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Given persistent gender inequalities that influence how the benefits of technologies are distributed, the expansion of small-scale irrigation technologies requires the consideration of important gender dynamics and impacts. Women's lack of agency and access to resources relative to men, and other social constraints, often limit their ability to adopt and benefit from agricultural technologies. At the same time, expanding access to agricultural technology to women may provide a pathway for empowerment. This paper explores the potential for small-scale irrigation technologies to increase women's empowerment by evaluating the impacts of an intervention that distributed motor pumps to small groups of farmers in Northern Ghana. The paper draws on two rounds of survey data that included the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index, before and after the motor pump intervention was implemented. To control for possible selection bias at the baseline, the difference-in-difference method is used to estimate the impact of the program on indicators of women's empowerment. Spillover effects are estimated by comparing outcomes of farmers in treatment villages that did not receive the pumps with farmers in control villages, where no motor pumps were distributed. The results show no significant impact of the program on measures of women's empowerment. However, there are potential negative impacts, including among households that did not benefit from the intervention. The results highlight the need to pair interventions that distribute agricultural technologies with complementary investments in infrastructure that increase access to water for irrigation, as well as other activities and approaches that ensure women can reap the benefits. • Supplying men and women farmers with motor pumps for small-scale irrigation did not increase women's empowerment. • Rather, the intervention had negative spillover effects on women from households that did not receive pumps. • Women's empowerment in the study communities is generally increasing over time irrespective of the irrigation intervention. • The benefits of the motor pump intervention for women are indirect, including increasing household asset holdings. • More careful planning and implementation of irrigation interventions are needed facilitate women's empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how the theory of affordances can be used to investigate how a spectrum of opportunities, benefits, costs and risks is generated and unevenly distributed by different kinds of technology (where 'technology' is understood as techniques, processes and practices of doing and making, rather than technical artefacts and systems). Affordances are possibilities for action, which arise from relations between humans and entities that surround them. This paper discusses three kinds of affordances: material, cultural and socio-economic. The theory of affordances offers a coherent way to explain why different technologies have different implications, and why those implications vary for different stakeholders. Applied to the domain of development-oriented agricultural research and innovation, the theory of affordances could be used by researchers and practitioners to examine the differentiated implications of different kinds of farming technology and alternative programmes of technological change in agriculture, both ex ante (e.g. in their design, development and implementation) and ex post (e.g. in their evaluation). To illustrate the argument, the paper uses the example of weeding in the System of Rice Intensification. Since affordances in theory are generated relationally and situationally for each person, the full array of implications arising from the introduction of new technology could be wide and diverse. A practical challenge, therefore, is whether and how the theory of affordances can be used practically and operationally to design, implement and evaluate the appropriateness, accessibility, utility and value of agricultural technology and technological change for specific people and groups of interest. • The theory of affordances is applied to agricultural technology and innovation. • Affordances are perceived action possibilities, which arise relationally. • Affordances can be studied through material, cultural and socio-economic lenses. • The theory of affordances could be applied to development interventions ex ante and ex post. • Weeding in the System of Rice Intensification is used to illustrate the argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural livelihood diversification can improve food security at the household level. However, a large majority of the research has focused on male-headed households, thus overlooking experiences of female-headed households that constitute a significant portion of households in low-income and middle-income countries. This paper explores how on-farm livelihood diversification affects female-headed households' food security experiences. Using interviews and focus group discussions, the paper finds that on-farm diversification improves female-headed households' food security. The paper also finds that on-farm diversification was more effective in improving the food security experiences of female-headed households compared with off-farm diversification. Further, the additional income from diversification creates additional benefits, including empowering women and allowing them to further diversify their livelihoods. • Female-headed households are neglected in rural livelihood diversification research. • On-farm diversification can improve female-headed households' food security. • On-farm diversification can improve women's empowerment. • On-farm activities support off-farm diversification in female-headed households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development interventions increasingly include women's empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2). As part of GAAP2, qualitative and quantitative data were used to develop and validate the multidimensional project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), which was used to assess the impact of GAAP2 projects on women's empowerment. This paper assesses the extent to which: (1) a two- to three-year agricultural development project can contribute to women's empowerment; and (2) a suite of methods comprising a standardized quantitative measure of women's empowerment and a set of qualitative protocols, can evaluate such impacts. Our synthesis finds that the most common positive significant impacts were on the instrumental and collective agency indicators that comprise pro-WEAI, owing to the group-based approaches used. We found few projects significantly improved intrinsic agency, even among those with explicitly stated objectives to change gender norms. Unsurprisingly, we find mixed, and mostly null impacts on aggregate pro-WEAI, with positive impacts more likely in the South Asian, rather than African, cases. Our results highlight the need for projects to design their strategies specifically for empowerment, rather than assume that projects aiming to reach and benefit women automatically empower them. Our study also shows the value of a suite of methods containing a common metric to compare empowerment impacts and qualitative protocols to understand and contextualize these impacts. • We use pro-WEAI to assess 11 projects' impacts on women's agency and empowerment. • Pro-WEAI comprises quantitative and qualitative protocols co-developed by projects. • Significant positive impacts observed on instrumental and collective agency. • More limited or null impacts detected on intrinsic agency. • Intentionality is important in projects' strategies to empower women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In international research and development discourses, the 'Feminization of Agriculture' is often used as a vague umbrella term referring to an increase in women's labor burden and responsibilities in agriculture as a result of male out-migration. However, the term is under-conceptualized, and fails to reflect changing