This global survey examines the impact of current trends and policies on the overall social and economic situation of women. It starts by describing the main economic trends produced by globalisation: trade liberalisation; increased globalised production due to direct investment of multinational corporations; and financial liberalisation. The gender impact of those trends are then analysed in detail beginning with employment and displacement effects, including their influence on women's position within the household and the labour markets around the world.

How can gender be mainstreamed into programmes concerned with the sustainable use and management of biodiversity? The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has produced guidelines on how to integrate gender analysis into biodiversity research. The central role played by women in the maintenance of rural lands, and changing gender roles and relations resulting from cost of living rises and increased migration, are highlighted.

This article outlines how citizenship can be used as a political and theoretical tool by combining 'rights' and 'participation'. Participation in social, economic, cultural and political decision-making provides a more dynamic and active form of rights in which people work together to improve their quality of life. This must reflect the fact that certain types of participation such as 'informal' and/or local political participation are often those in which women take the lead, providing them with a sense of personal power.

Contains details of relevant websites, an overview of gender issues in natural resources data collection and analysis, facts and figures on various areas (eg. Gender and Land, Female Headed Households), and key references.

The topic of gender relations in the context of conflict covers highly sensitive terrain, not only within the war-torn society, but for intervening institutions. Like other international humanitarian agencies, Oxfam Great Britain (GB) has faced difficult questions about whether its presence has sometimes done more harm than good. External agencies also have to ask themselves whether their interventions impact negatively on women and gender relations.

This section is divided into Key Documents, and References and Bibliographies for each of the following areas: General; Biodiversity and Environment; Land Tenure and Property Rights; Crops; Livestock; Fisheries; Forestry; and Water.

Peru's fifth submission to the United Nations Committee that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) outlines the status of women in Peru. The government has faced difficulties changing attitudes that discriminate against women. However, mandatory changes in Peru's education system, including the introduction of the National Sex Education Programme, are highlighted as positive steps.

Case study of the gender aspects of small-scale farming in the Vihiga District of Kenya, focusing on gender differences in access, control and ownership of land, and gender relations and attitudes to land tenure.

How has citizen action resulted in national policy change in different parts of the world?

An investigation of the potential gender implications of the shift from communal to more individualised forms of land tenure in the Bambara area of Mali.

In the DFID White Paper, the government's commitment to addressing gender inequality highlights the frequent 'double disadvantage' of poor women. Poor women from minority groups, however, may experience additional discrimination. There is abundant evidence to show that many ethnic minorities and indigenous people are subject to economic, social and political disadvantage. The complex relationships between gender and ethnicity need to be addressed in order to understand the social processes leading to poverty of particular groups.

In Africa, the pursuit of gender equality in inheritance rights remains one of the most difficult challenges due to its entrenched patriarchal characteristics. This is also the case in the rural communities of South-Eastern Nigeria. This article investigates gender discrimination in the region, among the Igbo ethnic group, with regard to land property rights; and makes policy recommendations to overcome the failures of past intervention efforts, many of which considered this problem as too culturally sensitive.