The Gender Impact of Technological Upgrading in Agriculture

The course aims to provide participants with the knowledge needed to analyse the interplay between trade and gender, to examine the effects of agricultural technology on women’s participation in production and trade, and to identify the constraints influencing women’s adoption and use of agricultural technologies. The course will ultimately provide participants with the tools to produce gender-aware policy recommendations.

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand why gender matters in the economy;
  • Describe the two-way relationship between gender and trade;
  • Appreciate the impact of gender inequalities in agriculture on production and trade outcomes;
  • Understand the relationship between technology and trade in agriculture, and explain why it matters in the process of economic development;
  • Know the types of technologies – from basic to advanced digital – used in agrifood value chains (from production to harvest and postharvest) and in sustainable agriculture;
  • Appreciate the implications of agricultural technology on women’s participation in production and trade;
  • Identify the constraints influencing women’s adoption and use of agricultural technologies, as well as possible solutions;
  • List policy recommendations to foster women’s access to technology and trade in agriculture.

Trade and Gender Linkages, with optional module on MERCOSUR

This course explores the consequences of trade and trade policies on women’s economic empowerment and well-being and the impact of gender inequality on trade. Since the economy is a gendered structure, any impact of trade on the economy is likely to have gender-specific repercussions. Looking at countries’ socio-economic structure through a gender lens is therefore the general framework. The objective of the course is to provide participants with the knowledge needed to analyse the two-way relationship between trade and gender, and ultimately produce gender-aware policy recommendations. To this end, the course introduces the concepts of trade and gender, and combines theory on the interaction between trade and gender with empirical evidence. 

Learning outcomes:

  • Look at the economy from a gender perspective;
  • Identify the channels through which trade impacts women’s economic empowerment and well-being;
  • Identify the channels through which gender inequality impacts trade performance and competitiveness;
  • Use the knowledge acquired to produce policy-oriented research that could be used by national policymakers, and academic papers investigating the interplay between trade and gender;
  • Contribute to mainstreaming gender in trade and other policies.