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*Call for Papers*

*Special Issue of Transnational Corporations:*

*Gender and Responsible International Investment in the Agricultural and
Extractive Sectors*

*Guest Editors:*

Carin Smaller, Advisor on Agriculture and Investment, International
Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), &

Kathleen Sexsmith, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology, Pennsylvania
State University (Incoming Fall 2017)


Dear Fellow Scholars and Researchers:

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the agricultural and extractive sectors
are increasingly adopting voluntary guidelines for economic, social, and
environmental responsibility along their supply chains, in response to
public demands for greater accountability and a stronger contribution to
sustainable development. While these initiatives have had strong positive
impacts in several areas, the actors involved have paid less attention to
gender inequities and inequalities. Indeed, MNEs, governments, and
standard-setting organizations have moved slowly and unevenly to address
the gendered consequences of MNE activities in the communities where they
operate. The result is a diverse set of investor practices, national
policies, laws, sustainability standards, guidelines, and certification
criteria that take many different approaches to gender issues. Researchers
do not know enough about the impacts on gender roles and relations in
communities when MNEs adopt responsible investing approaches in their
international investment activities. They also do not know enough about the
differences in their outcomes, or which approaches work best.

Taken together, initiatives to support MNEs in their efforts to contribute
to gender equality in the communities where they operate have yet to realize
their full potential. For example, some sustainability initiatives for
cross-border agricultural and land investment, like Fairtrade, UTZ
Certified, the CFS Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of
Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, and the Principles for Responsible
Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, are gender-mainstreamed in
their content and take a gender-sensitive approach to implementation. Yet,
some other initiatives in the agricultural and land sector include only
vague non-discrimination principles. Moreover, even the most
gender-sensitive agricultural investment initiatives have struggled with
how to address gender bias at the level of local cultures. In the mining,
oil, and gas sectors, global standards like the Extractive Industry
Transparency Initiative have done little to address the negative impacts of
resource extraction on women’s safety in conflict zones, their exclusion
from employment opportunities, and their unpaid labour burden. Although
there is still plenty of work to be done, interest in the potential
contributions of MNEs to gender equity and equality through responsible
international investment at the current moment is high.

This special issue will focus on the gender dynamics of cross-border
investments in the agricultural and extractive sectors, specifically in
terms of the policies, laws, sustainability standards, guidelines, and
certification criteria that shape the gendered outcomes of investments by
MNEs. It will seek articles that address one or more of the following
topics:

(1) The historical and political processes through which gender has come to
be included – however unevenly – in the major sustainability initiatives
that MNEs adopt;

(2) Analysis of the direct and indirect impacts of MNEs adopting these
initiatives on gender relations and women’s empowerment in the communities
where they are implemented;

(3) The influence (or the capacity to influence) of these initiatives on MNE
behaviour, sustainable development, and national laws or policies in these
sectors;

(4) A closely related topic agreed upon with the guest editors.


An important criterion for article selection will be relevance of findings
to MNEs, policy discussions, the practical concerns of governments,
intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations and
communities engaging with these initiatives. Comparative research is
particularly welcome.

*Length of contributions*: Between 5000–8000 words (plus an abstract not
exceeding 150 words)

*Submission deadline*: November 15, 2017.

Authors are requested to submit their manuscript by email to: tncj@unctad
.org

Please send questions regarding this special issue and submissions to:

Kathleen Sexsmith <[log in to unmask]>

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