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The Women in International Development program seeks to ensure a gender-sensitive approach to all Office of International Research, Education, and Development projects, and to raise awareness about gender and development issues at Virginia Tech. It does this by:
New Publication by Dr. Maria Elisa Christie: Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico
Look here for ordering information and excerpts from the book:
Key Publications Rural women and technology in South Africa: Case studies from KwaZulu-Natal Province Men’s Crops? Women’s Crops? The Gender Patterns of Cropping in Ghana. Designing Agricultural Technology for African Women Farmers: Lessons from 25 years of Experience Construction of Third World Women’s Knowledge in the Development Discourse The Major importance of 'minor' resources: Women and Plant Biodiversity Unequal Knowledge in Jharkland, India: De-Romanticizing Womne’s Agroecological Expertise. Gendered production spaces and crop varietal selection: Case study in Yucatán, Mexico Women and seed management: A study of two villages in Bangladesh The making and unmaking of gendered crops in northern Ghana
Key Publications in Spanish
Metodologia cualitative y estudios de geografia y genero El trabajo de campo y los métodos cualitativos. Necesidad de nuevas reflexiones desde las geografías latinoamericanas
Articles: Source: GeoJournal 61: (2004)
291–300 Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004 Summary: This article highlights the importance of women’s roles in connection to their responsibility and use of technology in poor rural communities. The paper reflects on the notion of technology in both traditional (locally –based) and modern concepts. This study is the result of field research that used participatory techniques of both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze data from a community in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The article shows that the use of technologies is also gendered, and that it is important to understand locally-based gendered nature of knowledge. Poor rural women use, adapt, and innovate technologies in their everyday lives. Due to women’s roles this knowledge is often invisible and unrecognized. Women have several constraints limiting their access to technology.
Key words: Gender, Methodology, locally-based/indigenous knowledge, poor rural women, technology, South Africa
Available abstract and information on how to access
this article
http://vt.library.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/gejo/2004/00000061/00000003/00003691?format=print Source: World Development 30:11, (2002)
1987–2000 Copyright Elsevier Science Ltd. (all rights reserved) Summary: This paper identifies cultural distinctions between
men’s crops and women’s crops as found in the literature on agriculture
in West Africa. The study was based on a nationally survey from Ghana
used to examine if indeed there are women’s and men’s crops. The article
defines farmers in three ways: the household head, plot holder, and the
person who keeps the revenue from the plot. The study concludes that
there are no major crops defined as men’s crops and no crops are grown
exclusively by women either. Women are involved in sales of all major
products in Ghana. Key Words: Gender, crops, West Africa,
gender patterns, survey, methodology. Available abstract and information on how to access this article Source: World
Development 29:12 (2001) 2075-2092 Year: 2001 Copyright Elsevier Science Ltd. (all rights reserved) Summary:
This article reflects on the likelihood of
African farmers adapting technology, and the impacts that new technology
might have on African women’s well-being. The results presented derive
from an extensive and critical literature review. The author concludes
that African rural households are neither homogeneous nor simple.
Households have people cooperating and competing while following their
multiple goals. Gender roles are complex therefore difficult to
summarize. Failing to recognize the complexity of gender roles and the
dynamic impact of changes has led many programs and projects to be
unsuccessful. Gender roles and responsibilities may change as people
respond to the ever-changing economic circumstances. Agricultural
technology has different impacts on those who adopt them depending on
access to resources such as labor, land, and inputs. Depending on the
activities, adopting new technologies can have an impact on women’s
well-being. The reasons for technology adoption vary according to
preferences and constraints. Addressing rural women’s constraints can
mean creating technologies for small scale farmers and low productivity
lands. The authors also call for researchers’ awareness for the need to
include men and women in the development of a technology at all levels.
