ABSTRACT
This chapter advances a perspective that recognises diverse and often marginalised epistemic resources that engage with gender in international development. Rather than assuming that knowledge is exclusively produced through a decontextualised academic viewpoint, this chapter highlights the entanglement of knowledge with the material conditions in which it is produced. Building on insights from feminist epistemology, we examine the situated knowledge about the notion of ‘gender equality’ in the CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research), an international agricultural development organisation. We investigate this contested notion according to three different sites of knowledge production: institutional documents, gender specialists, and men and women from rural communities. The analysis suggests that, despite challenges in knowledge integration, engagement with different sites of knowledge production in relation to gender equality opens possibilities for mutual learning. We conclude with three potential opportunities. Overall, this chapter evidences the relevance of embracing a transdisciplinary perspective on gender mainstreaming by expanding the treatment of gender equality into one that acknowledges its contested and context-specific nature.
