TH2.1: Empowerment without Transformation? A Scoping Review on Women Empowerment, Masculinities and Social norms in Agricultural Research

Abstract

There is an increasing focus on re-thinking women's "empowerment" strategic interventions in order to achieve meaningful transformation in gender norms. This move is increasingly characterized by initiatives that deliberately seek to engage women and men, highlighting not only how women's lives in agricultural communities are interwoven with men's lives but also calls for ‘involvement' of men in women's empowerment work to address the underlying social norms, attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate gender inequalities. How have social categories "women", "men" and notions of empowerment and masculinities been conceptualized in agricultural research on women's empowerment? How have these concepts been deployed in agricultural research and with what implications? This paper draws from a literature review. Search terms included "Women's empowerment", "masculinities", "gender norms", "agency" "Power relations", "Rural masculinities" "male involvement in agriculture". Drawing on literature within agri food system, seed systems, nutrition sensitive agriculture in different regions of Africa and Asia, the paper argues that conceptualization of categories women, men, masculinities and femininities and the approaches drawn therefrom (the assumptions we work with about women and men) have potential to transform and/or reproduce unequal gender power relations.