Health

Year: 2020

Citation:

Andrijevic, Marina, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, Tabea Lissner, Adelle Thomas, and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner. 2020. “Overcoming Gender Inequality for Climate Resilient Development.” Nature Communications 11 (1).

Authors: Marina Andrijevic, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, Tabea Lissner, Adelle Thomas, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner

Abstract:

Gender inequalities are reflected in differential vulnerability, and exposure to the hazards posed by climate change and addressing them is key to increase the adaptive capacities of societies. We provide trajectories of the Gender Inequality Index (GII) alongside the Shared-Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), a scenario framework widely used in climate science. Here we find that rapid improvements in gender inequality are possible under a sustainable development scenario already in the near-term. The share of girls growing up in countries with the highest gender inequality could be reduced to about 24% in 2030 compared to about 70% today. Largely overcoming gender inequality as assessed in the GII would be within reach by mid-century. Under less optimistic scenarios, gender inequality may persist throughout the 21st century. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating gender in scenarios assessing future climate impacts and underscore the relevance of addressing gender inequalities in policies aiming to foster climate resilient development.

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Girls, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality

Year: 2020

Citation:

Resurrección, Bernadette P., and Rebecca Elmhirst. 2012. Gender and Natural Resource Management: Livelihoods, Mobility and Interventions. Abingdon: Routledge.

Authors: Bernadette P. Resurrección, Rebecca Elmhirst

Annotation:

Summary:
This book is about the gender dimensions of natural resource exploitation and management, with a focus on Asia. It explores the uneasy negotiations between theory, policy and practice that are often evident within the realm of gender, environment and natural resource management, especially where gender is understood as a political, negotiated and contested element of social relationships. It offers a critical feminist perspective on gender relations and natural resource management in the context of contemporary policy concerns: decentralized governance, the elimination of poverty and the mainstreaming of gender. Through a combination of strong conceptual argument and empirical material from a variety of political economic and ecological contexts (including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam), the book examines gender-environment linkages within shifting configurations of resource access and control. The book will serve as a core resource for students of gender studies and natural resource management, and as supplementary reading for a wide range of disciplines including geography, environmental studies, sociology and development. It also provides a stimulating collection of ideas for professionals looking to incorporate gender issues within their practice in sustainable development. Published with IDRC. (Summary from Routledge)

Topics: Development, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Feminisms, Gender Regions: Asia Countries: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam

Year: 2012

Citation:

Stock, Ryan. 2021. “Bright as Night: Illuminating the Antinomies of ‘Gender Positive’ Solar Development.” World Development 138. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105196.

Author: Ryan Stock

Abstract:

India is undergoing a rapid transition to renewable energy; the Gujarat Solar Park typifies this transition. In addition to mitigating climate change, the Gujarat Solar Park boasts female empowerment through social development schemes. This manuscript is inspired by the following research question: To what extent are ‘gender positive’ processes and projects associated with solar development in India realized on the ground? Utilizing mixed methods fieldwork and drawing on literature from feminist political ecology, this paper demonstrates how the modalities of solar park development represent an antinomy of a nature-society relation. New configurations of labor under the political economy of solar have produced a gendered surplus population of landless peasants who are not absorbed into wage-labor employment in the solar park. Further, associated social development schemes actually disempower women, despite mandates of ‘gender positive’ outcomes by UN-based climate treaties to which this project is beholden. The opportunity to participate in one such scheme for female empowerment was reserved for only women of middle-to-high class status and those of dominant castes, thereby reproducing class and caste-based social power asymmetries. Female (dis)empowerment eclipses ‘gender positive’ guarantees of the solar park. This study highlights some unintended consequences of sustainable energy transitions in the Global South at the local scale. Designing development interventions related to climate change mitigation that boast ‘gender positive’ outcomes must be careful not to exacerbate gender disparities and economic exclusion in rural areas.

Keywords: energy transition, solar park, antinomy, feminist political ecology, gender, intersectionality

Topics: Caste, Class, Development, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2021

Citation:

Fernández-Baldor, Álvaro, Pau Lillo, and Alejandra Boni. 2015. “Gender, Energy, and Inequalities: A Capabilities Approach Analysis of Renewable Electrification Projects in Peru.” In Sustainable Access to Energy in the Global South: Essential Technologies and Implementation Approaches, edited by Silvia Hostettler, Ashok Gadgil, and Eileen Hazboun, 193-204. Cham: Springer.

Authors: Álvaro Fernández-Baldor, Pau Lillo, Alejandra Boni

Abstract:

Technology, despite being very important, is not the only factor that ensures the success of an intervention. There are many different elements to take into account when planning projects, especially in complex environments such as the least-developed areas of the world. However, development aid interventions have generally been focused on supplying a technological goods or services instead of focusing on people, thus missing out on the project’s potential for social transformation. This paper analyzes four renewable energy-based electrification projects implemented by the nongovernmental organization Practical Action in the rural area of Cajamarca, Peru. Using the Capabilities Approach, the research examines the effect of the projects on the things people value. It confirms that projects provide different benefits to the communities (reducing air pollution caused by candles and kerosene, improving access to communication through television and radio, providing the possibility of night study under appropriate light, etc.), but also detects an expansion of the capabilities in other areas not considered by the nongovernmental organization such as those related to religion, leisure, or community participation. However, the expansion of capabilities is different for men and women. The study reveals the limitations of interventions designed to supply technology, electrification in this particular case, which do not take into account certain elements that can cause the use of technology to contribute unequally to the expansion of people’s capabilities. The research concludes that technological projects can generate inequalities and some recommendations are presented in order to address these issues when planning interventions.

Keywords: real option, gender inequality, Capability Approach, supervisory board, practical action

Topics: Development, Gender, Infrastructure, Energy, NGOs Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Peru

Year: 2015