Over the past two decades, existing documentation of women in the agricultural sector has surveyed topics, such as agricultural restructuring and land reform, international trade agreements and
food trade, land ownership and rural development and rural feminisms. Many studies have focused on either the high-income countries of the global North or the low-income countries of the global
South. This separation suggests that the North has little to learn from the South, or that there is little shared commonality across the global dividing line. Fletcher and Kubik challenge this
political, economic, and ideological separation by drawing together authors from 12 different countries, over 5 continents. They discuss the situation for women in agriculture in 14 countries
worldwide, as well as two chapters that cover international contexts. They blur the boundaries between academic and organizational authors and their contributors include university-based
researchers, gender experts, development consultants, and staff of agricultural research centres and international organizations (i.e., Oxfam, the United Nations World Food Programme). The
common thread connecting these diverse authors is an emphasis on practical and concrete solutions to address the challenges, such as lack of access to resources and infrastructure, lack of
household decision-making power, and gender biases in policymaking and leadership, still faced by women in agriculture around the world. Ongoing issues in climate change will exasperate many of
these issues and several chapters also address environment and sustainability.
