ABSTRACT
For some decades now, there have been compelling arguments for, and good evidence of, the contributions towards alleviating poverty and food insecurity that can be achieved by addressing gender disparities in access to agricultural inputs, markets, resources, and advice. Numerous projects and programs have made efforts to integrate gender into agricultural research and development practice to reduce these gaps. However, these efforts have been insufficient on their own to bring about desired changes in ingrained patterns of inequality, because providing rural households with access to resources and technologies does not automatically translate into women’s control over them or their benefits, or into social acceptance of new roles and opportunities for women and men. The limited progress in reducing and reversing many gender inequities, and the persistence of poverty and food insecurity after decades of research and program intervention, highlight the need to assess the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating gender transformative approaches (GTAs) – approaches that address both the fundamental causes and consequences of gender inequality – into agricultural development programs.
