Law as a Tool for Ensuring Contributions of Small-Scale Women Farmers to Food Security in Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 709-737
Author(s):  
Jane Ezirigwe

Abstract The paper discusses the role of law in ensuring that the agricultural productivity of small-scale women farmers in Nigeria is not encumbered by cultural practices and absence of extant laws and policies. Employing the feminist theory, it examines the existence and enforcement of equality rights for women to access productive assets including land, credit and agricultural extension services. It explores the specific challenges women encounter from perspectives other than limited access, including gender-based violence and gender-specific roles. The aim of the paper is to challenge some ubiquitous sociocultural practices that hinder the active participation and contribution of small-scale women farmers in agriculture and food security in Nigeria. It suggests how laws and policies can help increase this productivity. It concludes with recommendations on adequate legal frameworks, policy awareness, a commitment to promote women’s rights, as well as increased public investment in rural infrastructure to promote production of adequate, affordable and safe food in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner.

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-474
Author(s):  
Nicole Bouah ◽  
Julia Sloth-Nielsen

Abstract The covid-19 pandemic spread has it impacted health systems, economies and communities across the African continent. It has also exacerbated risks already faced by children: limiting access to education, reducing protection from sexual and gender-based violence, harmful traditional and cultural practices including child, early or forced marriage (cefm), female genital-mutilation (fgm); and further limiting access to reproductive services and food insecurity. This article illustrates that because demonstrably different considerations arise by comparison to children’s experiences in the global north, it would be a valuable contribution for the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child to develop a General Comment on state responses to upholding children’s rights in the context of epidemics, pandemics and emergencies, tailored to the specificities of the region.


Author(s):  
Bina Agarwal

This chapter examines the relationship between gender inequality and food security, with a particular focus on women as food producers, consumers, and family food managers. The discussion is set against the backdrop of rising and volatile food prices, the vulnerabilities created by regional concentrations of food production, imports and exports, the feminization of agriculture, and the projected effect of climate change on crop yields. The chapter outlines the constraints women face as farmers, in terms of their access to land, credit, production inputs, technology, and markets. It argues that there is substantial potential for increasing agricultural output by helping women farmers overcome these production constraints and so bridging the productivity differentials between them and male farmers. This becomes even more of an imperative, given the feminization of agriculture. The chapter spells out the mechanisms, especially institutional, for overcoming the constraints and the inequalities women face as producers, consumers, and home food managers. Institutionally, a group approach to farming could, for instance, enable women and other small holders to enhance their access to land and inputs, benefit from economies of scale, and increase their bargaining power. Other innovative solutions discussed here include the creation of Public Land Banks that would empower the smallholder, and the establishment of agricultural resource centers that would cater especially to small-scale women farmers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-131
Author(s):  
Aggée Shyaka Mugabe

This paper examines Uganda‘s compliance with commitments of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV). The findings show that Uganda has partially complied with these commitments mainly by incorporating them into national laws and policies. Compliance is primarily motivated by domestic factors. Firstly, it aims at addressing a real need given that SGBV is a pervasive phenomenon in this country. Secondly, and in accordance with international relations perspective, this compliance, though partial, advances additional agendas, namely (1) promoting the country‘s positive image while diverting international and regional attention from internal governance deficits including controversial presidential elections of 2011 and 2016, (2) responding to advocacy pressure from women-led organisations‘ and (3) achieving political correctness in the eyes of national and international partners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-112

This sample of photos from 16 August–15 November 2019 aims to convey a sense of Palestinian life during this quarter. The images capture Palestinians across the diaspora as they fight to exercise their rights: to run for office, to vote, and to protest both Israeli occupation and gender-based violence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Snodgrass

This article explores the complexities of gender-based violence in post-apartheid South Africa and interrogates the socio-political issues at the intersection of class, ‘race’ and gender, which impact South African women. Gender equality is up against a powerful enemy in societies with strong patriarchal traditions such as South Africa, where women of all ‘races’ and cultures have been oppressed, exploited and kept in positions of subservience for generations. In South Africa, where sexism and racism intersect, black women as a group have suffered the major brunt of this discrimination and are at the receiving end of extreme violence. South Africa’s gender-based violence is fuelled historically by the ideologies of apartheid (racism) and patriarchy (sexism), which are symbiotically premised on systemic humiliation that devalues and debases whole groups of people and renders them inferior. It is further argued that the current neo-patriarchal backlash in South Africa foments and sustains the subjugation of women and casts them as both victims and perpetuators of pervasive patriarchal values.


2021 ◽  
pp. sextrans-2020-054896
Author(s):  
Navin Kumar ◽  
Kamila Janmohamed ◽  
Kate Nyhan ◽  
Laura Forastiere ◽  
Wei-Hong Zhang ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health disparities, including disparities in sexual health and well-being. While there have been several reviews published on COVID-19 and population health disparities generally—including some with attention to HIV—none has focused on sexual health (ie, STI care, female sexual health, sexual behaviour). We have conducted a scoping review focused on sexual health (excluding reproductive health (RH), intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender-based violence (GBV)) in the COVID-19 era, examining sexual behaviours and sexual health outcomes.MethodsA scoping review, compiling both peer-reviewed and grey literature, focused on sexual health (excluding RH, IPV and GBV) and COVID-19 was conducted on 15 September 2020. Multiple bibliographical databases were searched. Study selection conformed to Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewers’ Manual 2015 Methodology for JBI Scoping Reviews. We only included English-language original studies.ResultsWe found that men who have sex with men may be moving back toward pre-pandemic levels of sexual activity, and that STI and HIV testing rates seem to have decreased. There was minimal focus on outcomes such as the economic impact on sexual health (excluding RH, IPV and GBV) and STI care, especially STI care of marginalised populations. In terms of population groups, there was limited focus on sex workers or on women, especially women’s sexual behaviour and mental health. We noticed limited use of qualitative techniques. Very few studies were in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).ConclusionsSexual health research is critical during a global infectious disease pandemic and our review of studies suggested notable research gaps. Researchers can focus efforts on LMICs and under-researched topics within sexual health and explore the use of qualitative techniques and interventions where appropriate.


Author(s):  
Marcela Jabbaz Churba

AbstractThis study aims to analyse the legal decision-making process in the Community of Valencia (Spain) regarding contentious divorces particularly with respect to parental authority (patria potestas), custody and visiting arrangements for children, and the opinions of mothers and fathers on the impact these judicial measures have had on their lives. It also considers the biases in these decisions produced by privileging the rights of the adults over those of the children. Three particular moments are studied: (1) the situation before the break-up, focusing on the invisible gender gap in care; (2) the judicial process, where we observe the impact of hidden gender-based violence and gender stereotypes; and (3) the situation post-decision, showing how any existing violence continues after divorce, by means of parental authority. The concept of ‘motherhood under threat’ is placed at the centre of these issues, where children’s voices are given the least attention.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110039
Author(s):  
Hadijah Mwenyango

This article analyses the interplay between women’s social identity, migration and manifestation of sexual and gender-based violence. The research used mixed quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings show experiences of domestic, sexual, community and survival violence. Their predicaments are exacerbated by socio-cultural and structural influences, and despite commitments for protecting refugees, more has to be done to meet the needs of victims. The article reveals the urgency for the adoption of gender-responsive and rights-based approaches in refugee interventions. The capacity of frontline workers must be enhanced to detect violence, appreciate the needs and rights of victims and provide appropriate support.


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