Back women's movements for a real chance at equality

Published on 28 January on scidev.net, this article by Henrietta Miers discusses how rural women's movements can bring about transformative change. Featuring the Step Up event with took place in December 2016 at the FAO, the article argues that a new language of ‘transformation’ is emerging. Henrietta Miers considers that the development sector’s focus on gender has moved away from the paradigms of the past which are now believed to be too technical and ‘boxed’ into logical frameworks, time-bound, results-oriented, and focused only on addressing women’s needs in specific sectors rather than on reversing balances of power. The next step is to go beyond rhetoric, says Henrietta Miers. Traditional projects targeting women such as vegetable gardening, or poultry production, are no longer considered enough for promoting gender equality.