Gender, Environment, and Development

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 August 2017) | Viewed by 33359

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Sociology, University of Missouri, Middlebush Hall, Columbia, MO 65201, USA
Interests: coal mining; fracking; gender; race and class; cultural studies; environmental justice

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are seeking submissions for a Special Issue on gender, environment, and development, broadly defined. Possible themes or topics might include space and place, the Anthropocene, sustainability, permaculture, reproductive justice, sexual violence, queer or trans politics, ecosexuality, environmental violence, environmental racism, food systems, political ecology, bio-piracy or bio-colonialism, indigenous perspectives, feminist materialisms, climate change adaptation and climate disruptions, refugees or migration, globalization, industrialization or deindustrialization, privatization schemes, conservation politics, transformations in work worlds, resource depletion, or extractive landscapes.

Articles can be theoretically or empirically driven, should be aimed at a broad, interdisciplinary audience, and should critically examine questions at the intersection of social/cultural formations and material conditions. Our aim is a collection that brings together a variety of emergent disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on gender, environment, and development at global and local scales.

Prof. Rebecca R. Scott
Guest Editor

Keywords

  • Gender
  • Sexuality
  • Environment
  • Development
  • Sustainability
  • Environmental justice
  • Globalization
  • Anthropocene
  • Feminist materialisms

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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2419 KiB  
Article
What Are the Main Challenges Impeding Implementation of the Spatial Plans in Egypt Using Ecotourism Development as an Example?
by Emad Kenawy, Taher Osman and Aref Alshamndy
Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(3), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6030075 - 13 Jul 2017
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6305
Abstract
In Egypt, highly technical plans are drawn up, but nobody puts them into practice. They always end up gathering dust on the shelves of national agencies or local government without being utilised to make improvements to local economic or environmental well-being. This is [...] Read more.
In Egypt, highly technical plans are drawn up, but nobody puts them into practice. They always end up gathering dust on the shelves of national agencies or local government without being utilised to make improvements to local economic or environmental well-being. This is because such plans did not reflect the stakeholder interests nor deal with their conflicts. The collaborative planning approach is exalted as one of the best methods to help reach a consensus between the stakeholders about the issues and to advance shared solutions and then increase the likelihood of successful implementation of a plan. However, the stakeholder collaboration and engagement practice in Egypt remains ineffective. This research seeks to investigate and understand the challenges and barriers that have hindered the efficiency of stakeholder engagement during ecotourism planning as a sectorial case study by focusing on two case studies, and critiquing existing experiences of ecotourism development planning based upon a conceptual framework for investigating and understanding those challenges. Evidence was drawn from a critical documentary review, and combined with observation and semi-structured interviews with 56 ecotourism experts and stakeholders. The analysis suggests that the stakeholder engagement was tokenistic, and the central government was still dominant. This is a result of three groups of challenges including deficiencies in operationalising stakeholder engagement and challenges associated with the government and non-government stakeholder groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Environment, and Development)
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238 KiB  
Article
Gender, Migration and Development: Can Advocacy Groups Be More of a Hindrance than a Help?
by Sally Shortall and Ruth McAreavey
Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6020049 - 13 May 2017
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4674
Abstract
The social world is complex and ever changing. However, to function, we need shared common knowledge for social relations and social interaction. We need categories of people, and assumptions about collective identities. While this is necessary to manage social interaction, it also leads [...] Read more.
The social world is complex and ever changing. However, to function, we need shared common knowledge for social relations and social interaction. We need categories of people, and assumptions about collective identities. While this is necessary to manage social interaction, it also leads to debates that question the essentialism of collective attributes and identities. In this article we argue that advocacy groups campaigning for the rights of women and migrants can sometimes reinforce an understanding of these groups as static and unchanging and this impedes their development. The article contends that advocacy groups, can, unintentionally, reinforce stereotypes. Two different data sets, both drawn from Northern Ireland, are used to explore this question. Our case studies raise global questions about the need for critical analysis and reflection on the strategies used by advocacy groups to advance social equality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Environment, and Development)
252 KiB  
Article
Forests and Food Security: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?
by Kiran Asher and Annie Shattuck
Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(1), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6010034 - 20 Mar 2017
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6474
Abstract
Hunger remains a key development problem in the 21st century. Within this context, there is renewed attention to the importance of forests and their role in supplementing the food and nutrition needs of rural populations. With a concurrent uptake of “gender mainstreaming” for [...] Read more.
Hunger remains a key development problem in the 21st century. Within this context, there is renewed attention to the importance of forests and their role in supplementing the food and nutrition needs of rural populations. With a concurrent uptake of “gender mainstreaming” for sustainable development, there is also a call for understanding the gendered dynamics of forest governance and food security. In this paper, we reviewed emerging research (2009–2014) on forests and food security and on the ways gender is said to matter. As with previous work on gender and natural resource management, we found that gender is an important variable; but how, to what degree and why are different in every context. That is, despite the suggestion of clear linkages, the relationships between gender, forests and food security are not generalizable across contexts. Understanding the relationship between forest resources and food security requires attention to gender disparities at the local level, but also to the broader political and economic context in which those disparities are reinforced. We flag the need to guard against ahistorical and technical approaches to gender and suggest some example research questions that use a more relational view of gender—one that examines how political economy and social power structure access to resources at multiple scales. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Environment, and Development)
224 KiB  
Article
Receiving Assistance and Local Food System Participation
by Rebecca L. Som Castellano
Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6010018 - 16 Feb 2017
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4507
Abstract
A body of literature has noted that local food systems (LFSs) may not involve active participation by individuals with lower incomes. This is, in part, a function of racial and class hegemony, as well as physical and financial accessibility of LFSs. LFS institutions, [...] Read more.
A body of literature has noted that local food systems (LFSs) may not involve active participation by individuals with lower incomes. This is, in part, a function of racial and class hegemony, as well as physical and financial accessibility of LFSs. LFS institutions, such as farmers’ markets, have been working to facilitate receipt of food assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Charitable assistance programs, such as food banks, have also been actively working to engage in LFSs, for example, by making local foods available. However, little research has explored the role that receiving public or charitable assistance can play in influencing LFS participation. In this article, I utilize quantitative and qualitative data collected from across the state of Ohio to examine the relationship between receiving assistance and LFS participation for women, who remain predominately responsible for food provisioning in the U.S., including among those who participate in LFSs. Quantitative results suggest that receiving assistance can increase participation in LFSs. Qualitative data provides more nuanced information about the importance of food assistance for women who want to participate in LFSs, and suggest that it is essential that food cooperatives and farmers’ markets are equipped to receive food assistance programs, such as SNAP, in order for women with lower incomes to participate in LFSs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Environment, and Development)
218 KiB  
Article
In Their Own Words: The Health and Sexuality of Immigrant Women with Infibulation Living in Switzerland
by Michela Villani, Judith Louise Griffin and Patrick Bodenmann
Soc. Sci. 2016, 5(4), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci5040071 - 2 Nov 2016
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6328
Abstract
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a significant public health problem. It is estimated that around 14,700 women affected by FGM live in Switzerland, primarily among women with a history of migration. Our qualitative research investigated the sexual health of immigrant women living with [...] Read more.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a significant public health problem. It is estimated that around 14,700 women affected by FGM live in Switzerland, primarily among women with a history of migration. Our qualitative research investigated the sexual health of immigrant women living with FGM in Switzerland, describing their own perception of health, reproductive life and sexuality. We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a group of eight immigrant women of sub-Saharan origin living in Switzerland with Type III FGM (infibulation). Seven of the women were from Somalia and one was from the Ivory Coast. All of the Somali women were mothers and married (two separated), and the Ivorian woman was a single mother. The women in our study reported a low level of sexual satisfaction and reproductive health. They affirmed their desire to improve, or at least change, their condition. Although they rarely talk with their husbands about sexual subject matter, they would like to include them more and improve dialogue. Specific socio-sexual management is recommended when caring for immigrant women living with FGM in order to respond to their specific health care needs. Multidisciplinary approaches may be able to offer more comprehensive health care, including facilitated communication to improve dialogue between women and health care professionals, and eventually between women and their husbands in discussing sexual subject matter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Environment, and Development)

