CALL FOR PAPERS: Special Issue of the journal Global Food Security – Oct 31 deadline

A special issue of the journal Global Food Security  on the significance of changes in gender inequality and gender relations for food security seeks papers that address questions of how food availability, access and quality are affected by inequalities in the ways men and women operate in farming, agricultural value chains or industry as farm owners, business enterprise managers, contract growers, processors, traders of agricultural products, agricultural wage laborers or managers of natural resources.

This topic includes questions of how gender differences affect relationships among agriculture, health and nutrition and influence the nutritional quality and diets of the poor, not least through the effect of gender on access to and use of diverse, nutritious foods. Of especial interest are papers that ask how food security is affected by changes in gender equality and changing gender relations that enable women to gain agency and efficacy as economic agents? How is current or future food security at national to global scales impacted by development interventions or policy designed to support women as economic change agents?  What are the implications for food security of efforts to empower women as economic change agents in commercial as well as subsistence farming? How is food availability, access or quality affected by the ways gender relations are changing in newly developing agricultural value chains (production, processing and marketing) and expanding agribusiness? What is the impact on food security of changing conditions for female wage labor and occupational mobility on- and off-farm?  What light can we throw on the relationships between changes in female agency, health and nutritional components of food security? What are the significant interactions between protecting environmental services, meeting human food and nutritional needs and changing gender relations? This special issue seeks diverse perspectives on this variety of issues that highlight the significance of women as influential change agents for current and future food security.

The journal and submission of papers

Global Food Security aims to publish papers that contribute to better understanding of economic, social, biophysical, technological, and institutional drivers of current and future global food security at national to global scales with a special focus on reviews from a multidisciplinary perspective. The journal has an impact factor of 3.7. This special issue will address the significance of changes in gender inequality and gender relations for food security with reference to the issues outlined in the Introduction. Papers should address challenges posed by changes in gender inequality for food security with attention to drawing out the implications at national to global scales. Synthesis reviews from the local level would also be welcome. Papers are sought that make the case for novel approaches or contest accepted paradigms. Interdisciplinary perspectives bridging the gap between biological, social and environmental sciences are encouraged.

Papers can include

• Papers on relationships between gender and components of food security including:

– Availability (sufficient quantity and quality);

– Access (affordability, functioning markets and policies);

– Nutrition, health, safety and sanitation;

– Stability and environment (resilience and ecosystem services).

• Strategic views making a case for how gender differences affect prospects for ensuring current or future food security, based on the best available science
• Reviews that synthesize and extend debates and critique research approaches and findings from a body of original publications on gender and food security. The journal has a special interest in reviews from a multidisciplinary perspective. Reviews that synthesize a body of work at the local level are welcomed.
• Critical analysis of tradeoffs that occur in reconciling competing objectives and outcomes related to improving gender equality and current or future food security
• Case studies that spell out the broader implications of dynamic change in gender inequality and gender relations for food security at national to global scales
• Studies that focus on a region, sector, industry, value chain or crop and that also make a case for the relevance of their findings to the broader national or global food security context.

Format and word limit

Abstracts for proposed papers for the special issue should be no more than 500 words in length. The abstract should contain sufficient information for the reader to be able to appreciate the relevance of the full article with reference to specific content. Please avoid promises that a particular subject ‘will be discussed’. References should not be included.

Full length papers: See Guide for Authors http://www.journals.elsevier.com/global-food-security/ . Guideline for length is 5000 words (excluding references, any appendices, tables and figure captions). Papers longer than this will be returned with a request to reduce the length and resubmit. The total number of references is suggested not to exceed 50.

Important Dates

Abstracts for consideration should be submitted by October 31, 2016. Notice of acceptance of an abstract will be completed by November 14, 2016. Submission of full length papers for review should be completed by February 28, 2017.

How to submit

If you are interested in submitting an article for the special issue, please send an abstract to the guest editor Dr. Jacqueline Ashby at j.ashby@cgiar.org with a copy to m.mascarenhas@cgiar.org with the message header “Special Issue” or upload your abstract using the form below. For questions or clarifications, or any problems related to uploading the abstract, please contact m.mascarenhas@cgiar.org