Gender Analysis

Citation:

Brottem, Leif V., and Lassine Ba. 2019. “Gendered Livelihoods and Land Tenure: The Case of Artisanal Gold Miners in Mali, West Africa.” Geoforum 105 (October): 54–62.

Authors: Leif V. Brottem, Ba Lassine

Abstract:

Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) is an important source of income for millions of sub-Saharan Africans. Scholars from various disciplines have demonstrated that urban and rural Africans take up mining as a response to unemployment, lack of credit and poor income prospects in the agricultural sector, and as a way for young people to achieve a degree of personal autonomy. Although several studies have investigated the role of women in artisanal mining, little attention has been given to the gendered land tenure rights that govern mineral resource access and that shape the prospects for mining as a viable livelihood strategy. This article presents evidence that women exploit artisanal mining opportunities in ways that differ from those of men based on gender differences in land tenure relations. Customary and freehold tenure regimes—through their flexibility and place-based functionality—create unique income-generating and investment opportunities for women at artisanal gold mining sites in western Mali. Specifically, the unique labor demands and commercial aspects of artisanal gold extraction interact with the host-stranger dynamics of customary tenure regimes to create labor market opportunities that women are able to exploit. Mining income invested in freehold land property enables women to achieve or at least strive for a degree of financial autonomy that is difficult or impossible within the unequal gender relations that characterize other rural economic activities, especially agriculture. Customary and formal land tenure institutions play a complex role that both constrains and enables these livelihood strategies, which are based on geographic mobility and power-laden social relations within rural economies that are increasingly monetized.

Keywords: artisanal mining, land tenure, gender, political ecology, livelihoods, West Africa

Topics: Economies, Informal Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Analysis, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Households, Land Tenure, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Mali

Year: 2019

Citation:

Porter, Gina. 2008. “Transport Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa II: Putting Gender into Mobility and Transport Planning in Africa.” Progress in Development Studies 8 (3): 281–89. 

Author: Gina Porter

Annotation:

Topics: Gender, Gender Analysis, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Health, Infrastructure, Transportation Regions: Africa

Year: 2008

Citation:

Penttinen, Elina, and Anitta Kynsilehto. 2017. Gender and Mobility: A Critical Introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Authors: Elina Penttinen, Anitta Kynsilehto

Annotation:

Topics: Class, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Economies, Care Economies, Gender, Gender Analysis, Intersectionality, Race, Sexuality

Year: 2017

Citation:

Marshall, Catherine. 1999. “Researching the Margins: Feminist Critical Policy Analysis.” Educational Policy 13 (1): 59–76.  

Author: Catherine Marshall

Abstract:

The powerful define the mainstream policy problems and determine the appropriate concerns for research in education. Those in power have operated for years from a male-normed paradigm. As a result, the needs and contributions of women have been marginalized. This article uses frameworks from the politics of knowledge and discourse to analyze ways in which gender research has been controlled and depoliticized. It identifies ignored feminist research and then poses challenges to researchers. 

Topics: Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Gender Analysis, Women, Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 1999

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:

Pearse, Rebecca. 2017. “Gender and Climate Change: Gender and Climate Change.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 8 (2). doi:10.1002/wcc.451.

Author: Rebecca Pearse

Abstract:

This study reviews the literature on gender relations and climate change. Gender analysis contributes to our understanding of: (1) vulnerability and climate change impacts; (2) adaptations in different contexts; (3) responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions; (4) inequalities in climate governance; and (5) knowledges and social action on climate change. Overall, the literature has established that gender relations are an integral feature of social transformations associated with climate change. This poses a challenge to gender-blind social research into climate change. Without gender analysis, we omit key aspects of social life in a changing climate. It is vital that the gendered character of climate change is recognized and further explored in the social sciences and humanities.

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations

Year: 2017

Citation:

MacGregor, Sherilyn. 2009. “A Stranger Silence Still: The Need for Feminist Social Research on Climate Change.” The Sociological Review 57 (2): 124–40.

Author: Sherilyn MacGregor

Annotation:

Summary:
“If the scientific consensus is correct, then humanity faces an impending climate crisis of catastrophic proportions. It is no longer a question of whether it is really happening, but what will be the impacts of climate change on societies around the world and how governments and individuals will adapt to the troubles they will bring. In the light of frightening predictions, it might reasonably be asked, what is the point of suggesting that greater attention should be paid to gender? Feminist scholarship on environmental problems must always be ready for such questions, to defend the relevance of gender analysis in the face of dominant tendencies to see humanity as homogeneous, science as apolitical, and social justice as a luxury that cannot be chosen over survival. In this essay, I make the case for feminist social research on climate change with the following argument: shedding light on the gender dimensions of climate change will enable a more accurate diagnosis and a more promising ‘cure’ than is possible with a gender neutral approach. My argument is that any attempt to tackle climate change that excludes a gender analysis will be insufficient, unjust and therefore unsustainable” (MacGregor 2009, 124).

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis

Year: 2009

Citation:

Daniel, Tara, and Mara Dolan. 2020. “Intersectionality and Collective Action: Visioning a Feminist Green New Deal in the US.” Gender & Development 28 (3): 515–33.

