Volume 2, Number 1
October 1996

Workshop Announcement

Richard Palmer-Jones and Cecile Jackson from the School of Development Studies at the University of East Anglia would like to announce a workshop on Gender Differentials in Work Intensity, Sustainability and Development, to be held at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K., on July 3 and 4, 1997.

The emphasis on environmental sustainability in development often involves an implication of reduced reliance on nonrenewable sources of energy and intermediate technology both of which involve increased exertion of human energy. In poor rural societies, this may mean increased reliance on human energy for livelihoods as use of fossil fuel, intensive mechanical or electrical power, and agrochemicals are deemphasized. Also, environmental degradation can have serious effects on the well-being of the poor through (1) increasing the burden of work, and reducing the return to effort, and (2) deterioration in the health environment. Adaptations and remedies are often effort-intensive. Together these tendencies may involve significant increases in the burden of work and a deteriorating environment, especially for women. In this context, it seems important to develop better understandings of how effort-intensive work is 'gendered' at the intrahousehold level, and move beyond time-input studies to examine how the burden of effort is distributed, what is the subjective experience of effort, and how these relate to bargains, transactions, and outcomes for women and men.

The workshop will bring together people from a wide range of disciplines to ascertain what we know, and what we need to know, to better understand the implications of work intensity for conceptual and methodological approaches and development interventions related to gender, household, technology, environment, and policy and practice. Richard and Sam (Cecile) welcome inquiries and offers of contributions that concentrate specifically on the "work intensity" issue. For further details, contact either r.palmer-jones@uea.ac.uk or cecile.jackson@uea.ac.uk.