International Women’s Day 2017: Be Bold For Change
The statistics on the matter are stark: women do the majority of the world’s work, but only 20% of landholders are women. Un- and underemployment both hit women harder, and the wage gap persists. Unpaid and caring labor remain “women’s work,” while formal sector employment is male-dominated.
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is “Be Bold For Change,” and at the Global Landscapes Forum we have been engaging and empowering women to be be bold and take leadership roles in creating the beautiful, equitable and sustainable landscapes of tomorrow: building a world where these kinds of statistics are history and not reality.
Our Top 5 Articles on Gender
Without further ado, here are our top articles on gender, highlighting and accelerating best practices in securing the rights of women to land and livelihoods.
1. Women in agriculture and food security programming: Promoting more meaningful change
Women make up approximately half of the world’s farmers, but there is massive inequity between male and female farmers—especially in the developing world.
These inequities are most pronounced in terms of women lacking equal access to and control over productive resources. To address this ‘gender gap’ in agriculture, there are numerous NGOs, multilateral agencies, and donors working to improve women’s engagement in and empowerment through agriculture and food security programming. Certain programming principles promoted by these actors have been well-documented elsewhere, such as the importance of considering women’s time and workload demands and the benefit of including both men and women in training and other project activities.
2. Moving past “zombie statistics” for gender-equitable tenure
Pop quiz: how much land in developing countries do women own?
A: Less than one per cent
B: Two to five per cent
C: Ten per cent
D: I don’t know
This was the opening question posed to the group gathered at the high session on gendered perspectives on land rights at this year’s Global Landscapes Forum. The moderator, James Astill of The Economist, read out the choices and counted the hands.
3. Building sustainable landscapes through gender-responsive restoration in Brazil
‘Building Sustainable Landscapes through Gender-Responsive Restoration in Brazil’ is a collaborative effort produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Global Gender Office and Global Forest and Climate Change Programme. The video showcases the importance of women’s equitable participation and representation in Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Brazil via a series of capacity-building sessions and interviews conducted in March 2016.
4. Climate smart means women
Increasingly, it is becoming difficult to discuss agriculture and development projects without discussing the inclusion of gender into research and implementation.
Gender dynamics weren’t mentioned in the title of the session, “Climate Smart Agriculture for healthy landscapes and livelihoods,” hosted by the Association of International Research and Development Centers for Agriculture (AIRCA) and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) at this year’s Global Landscapes Forum. But the issue came up organically on more than one occasion, showcasing just how the role of gender equality in agricultural development programs is increasingly critical to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
5. Talking gender before COP22
CIFOR scientists discuss the main issues related to gender and climate change in the lead-up to COP22 in Marrakesh. Are women considered in climate policy? How is gender understood in global climate commitments?
