Women, Gender, and Politics

N16(b) - Beyond Vulnerability: Listening to Women and Girls

Date: Jun 5 | Time: 08:30am to 10:00am | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Kabir Abdulkareem (Tshwane University of Technology)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Sarah Childs (University of Edinburgh)

Epistemic injustice: Women poppy cultivators in the opium production discourse: Noorin Nazari (University of Ottawa)
Abstract: Most studies of women engaged in opium production focus on the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women from a socio-economic perspective. The role of women in the production of opium is rarely studied in the male-dominated opium production discourse. To address this gap, this article demonstrates how the prolonged, persistent, and widespread absence and prejudicial treatment of opium-producing women in opium production discourse leads to their loss of conceptual frameworks. As a result, the women lose their ability to articulate their experiences to themselves and others. This article is based on a textual analysis of the Annual Opium Survey reports produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) (2001 – 2021) in Afghanistan. The article offers three interlinked findings. First, UNODC reports masculinize opium poppy-growing families and the farming occupation by excluding women poppy cultivators from the poppy cultivation discourse. Second, the opium poppy cultivation reports genderize opium-producing families and the farming occupation by representing women poppy cultivators prejudicially. Third, women’s prolonged absence from and prejudicial treatment in poppy cultivation discourse culminate in their loss of capacity to self-identify as farmers, articulate their farming experiences, and emphasize their economic contribution. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the concept of epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007) provide the methodological framework for this study. The primary text of this study is the UNODC Annual Opium Survey reports, which are publicly available on the website. A negotiated reading (Hall, 1997) and a two-layered coding process (Glaser, 2016) guide the analysis process for this study.

What Happens to Moroccan Rural Women’s Subsistence Farming Knowledge-Practices when the Water Dries?: Khaoula Bengezi (York University)
Abstract: The Southern Draa Valley of Morocco has seen increasing and unprecedented droughts in recent years due not only to the undeniable reality of climate change but also the long-durée of state managed and internationally funded capitalist-driven development projects. Agricultural development projects are often designed and geared toward those deemed farmers within the national imaginary– male large agri-business farmers. As such, rural women engaged in small-scale subsistence farming are especially vulnerable to Morocco’s increasing drought conditions as they are excluded from and impacted by capitalist-driven so-called ‘sustainable agricultural development policies’. Exclusions from benefiting from agricultural development initiatives are based on the inability for small-scale farmers to obtain the farming licenses necessary to receive subsidized water-efficient technologies like drip-irrigation systems and water-storing basins used in summer months. This paper utilizes semi-structured interviews from 34 rural women engaged in small-scale farming in the Southern Draa Valley to examine how the slow environmental death of their farmlands has impacted their social reproductive roles. This paper looks at social reproduction as a form of agency for rural women to not only provision and sustain future generations but also a site from which ancestral knowledges of farming are transferred and kept alive by future generations. Rural small-scale farmers engaged in subsistence farming see their work in the jnaan (farm) as linked to their housework. As such, this paper elucidates how the slow death of their farmland due to increasing drought conditions has impacted their ability to provision for their families and transfer farming knowledge-practices to future generations.

From Hope to Marginalization: Afghan Girls' Educational under Taliban Rule: Beheshta Amin (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi), Ivy Dhar (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi)
Abstract: Afghanistan stands as a unique case where the access of girls to secondary schools and universities has been prohibited. This prohibition transpired following the reclamation of Kabul by the Taliban, reminiscent of similar restrictions imposed during the initial Taliban era from 1998 to 2001. Government officials assert that this measure is temporary, with plans for reopening educational institutions contingent upon a comprehensive review of curricula to ensure alignment with Islamic jurisprudence and Afghan societal norms. The Minister of Higher Education, Nida Mohammed Nadim, has cited the imperative of segregating genders and the perceived contradiction between certain subjects and Islamic principles as rationale for the university ban. However, the precise motivations behind the Taliban's proscription of girls' education remain ambiguous. Multiple narratives and rationales underpin this issue. Firstly, the conservative ideological stance of the Taliban, rooted in Islamic law, upholds gender exclusion from education for girls. Secondly, Afghan cultural norms, particularly prevalent in rural areas, historically dissuade the education of girls at higher levels. Lastly, during the past two decades of American intervention, segments of Afghan society have viewed girls' education as an imposition of Western culture, perceived to carry the risk of moral deviation. This paper endeavors to delve into the religious or theological justifications proffered to justify the denial of education to Afghan girls, alongside an examination of the Taliban's conservative stance on gender segregation. In sum, the study aims to elucidate the intricate intersections of religion, politics, and gender within the framework of educational marginalization under Taliban governance. The both the qualitative and quantitative research methods should be used and finally, the research will assist with the existing scholarship of education, gender, and religious governance that how these contribution to this discourse.