Under which conditions can gendered knowledge influence the formulation and implementation of gender equitable policies, programs and projects, especially in the context of climate change?
In a GLF Discussion Forum on Sunday, 17 November hosted by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), keynote speaker Seema Arora-Jonsson from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences will address this question . Arora-Jonsson senses a resurgent anxiety about gender in environmental policy and practice today. The landscape approach with its focus on the geographical context and its overlapping relationships makes the importance of gender all the more apparent.
But, as gender research has become more sophisticated and theoretically strong, Seema Arora-Jonsson also notes a frustration among both researchers and practitioners and policy makers that much gender research appears to have had a marginal effect on environmental practice on the ground. Scholars feel that their work is rarely taken up in policy and practice while practitioners complain that gender theories are far removed from the practical work of dealing with gender relations in environmental and development interventions. Gender research in many cases has provided us with precise concepts to understand society but the link between the research and every day work appears to be more elusive.
Read the full story on the IUFRO blog.
Photo: Raj Kumar
