Elsevier

Women's Studies International Forum

Volume 69, July–August 2018, Pages 180-189
Women's Studies International Forum

Review
Literature on gendered agriculture in Pakistan: Neglect of women's contributions

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2018.02.007Get rights and content
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open access

Abstract

Women's role in agriculture is widely reported to be essential; despite this, women's role in the wheat-sector is under-researched. Feminist standpoint theory is applied in analyzing 73 documents on women's role in agriculture from 1990 until 2016 to answer the following questions: How does the world look, and operate, for males and females in wheat growing households? What do we know about social relationships and mediating processes (i.e., social factors mediating men's and women's access to resources and activities) that exist in the prime wheat growing regions in Pakistan? The paper highlights a knowledge gap in relation to the life histories, local experiences, as well as unofficial and informal networks of small farmers in general, and of poor and marginalized women in particular. This neglect of rural subjects is a missed opportunity to learn and to engage in improved program design that contributes to enhanced food security and resilience in rural communities. The paper is relevant to development professionals and agriculture researchers and proposes further research questions on topics that appear to have an influence on women's role in wheat farming and food systems and women's ability to be successful in securing a wheat-based livelihood.

Keywords

Anthropology
Gender
Wheat
Livelihood
Pakistan

Cited by (0)

Kristie Drucza is currently based in Ethiopia where she manages a research for development project on gender in agriculture for CIMMYT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center). Dr Drucza has an MA in gender and applied anthropology and participatory development from the Australian National University and a PhD from Deakin University that explores social inclusion and social protection in Nepal. Research interests include: building inclusive institutions, markets and states, protecting the poor and excluded, women's economic empowerment, and the inter-relationship between agency and structures of power.

Valentina Peveri holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Bologna University (Italy). Since 2004 she has carried out fieldwork in Southern Ethiopia on the robust constitution of an indigenous plant and of the (women) farmers who cultivate it. She is currently committed to projects on underutilized crops for achieving food security, and on ecological knowledge as a guide to science and policymaking. Peveri has been a consultant at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Her latest research focuses on opening new lines of inquiry into the notion of culinary citizenship through the methods and perspectives of multi-species ethnography.