gender relations in agriculture and natural resource management, with the potential consequence of ill-defined agriculture and gender research programs. This paper challenges narratives of the 'Feminization of Agriculture'. Drawing from feminist political ecology, this paper conceptualizes gender relations more broadly by highlighting gendered subjectivities and power relations in agriculture in contexts of male out-migration. I propose a conceptual framework to explore shifts in (1) socio-spatial struggles over resources, (2) influence within agrarian households and communal spaces, (3) aspirations, feelings of insecurity and self-determination. I build on extensive participatory fieldwork conducted in three countries, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. The conceptual framework helps analyze how some gender norms and relations are renegotiated in contexts of male out-migration. While unequal power relations shape everyday struggles in agriculture and natural resource management, for some women, increased mobility, social engagement and handling cash create new spaces to influence, move, and communicate. Importantly, everyday struggles over agricultural, water and land resources remain shaped by gender, age, caste, land ownership, remittances and household position, particularly those living with the family in-laws. Research and development programs need to take intersectionality into account and explore emerging spaces for influence, but also be aware of persistent gender norms and power relations which shape agricultural practices, aspirations and self-determination. I conclude by arguing for the need to expand the 'Feminization of Agriculture' debate towards a broader understanding of socio-spatial change and gendered subjectivities within agriculture. • The term 'Feminization of Agriculture' is under-conceptualized, and fails to reflect changing gender relations in agriculture and natural resource management. • A conceptual framework drawing from feminist political ecology frames gender relations more broadly and highlights gendered subjectivities and power relations in agriculture in contexts of male out-migration. • The conceptual framework explores shifts in (1) socio-spatial struggles over resources, (2) influence within agrarian households and communal spaces, (3) aspirations, feelings of insecurity and self-determination. • This paper challenges narratives of the 'Feminization of Agriculture' by arguing for the need to expand the 'Feminization of Agriculture' debate towards a broader understanding of socio-spatial change and gendered subjectivities within agriculture. • Research and development programs need to take intersectionality into account and be aware of persistent gender norms and power relations which shape agricultural practices, aspirations and self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gym is an increasing site for social research, with much work identifying the importance of understanding gender construction and performance in forming policy to address inequalities in gym access, and harms within gym-going cultures. This paper draws on findings from a multi-year ethnography in rural South-West England to address a gap in the existing gym cultures literature by exploring the intersections of rurality with gender and gym cultures, examining how the masculine rural intersects with the construction of gym spaces, and the interplay between rural masculinities and gym cultures, as fitness becomes an increasingly popular activity. Beyond examining the intersections between rurality with gym space and cultures, this paper further examines how rurality and rural masculinities are linked with harm in these cultures, particularly in relation to the reproduction of aspects of hegemonic and toxic masculinity, and the harms these have not only on women and others seeking to access these spaces, but on the men who hold these ideas themselves. This exploration further looks at how ideas of masculine identity formation, and self-stigma associated with masculine ideals within rural cultures contributes to the harms and behaviours witnessed within gym-going populations. This article aims to contribute valuable understanding to both structural issues relating to gender and the gym relevant to policy discussions regarding access and inclusivity, as well as some of the ways in which harms among gym-going populations may be addressed in a rural context. • Rich, in-depth ethnographic findings. • Interdisciplinary analysis of intersections between rurality, gender & gym culture. • Illustrates importance of rurality in understanding inequalities and harm. • Timely exploration of an increasingly popular area for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the gender relations and dynamics in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is crucial for formalization interventions and gender-sensitive on-site policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, there is very little research on how gender influences women's economic opportunities and power relations at ASM sites in Ghana. Drawing from a qualitative research in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality, Ghana, this paper examines the local gender dynamics and division of labour in ASM. Findings show that while men were mainly engaged in the extraction – digging, shoveling and loading of women's head pans with mineral ore – and processing work at the colluvial mining sites, women were basically working as labourers for the men. The women were directly involved in three main activities – provision of water on mineralised sand, transportation of gold ore and forewomen role – where they received lower remuneration for their labour. In relation to women's access to " dig and wash" work and hard rock mining sites, there was an element of " gendered sympathy " which involved some power dimensions in ASM. In this paper, the empirical analysis of gendered division of labour in ASM provides the basis to understand the gendered organization of ASM and its management structure. • This paper examines the local gender dynamics and division of labour in Ghana. • Gendered division of labour in ASM reinforces inequalities and limits women's opportunities in mining sites. • Women received lower remuneration for their labour. • Men were involved in the extraction and processing work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an integrated theoretical framework for understanding women, work and violence in non-metropolitan contexts. Despite the fact that the relationship between domestic and family violence (DFV) and the workplace is a growing focus of academic research, there remain certain lacunae within the literature. In particular, research that examines DFV and work in tandem is incredibly urban-centric, but also quite descriptive and a-theoretical, as well as quantitative in its methodological approaches. The lack of non-metropolitan research at the nexus of DFV and work is puzzling, given that established scholarship tells us firstly that DFV is more potent and complicated outside of big cities, and secondly that work is also harder to obtain and more complicated. In light of these issues, the current paper serves three distinct functions. Firstly, it operates as a call for the generation of new research that addresses limitations within the academic conversation. Secondly, it argues for the significance of research that illuminates the relationship between work and DFV in non-metropolitan locations; not only to address the existing knowledge gap, but also because the findings generated in these more 'extreme' scenarios may assist us in effectively addressing the DFV–work nexus more broadly. And thirdly, to facilitate the production of rigorous and holistic knowledge at the intersection of work, DFV and non-metropolitan experience, the paper proposes an integrated theoretical framework for understanding women, work and violence in non-metropolitan contexts. Overall, it argues that such an integrated framework would necessarily need to account for the contextual factors of space and place, as well as feminist theory on work, and existing knowledge on both violence against women and the complexities of work in non-metropolitan contexts. • Rurality is ignored in discussions of domestic and family violence (DFV) and work. • Research on the work–violence interface in non-metropolitan areas is required. • Findings from complex rural scenarios may help address the broader DFV–work nexus. • Framework provides a research path at the non-metropolitan work–violence interface. • Framework must include feminist and rural accounts of space, place, work, violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property is widely recognized as an important resource for empowering women. Many development policies worldwide therefore call for strengthening women's rights to property, especially to physical assets such as land and livestock. However, the relationship between property and women's empowerment is more complex than generally assumed because of the overlapping and dynamic nature of property rights. In this paper, we explore how property rights affect the empowerment of women at different stages of the life cycle and different social locations, ethnicities, household structures, and social classes, using the lens of intersectionality. