Minding the gap in agriculture and food security: Gender mainstreaming and women’s participation in policy processes in Ghana

Abstract

The Ghanaian government’s efforts at gender mainstreaming have not been effective at closing the gender gaps in agriculture. In this chapter, we analyse the strategy of gender mainstreaming in the formulation and implementation of Ghana’s Food and Agricultural Sector Development Policy (FASDEP II). Drawing on Arnstein’s theory of participation, we argue that Ghanaian women’s involvement in these policy processes has been merely tokenistic. Based on interviews with policy experts and stakeholders at national and subnational levels, we show how women’s organizations are marginalized in policy formulation at the national level and illustrate mechanisms of exclusion in local consultations. We also identify a lack of gender expertise, donor dependency, and a dearth of financing as institutional challenges for implementing gender mainstreaming in agriculture and food security.