Methodologies for researching feminization of agriculture: What do they tell us?
An increasing body of literature suggests that agriculture is ‘feminizing’ in many low- and middle-income countries. Definitions of the feminization of agriculture vary, as do interpretations of what drives the expansion of women’s roles in agriculture over time. Understanding whether, how, and why the feminization of agriculture is occurring requires effective research methodologies capable of producing nuanced data. This article builds on six research projects that set out to deepen narratives of feminization of agriculture by empirically exploring the dynamics and impacts of diverse processes of feminization of agriculture. The researchers working on these projects reflect on how their methodological innovations enabled them to obtain new, or more nuanced, insights into the processes of feminization of agriculture. A first insight is that the way ‘feminization of agriculture’ is defined and operationalized plays a decisive role in the evidence we produce on the process. Second, bias in data on feminization can arise unless researchers examine well-recognized gender norms that mediate whether women are acknowledged by wider society as legitimate farmers. Third, the feminization of agriculture should be understood as a non-linear continuum. Research methodologies need to be capable of capturing dynamics, complexity, as well as multiple and diverse context- and time-specific drivers. Researchers need to exercise critical awareness of such biases when they are constructing data to measure or proxy aspects of feminization to avoid significantly underestimating women’s roles in agriculture.
Main Authors: | Farnworth, Cathy Rozel, Lecoutere, Els, Galiè, Alessandra, Van Campenhout, Bjorn, Elias, Marlène, Ihalainen, Markus, Roeven, Lara, Bharati, Preeti, Valencia, Ana Maria Paez, Crossland, Mary, Vinceti, Barbara, Monterosso, Iliana |
---|---|
Format: | Journal Article biblioteca |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SAGE Publications
2023-07
|
Subjects: | agriculture, data, farmers, feminization, gender norms, research, women, |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131603 https://doi.org/10.1177/14649934231173821 |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Similar Items
-
Are wheat-based farming systems in South Asia feminizing?
by: Farnworth, Cathy Rozel, et al.
Published: (2023-09-28) -
Diversity, Difference and Caribbean Feminism: The Challenge of Anti-Racism
by: Reddock, Rhoda
Published: (2013-06-12) -
Caste-gender intersectionalities in wheat-growing communities in Madhya Pradesh, India
by: Farnworth, C.R., et al.
Published: (2022) -
Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
by: Shirley, Beverly
Published: (2013-07-03) -
The collective memory and challenges of feminism
by: Valcárcel, Amelia
Published: (2002-06)