Women in developing countries like India face significant financial, infrastructural, and cultural barriers in accessing entrepreneurial resources and opportunities. In such constrained settings, digital platforms can be an effective means to facilitate women’s participation in income-generating activities. This paper critically explores the contributions of online-platform based entrepreneurial initiatives proliferating under the Common Service Centers (CSCs) Scheme in India toward expanding capabilities and achieved functionings for rural women entrepreneurs. In doing so, it draws upon the Capability Approach developed by Amartya Sen and analyzes how rural women entrepreneurs are not only constrained but actively negotiate and claim the digital interface to manage their businesses. Based on data collected through in-depth interviews with 120 female and 60 male Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) across three districts in the State of West Bengal in India, this paper maps how rural women entrepreneurs are able to convert basic inputs/resources into enhanced capabilities and achieve complex functionings, albeit to varying degrees, overcoming archetypal challenges. The findings are valuable for policyscapes as they show how the CSCs can be leveraged to empower rural women.

Literature has extensively examined the impact of armed conflict on agriculture, largely emphasizing its negative effects on rural economies and household decision-making. However, fewer studies explore how conflict reshapes agricultural production systems and intra-household decision-making from a gender perspective. This study analyzes the relationship between armed conflict, cattle expansion, and women’s production decision-making in Colombia during one of the most intense phases of the internal conflict (2001–2012), a period marked by widespread violence, forced displacement, and agricultural frontier expansion. Using a dynamic panel data model (Arellano–Bond), we estimate the effects of armed conflict on cattle expansion at the municipal level. In addition, discrete choice and logistic regression models examine gender-differentiated patterns of production decision-making within Agricultural Production Units. Results indicate that higher levels of violence are associated with increased cattle production and a greater likelihood of women’s participation in production decisions. These patterns reflect conflict-induced disruptions to household structures and labor allocation, particularly in rural areas where men were disproportionately affected by lethal violence, forced recruitment, and displacement. Increased female involvement should not be interpreted as evidence of changes in formal ownership, which are not captured by the data. Instead, the findings point to adaptive shifts in gender roles within agricultural systems, including traditionally male-dominated cattle production.

Coastal regions of Bangladesh face severe climate-related water challenges, with disproportionate impacts on women due to entrenched gender inequalities in access to resources, mobility, and decision-making. This study examines the extent and quality of women’s participation in Water Management Groups (WMGs) across four coastal polders using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative findings show that women’s membership is shaped by social norms, domestic roles, institutional dynamics, and access to resources, while men’s is driven mainly by production benefits. Moreover, women’s membership is further influenced by their social identity. Gender quotas have improved women’s formal representation, but decision-making within WMGs remains male-dominated, particularly in water infrastructure and financial planning. Qualitative insights highlight that restrictive social norms and intra-household power dynamics often render women’s participation symbolic. Leadership positions are still held overwhelmingly by men. Over 80% of women reported that membership improved their access to information and enhanced their recognition and voice in household decision-making. Yet, meaningful engagement remains limited without targeted efforts to challenge the structural and normative constraints that shape gendered exclusions. The study calls for gender-transformative approaches to water governance that move beyond quotas to strengthen women’s agency, voice, and leadership in water resource management.

This study explored the link between gender and collective action participation. Adopting an inter-household gender dynamics approach, this study investigated gendered differentials in participation in efficiency and livelihood-enhancing collective action initiatives (CAIs) between male-headed households (MHHs) and female-headed households (FHHs) in the central region of Kenya. Based on mixed quantitative and qualitative data, the empirical analysis was conducted using the exogenous switching treatment effects model and multivariate probit model. The results reveal significant gender disparities in participation rates in both efficiency and livelihood-enhancing CAIs, with FHHs exhibiting considerably lower participation rates than MHHs. The disparities are linked to varying organizational characteristics of the efficiency and livelihood-enhancing CAIs, alongside observable and unobservable heterogeneity in the characteristics of MHHs and FHHs. The results suggest that the participation rates of the FHHs would have been higher if the coefficients of the FHHs on their observed characteristics had been the same as the returns on the MHHs’ characteristics. Even in that scenario, the participation rates of the FHHs would still have been lower than those of the MHHs due to unobservable characteristics. The findings, therefore, recommend a shift from “one-size-fits-all” policies to context-specific strategies that can concurrently address gender inequality and support the development of CAIs.

As elsewhere, civil engineering (CE) in India is considered masculine. It attracts few women to the profession, which is in contrast to the situation in the professions related to computer engineering. This study explores, through a study of perceptions and experiences of female students in CE, how women negotiate educational and career choices. The key findings regarding support and compulsions in educational choices, navigating the academia–market interface, and negotiating marital pressures, suggest contextual embeddedness of the choices and constraints. The study contributes to the literature on gender and engineering by pointing out the social construction of gender that is specific to CE in the Indian context. It also suggests measures to enhance women’s participation in CE careers.