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted for the "Evaluation of the Welfare Impacts of a Livestock Transfer Program in Nepal," we examine patterns in women's strategies to exercise specific rights over joint and personal property within their households. The findings show that legal categories of property rights in Nepal fail to account for nuanced rights to assets shared within households. Rather than emphasize individual control over assets for women's empowerment, the social relations around property need to be considered to understand which rights women value. The paper makes recommendations for how research and development projects, especially in South Asia, can avoid misinterpreting asset and empowerment data by incorporating nuance around the concepts of property rights over the life cycle. • Women's joint and personal property rights in practice differ from legal definitions. • Household structure and relations with household members influence property rights. • Daughters-in-law in joint households have weaker joint and personal property rights. • Strategies to claim joint or personal property rights change over the life cycle. • Women's empowerment programs need to account for the social relations of property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how rural transformation in Uzbekistan alters gender norms and roles and, consequently, affects women's involvement in agriculture. We focus on the role that contextual factors, particularly kinship relations, government goals, and institutional structures each contribute to rural transformation and male out-migration, and how these, in turn, increase women's work in wheat production and processing. The wheat is the most important crop in the country which has the highest area coverage (35%) in Uzbekistan. We begin by highlighting the post-Soviet transition in Uzbekistan and its effects on the agricultural sector, including how households respond to opportunities for innovation. We then move to a discussion of our methodological approach drawing on insights from the GENNOVATE project, a collaborative initiative across 11 CGIAR centres that explored the relationship between changing gender norms in relation to women's roles in agricultural production and processing. Next, we examine an understudied topic in migration research i.e., how the transformation of agriculture contributes to increased dependence on unpaid female agricultural labour. We conclude with an analysis of how the feminization of agriculture alters household relations and women's participation in the public sphere. Significantly, we close with a reflection on what these changes mean for gender and innovation studies. • We examine how rural transformation in Uzbekistan alters gender norms and roles. • We found that the transformation of agriculture increased women's unpaid labour. • In migrant communities women gained confidence and made demands for equal treatment. • Gender norms are still restrictive but that they are changing among mothers-in-law. • Policy changes alone are insufficient to realize changes in gender expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thai women are an increasingly present migrant group in rural Sweden. Often arriving through transnational marriage, women build lives and businesses in their respective Swedish communities while retaining ties to their rural regions of origin. This paper asks: How is translocalism produced and embedded in and from rural contexts through the workplace activities of Thai migrant women in Sweden? Using life course narratives of 11 Thai migrant women and interviews with rural actors in Thailand, this article examines the role of Thai women's businesses in creating translocal connections between distant rural spaces. It finds that women actively engage in multiple rural areas as part of their daily work and business strategies. As shown by the research, Thai women migrants make rural-to-rural connections through familial and friend networks, material goods, and engagement with local rural communities. Moreover, practices are embedded and produced, through social connections and practices, within the rural areas women are closely tied to prior to migration. This paper shows the importance of women's connections to rural localities in shaping their translocal practices. The paper argues daily connections between rural areas are closely tied to local and global gendered practices, norms, and expectations. It highlights the significance of rural networks in shaping translocal practices within migrant rural businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employers often have preferences with respect to workers based on group-level characteristics including geographical origin, gender, class, race, age, family status, appearance, etc. These 'hiring queues' can shape recruitment and promotion decisions and explain why certain characteristics may be more or less common within a workplace and across a sector. Drawing on one rural industry known in particular for low-wage and seasonal employment – the strawberry industry – this paper compares employer hiring queues in the US, Norway and UK. We find variety in the hierarchies that employers construct: US, Norwegian and UK strawberry growers recruit their low-wage workers from different nationalities. However, the underlying basis for these hiring queues appears to be the same across study contexts in that they are predominantly contingent upon geographical variables – mobility, nationality and ethnicity – to identify who are seen by employers as the most attractive low-wage seasonal workers. Migrants from more peripheral economies are consistently preferred above local workers and farmers employ mobility, nationality and ethnicity as short-hand for 'good' workers. We find that employers articulate what we refer to as 'informed stereotypes' that are connected, albeit selectively, to the political, economic, social and legal context(s) within which labour power is produced, reproduced and activated. • Drawing on a case-study of strawberry production in the US, Norway and the UK, we identify employer 'hiring queues'. • These emerge from employer preferences and prejudices with respect to different groups of workers. • Most commonly, they revolve around the 'informed stereotypes' of the 'good migrant' and 'lazy local'. • Migrants' position at the front of the hiring queue is, however, accompanied by socio-economic disadvantage. • They are praised and prized by low-wage employers yet also penalised in terms of their low status and income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies of rural women and their participation in the innovation milieu continues to be championed, within the Republic of Ireland very few studies have been conducted on Irish women's participation and value in this sector, with much of the limited research being curtailed to the realm of Irish agriculture. Addressing