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232 KiB  
Essay
Policy Discourses and Marginal Places: Histories of Environmental Democracy in India and Sweden
by Seema Arora-Jonsson
Soc. Sci. 2017, 6(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6010033 - 17 Mar 2017
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3828
Abstract
Past decades have been marked with grassroots struggles around the use and access to natural resources such as forests, both in the global South and in the global North. On the one hand, we have politicians, bureaucrats and others needing to deal with [...] Read more.
Past decades have been marked with grassroots struggles around the use and access to natural resources such as forests, both in the global South and in the global North. On the one hand, we have politicians, bureaucrats and others needing to deal with these issues at the national and global level. On the other, we have the material practices and struggles at the local level as well as a parallel discourse on decentralization to local areas from the past few decades. By tracing the historical changes in policies that touch on forests-peoples relationships in India and Sweden, I contextualize these trends by placing them in a historical context and examine the questions that are central to a critical examination for environmental governance today. I analyze how environmental policy-making shaped forest politics in the two places and what spaces it provided for environmental democracy—especially in relation to possibilities for people’s participation and for gender equality. I bring attention to the imperative to take account of questions of increasing expert dominance in environmental governance and local struggles, the space for local people’s participation in forest and rural politics, the gendering of these spaces and relationships and how that affects environmental politics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender, Environment, and Development)
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