Gender Roles and Participation in Sustainable Agriculture and Resource Management: Insights from Global and Local Perspectives

Abstract

Gender equality is central to attaining sustainable development, but lingering disparities are still influencing women's engagement in agriculture and natural resource management. In this article, empirical and policy-based evidence from four different settings, Colombia, Bangladesh, Open- Source Software (OSS) communities, and upland agroforestry systems in La Union, Philippines that are critically synthesized to explain how culture, policy, and practice intersect in promoting or inhibiting women's empowerment. Based on a mixed-methods strategy that combines quasi- experimental, policy review, and community-based research designs, the study finds that gender inclusion is a process that needs to be at once cultural, institutional, and practical. In Colombia, civic education catalyzes long-term attitudinal transformation to gender equality; in Bangladesh, institutional changes anchor inclusiveness within climate-resilient agriculture systems; in OSS communities, underlying biases are inbuilt despite structural openings; and in La Union, women's broad participation in agroforestry highlights the disparity between contribution and power. In this case, empowerment is not an isolated event but a process that is ongoing and looped by education, balanced policy agendas, and transmutative community efforts. This research reveals that success of Sustainable Development Goal No. 5 entails bringing together cultural transformation, institutional design, and grass-roots practice in such a manner that empowers women not just to join but to lead and shape the direction of sustainable natural resource management.