the paucity of studies, this paper specifically explores the pioneering role of women in rural innovation in areas located along the west coast region of Ireland, to uncover the connection between these women's enterprises and the overall development of the Irish hinterlands. The paper is based on both qualitative and quantitative research with 54 female innovators, who shared their experiences and difficulties as an innovator in a peripheral region. As the work of rural women often goes unnoticed and unrecorded, this research employed a feminist perspective to gain a deeper understanding of the role of women in rural innovation. The findings of the research highlight the dual role of rural women as innovators; furthermore show female innovators as being of paramount importance for the overall development of Europe's rural regions. Despite their imperativeness as agents of positive change; offering as they do an alternative path to sustainable development for the Western regions, the women were unable to appreciate their significance due to patriarchal and hegemonic ideologies which still impact women residing in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on empirical, qualitative research conducted in a rural region of Northern New South Wales, Australia. Using a Feminist Standpoint approach, this paper examines the housing pathways in relation to the current circumstances of single, older, non-home owning rural/regional women who live independently. Between June and December 2011, 47 eligible women aged 45 years and over were interviewed and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. Key findings are that relationship dissolution and a gendered ethic of care had a cumulative and negative effect over the life course, for which the participants paid a large material penalty. We attempt to show how these women have been caught in the crosshairs of changing cultural norms which may still be current in rural/regional Australia. This study is important in raising the visibility of this specific cohort in rural communities so that policymakers can plan for their future housing needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder farmers in the Philippines are typically considered to be particularly vulnerable to climate change, yet, relatively little is known about how that vulnerability differs between men and women farmers, particularly in conflict-prone areas. Using the region of Mindanao in Philippines as a case study, this paper presents an analysis of focus groups (n = 14) and interviews (n = 77) to showcase gendered vulnerabilities of smallholder farmers to climate change. This analysis reveals that both climate change and conflict significantly increase smallholder vulnerability, resulting in loss of livelihoods, financial assets, agricultural yield and the worsening of debt problems. Women and men are affected differently, resulting in changing farming patterns and coping strategies. Women are more disadvantaged and as such tend to farm in smaller plots, work shorter hours or limit farming to cash crops. Extreme climate events in conflict-prone agrarian communities appear to subject women to forced migration, increased discrimination, loss of customary rights to land, resource poverty and food insecurity. The paper concludes by recommending implementing climate-smart agriculture solutions that are both gender and conflict sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to contribute to the understanding of gendered migration strategies through presenting the findings of a study on the interpretation of the rural and rurality offered by young women and men living in an economically backward, predominantly rural region of Hungary (Észak-Alföld) in connection with their migration plans. The paper also aims to compare the discourses of rural residents and academics on the rural. Both 17- to 19-year old male and female secondary school pupils and 20- to 42-year-old women living in rural settlements unanimously emphasised the lack of paid jobs as a characteristic feature of the rural. Their contextualised representations of the rural confirm the relevance of political economic approaches, which dominate Hungarian academic discourses. The image that students presented reflects actual gendered inequalities in the rural areas of the Észak-Alföld in respect of the labour market and public services and the values and expectations that local communities communicate. In the case of young adult women, the lack of jobs, impaired real property and economic underdevelopment are features that homogenise the otherwise varied picture of the rural. The paper points out the importance of studying the rural places facing economic and social problems and the advantages both of adopting a critical feminist perspective and of applying a political economic approach focussing on economic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food literacy among children and youth is configured by two knowledge domains: an informal community-based knowledge, and a formal curriculum-based knowledge. This paper examines how these two domains contribute to food literacy and strengthen food security among rural youth in Nepal. In consultation with schoolteachers and local farmers, a knowledge test was developed and administered to 226 high school students. Scores were collected on agro-ecological, cultivation and consumption-related knowledge on a locally grown staple crop, as contributor to food literacy. Sociocultural factors like age, gender, level of education, migration of household members, level of student interest, and spatial factor like location of school all have an influence on food literacy. While formal school-based education and community-based informal knowledge oppositely interact, there is space for these two domains to synergistically interact to enhance food literacy. Rural students have potential to enhance food literacy in the schools, provided the schools create supportive space for experiential learning that weaves community-based Indigenous knowledges of local foods. However, an effective promotion of food literacy can only be ensured by adopting a holistic approach that includes a wide range of actors such as students, parents, teachers, schools, community organizations and government institutions. • Food literacy is configured by two knowledge domains: formal and informal, contributing to food literacy among rural youths. • Rural students have potential to enhance food literacy in the schools through experiential learning. • Retention of knowledge is the outcome of a complex interaction of gender with other intersectionalities. • Effective promotion of food literacy needs a holistic approach where all relevant stakeholders have a role to play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livelihood, employment, subsistence, and recreational practices of rural and Indigenous communities in the global North are increasingly impacted by climate hazards such as wildfire, floods, and drought. However, communities are often viewed as homogenous entities, with little recognition to how diverse individuals within those communities experience and respond to such hazards. Intersectionality, a concept derived from feminist theory, offers a promising lens for delineating how power relationships and interacting social characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, location, and age influence context-specific experiences of climate hazards. In this paper, we relate our findings from a rapid literature review identifying how intersectionality is currently being approached in climate hazards research of the global North. With these findings, along with insights from theoretical intersectionality scholarship, we then develop an analytical framework composed of five attributes to guide empirical research on the social dimensions of climate hazards in rural communities of the global North. The framework offers a means for comparative intersectional research, contributing to an enhanced understanding of socially equitable and culturally appropriate adaptive responses, outcomes, and decision-making. • Intersectionality remains largely conceptual in climate hazards research in the global North. • We provide an analytical framework for empirical intersectionality climate hazards research in the rural global North. • The framework emphasizes five key intersectionality attributes and provides guiding questions for each.