2. Today, Tuesday, 14 April 2013
A Sen: “More than 100 Million Women are
Missing”
B Agarwal: “Conceptualizing Environmental
Collective Action: Why Gender Matters”
B G Schoepf: “AIDS, Gender, and Sexuality
during Africa’s Economic Crisis”
3. A Sen: “More than 100 Million
Women are Missing”
Neglect and inequality has led to the excess
mortality of women
Neglect and inequality in
education, healthcare, religion
Economic, social, cultural and policy practices
that favour men over women
Cooperative conflict; harmonious inequality
Perceptions of who does “productive work”
These perceptions are powerful and have powerful
consequences
They ensure female deprivation
4. B Agarwal: “Conceptualizing
Environmental Collective Action: Why
Gender Matters”
Community forestry groups
(CFG), i.e., environmental collective action
When evaluating the performance of community
institutions for environmental action:
The extent of community participation in decision
making
Equity in distribution of costs and benefits
And efficiency in regenerating the resources
5. B Agarwal: “Conceptualizing
Environmental Collective Action: Why
Gender Matters”
However, from a gender perspective those criteria
are not that impressive. Why?
Women’s limited participation – they constitute less
than 10% in CFG memberships – speak less – not
taken seriously – decision-making executive bodies
Unequal distribution of costs
Unequal distribution of benefits
6. B Agarwal: “Conceptualizing
Environmental Collective Action: Why
Gender Matters”
These inequalities cause inefficiencies
Rule enforcement problems
Information flow imperfection
Inaccurate assessment of resource depletion
Problems in catching transgressors
Conflict resolution problems (women excluded)
Non-incorporation of women’s specific knowledge of
species varieties
Gender differences in preference for trees and
plants
7. B G Schoepf: “AIDS, Gender, and
Sexuality during Africa’s Economic Crisis”
Political economy in crisis aggravates the spread of
illnesses, epidemics and gender inequality
Coups d’état, wars, poverty, corruption, cultural male
bias, SAPs (Washington Consensus policies)
Political economy in crisis aggravates gender
inequality (intersectionality in gender studies)
Men abdicate their responsibility in childcare
Psychological stress, alcoholism and violence (US
ghettoes; Canadian reserves; SA townships)
Lack of skills, no job prospects, bleak futures, live for
the moment, available for hire for violence and sex
8. B G Schoepf: “AIDS, Gender, and
Sexuality during Africa’s Economic Crisis”
Women’s biological vulnerability
Women more easily infected than men
Women constituting the majority of AIDS
cases, seropositivity, and those at risk
Cultural beliefs and practices
Popular representations of AIDS
Sex trade (selling sex) for survival
Power inequality prevents women from demanding
the use of condoms from men