Keywords: gender, technology adoption, women, Africa,
literature review Available abstract and information on how to access
this article http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ Source: International Social Science Journal 54:173
(313-323) 2002 Copyright UNESCO – Published by Blackwell
Publishers Summary: This paper reflects on the question of “fields of
power” to explore the cultural relations of knowledge production. The
gender dynamics, age, class, caste, education, marital status and other
factors also influence the way knowledge is production, shared, or
silenced. The asymmetrical gender relations give men the power to
ignore women’s knowledge, and women the overestimation of men’s
knowledge. Knowledge also changes due to political, social and
environmental causes as new knowledge is created. It is for these
reasons that the author refutes the concept that women’s knowledge is
“special” to women because they are women. The paper defends that
women’s knowledge is not exclusive of women, but it is contextual based
on women’s roles and labor practices. Women’s knowledge is practical
knowledge and they are active creators of new knowledge. The focus
should be turned to the knowledge within the power relations that shape
production, transmission processes. The examples for the study were
drawn from the Kumaon Himalayas. Keywords: gender, knowledge production,
unequal power relations, gender dynamics, women’s knowledge, Himalayas
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2451.00384
Source: Gatekeeper series no.112 of the Natural Resources
Group at IIED – International Institute for Environment and
Development
http://www.iied.org/docs/gatekeep/GK112.pdf Year: 2003 Summary: Due to women’s assigned tasks and
roles, women have developed specific knowledge of plants.
Women are plant breeders, seed custodian, and
gather plants for medicinal, culinary, fuel, crafts, construction, and
fodder purposes. The
plant use, management
and conservation occur within the household which makes this knowledge
invisible and undervalued by the outsider. This fact creates a gender
biases in research, and scientific knowledge, which in turn affects the
impact of projects and policies. Traditional knowledge and indigenous
rights to plants are not gender neutral. In order to achieve sustainable
conservation on biological diversity on needs to pay a greater attention
to gender. It is important to recognize the role women play in
transmitting traditional knowledge and practices. Also, it is important
to recognise indigenous rights and women’s rights to plants and land
resources. Source: Development and Change 31
(2000) 961-985 Copyright Institute of Social Studies Published by
Blackwell Publishers Summary: This article uses empirical data collected during
fieldwork research in India to reflect on the ecofeminist debates
regarding women’s environmental knowledge. The author recognizes the
important role that ecofeminism played in changing the traditional
developmental perspectives on women (“add women and stir”), nevertheless
it cautions us to the dangers of a simplistic overestimation of women’s
knowledge. Women Environment and Development WED have adopted the
ecofeminist perspective that women have an innate link with nature.
Critics to this perspective say the view neglects caste, class, age, and
gender unequal powers in negotiating resource use and management. Gender
division of labor is well defined in Jharkhandi region, and there are
also cultural gender taboos preventing women form participating in
certain agricultural tasks. Other factors preventing women from
acquiring agro-ecological knowledge include socio-economic and age
status giving certain women the ability to hire or order others to do
their work. Patrilocal residence also enables men to know the region
better than their wives. For all these reasons, gender is only one
factor between many influencing the acquisition of knowledge. Keywords: Gender, women’s agroecoloical
knowledge, ecofeminism, WED, acquisition of knowledge, India Available abstract and information on how to access
this article
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-7660.00185 Source: Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography
28(2007) 21–38 Year: 2007 Copyright by The Author Summary: This paper looks at the gender influences, gender
dynamics, and gendered spaces in the varietal selection of maize and
squash in Yucatán, Mexico. The exploratory study shows that spaces
related to the traditional agricultural crops, and the production of
homegardens are both gendered spaces but with different cropping
patterns. Agricultural fields milpas are men’s responsibility,
women are only allowed to work there when extra work is required such as
harvest time, but never alone, the presence of a man is required.
Homegardens are not considered “productive” agricultural productions,
largely women’s spaces, closer to the household, and normally small.