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzes experiences of organic farmers after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor accident. Specifically, we draw on feminist political ecology to analyze the divergent perceptions of radiation threats. Based on farmer interviews, we find that different interpretations resulted in social tensions on multiple levels, even among family members, particularly along gender lines. The paper links these local struggles to larger political issues. The political and economic elites emphasized control and normalcy in accordance with hegemonic masculinity, while chastising citizens who were concerned with radiation as irrational and hysteric. Existing studies of disasters have acknowledged their gendered impacts, but the analysis has tended to focus on women's increased morbidity and mortality. Overall, our study suggests the utility of feminist political ecology in analyzing local risk interpretations and macro political dynamics from feminist perspectives. While gender difference in attitudes to radiation contamination is expected from the existing literature, this study suggests the need to examine how identities and socially constructed notions of masculinity/femininity mediate them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the validity of performance management regimes for quality assuring animal health regulation by comparing the results of tests for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) between male and female vets. In doing so it hopes to present some practical solutions to the regulation of animal disease and encourage further sociological study of the veterinary profession. Concerns about the quality of animal health regulation by vets have prompted thinking about the role of quality control mechanisms such as performance management systems and performance indicators. To investigate their suitability, bTB testing data from areas with high incidence of bTB in Great Britain were extracted from the Vetnet database. Using the data, a performance indicator ‘reactors per 1000 cattle tested’ was calculated and compared with veterinarians'' gender. Results showed statistically significant differences between gender and vets'' reactor detection: male vets were more likely to detect animal disease than female vets. The paper considers how the concepts of ‘emotional labour’ and ‘relational distance’ may explain vets'' behaviour. The presence of these systematic biases raises questions over the use of performance indicators as means of quality control, and highlights the need for further social scientific analysis of the veterinary profession. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Whilst rural idylls have dominated some discussions of rural social difference, little attention has been paid to rural utopias. Imagined, material and discursive experiences of utopian rural ideals are critically examined in this paper. It takes as its focus the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival – an annual US womyn-only festival – in order to understand the mutual construction of empowering rural spaces and non(hetero)normative women’s bodies. The first part of the paper moves away from the current focus on ‘rural idylls’ to understand social difference and ruralities, and argues that the notion of ‘rural utopia’ is a useful framework to reconsider rural possibilities for those considered ‘other’ to dominant (heterosexual) hegemonies. The context of the festival and qualitative empirical research methodologies are explained. In the second part of the paper four themes that arose from this research are explored. Firstly, the ‘free expression’ of sexualities, including sex and relationships is seen as creating a ‘slice of lesbian rural utopia’ at Michfest. Secondly, rural utopian understandings of Michfest as womyn’s space where diverse bodily aesthetics are celebrated are compared and contrasted to urban spaces, and particularly the gendered embodiments of ‘everyday’ life. Third, while womyn’s bodies may contest heteronormative performances of femininity, they also reiterate normative and embodied versions of ‘women’, creating womyn’s space through the controversial ‘womyn-born-womyn’ entry policy. Fourth, rural tensions are examined around the negotiation of work (voluntary and paid). The paper concludes by arguing that a focus on imperfect (lesbian) utopias furthers our understanding of gender, sexuality and rurality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines gender differences in awareness, preparedness and attitudes towards bushfire amongst landholders in rural landscapes affected by amenity-led in-migration in southeast Australia. It considers the potential of conceptualising bushfire not as a gender-neutral natural phenomenon but as an important means by which traditional gender roles and power relations within rural landscapes are maintained. Landholders were found to uphold conventional views of bushfire management as “men’s business” despite changing social circumstances. Consequently, key gender differences exist within landholders’ bushfire risk awareness, bushfire knowledge, the perceived need for bushfire preparedness measures, the willingness to perform certain tasks, and the belief in personal capacity to act. We argue that covert and less visible as well as overt gender roles and traditions are important factors in understanding landholders’ engagement with bushfire management. When gendered dimensions of bushfire are investigated in the context of hegemony, a paradox emerges between women choosing not to take control of their own bushfire safety and women being denied the opportunity to take control. The complex and contradictory actions and attitudes to bushfire that materialise through an analysis of gendered social experiences complicate attempts to create more gender-sensitive frameworks for bushfire management. The tenacious and embedded nature of gender role divisions within both public and private spheres was furthermore found to act as economic, social and political stumbling blocks for empowerment opportunities. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this paper maps out gendered dimensions of bushfire through landholders’ narratives and actions. The implications of these dimensions for bushfire management have direct relevance to recent international discussions of the vulnerability of the growing number of people living in bushfire-prone rural–urban interface areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Voluntary food certification systems have emerged as a prominent mechanism of food governance in recent years. However, critics have exposed certifications’ inability to secure independence, quality, consumer trust, and costs. Recent criticism is even more pointed in that some theorists have critiqued “alternative” systems such as Fair Trade as neoliberal window-dressing. What is curious about this emerging literature is how little has been said about the role of citizens. Although most of the certification literature has assumed that food certification resides in the exclusive realm of “experts” and that technical sophistication is equated with improvement, I argue that democratization is possible and desirable. This paper draws on a case study of a Japanese consumer cooperative which has conducted a laywomen''s food certification system for past ten years. By proposing at least two parameters of evaluation of food certification—redistributive effect and the degree of democratization, the paper expands the imaginary of “politics of the possible” in food governance while acknowledging tension of gendered participation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper has two interrelated aims. The first is to contribute to knowledge about rurality, gender and Indigeneity. This is undertaken by the first author, Bebe Ramzan, an Indigenous woman living in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Bebe shows similarities across rural and remote areas in Australia and details her knowledge and experience of home, rurality, rural communities, land and gender. The second aim of the paper is to examine issues surrounding the involvement of academic white women in Indigenous research. Writing from the position of feminist white women Barbara Pini and Lia Bryant reflect on theories of whiteness as cultural practice and in this paper contest representations of rurality in rural studies as white. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper has taken a first look at the processes of house-building in women's life courses and the ‘co-evolution’ of the family and their domicile. The building of a house of their own is an important episode within the courses of women's lives and, in many cases, marks the transition between an employment and urban-oriented lifestyle towards a family- and village-oriented lifestyle. I employ a practice-theory perspective on the German notion of the Eigenheim, the house of one's own, as a materialization of gendered rural culture. Thus, the co-constituent processes of placed female identities are revealed. Drawing on research from women's life courses (standardized questionnaire and 32 in-depth interviews) in four villages in Germany, I show how aspects of identity are connected with a rural-urban distinction and how this influences the practices of housebuilding and family formation. Thereby, a specific rurality centered on family life and house ownership is ‘done’ and materialized. The practice- and materiality-perspective employed in this article allows for two conclusions: First, rurality is more than an ‘imaginary’ or ‘ideational’ category. To re-value the material dimensions of rurality calls for a careful account of rural diversity and local specificities. Second, with regard to rural gender issues, concepts of male hegemony have to give way to more dynamic and complex gender relations when the agency of artefacts is take into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we aim to analyse economic and social transition factors affecting the agricultural labor force and to understand the feminization phenomenon in rural Tajikistan. Agrarian reforms, seasonal male labor outmigration, and the subsequent increase in women's labor participation have facilitated changes in gender occupational segregation. We assume that in post-Soviet transition countries such as Tajikistan, the process of feminization grew from the need to take on jobs and to to slip in the role of the breadwinner due to the absence of men. The process enabled women to gain knowledge and experience in new employment positions. We contribute to the knowledge on feminization by conducting qualitative, case based analysis through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions and present unique data on previously unobserved employment categories and their characteristics from the Sughd province of Tajikistan. Results suggest that existing local systems of power and male-dominated relationships are being challenged due to male labor force outmigration, leading to a feminization of the remaining labor force and recipient clients. The jobs women perform remain subject to low protection, security, and earnings. However, increased participation in the labor force provides a gateway to a wider spectrum of labor opportunities and advances women's roles in primary agricultural production as well as in the service supply sector, and provides them a certain amount of control over their own lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having long been confined to the role of family farm helper, women now make up more than a quarter of farm managers in France. Alongside that, the agricultural world needs to transition towards more sustainable practices and models. Inadequate or incomplete research can be found on how gender influences farmers' practices and even fewer studies that focus on the situation in France. In this paper, the relationship between the specific topic of French women farmers and their role in sustainable agriculture is explored through qualitative research. An initial conclusion is reached on the existence of a gender effect in the practice of sustainable agriculture. Four explanations to this correlation are discussed to explain the dynamics between gender and sustainable agriculture: the importance of care and differentiated socialisation in choices that women make, the role of access to the profession and working conditions, the specific profile of women involved in sustainable systems and the potentially more welcoming dimension of the agroecological space. Although analysed separately, it is likely a combination of these explanations that allows us to understand the greater sensitivity of women to engage in sustainable agricultural practices. • Gender dynamics exist in the development of sustainable agriculture in France. • Education and socialisation are a strong lead to explain the sensitivity of women to engage in sustainable initiatives. • The influence of the more welcoming dimension of the agro-ecological space on this dynamic requires further analysis. • Women farmers engaged in sustainable projects have similar profiles and specific social characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While women in United States agriculture are increasingly asserting control over land and assuming identities as primary producers, they continue to face significant challenges in being "read" as legitimate producers and in accessing the material resources (land, labor, capital) to do the work of farming. Although scholarship documents how women are generating new strategies to gain legitimacy as farmers and how programs have emerged to provide agricultural outreach to women, much of this work has been "colorblind" in its lack of a critical analysis of race and its intersections with gender. In this paper, we analyze the complex intersections between white supremacy and patriarchy that may benefit white women farmers as they negotiate and normalize gender-based discrimination. Viewing race and gender as materially lived and negotiated, we analyze in-depth qualitative data from 43 conventional white women producers in the US Corn Belt to identify the nuanced ways they socially navigate the white male-dominated world of production agriculture. We find while respondents universally feel that women claiming the role of farmer are subject to both dismissals and outright aggressions in agricultural encounters, many of the respondents claim this discrimination "doesn't bother" them. We argue, that in the semi-dynastic world of Corn Belt production, these white women socially position themselves by drawing on both their embodied histories of labor along with their relationalities to land and people (particularly men) in ways that facilitate a sense of collective belonging contingent on others' exclusion. We conclude by reflecting on how agricultural research on gender could incorporate more critical analyses of race to uncover continuing forms of discrimination in agricultural spaces. • There is little research on women farmers operating conventional row crop farms. • We examine if women feel they are discriminated against in production agriculture. • All respondents feel they are dismissed, excluded, or demeaned because of gender. • Women negotiate discrimination by leveraging ties to labor, land legacy, men. • Settler colonialism/racial land legacies are key to navigate gender discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore contemporary farm succession processes in Australia, with a particular focus on understanding how changing gender norms and increasing asset values may be impacting common patterns of farm ownership. We describe how social scripts inflect traditional patterns of farm succession and review what makes up a 'family farm', the changing economic environment in which family farms operate and take a deeper look at the traditional gender norms inflecting intergenerational farm succession. How