{"id":14099,"date":"2026-06-20T12:32:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-scientists-promote-gender-equality-through-agriculture-in-new-publication\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:32:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:32:39","slug":"iita-scientists-promote-gender-equality-through-agriculture-in-new-publication","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-scientists-promote-gender-equality-through-agriculture-in-new-publication\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA scientists promote gender equality through agriculture in new publication"},"content":{"rendered":"

IITA<\/a> scientists, in partnership with more than 55 other CGIAR<\/a> researchers and partners, have published a book that highlights over 30 years of history and wealth of gender knowledge. The IITA team contributed to four out of ten chapters of the book\u2014chapters 2, 4, 9, and 10. The book \u201cAdvancing Gender Equality through Agricultural and Environmental Research: Past, Present, and Future<\/a>\u201d was launched in November 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IITA researchers and contributing author: Gundula Fischer<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 2, \u201cExamining choice to advance gender equality in breeding research,\u201d was co-authored by IITA Associate Social and Gender Scientist Bela Teeken<\/a>. The chapter explores how breeding research can promote gender equality. It critically examines what has been done to address gender dynamics in current breeding structures and processes. It explores further plans to ensure that breeding programs can advance gender equality. Progressing toward gender equality in agriculture requires that women and men have equal capabilities to make agricultural innovation decisions, specifically technology choices. The authors were explicitly concerned with technology choices relating to the plant variety or animal and fish breed by resource-poor smallholders in low-income countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IITA researchers and contributing author: Steven Cole.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chapter 4\u2014\u201cPromise and contradiction: Value chain participation and women\u2019s empowerment\u201d\u2014 co-authored by IITA-Benin Visiting Scientist Sounkoura Adetonah, the authors reveal that research and development actors now have a growing interest in developing more \u201cinclusive\u201d value chains. This increased interest is due to expanding agricultural production for the global market. \u201cThere is an urgent need to strengthen the contribution of agriculture and natural resource management to gender equality through the development of inclusive value chains including the participation and empowerment of women and men,\u201d says Adetonah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IITA Senior Scientist and Gender Specialist Steven Cole<\/a> co-authored Chapter 9\u2014\u201cAssessing women\u2019s empowerment in agricultural research\u201d\u2014exploring the steady rise of the empowerment in the international development agenda. Feminists highlighted women\u2019s empowerment at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, leading to the Beijing Declaration referring to \u201cenhancing further the advancement and empowerment of women all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collective struggles to challenge patriarchal structures and intersecting structures of class, ethnicity, caste, and race previously shaped women\u2019s subordinate position in society. Now, \u201cempowerment\u201d animates the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG5): \u201cAchieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Front cover of the book, \u201cAdvancing Gender Equality through Agricultural and Environmental Research: Past, Present, and Future\u201d.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book\u2019s tenth chapter, \u201cToward structural change: Gender transformative approaches,\u201d co-authored by IITA Social Scientist and Gender Expert Gundula Fischer<\/a>, reviews the gender approaches applied in agriculture over the past decades. It lays out how these must be re-thought to remove inequalities sustainably. \u201cGender norms are an important leverage point for accelerated and lasting progress. They are the socially agreed rules of how men and women should behave. Gender-transformative approaches address these norms and shift them towards more equity,\u201d says Fisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost a quarter of a century after the Beijing Declaration, and with less than ten years left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, The Guardian <\/em>announced that the SDG Gender Index\u2019s findings show that no country is likely to achieve gender equality by 2030. This aligns with the most recent Global Gender Gap Index, which indicates that on the current route, it will take approximately 170 years to achieve gender equality\u2014a wait of seven generations or two and a half lifetimes for the average woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book offers an opportunity to change and reframe the global debate on gender equality. It also defines the partnership that people have to build in achieving gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment as a goal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IITA scientists, in partnership with more than 55 other CGIAR researchers and partners, have published a book that highlights over 30 years of history and wealth of gender 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