The ‘new’ space, called terreno which is a piece of land for
construction of a residence, is a space where both men and women share
the agricultural work. Although women activities, therefore their
knowledge, tend to be centered around the post-harvest activities. The
conducted fieldwork shows that in the terreno the decision-making
process is shared between male and female. Results also indicate that
the farming interests of both men and women are being considered. Keywords: agricultural fields, gender
relations, homegardens, varietal selection, methodology, Mexico Available abstract and information on how to access
this article
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9493.2006.00274.x Source: Singapore Journal of Tropical
Geography 28:1 (90-106) Year: 2007 Copyright by The Authors Summary: This paper is the result of a study on women’s
roles in seed management both in the fields and homegardens in two
villages in Tangail District in Bangladesh. Agrobiodiversity research
has been increasing its focus on seed management. The authors used a
combination of qualitative methods to study 75 women to understand
agrobiodiversity at three levels: the gendered divisions of labor in
agriculture; seed saving; and seed management practices and techniques. The results show that men have authority over field
activities, while homegarden production is a women’s domain. Seed
management is considered part of women’s domestic duties; it is an
extension of a woman’s responsibility as women are also responsible for
all seed processing, storage and exchange for field as well as
homegarden crops. The fact that most seeds are saved by women, shows the
importance of women, and reinforces the cultural, economic and
environmental implications for agrobiodiversity conservation and local
differences. Keywords: seed management, agrobiodiversity,
homegardens, gendered divisions of labor, seed saving, methodology,
Bangladesh Available abstract and information on how to access
this article
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-9493.2006.00278.x Source: Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography
28:1 (57-70) Year: 2007 Summary: This article is the result of comparative case
studies of Dagomba and Kusasi people in Ghana. The study looks at
gendered responsibilities and access to the cultivation of crops and how
these factors are related to what is considered to be a proper meal, and
the gendered categories of food. In West Africa there are foods
considered to be male foods and female foods. These categories are
linked and express cultural obligations, but also influence the
assigning of crops by a specific gender. The gender categories of foods
suffers some changes with the introduction of new varieties of crops
such as soy and the introductions of new technologies. These new foods
have undergo a process of negation before the new meaning is attached.
Therefore the making and unmaking of gendered crops. Keywords: gender, agricultural innovations,
northern Ghana, social construction, intraface Available abstract and information on how to access
this article
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9493.2006.00276.x
Articles in Spanish Metodologia cualitative y estudios de geografia y genero Source: Doc. Anal. Geografia. 30, 123-138 Year: 1997 Resumen: El enfoque cualitativo, hoy ampliamente extendido en la geografia humana, se ha asociado a la investigacion realizada desde la geografia y el género, o a la interpretacion desde la teoria feminista de las relaciones de género existentes en la sociedad. Sin embargo, aunque los métodos cualitativos son muy útiles para el andisis de muchos temas en geografia y género, se han utilizado sistemáticamente en otras disciplina sociales desde hace décadas;y, por otro lado, los estudios de geografia y género han aplicado de forma complementaria o exclusiva estrategias cuantitativas para aproximarse a la realidad. Este artículo pretende hacer un recorrido por los métodos de investigacion asociados a los distintos temas de andisis en geografia y género, destacar la validez de la metodologia cualitativa y seiíalar la utilidad de la combinaci6n de ambas estratégias metodologicas. Palabras clave: metodologia cualitativa, geografia y género. http://ddd.uab.es/pub/dag/02121573n30p123.pdf
Pedone, C.El trabajo de campo y los métodos cualitativos. Necesidad de nuevas reflexiones desde las geografías latinoamericanas Source: Scripta Nova. Revista
Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales. Resumen El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo introducir los ejes y conceptos que orientan las discusiones más recientes en las cuestiones metodológicas del trabajo de campo y de los métodos cualitativos en la investigación, llevados adelante en geografía humana, principalmente en la escuela anglosajona. La mayor parte de los autores consultados pertenecen a esta escuela e inscriben sus trabajos en las corrientes de las geografías radical, cultural o del género. A pesar de los compromisos políticos que orientan estas posturas y sus pretensiones de superar las contradicciones surgidas de las perspectivas cientificistas derivadas del neopositivismo -con sus limitaciones para la comprensión de los procesos sociales, culturales y políticos actuales-, algunos de los planteamientos conservan elementos del realismo-empírico y presentan dificultades para comprender los procesos que se desarrollan en diversos lugares de la periferia. En esta contribución analizamos, en primer término, el estado del debate en torno al uso de los métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos, y, posteriormente reformulamos algunos de los problemas planteados por la escuela anglosajona mediante la recuperación de nuestra experiencia en el campo. |