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Type: Book

Women and smallholder farming Addressing global inequities in agriculture

Editors

Dr Carolyn Sachs is Professor Emerita of Rural Sociology at The Pennsylvania State University, USA. She serves on an expert panel to the United Nations Programme on Gender, Water and Sanitation and is involved in several extension and outreach programmes, including the Pennsylvania Women’s Agricultural Network (PAWAgN), in which she provides agricultural, entrepreneurship and leadership training. Emerita Professor Sachs has held previous positions as Visiting Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia and Visiting Professor at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome, Italy. She has published widely on gender and agriculture, contributing books, chapters and journal articles, and in 2020, she co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Agriculture with Dr Paige Castellanos and other notable researchers.

Dr Paige Castellanos is Senior Manager of Gender Justice and Inclusion at Oxfam America, USA. Before moving into her new role in 2022, Dr Castellanos was previously Director for the Gender Equity through Agriculture Research and Education (GEARE) Initiative at The Pennsylvania State University, USA. From 2016-2019, Dr Castellanos acted as Project Manager for the Women in Agriculture Network (WAgN): Honduras – a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve women’s participation in the horticulture value chain in Honduras. She has published widely on gender, empowerment and agriculture and co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Agriculture alongside Emerita Professor Carolyn Sachs and other notable researchers in 2020.

Dimensions:

229x152mm
6x9"

Publication date:

Q2 2025

ISBN-13: 9781801468053

Hardback - £180.00
£180.00
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Description

There are an estimated 500 million smallholder farmers across the world, of which a suggested 60-80% are women. Despite this overwhelming majority, women smallholders remain largely unsupported and their contribution to agriculture is often devalued because of their sex.

Women and smallholder farming: Addressing global inequities in agriculture provides a comprehensive overview of the main obstacles and challenges women smallholders continue to face, such as restricted access to markets and education, as well as a lack of control over assets and property rights. The book also assesses the impact of sociocultural factors on women smallholder farmers in different regions around the world, including Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. In highlighting these issues, the book considers how key stakeholders across the agri-food supply chain can support, empower and sufficiently compensate women smallholder farmers for their contribution to agriculture.

Edited by two internationally-renowned experts on gender and agriculture, the book will be a standard reference for university and other researchers studying smallholder farming systems in departments of agricultural science, gender studies, international development, politics and development economics, as well as government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in development programmes focussing on women smallholders.

Table of contents

Part 1 Women smallholders and global agricultural production

  • 1.The role of women smallholder farmers in achieving global food security: an overview: Nicoline de Haan, Gender Platform Director - CGIAR, Kenya;
  • 2.The role of women smallholders in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Rhiannon Pyburn, KIT Royal Tropical Institute, The Netherlands;
  • 3.The adoption of climate change mitigation strategies by women smallholder farmers: Margaret Alston, Monash University and University of Newcastle, Australia;

Part 2 Sociocultural factors and their effects on women smallholder farmers

  • 4.Challenges facing women smallholder farmers: an overview: Sabin Bieri, University of Bern, Switzerland;
  • 5.The impact of sociocultural factors on women smallholder farmers: Africa: Brenda Boonabaana, Makerere University, Uganda;
  • 6.The impact of sociocultural factors on women smallholder farmers: Asia: Nozomi Kawarazuka, International Potato Centre (CIP), Vietnam;
  • 7.The impact of sociocultural factors on women smallholder farmers: Latin America: Janet Momsen, University of California-Davis, USA;
  • 8.The impact of sociocultural factors on women smallholder farmers: Middle East: Dina Najjar, ICARDA, Lebanon;

Part 3 Gender negotiations for women smallholders

  • 9.The role and influence of care work responsibilities on agricultural production: Paige Castellanos, Oxfam, USA;
  • 10.Confronting masculinities and patriarchal gender norms in agriculture: an overview: Angie Carter, Michigan Tech, USA;
  • 11.Sexuality and women smallholders: Prisca Pfammatter, Kanton Basel-Stadt, Switzerland;
  • 12.Negotiating the intersection of gender and race in agriculture: Hannah Whitley, Penn State University, USA;
  • 13.Agriculture, power and gender-based violence: the case of women smallholders in Malawi: Veronica Kaitano, Independent Gender Consultant, Malawi;
  • 14.The impact of migration on women smallholders: Jemima Baada, University of British Columbia, Canada;

Part 4 Facilitating access to resources and technology

  • 15.Challenges facing women smallholder farmers: access to markets: Margaret Adesugba, Newcastle University, UK;
  • 16.Addressing gender inequities in accessing extension and advisory services: Kathleen Colverson, Arati Joshi, and Fallon Y Riaño J, University of Florida, USA; and Steven Franzel, Independent Consultant, USA;
  • 17.Women smallholders and technology: facilitating access to improve farm productivity and profitability: Girma Gezimu Gebre, Ritsumeikan University, Japan;
  • 18.Gender-transformative approaches/programmes: role and benefits for women smallholders: Rhiannon Pyburn, KIT Royal Tropical Institute, The Netherlands;
  • 19.Financial support initiatives for women smallholders: access and availability: M. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh;
  • 20.Approaches to strengthen women’s land rights and tenure security through agricultural programming: Krista Jacobs, Caitlin Kieran, Tatiana Gumucio and Nayna Jhaveri, Landesa, USA;
  • 21.Supporting women smallholder farmers: the role of the public and private sectors: Margaret Alston, Monash University and University of Newcastle, Australia;
  • 22.Supporting women smallholder farmers: the establishment of women empowerment programmes: Janelle Larson, Penn State University, USA;

Part 5 Case studies

  • 23.Women smallholder farmers and water resource management: Stephanie Buechler, Penn State University, USA;
  • 24.Women smallholder farmers growing horticultural crops: Francis Denisse McClean, Zamorano University, Honduras;
  • 25.Women smallholder farmers growing beverage crops: Alissa Bilfield, University of Washington, USA;
  • 26.Women smallholder farmers growing roots, tubers and pulses: Linley Chiwona-Karltun, Swedish Unviersity of Life Sciences, Sweden;
  • 27.Women smallholder farmers growing oil bearing crops: Hudu Zakaria, University of Development Studies, Ghana;
  • 28.Enhancing gender equality in agroforestry systems: Marlène Elias, Bioversity International, Italy; Gloria Adeyiga, Bangor University, UK, World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Kenya and Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), Ghana; Elisabeth Simelton, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sweden; Yovita Ivanova, Bioversity International, Peru; Ana Maria Paez Valencia, Bioversity International, Costa Rica; Barbara Vinceti, Bioversity International, Italy; Tim Pagella, Bangor University, United Kingdom;
  • 29.Supporting women smallholders involved in pig farming: Rosemirta Birungi, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya;
  • 30.Supporting women smallholders involved in poultry farming: Brigitte Bagnol, International Rural Poultry Centre, Mozambique;