the changing social and environmental norms may be transforming contemporary farm succession is the question driving this research. We interviewed 22 farm succession advisers and applied template analysis to address our research question. Through our analysis, we make the following contributions. We show there has been some disruption to the gender norms informing patrilineal succession practices. The interplay of increasing asset values and attending to the financial security of all members of the family has compounded this disruption, with both forces challenging the traditional gender scripts, resulting in the current scripts being more of a palimpsest. Theoretically, we contribute to understanding how scripts are challenged and co-exist. • Women's changing roles in public spaces are filtering through to farm succession discussions. • Increasing farm values and a growing awareness of more equitable distributions of assets are impacting farm succession. • Together these forces are challenging the traditional gender scripts underpinning farm succession decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of access to sanitation not only has negative effects on the health outcomes of women, it adversely affects their physical security and threatens the lives of children, who are most susceptible to water-borne diseases. This paper explores the underlying conditions that improve access to basic sanitation services for women, with a particular focus on the role information has on the ownership of household latrines. Drawing from nationwide household-level panel data between 2004 and 2011 in rural India, I find that households in which women have regular access to mass media and accurate health knowledge are more likely to have latrines. I also find that women's decision-making power in the household makes a difference, but to a lesser degree. Extending this analysis with district-level data from India's sanitation campaign, the study also demonstrates that different mass media channels have distinct influences on the rural poor and non-poor. For the rural poor, where the consequences of a lack of sanitation are most acute for women, increasing latrine provision is more strongly associated with changes in radio ownership; for the non-poor television ownership has a stronger relationship. By highlighting the role of mass media in latrine ownership, and differentiating by gender, this study identifies an important mechanism that has been given less consideration in the study of women and access to basic services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends research emphasizing gender and gendered inequalities in rural communities are influenced by goods, jobs, and people moving between rural and urban contexts. Drawing from over 1,800 hours of participant observation in a rural community in the central United States, I analyze men's narratives about their trips to nearby cities to illustrate how they constructed and achieved an intersectional ideal of rural masculinity complicated by race, class, and sexuality. Through this analysis I stress the need to consider how multiple, intersecting dimensions of difference and inequality inform constructions of masculinities in rural contexts as rural communities are increasingly linked with cities. Second, and related, I illustrate perceived divisions between rural and urban spaces inform constructions of intersectional masculinities and inequalities even as rural and urban places are increasingly linked, materially, through political-economic processes such as labor markets and immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's farm families contend with the paradox of an increase in the cultural values associated with farming and a decrease in the viability of farming as a way of life. How do families understand and organize their labor as farmers under such conditions? This paper explores the meaning of work and family for contemporary farmers in upstate New York. Drawing first on an analysis of 116 websites, we show that farm families employ four different “work-family narratives” in public representations of their farm: (a) lifestyle, (b) small business, (c) community oriented and (d) market oriented. We then turn to in-depth interviews with 39 farm families and find that families draw on these four “work-family narratives” in private explanations of their decisions to farm and gendered divisions of labor. We also find that narratives may evolve over time to adapt to changes in the household and farm business. This suggests both agency and diversity in farm families' adaptations to modern marketplace conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have recognized that the agriculture sector is one of the major contributor to climate change, as well as largely affected adversely by climate change. Agricultural productivity is known to be sensitive to climate change induced effects and it has impact on livelihood of families linked with farming. Thus it is important to understand what are the existing coping strategies that farmer deploy in case of climate shocks like flood and drought and who is involved in making decision relating to these coping strategies. This paper uses the household level data of 641 households from 12 randomly selected villages in Vaishali district of Bihar to understand the household coping mechanisms with emphasis on role of gender. This study has moved away from the conventional division of households by male and female-headed households and thus capturing the intra-household gender dynamics by understanding the role of men and women within the household as decision makers of the coping strategy to manage climate shock. The study uses a multivariate probit model and the results suggest that there is a higher probability that the male farmers will make the decision on choice of the coping strategy. The most prominent coping mechanism is to find alternative employment in urban locations; however, when consumption levels have to be reduced because of climate shock, all family members then contribute to the decision-making process collectively. The results show that exposure to agriculture extension and training programs have a positive influence on choosing appropriate coping mechanisms, but female farmers have poor access to these resources. These policies should look into providing outreach to both male and female farmers in any given locality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important feature of rural Eastern Germany is the negative population development in combination with strong and very selective out-migration. In the rural regions of the federal state Saxony-Anhalt the effects of a demographic shrinking process and female migration have been shown especially clearly. Since spatial discourses and courses of action connected with the production of rural peripheries are a mirror reflection of social conditions, the selective migration of young women directs one's attention towards possible correlations between uneven spatial developments and gender questions. Considering the fact that employment of women is socially rooted and an exemplary provision with childcare facilities benefits the reconciliation of family and work for young families, the pronounced shortage of young women in the new German federal states seems remarkable at a first glance. Against this backdrop the paper highlights different aspects of peripheralisation processes like stigmatisation, disconnection and migration against the backdrop of the economic transformation and regional discourses. The focus is on explanations for gender-specific migration pattern and the everyday-life perspective of young women. Especially the underlying implicit social communication patterns, expectations of young people's actions in rural areas and the migration decision of young women with narratives of leaving and returning are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the potential for potato farmer groups to empower women in Malawi. It does this by examining how social and gender norms in communities, including the distribution of power, resources and responsibilities, may