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Metadata only record This chapter argues that women play a significant role in agriculture in developing countries that is not properly addressed or fully recognized. Culture and changing technologies affect the roles assigned to men and women. These roles and the gender divisions of labor in agriculture greatly affect gendered knowledge. Men and women spend their time differently; oftentimes, women have more work because they are in charge of reproductive work as well as contributing to productive income-earning activities for the family. It is important for agricultural development programs to recognize the differences in men and women's knowledge and women's extensive contributions in order to be effective and benefit men and women alike. They also must recognize the changing roles of men and women as new income-earning opportunities arise, and new technologies are adopted.

Metadata only record The author argues that globalization has created new markets for female labor through the influences of transnational corporations, tourism, micro-finance and industry. Women's employment, however, varies from country to country more than men's does according to social expectations of women's roles. She uses micro-finance, tourism and industry work to flesh out the positive and negative impacts of these new types of employment for women.

Metadata only record The author is introducing the main theme of the book: gender and development. She argues that gender roles and identities are fluid and changing between space, time, location and culture. Economic changes and modernization effect men and women differently. Development strategies have changed to include new evaluations of women and men's roles in society.

Metadata only record This article argues that gender roles, gendered knowledge, and gendered spaces have to be considered in the discussion to understand decision making for biodiversity at the grassroots. Women's roles in seed selection, traditional plant use, and bioconservation are changing and being influenced by culture, global trade networks, and geographical contexts. The paper also discusses the two main approaches to biodiversity conservation; the top-down classic approach, and the neoliberal approach. The role of diverse groups of people including indigenous peoples, whose knowledge is perceived to be threatened by globalization and Western science, is also discussed in this paper. Biodiversity is declining due to habitat destruction, over-harvesting, pollution, the inappropriate introduction and dominance of higher-yielding varieties of staple food crops.

Metadata only record Research on women and biodiversity has highlighted the importance of women's knowledge in plant domestication and biodiversity conservation. The data here presented is the result of a gendered knowledge case study in four villages the Bajio region of Mexico. The paper argues the need to include both men's and women's knowledge in research and denounces the lack of gender focus on previous research. Differences of knowledge come from the gender division of labour both at home and in the different farming plots. For this reason it is equally important to include both in research. Case studies on Mali, Swaziland and Venezuela see the shift from food crops (crop diversity) to cash crop production (fewer crops) as the reason that agriculture became male-dominated. Most recently, economic pressures drive men away from their plots increasing the workload of the elderly, children, and women. Due to men's absence, women have to assume responsibility for most agricultural activities, and this is creating a shift in gender roles.

Metadata only record This paper uses time as a measure of change in gender roles under environmental stress. Whether women are perceived as having a natural "affinity" with the environment or as contributing to the depletion of natural resources, no one can deny that women play an important role in environmental conservation. Research should take the factor of gender into consideration. In order to illustrate the interaction between changes in gender roles and environmental stress the paper gives examples from several case studies. These case studies were carried out in areas with low agriculture, and where structural adjustments and migrations destabilize the traditional gender patterns, often resulting in a heavier burden on rural women. In dryland communities, women tend to be the most affected by environmental degradation. Using time as a measure one can see how changes affect women and men differently at different stages. For example, during the dry season (when there is enough food for two meals a day) women's food preparation and cooking time increases. Women tend to walk further to collect resources such as water or fuel, carry heavier loads each time, the quality of the woods also decreases, and to save fuel women move to indoor cooking (ill ventilated kitchens cause high exposure to smoke). One can also say that these strains can allow for some opportunities too. The paper explains that due to the scarcity of resources families are using alternative cooking methods and greater numbers of men are becoming more involved.