Authors: Tara Daniel, Mara Dolan

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
In the wake of the introduction of the Resolution for a Green New Deal to the US House of Representatives in 2019, feminist climate justice activists and organisers initiated and cultivated the Feminist Coalition for a Green New Deal. The Coalition advances an intersectional feminist analysis as part of the national conversation about the Green Deal, which entails elucidating and enacting processes for coalition-formation and creating shared values, principles, and policy positions. This article shares insights from interviews with five Coalition members about the relevance of the Coalition’s creation, operating processes, and key outcomes –namely the principles for a Feminist Green New Deal – for communities, advocates, and policymakers, particularly in this moment of reckoning with a global pandemic. Their reflections illustrate their fervent dedication to the feminist tool of intersectional analysis, their proposals for an alternative economy centred on principles of care and regeneration as the essential scaffolding for a Feminist Green New Deal, and their commitment to the power of collective action as the most effective means of movement building. The responses also demonstrate the interconnectedness of feminist climate advocacy with feminist development critiques, the essentiality of a comprehensive reframing of governments’ general policy processes and aims, and the criticality of movement building that is intentional and responsive.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Au lendemain de l’introduction de la Résolution pour une Nouvelle donne verte auprès de la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis en 2019, les activistes et organisateurs féministes de la justice climatique aux États-Unis ont initié et cultivé la Coalition féministe pour une Nouvelle donne verte (Feminist Coalititon for a Green New Deal). Cette coalition met en avant une analyse féministe intersectionnelle comme élément de cette conversation nationale, qui suppose l’éclaircissement et la promulgation de processus de formation de coalitions et la création de valeurs, principes et positions de politiques communs. Cet article propose des aperçus tirés d’entretiens avec cinq membres de la coalition sur la pertinence de la création, des processus d’opération et des résultats clés de la coalition - c’est-à-dire les principes d’une Nouvelle donne verte féministe - pour les communautés, les défenseurs et les décideurs, a fortiori alors même que nous sommes confrontés à une pandémie mondiale. Leurs réflexions illustrent leur fervent dévouement envers l’outil féministe de l’analyse intersectionnelle, leurs propositions concernant une économie alternative axée sur les principes des soins et de la régénération comme échafaudage essentiel pour une Nouvelle donne verte féministe, et leur engagement en faveur du pouvoir de l’action collective comme moyen le plus efficace de bâtir un mouvement. Les réponses démontrent également l’interconnectivité des activités de plaidoyer féministes en matière de climat et des critiques féministes du développement, le caractère essentiel d’une reformulation
complète des processus et objectifs de politique générale des gouvernements, et l’importance critique d’une construction de mouvements intentionnelle et réactive.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
Una vez que la Resolución para un Nuevo Trato Verde fue introducida en la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos en 2019, activistas y organizadoras feministas en torno a la justicia climática de este país dieron inicio y cultivaron la Coalición Feminista para un Nuevo Trato Verde. Como parte de esta conversación nacional, dicha Coalición realizó un análisis feminista intersectorial, cuyo propósito apuntaba a elucidar y promulgar procesos para la formación de coaliciones, así como a crear valores, principios y propiciar posiciones políticas compartidos. En el presente artículo se examinan ideas surgidas de entrevistas realizadas con cinco miembros de la coalición respecto a la relevancia que asignan a su creación, sus procesos operativos y sus resultados clave —es decir, los principios para un Nuevo Acuerdo Verde Feminista— orientados a comunidades, defensores y responsables encargados de la formulación de políticas, sobre todo en un momento en que, debido a la pandemia mundial, se experimenta una nueva realidad. Sus reflexiones dan cuenta del uso que hacen de la herramienta feminista llamada análisis interseccional y de su ferviente dedicación a impulsar sus propuestas en pos de una economía alternativa centrada en los principios de cuidado y regeneración. Estos elementos resultan esenciales para construir el andamiaje básico de un Nuevo Acuerdo Verde Feminista, a lo que se suma su compromiso de impulsar el poder de la acción colectiva como el medio más eficaz para fortalecer el movimiento. Asimismo, las respuestas suscitadas en las entrevistas revelan la interconexión existente entre la incidencia feminista en torno al clima y las críticas feministas del desarrollo, la necesidad de un replanteamiento integral de los procesos y los objetivos de política general de los gobiernos, y la importancia crítica implícita en el hecho de que la construcción de movimientos sea intencional y responda a las necesidades de este periodo crítico.

Keywords: gender equality, feminism, feminist analysis, intersectionality, movement building, collective action, climate change, Green New Deal

Topics: Economies, Care Economies, Feminist Economics, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis, Intersectionality, Political Participation Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2020

Citation:

Faxon, Hilary. 2020. “Securing Meaningful Life: Women’s Work and Land Rights in Rural Myanmar.” Journal of Rural Studies 76: 76–84. 

Author: Hilary Faxon

Annotation:

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gender Analysis, Women, Households, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Myanmar

Year: 2020

Citation:

Varley, Ann. 1996. “Women Heading Households: Some More Equal than Others?” World Development 24 (3): 505–20.

Author: Ann Varley

Abstract:

This paper explores the validity of the statement that one-third of the world's households are headed by women. It examines the implications of using economic criteria to define household headship and of recent interest in woman-maintained households and concealed woman-headed households. There is a danger of underplaying the diversity of woman-headed households and of marginalizing older women by identifying woman-headed households with single mothers of dependent children. Ultimately, too narrow a focus on particular household types undermines our ability to further a truly gendered analysis of the household in development research and practice.

Topics: Age, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender Roles, Women, Households

Year: 1996