have an impact on the ability of farmer groups to empower female group participants. In total, 35 sex-disaggregated focus group discussions with farmers, and 4 interviews with extension officers were conducted in Dedza and Ntcheu districts. Data on social and gender norms that may promote or constrain the participation of both men and women in groups and limit their benefits were collected and analyzed. A social relations approach, focusing on gender relations, was used to analyze the data. A key finding was that, underlying gender and cultural norms may affect the ability of women to participate actively in groups as well as to take advantage of the empowerment potential of groups. Findings suggest that while farmer groups have the potential to empower women, reproduction of societal gender roles within groups may result in male bias, constraining the ability of groups to empower women. Key implications are that agricultural research organizations interested in women's empowerment should work closely with partners who have experience in women's empowerment because farmer group participation may not empower women if underlying social issues that result in gender inequality are not addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasises the future generation of farmers, a group that has been relatively neglected in previous research. Based on focus group interviews, it highlights Swedish agricultural students' gendered strategies to create a successful farm business in the future, along with the opportunities and obstacles they foresee in generational succession and their future farming activities. The interviews are analysed within the framework of resilience theory, focussing on adaption and renewal. Students highlight the importance of balancing emotional bonds to family and traditions with business goals. It is shown that strategies of renewal are guided by social values. The solitary farmer is replaced by a networking farmer that gathers knowledge in local and international settings. The view of how a partner contributes is, on the one hand, traditional while also showing signs of gender role transformation. We argue that a functioning 'work-love balance' reinforces resilience processes in farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary back-to-the-land migrants in Italy embody a wide spectrum of personal and professional backgrounds, complicating attempts to generalise their motivations for adopting farming and their later experiences in rural areas. Certain commonalities persist, however, including a dissatisfaction with city life and the hope of greater freedom in the countryside. Generally this desire for personal liberty is expressed as the ability to control one's environment, a power that undergirds values such as self-reliance and care for natural resources and animal welfare. There is evidence to suggest, however, that the experiences of back-to-the-landers can differ significantly between genders. This study, conducted in four regions of Northern Italy, reveals that some back-to-the-land women find that their transition to an agrarian lifestyle has resulted in the adoption of more traditionalist gender roles, including a greater domestic burden and diminished recognition of their labours. Other women undertake an equal if not greater share of agricultural work, and derive a significant sense of worth from the increased self-sufficiency and ability to project ethical values that such work allows. This paper argues that an apparent regression to traditionalist gender roles is not inevitable in back-to-the-land households, nor must domestic work be seen as a repudiation of women's progress. On the contrary, the diverse experiences and perceptions of gender and back-to-the-land migration might challenge more rigid feminist readings of home, work and domesticity, given that in back-to-the-land households, these concepts often unfold in novel and unpredictable ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper offers a critical review of the international literature on gender, disaster and rural masculinities. Empirical reference is made to bushfires in Australia, offering new evidence from the State of Victoria. Bushfires loom large in the Australian imagination and there is an increasing amount of research now being conducted in relation to bushfire events. A significant gap remains, however, with regard to the issue of gender. Despite increasing evidence that gender plays a significant role with reference to disaster risk assessment, preparation and response, a gendered analysis of bushfire preparation and response has not been a sustained research priority. Building on the writing of others, a critical assessment is provided of the concept of a specifically Australian, rural hegemonic masculinity as a possible way of better understanding the social dimensions of gender, and bushfire preparation and response in the Australian context. This conceptual consideration is extended to draw attention to the process whereby alternative conceptions of masculinities may emerge. This recognition provides a basis for further research on gender and disaster internationally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The interrelationship between gender and class in rural spaces has received little attention. While rural scholars have focused on the implications for class from processes of gentrification and agricultural and rural restructuring, these analyses have remained largely ungendered. Similarly, feminist rural studies have rarely explored subjectivity as gendered and classed. This paper contributes to rural theories of class and gender by drawing on the work of contemporary feminist class theorists to explore class as gendered and inscribed through personal memory, community narrative and through everyday values and interactions associated with work, leisure and family. To explore intersections of gender, class and rurality, the article draws on data from interviews from two separate Australian studies of farming families. Narratives highlighted the ambiguity of class, the gendered and classed nature of voluntary organisations in rural spaces, and moral values and signifiers associated with what it is to be a ‘good’ farmer and a ‘good’ community member. The data indicate how values of moral worth are gendered and classed and inscribed on farming women and men. This qualitative examination of gender and class in rural spaces draws attention to class as being more than a ranking on an occupational scale, property ownership or degrees of engagement in consumption. Rather, it reveals class as emotionally inscribed in ways that are gendered, economic and moral, and represented through symbolic signifiers and cultural narratives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the practices and discourses of forestry work in a Canadian context. I argue that forestry-town women contribute to a paradox. From the outside, women''s experiences of forestry employment are rendered marginal by academics, government agencies and policy makers. Women''s representations in forestry work are limited, in part, because those who count forestry have historically overlooked types of employment where women are most likely to be found. Paradoxically, I argue that women contribute to their own marginality by their adherence to discourses and practices that reinforce stereotypes about the industry. I explain this paradox developing the concept of social embeddedness to explore women''s direct involvement in the paid work of forestry and to examine the meanings women give to forestry occupations. My empirical analysis traces government and academic definitions of forestry work and contrast these to interpretations of forestry work given in interviews by women living in forestry communities on Vancouver Island, Canada. I observe women both protested their marginal positions within forestry while they reinforced dominant stereotypes that exclude them from participating more fully in forestry occupations. I consider the implications of these findings from a theoretical and a policy perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]