Based on a collaborative research project - an exciting fruit of the region's peace process - this book provides an in-depth examination and comparison of women's participation in agricultural production in four Middle-Eastern countries: Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Each of the country studies is set in context, providing an overview of the status of women in the national economy and society, and in education and law, before proceeding to analyze the status and roles of women in the rural sector. These up-to-date overviews are based on published and unpublished data, much of which is available for the first time in English. But the book can also be read as a fascinating story of the way gender is introduced into a complex political setting where "development work" is done. It offers a reflexive, critical examination of the very process of its own production and some general observations about the links between academic and development-centred discourses.
Biography
Pnina Motzafi-Haller is a social anthropologist, and senior lecturer and researcher at the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University, Israel.
’An excellent and detailed book...This is Middle Eastern feminism in practice, without being entangled in heavy theory.’ Dr Aref Abu-Rabia, Ben-Gurion University, Israel ’The authors demonstrate the importance of enhancing regional collaboration and peaceful cooperation in project development implementation. In addition the introductory and concluding chapters provide a strong example of the role feminist analysts can have in interdisciplinary analysis of the gendered division of labour and women's roles in national economies.’ Dr Arlene Dallalfar, Lesley University, USA ’...an authoritative account...the book is an excellent read...’ Experimental Agriculture