For smallholder farmers in the Global South, rapid varietal turnover is an important means of coping with the risks arising from the spread of pests or diseases and for increasing crop yields. Varietal turnover in wheat systems in many states of India, however, is inadequately slow. At the same time, the Indian wheat sector is characterized by deep-rooted social inequalities, pronounced by the social differentiation of wheat farmers, such as gender, caste or ethnicity, wealth, and their intersectionalities. This article asks whether these social groups are excluded from the adoption of new and improved wheat varieties. The study builds on household survey data collected from 759 wheat farmers in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. Our findings demonstrate only small differences of varietal turnover across heterogeneous social groups of farmers. In particular, we find only small differences in varietal turnover between female-headed and male-headed households (albeit their already low levels of varietal turnover) and their intersecting social identities. However, marginalized caste farmers appear to be more disadvantaged, as they tend to cultivate older wheat varieties, which deserves closer attention from policymakers. We discuss important directions for future research on the gendered analysis of wheat-based cropping systems.

There has been a significant paucity of representation of women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) on a worldwide scale. Women are more likely to be at a disadvantage than men due to the existence of gender prejudices as well as other social and cultural variables. This tendency is also present in India. Feminist scholars within the Science, Technology, and Society field have conducted thorough examinations of the gender component, despite their relatively small representation. This study aims to examine the challenges faced by female scientists in higher education institutions in India to comprehend these issues. It employs a phenomenological approach, using primary data to investigate how female scientists perceive their day-to-day lives and the world around them, and it focuses on the perceptions and experiences of these women. The study finds that women who work in STEMM fields face a wide variety of challenges and roadblocks both on the personal and professional front. In addition, it highlights certain attitudes that have a negative impact on women working in the field of science, such as the rationalization of institutional prejudices and unwillingness to recognize discrimination. It concludes with a few policy implications.

Human Resources (HR) has emerged as a critical target for digital automation, aiming to reduce costs, improve quality, and expedite repetitive processes within organizations. Several literature reviews have explored this topic, yielding mixed results depending on factors related to the specific national and organizational context. They have highlighted issues such as lack of competence, safety and ethical dilemmas, and bias in decision-making processes. However, despite HR being predominantly female dominated, few studies have examined the gendered implications of digital automation in this field. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the gendered implications of digital automation in recruitment processes and work practices within HR. Drawing upon gender theory, we will conduct a critical literature review based on existing reviews to reevaluate current knowledge. The findings suggest that while digital automation can enhance administrative efficiency in recruitment processes, it does not significantly impact the gender balance of the workforce. However, the findings also indicate that digital automation will likely transform the occupational role into a more masculinized way of working. This transformation is characterized by social distancing, technological rationality, and reliance on self-service systems. In conclusion, digital automation is poised to reshape the HR occupation into what we term “screen-level HR,” comprising a predominantly female workforce engaged in masculine coded work practices.

Livestock vaccine value chains present opportunities for women's empowerment and income generation. To effectively position women to embrace these opportunities, understanding their current position and the factors that determine their involvement is crucial. This study mapped the actors, governance framework, and women's and men's positions along the value chain. It also analyzed gendered barriers to their participation and benefiting from services, processes, and products from the livestock Rift Valley fever vaccine value chain for livestock in Nyagatare District, Rwanda. Data was collected through 10 focus group discussions, 33 key informant interviews, and 1 stakeholder engagement meeting, while analysis was conducted thematically. Our results show that women's participation as importers, distributors, deliverers, or end-users was low to non-existent. Local gender norms curtailed women's participation and benefit at all nodes through restricted mobility, limited decision-making power, and restricted access to and control over resources. Additional barriers for stakeholders at the end-user node included a lack of knowledge about RVF vaccination in goats and how to demand or access the vaccine. This study recommends challenging persistent and limiting cultural norms through behavioral change communication by engaging men and boys as key actors for gender equality, engendering national and local planning and evaluation frameworks, and accelerating gender transformation in the private sector.

New agricultural technologies, such as high yielding varieties and improved agronomic practices could significantly increase agricultural productivity leading to improved welfare of those who participate in them. Feedback effects on adoption of agricultural technologies in low-income countries are important in prioritization of funding to the agricultural sector. Through a multistage randomized sample of 526 farmers and employing propensity score matching technique to correct selection bias, the study assessed the effect of adoption of improved sweetpotato varieties on farmers’ yields and incomes comparing separate effects on men and women farmers. Results revealed that income and yield increased with adoption. Men benefited more than women due to access to extension, improved varieties and productive inputs. Nonetheless, men and women had significant increases in yield and income. Results also showed that land and credit play a role in adoption of technologies. Supporting research extension systems to promote and disseminate improved varieties is recommended.