Agrarian Change and Gendered Consequences: Rethinking the Politics of Development

This session examines the gendered consequences of contemporary agrarian change within the broader politics of development. Across the Global South, processes such as agrarian restructuring, labour feminization, livelihood diversification, and the expansion of development programmes are reshaping rural economies and social relations. While these shifts are often framed as enhancing women’s participation and empowerment, their outcomes remain uneven and contested.

The session invites contributions that move beyond celebratory narratives to analyse how development simultaneously enables new forms of inclusion while reproducing existing hierarchies of land, caste, labour, and gender. It focuses on how women are incorporated into agrarian systems and interrogates the forms of recognition, authority, and control that accompany such incorporation. Particular attention is paid to emerging disjuncture between increased visibility and limited recognition, and between expanding responsibilities and constrained decision-making power.

We welcome ethnographically grounded and conceptually engaged papers that foreground lived experiences, everyday negotiations, and informal forms of leadership. Contributions may address themes such as land and labour regimes, agrarian policy, development interventions, and intersectional inequalities. The session will be organized as an open panel with 4–5 presentations followed by a discussant-led discussion to facilitate comparative and critical engagement.

Key words: Gender, Women's experiences, Agrarian Change, Development.