Urban Farm DB
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Database research record2005·Africa

The (Re) Production of Gendered Positionality in Botswana's Commercial Urban Agriculture Sector

Alice J. Hovorka

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

Urban Farm DB summary

This study empirically examines the effects of gender on commercial urban agriculture in Greater Gaborone, Botswana, using a conceptual framework bridging sociospatial and human-environment geography. It found that gender clearly shapes both the quantity and type of foodstuffs produced for the urban market, with men and women farmers entering production and participating in this economic sector on unequal terms defined by socioeconomic status, location, and environmental interaction. The study argues that gender relations of power, as produced through sociospatial and human-environment relations, remain an unequal structuring force in the sector that must be accounted for if urban agriculture is to support food security and economic growth.