Cultivating Inclusivity
Broadening our understanding of gender to promote diversity.
RAID committee members, Ebony, Josh and Ruby ventured to Melbourne recently to attend Edge Effect’s ‘SOGIESC Inclusive and Transformative Gender Programming’ workshop. The workshop explored an intersectional feminist approach to the inclusion of people with diverse SOGIESC in gender programming for project design in international development.
Norms relating to sexual orientation and gender identity actively shape our involvement and interaction in communities, workplaces, and personal lives. It is particularly pertinent for researchers in agriculture for development to perceive how socially constructed conceptions of gender and sexuality may affect how people engage in both farming and agricultural activities. This relates to our own biases, as well as those that exist in contexts in which we work. Notably, how farmers and agricultural workers share tasks, earn income, and access land is critically informed by gender and sexuality norms, however, considerations of these factors sparsely show up in literature regarding agricultural participation and research for development.[1]
Around the world people with diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and/or Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) – such as people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning/ Queer (LGBTIQ+) – often face exclusion and violence, sadly in extreme forms. The United Nations Human Rights Council recognises this and have explored (via numerous reports by the UN Independent expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) exclusion implications. It was reported that:
“The combination of social prejudice and criminalization has the effect of marginalising lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender non-conforming persons and excluding them from essential services, including health, education, employment, housing, and access to justice. The spiral of discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion may start within the family, extend to the community, and have a life-long effect on socioeconomic inclusion. Through this process, stigmatization and exclusion intersect with poverty to the extent that many LGBT and gender non-conforming persons are disproportionately affected by poverty, homelessness and food insecurity.”[2]
So firstly, what does SOGIESC mean and how is it different to using initialisms like LGBTQI+? Whilst LGBTIQ+ is likely to be a term you are more familiar with; it has significant limitations – namely that many people have identities that don’t align with these labels. For some, LGBTQI+ may even be considered as exclusive to ‘affluent’ or ‘developed’ countries (a westernised lens as such) that do not embrace the nuance and diversity of local cultural contexts and traditions. This isn’t to say that LGBTQI+ isn’t helpful or needs to change – it may be preferred by some people and cultures and so flexibility and contextual discretion is encouraged here. For instance, gender identities such as fakaleiti, fa’afafine, and mahu exist in Tonga, Samoa, and Hawaii respectively, that do not fall within the LGBTIQ+ framework.[3] SOGIESC can be preferable however when understanding that sexual orientation and gender expression exist on a continuum and remain unique to individuals. In this regard, we can understand that all people have a form of gender expression, identity and sexual characteristics and orientation thus preventing a sort of ‘othering’ that may occur when using specific siloed labels.
Acknowledging diverse SOGIESC highlights the need to challenge oppression and societal norms. As academics, students, and researchers in Ag R4D, we want to see a world where the human rights of all are respected and where everyone can live in equality and freedom: a world where global justice and equity are assured and established regardless of people’s sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics. Stay tuned to learn more about how we can grow in understanding of marginalised people groups and consider diverse SOGIESC people when working in AgR4D!
RAID acknowledges Edge Effect and their contribution toward a world in which sexual and gender minorities are not merely included, but also help to transform thinking on what people and society can be. For more resources, head to their 42 degrees library.
[1] Leslie, Isaac. (2017). Queer Farmers: Sexuality and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture. Rural Sociology. 82. 10.1111/ruso.12153.
[2] A/HRC/29/23 Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
[3] Bett, Bosibori, Alver, Jane, & O’Keefe, Geoffrey. (2021). Sexual and gender minorities in agricultural research: the hidden mirror. Int. J. Gender Studies in Developing Societies, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 62-74.
Recommended Reading:
Sexual and gender minorities in agricultural research: the hidden mirror
by Bosibori Bett; Jane Alver; Geoffrey O’Keefe
Ebony Ackland
[1] Leslie, Isaac. (2017). Queer Farmers: Sexuality and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture. Rural Sociology. 82. 10.1111/ruso.12153.
[2] A/HRC/29/23
[3] Bett, Bosibori, Alver, Jane, & O’Keefe, Geoffrey. (2021). Sexual and gender minorities in agricultural research: the hidden mirror. Int. J. Gender Studies in Developing Societies, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 62-74.
