ABSTRACT
While it is widely accepted that gender issues need to be incorporated into policies and programs that address food security, putting this into practice is another question. Many health and nutrition development programs tend to focus on women of childbearing age, particularly mothers, with limited attention to the roles of men or older women in child care and feeding (Aubel 2012). In doing so, these programs avoid addressing issues of control of resources, decision-making, or the division of labour, in effect treating these dynamics as structural issues that cannot be changed. Over the past 30 years, there has been considerable effort to take gender issues into account in agricultural research and activities. Participatory approaches in agricultural research are also recognised as having validity, and are supported by many donors; however, the depth, engagement, and impact of participatory methods in practice is highly variable, with some institutions using the methods as an instrumental approach to involving people in a perfunctory way (Cornwall 2008). In her discussion of participatory methods as praxis, Cornwall argues that they can be viewed as a “terrain of contestation” that involves different actors with different intentions and interests, which “shape and reshape the boundaries of action” (2008: 276). Although outsiders may bring in participatory methods, who participates and how they participate will influence the outcome, in terms of both equity issues and outcomes such as food security. At times, the discourse and application of participation is used to reinforce structures of power and control, and the language of consensus and deliberation may silence the contrasting views of women and other groups (Cornwall and Goetz 2005).
