Women, Land Struggles, and the Reconstruction of the Commons

Federici, Silvia

doi:10.1111/j.1743-4580.2010.00319.x

Cited by 68 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Feminist historians have linked the devaluation of social reproduction to the historical division of productive and reproductive work in the advent of capitalism (Bock and Duden 1976); the term 'traditional' is therefore misleading. Gender inequalities in countries of the Global South cannot be separated from colonialism and its implementation of a sexual division of labour and the construction and enforcement of gender inequalities (Federici 2011;. The practice of employing female domestic workers from poorer and mostly rural families also has its roots in colonial rule (Meyiwa 2012).…”

Section: Enclosure Through the Commodification Of Social Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marxist Perspectives on the Global Enclosures of Social Reproduction

Beier

2018

tripleC

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Women's unpaid care and domestic work is gaining relevance in policy-making as well as in academia. Feminist scholars and activists have lobbied successfully for the integration of unpaid care and domestic work into the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 5.4) of the United Nations in the hope for greater recognition of women's contribution to the economy. Policy documents about social reproduction highlight women's disproportionate share of reproductive activities as an obstacle to women's economic empowerment and as a relic of 'traditional' gender roles. Social reproduction is thereby not understood as a merit in itself, but as an obstacle to women's participation in paid labour. Policy implications will enable certain empowerment effects for some women, but at the same time promote the increasing privatization and commodification of reproductive work across the globe. Rising inequalities between the Global North and South and between women along the categories of class and race will be one major result. To theoretically explain such contradictory effects of the recognition of social reproduction, I use the concept of 'enclosures' based on Marx' 'primitive accumulation'. Feminist scholars use the concept to explain how unpaid care and housework is commodified or de-commodified to integrate women into the paid labour force or to reduce the costs of social reproduction according to the needs of the economy. The sudden interest in unpaid care and domestic work e.g. in the Sustainable Development Goals can therefore be seen as process of double enclosure, which integrates women into the paid labour force, but also sets the grounds for the further commodification of domestic and care work. This paper aims to critically discuss the sudden interest in unpaid domestic and care work and its contradictory effects from a Marxist feminist perspective and reflects on feminist strategies and movements in global governance. After introducing Marxist perspectives on social reproduction, the question if and how feminist ideas and concepts have been appropriated, the effects and implications of global policies on social reproduction and global inequalities, as well as possible counter-strategies will be discussed. Acknowledgement: I want to thank Karin, my mother, who did all the reproductive work during her Christmas holidays while I was working on this article. I also want to thank my dear friends Deborah Sielert, Moritz Altenried, Bernardo Bianchi, Frank Engster and Martin Fries for their useful and encouraging comments, as well as Sarah Hönig and Dominik Arncken for their linguistic and other support. Special thanks go to Tove Soiland, who not only provided useful comments, but also inspired the entire article with her work and seminars on feminist perspectives on the concept of Landnahme (enclosure).

show abstract

Section: Enclosure Through the Commodification Of Social Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marxist Perspectives on the Global Enclosures of Social Reproduction

Beier

2018

tripleC

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Among the Kodi of Indonesia's eastern island lands, woodlands, fencerows and gullies of other farmers (private holdings, small medium, and large) ' (1996, p. 162). For a more recent discussion of this phenomenon, see (Federici 2011). 21 One wonders if the differing impressions/emphases of myself (a woman) and Suyanto (a man) may also reflect differing perceptions among local men and women (as Behrman et al 2012 found-Ugandan couples studied did not necessarily agree about what they jointly owned).…”

Section: Lands Forest and Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gender box : A framework for analysing gender roles in forest management

Colfer¹

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Incorporating a gendered perspective into priority setting has been identified as important for mainstreaming gender in agricultural systems (Meizen-Dick 2010;World Bank 2009) and for improving women's contribution to agricultural production and sustainability (IAASTD 2009). The absence of consideration for gender issues in agricultural policies (Pellizzoli 2010), institutional structures for access to capital and bargaining power (Mohamed 2003;Mpuga 2010;Nina and Sanders 1998) and social norms around appropriate gender roles in division of labor, decision-making, and access to resources and education (Gotschi et al 2009;Nation 2010;Kleinbooi and Lahiff 2007;Federici 2011;Hyder 2005;Katungi et al 2008;Oya and Sender 2009) have been well documented. The impact on women's health (Doss 2001;Loewenson et al 2010), economic stability (Peterman 2011), and food production ) have also been given considerable attention.…”

Section: Gender In Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

She Came, She Saw, She Sowed: Re-negotiating Gender-Responsive Priorities for Effective Development of Agricultural Biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ezezika¹,

Deadman²,

Daar³

2012

J Agric Environ Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper, we argue for the importance of incorporating a gendered perspective for the effective development of sustainable agricultural biotechnology systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Priority setting for agricultural policy and project development requires attention to gender issues specific to the demands of agricultural biotechnology. This is essential for successfully addressing food security and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There has been a great deal of debate and literature on the implications of gender in agricultural development and policy. However, the implications of gender in agricultural biotechnology and have received relatively less attention, especially in SSA. Based on interviews with key stakeholders in agricultural biotechnology across SSA, review of pertinent literature and field observations, we have found that incorporating a gendered perspective is critical for the sustainable development of agricultural biotechnology and requires attention in five areas: the inclusion of women, particularly women farmers, in decision-making around biotech/genetically modified (GM) crop and trait selection; equal representation of women as men in education for agricultural science and in agricultural biotechnology research and development professions; greater involvement of women in extension services and farmers' associations for successful delivery of information about biotech crops equality between men and women in access to resources for biotech/GM crop cultivation; and increased control for (2013( ) 26:461-471 DOI 10.1007 women farmers over biotech/GM crop management and income generation. We explain the consequences of failing to include such gender-responsive considerations into priority setting for agricultural biotechnology development and policy in SSA and provide recommendations for how policy makers and project partners of development initiatives can avoid such oversights.Environ Ethics

show abstract

Women, Land Struggles, and the Reconstruction of the Commons

Cited by 68 publications

References 13 publications

Marxist Perspectives on the Global Enclosures of Social Reproduction

Marxist Perspectives on the Global Enclosures of Social Reproduction

The gender box : A framework for analysing gender roles in forest management

She Came, She Saw, She Sowed: Re-negotiating Gender-Responsive Priorities for Effective Development of Agricultural Biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About