Framing Feminization of Agriculture: From Gender-environment Theories to International Environmental Law

Abstract

Since 70s the debate about women and environment has registered a considerable change in the perception of the role played by women and different conceptual and methodological approaches developed to deal with the women ­– gender – environment interrelationship and to compare the feminist standpoint with the androcentric culture that makes male (andros) at the center of the economic, socio-cultural and political life. This paper, which focuses on the feminization of agriculture phenomenon, i.e. women’s increasing work and responsibilities in agriculture, explores its meaning in terms of women’s empowerment and examines the contribution of feminist strands of thought (such as ecofeminism – women and environment – gender, environment and sustainable development) in fostering the gender paradigm in environmental concerns, plans for agricultural and rural development. The author aims at verifying whether the international environmental law system has integrated the ability of feminist perspectives to position women’s rights and conditions at the core of environmental issues by (en)-gendering some changes and criticizing the power and distribution of resources that have consistently been associated with masculinity.